A suggestion has been made...MTO scenery guide

[sc7500]

...Okay folks,I have honored your requests...

Before this gets too far along, let me just say Thanks to Rami for taking time to do all this up.

It's really easy to say "Yeah, Do That Drew" - Another thing to appreciate the time and effort he contributes to this hobby of ours for nuthin'...

So - AttaBoy !
SC

[Rami]

P.s. this link seems to be broken, Rami..... http://combatfs.homeip.net/cfs2coast.../LWM%20Scenery

Leave it to a bloody Canadian.

Actually, on closer inspection, this has been made significantly easier, because everything has been included in that one "Eurw" package. I'll have to revise this section.

And thanks, sc7500. I really appreciate that.

Fellas, let's hold off on the download, okay? I have to make some revisions to it.

[alpha_1]

You should talk, LOL

[mariereid]

I have always wondered how Rami does it. Most of us only know a bit of what he does here, and next to nothing of what he has to deal with in real life. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I wish I had 1/10 of your energy and about 1/10 of your brain. That outa be enough to get me out of the lazy moron category!

I don't know about the rest of the guys, but I would never have even bothered taking a look at the ETO, if it was not for your guide. I am sure this one will also be a great help and well appreciated.

[alpha_1]

I have always wondered how Rami does it. Most of us only know a bit of what he does here, and next to nothing of what he has to deal with in real life. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I wish I had 1/10 of your energy and about 1/10 of your brain. That outa be enough to get me out of the lazy moron category!

I don't know about the rest of the guys, but I would never have even bothered taking a look at the ETO, if it was not for your guide. I am sure this one will also be a great help and well appreciated.

I second that opinion wholeheartedly!

[Rami]

Rami,

Is it worth including the Spanish Civil War in this guide?

There is a bit of overlap with Jean Bomber's pre-war Gibraltar scenery as well as his Spanish and Balearic Islands scenery/mesh.

There is also Jean's beta Corsica scenery which will apply to your upcoming Beaufighter campaign.

Kdriver,

I am not using Jean Bomber's Corsica scenery because it is incompatible with Sander's mesh and Achim's airfields on the island.

As far as the Spanish Civil War airfields that MaskRider did and the Balearic Islands, I've never installed them, so I have no idea how it would work.

[Rami]

I'm of the same mind here. Perhaps it's better to do an 'old' basic and a 'new' basic, depending on how much work a guy wants to do. I find that some of the older campaigns, for example, are more frame-rate friendly on this old beast of mine.

Take for example, Maskrider's new airbases vs. older. They don't all use the same base stuff. As with the war, as time progressed, so did technology and equipment, so it is with CFS2. I don't see a way to reconcile the older stuff with the newer base scenery that's evolving. My problem being (speaking as a dinosaur here ), I don't want to leave the old stuff behind completely. Horns of a dilema, so to speak.

You're missing a point here, Alpha_1 and others. EVERYTHING Achim did is compatible with Sander's scenery files, it's what he used as a base. I know, because I spent many hours helping him set all of it up, AND wrote the original ETO install guide specifically for him before you guys ever got to see it.

Also, for the areas in the Eastern Med which got disrupted by Rhumba's new watermasks and LOD mesh, he is in the process of rebuilding them so that they fit. (This includes Norway, as well) Ergo, unlike the Pacific, there are no real compatibility issues here. Achim also did not design "early" and "late" versions of his airfields, they are universal. I can see the flaws in a "one size fits all" argument, but wouldn't you rather have them than not, guys? It sure beats the hell out of the old RCAF / DAF / CFS1 runways that existed before Achim redid / created about 400 or so airfields from Marrakech to Minsk.

[Rami]

One more point...

If you want to make your lives easier, I would VERY STRONGLY recommend that you consider centralizing your scenery files. This is the exact same principle as aliasing sound, panel, and other files that you're used to doing. You edit your scenery.cfg so that you "tell" CFS2 where to find the scenery files. Another way of putting it is you're "pointing" CFS2 where to find the scenery files.

For instance, let's say you have two Mediterranean installs. Do you really want to have two separate LOD meshes and all the other stuff? Well, most of us have a finite level of hard drive space. So, I do this instead...

[General]
Title=CFS2 World
Description=CFS 2 Scenery data
Cache_Size=128M
Clean_on_Exit=TRUE

[Area.001]
Title=Default Scenery
Local=scenery
Active=TRUE
Layer=2
Required=TRUE
Remote=

[Area.002]
Title=Terrain
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\Scenedb\World
Active=TRUE
Texture_ID=1
Layer=1
Required=TRUE
Remote=

[Area.003]
Title=CFS1 Library
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\Scenedb\library
Active=TRUE
Layer=3
Remote=
Required=FALSE

[Area.004]
Title=Airport Facilities Data
Local=Scenedb\AFDFiles
Active=TRUE
Layer=4
Required=TRUE
Remote=

[Area.005]
Title=Scenery Ships
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\Scenedb\Ships
Active=TRUE
Layer=5
Remote=
Required=FALSE

[Area.006]
Title=Aircraft Weapons
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\Scenedb\weapons
Active=TRUE
Layer=6
Required=TRUE
Remote=

[Area.007]
Title=Vehicles
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\Scenedb\veh
Active=TRUE
Layer=7
Required=TRUE
Remote=

[Area.008]
Title=Effects
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\Scenedb\fx
Active=TRUE
Layer=8
Required=TRUE
Remote=

[Area.009]
Title=Runways
Local=Scenedb\runways
Active=TRUE
Layer=9
Required=TRUE
Remote=

[Area.010]
Title=Buildings
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\Scenedb\inf
Active=TRUE
Layer=10
Required=TRUE
Remote=

