How to get FS9 nearly perfect
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  1. #1
    Senior Administrator huub vink's Avatar
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    Exclamation How to get FS9 nearly perfect

    This video explains how you easily can improve the looks of FS2004, by just using freeware. Taff (rgatkinson) pointed me towards this video, so he deserves all the credits for finding it.

    You could wonder how legal the conversion from the orbx ground textures is, but you could for instance also use Lynn and Bill Lyons Golden Wings textures like I did. Or use the ones included in Full Enviroment 9 or the ones by Howard Smith included in the FS2004 Extreme update package (available at Flightsim.com).



    Enjoy and show your results,
    Huub

  2. #2

    Many thanks to Taff and you for posting.

    Interesting video, ideas and how to's etc all good...


    Hopefully we can keep this post going with ideas etc.

    Cheers

    Shessi

  3. #3
    Senior Administrator huub vink's Avatar
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    Clouds

    For me clouds are very important. Currently I am using HDE clouds by Pablo Diaz, but all replacement clouds I have used so far gave nice results.

    The clouds I have used so far are: FS2004 FSW High Clouds Performance by the FSW Group (hifps.zip at Flightsim.com), Oscar clouds by Aime Leclercq (oscarcl3.zip at Flightsim.com) and HDE Environment by Pablo Diaz (HDE.zip at flightsim.com).

    There are several cloud packages which I haven't tried, for instance the resized 3D Cloud textures (res3dcl5.zip) by Bart Dylkiewicz or the FS2004 Clouds With Improved Contrast (realskie.zip) by Sascha Rieger.

    Cheers,
    Huub

  4. #4
    Huub,
    many thanks for posting that video - I will watch it when I have more time than at present,
    regs,
    Ro

  5. #5
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    Thanks for this.
    I've downloaded everything mentioned, now to install & to compare with what I have.
    Robin
    Cape Town, South Africa

  6. #6
    Ive been following your progress on this subject and some other post by you Huub over the past few day's. Ive suddenly had a FS9 revival, originally just to test on my new Window's 10 system, (which it installed with absolutely no problems ). But now ive decided that FS9 works perfectly for my historic,WW2 aircraft and FSX for my more complex post war jet and payware. I was going to ask about everyone's favorite tweaks, and your post of this vid answers most of my Q's. Im going to be spending a lot more time in the FS9 world

    PS, puzzel'd about the Orbx, i never new they developed anything for FS9 let alone freeware ? I have Orbx Vector and Globle for FSX but as far as i know, its not backward compatible. I like the look of Horward Smiths add-on myself

  7. #7
    Trying the Horward Smith tex package, better than stock but still not sure i like, Will try Golden wings next.
    Im with you with HDE clouds by Pablo Diaz. It is a rather special package

  8. #8
    Senior Administrator huub vink's Avatar
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    Hi Ian,

    Perhaps its easier to try Silver Wings, which uses more or less the same ground textures as golden wings, however leaves your run ways and taxi tracks untouched.

    And you might want to install the Simreal Airland runway and taxi tracks textures by Nazim Ali Patel.

    Cheers,
    Huub

  9. #9
    SOH-CM-2024 Mick's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by huub vink View Post
    Hi Ian,
    Perhaps its easier to try Silver Wings, which uses more or less the same ground textures as golden wings, however leaves your run ways and taxi tracks untouched..l.
    Cheers,
    Huub
    I second that motion. I use Golden Wings for my Golden Age sim, including WW2 in some parts pf the world, and Silver Wings for my Classic Era and Nifty Fifties sim, and for my (early) Jet Age sim. I'm very pleased with those set-ups.

    I'd probably like them even more if I would cut back on fiddling with models and scenery and start flying once in a while...

  10. #10

  11. #11
    I tried FS2004 ORBX several years ago. It might have some nice features. But I removed it very quickly as the world textures generate a lot of trees where they shouldn't be. Even at Svalbard near Artic Circle you will see trees like at Germany's Black Forest! And there they are misplaced anyway due to conical polar effect in FS2004.

    Bernard

  12. #12
    SOH Staff Devildog73's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ian elliot View Post
    Trying the Horward Smith tex package, better than stock but still not sure i like, Will try Golden wings next.
    Im with you with HDE clouds by Pablo Diaz. It is a rather special package
    Ian,

    I agree with you.
    Looking at that scenery gives me the same view of the land meeting the ocean I am looking to replace.
    Here in Florida, (along with several other areas), we have beaches. The grass, bushes, shrubs, and trees in most cases do not go all the way to the water.
    Generally, we have several meters/yards of white, grey, tan sand between the water and vegetation.

    Does anyone know of a good replacement texture set which actually has beaches in Florida?

    Lee
    Devildog73

    Semper Fi
    "Earned RESPECT seldom needs to demand respect"

  13. #13
    Senior Administrator huub vink's Avatar
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    Lee,

    Beaches are a definitely a problem in FS2004. My country has a sandy coast with just dunes and beaches, but not a single grain of sand can be found in FS2004......

    The pictures from payware Ultimate terrain show some sandy beaches, but I don't have or know it, so I can't tell you what Florida looks like in this scenery.

    Cheers,
    Huub

  14. #14
    Don't forget Tim's old Sub thread, old but maybe still useful:

    http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...Free-Version-2

  15. #15
    Senior Administrator huub vink's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Desert Rat View Post
    Don't forget Tim's old Sub thread, old but maybe still useful:

    http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...Free-Version-2
    It feels a bit like we are currently re-inventing the wheel....... .
    Rhumbaflappy's mesh is still available in our library.

    Cheers,
    Huub

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Devildog73 View Post
    Ian,

    I agree with you.
    Looking at that scenery gives me the same view of the land meeting the ocean I am looking to replace.
    Here in Florida, (along with several other areas), we have beaches. The grass, bushes, shrubs, and trees in most cases do not go all the way to the water.
    Generally, we have several meters/yards of white, grey, tan sand between the water and vegetation.

    Does anyone know of a good replacement texture set which actually has beaches in Florida?

    Lee
    Project Free-Flow

    https://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/conte...timate-Florida

    From here (or flightsim.com)


    http://www.fs-freeflow.com/index.php

    Ttfn

    Pete

  17. #17
    hi
    tried the smaller trees , look nice but dropped 25fps off the game !
    cheers greycap

  18. #18

    Icon5

    G,
    Try re-saving the texs in a low res eg DXT3 or even DXT1 with alpha, and see if that helps.

    Cheers

    Shessi

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Shessi View Post
    G,
    Try re-saving the texs in a low res eg DXT3 or even DXT1 with alpha, and see if that helps.

    Cheers

    Shessi
    hi
    would love too , but I wouldn't know a dxt3 or dxti if they ran over me .im only at the stage of swapping texture files internally. even then I have to rename the original aircraft so I have several defaults in one file. while your there, how much ram does fs9 need and how much above an amt 6700 drive should I get as I need a new hard drive soon.
    thanks
    greycap

  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by greycap View Post
    hi
    would love too , but I wouldn't know a dxt3 or dxti if they ran over me .im only at the stage of swapping texture files internally. even then I have to rename the original aircraft so I have several defaults in one file. while your there, how much ram does fs9 need and how much above an amt 6700 drive should I get as I need a new hard drive soon.
    thanks
    greycap
    So, I have 8GB Ram for my FS9, using the 4GB patch (lets the sim use max ram) & a 1TB drive, & 8 separate installs of FS9 as well as FlightGear & a whole bunch of stuff.

    see here about the $GB patch:
    https://ntcore.com/?page_id=371

    This very little tool patches x86 executables in order to let them have 4GB (instead of only 2) of virtual memory on x64 platforms. This tool comes very handy for applications which need a great amount of virtual memory like games, 3D renderization, multimedia etc. To gain these 2GB, you just have to use this tool to patch the executable (*.exe file) of the software you want to have these additional GBs of virtual memory. It can be used by clicking on it and choosing the file or through command line (e.g.: “4gb_patch file.exe”). It automatically creates a backup copy of the original executable.
    Robin
    Cape Town, South Africa

  21. #21
    Senior Administrator huub vink's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by greycap View Post
    hi
    would love too , but I wouldn't know a dxt3 or dxti if they ran over me .im only at the stage of swapping texture files internally. even then I have to rename the original aircraft so I have several defaults in one file. while your there, how much ram does fs9 need and how much above an amt 6700 drive should I get as I need a new hard drive soon.
    thanks
    greycap
    Here is some external advice:

    https://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/requirements/microsoft-flight-simulator-2004/10233


    The required diskspace is for the standard installation. With all the addons available I'm sure you will need much more. I have several FS2004 installs and from the top of my head they are all around 50 Gb (Can't check as I'm behind a different PC now).