[Area.011]
Title=FS2000_props
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\Scenedb\fs2kprop
Active=TRUE
Layer=11
Required=TRUE
Remote=

[Area.012]
Title=DEM mesh
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\Scenedb\DEM mesh
Active=TRUE
Layer=12
Required=TRUE
Remote=

[Area.013]
Title=DEM mesh LOD 8
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\Scenedb\DEM mesh LOD 8
Active=TRUE
Layer=13
Required=TRUE
Remote=

[Area.014]
Title=Global_Exclude
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\Scenedb\Global_Exclude
Active=TRUE
Layer=14
Required=TRUE
Remote=

[Area.015]
Title=cfs2_eurw_LC_su_BETA4
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\Scenedb\cfs2_eurw_LC_su_BETA4
Active=TRUE
Layer=15
Required=TRUE
Remote=

[Area.016]
Title=Eurw
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\Scenedb\Eurw
Active=TRUE
Layer=16
Required=TRUE
Remote=

[Area.017]
Title=Afnor_Scen
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\scenedb\Afnor_Scen
Active=TRUE
Layer=17
Remote=
Required=FALSE

[Area.018]
Title=Afnor_Bases
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\SCENEDB\Afnor_Bases
Active=TRUE
Layer=18
Remote=
Required=FALSE

[Area.019]
Title=Gibraltar43
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\SCENEDB\Gibraltar43
Active=TRUE
Layer=19
Remote=
Required=FALSE

[Area.020]
Title=LandClassMalta
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\scenedb\LandClassMalta
Remote=
Active=TRUE
Required=FALSE
Layer=20

[Area.021]
Title=Malta2
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\scenedb\Malta2
Remote=
Active=TRUE
Required=FALSE
Layer=21

[Area.022]
Title=Malta1
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\scenedb\Malta1
Remote=
Active=TRUE
Required=FALSE
Layer=22

[Area.023]
Title=Malta_BSK_V2
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\scenedb\Malta_BSK_V2
Remote=
Active=TRUE
Required=FALSE
Layer=23

Thus, both installs load the same scenery folder when they are running. I don't need to have two of them. This is also applicable in any other theatre where you're using the same scenery, which can include airfields! All four of my ETO / MTO installs run off the same set of Sander's scenery files, and all seven of my installs run off the same LOD 7 and LOD 8 mesh sets.

I just have to have two separate LOD 5 meshes, one for the ETO/MTO/EFTO that runs five installs, (with Rhumba's watermasks included) and one for the Pacific that keeps the coastlines (CST) but uses the LOD 5 mesh by Rhumba.

[alpha_1]

Question: only thing that comes to mind is load times.....is this affected in any dramatic way? I like this idea very much!

[Rami]

Question: only thing that comes to mind is load times.....is this affected in any dramatic way? I like this idea very much!

A skosh, yes. But, sometimes you gotta rob Peter a little bit to pay Paul.

[alpha_1]

Rami.....I just tried this in a simplified way........bluidy guid, eh? Just excellent! Thank you!

[Rami]

Jean Bomber,

Suite à votre demande, j'ai envoyé le paquet paysages Eurw par Sander De Cocq en quatre parties égales afin que vous puissiez les télécharger sans autre incident. S'il vous plaît laissez-moi savoir si vous avez encore des problèmes, mon ami!

Here are the hyperlinks...

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...tid=45&id=2933
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...tid=45&id=2934
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...tid=45&id=2935
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...tid=45&id=2936

For everyone else,

I have uploaded update versions of the ETO and MTO install guides with updated links and .pdf files. Give them a fair shake, let me know how they pan out.

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...tid=49&id=2931
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...tid=49&id=2932

Back to pooper patrol, fellas. It's my night to stay awake with the kiddies.

[alpha_1]

Boy! This is a great system! I installed everything up to and including Gibraltar 43, following Rami's instructions to the letter and it works like a damn.

Problem: Installed Malta as per the instructions, word for word and it CTDs every time.....in half the cases won't even complete loading the scenery. I left out the flatten, copied the world\textures files into Malta1 and Malta2, made sure the airbases.date file was up to date; installed the sceneries in the required order so I'm stumped.

Bruno has certain airbase I.D. numbers and mine are different, I numbered them sequential to what I already have. Could this be the problem? I also have the Malta layout files installed, could THIS be the problem?

HELP!!

[alpha_1]

After a few hours sleep and a good strong cuppa I took another look at my new med install. For some reason, Malta just wouldn't load on my machine when I put the sceneries in in the prescribed mannner. What stumped me was JB's worked perfectly, why not Bruno's?

I checked my old original MTO install to see what sequence I had for the Malta stuff and except for Malta_BSK_v.2 which came last, the order was reversed. I tried that and 'EUREKA', it worked! So for me, for some reason the install sequence has to be:

Malta1
Malta2
and lastly Landclass Malta, followed by Malta_BSK_v.2

I still get the occasional CTD after starting down the runway at Hal Far, but I'll live with it for now. I DID find that by banking to the right on liftoff I was able to keep things going as long as I wanted. For some reason, banking left after takeoff seems to cause the CTD's.

This system of a centralized scenery folder is terrific! I'll be redoing all my installs to conform to this procedure. Thanks so much for this Rami........ya done well!

Cheers!

[Rami]

works like a damn.

??

I will never be able to comprehend why it is that so many people have problems with Malta. I know that texture size might be part of the problem, but airbase IDs surely are not the issue. If it was me, I would delete all of your .cdp and filelist files and allow them to be rebuilt, or perhaps try a different airfield on the island.

This was a problem with Pactex, but I have not had a problem with Sander's texture files...it is just very odd.