    But a 1 Tb harddisk is currently quite cheap and common and will definitely provide enough diskspace.

    Cheers,
    Huub

  22. #22
    SOH-CM-2024 Mick's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by greycap View Post
    hi
    would love too , but I wouldn't know a dxt3 or dxti if they ran over me ...
    greycap
    DXT files are compressed image files that can be seen by FS but not by Windows. To see them and work on them you need a little program called DXTbmp, freeware from Martin Wright Graphics (http://www.mwgfx.co.uk/) It allows you to open all kinds of image files, work on them in your selected image handling program, and save them in a variety of formats including DXT.

    We need this sort of thing because FS can't see 24-bit files. FS can see 256 color files, but 256 colors often aren't enough to produce the colors and shades you might need, and they sometimes look soft and fuzzy in the sim. So we have DXTbmp and we can use DXT or 32-bit (very high res) file formats.

    DXT formats are very lossy, so you should never save a file in a DXT format until you are completely finished with it. That's because it becomes progressively more corrupted every time you open, change and save it. Work in 32-bit format, then if you need to worry about file sizes, save your finished work in DXT3, or if file size isn't an issue, just keep it in 32-bits.

    If you get DXTbmp, don't forget to also grab the required associated files as indicated on Martin's site.

  23. #23
    Senior Administrator huub vink's Avatar
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    In addition to Mick's splendid explanation, I would like to give you the advice to try it. It is one of the easiest programs I know to use and I'm sure that for (almost) any problem that yo might encounter, you will be able to find an answer here.

    One additional word of advise: When you try it on the trees, don't touch the alpha channel.

    Cheers,
    Huub

  24. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by huub vink View Post
    In addition to Mick's splendid explanation, I would like to give you the advice to try it. It is one of the easiest programs I know to use and I'm sure that for (almost) any problem that yo might encounter, you will be able to find an answer here.

    One additional word of advise: When you try it on the trees, don't touch the alpha channel.

    Cheers,
    Huub
    thanks very much for all your replies and taking the time , however I down loaded dxtbmp . I think I need a tutorial for extreme dummies to use any thing to do with this sort of thing
    best wishes and stay safe everyone
    greycap [aka. double extreme fs9 dummy]

  25. #25

    Cool

    Meanwhile, while doing some random "dumpster diving" at Amazon and EBay, I have this showing up later in the week:





    This was one of those "split titles" Abacus did for FS9 and FSX. Their carrier scenery is actually pretty good but it wasn't my main motivation. Aircraft listed (including AI) are several Harriers, the Rafale M, and the F-35B and F-35C models. I knew there had to be an F-35C for FS9 out there, somewhere.

    The scenery includes a modern French carrier (I'm pretty sure I already have this scenery installed off the coast of Brest) and a modern UK carrier.
    The US carrier is the USS Bonnehome Richard, not the old school CV but a modern LHA.
    Its tough to tell, but I think there are four locations* for the scenery in FS9 and I want to see where Abacus put the ships.

    To be honest, I bought this title for the Rafale M and the F-35C plus the package can join my FS Payware Box collection. Carrier Strike Force came out a little after Flight Deck 6, so while Abacus aircraft tend to be a little "chunky", they were defiantly fly-able by this point and I can always fine tune them.


    *- Finding reviews of really old payware can be its own adventure. I didn't want the "Rah rah" reviews or the "long list of Cons" reviews, but something that gave a good over-all picture of what was included. Basically, there are four locations for the FS9 scenery and one of them has me interested- "North Pacific". By this point, I'm pretty sure Abacus had the catapult and trap zones encoded into the BGLs (like in Flight Deck 6), but I'll know for sure once the package arrives. The other locations look like "predictable", but we'll see.

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