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NEW MEGASCENERYX TITLES
Southern California

Dallas/Fort Worth

Phoenix


FS2004 TITLES
MegaScenery USA:
Mid Atlantic

MegaScenery USA: Pacific Northwest

MegaScenery USA: Southern California V2

MegaScenery USA: Northern California V2

Installing MegaScenery To Work With FSX
 

AUTOMATED INSTALLER TO INSTALL FS2004 MEGASCENERY INTO MICROSOFT FLIGHT SIMULATOR X

The automated installer will scan your hard drive for FS2004 MegaScenery and MegaCity titles and automatically add them to your FSX scenery library. Instructions for use are contained in the ZIP file. For tips on optimizing older MegaScenery for FSX, please follow the instructions at the bottom of this page.

To download the automated installer
please click here.
373 Kb

FOR USERS WHO WISH TO PERFORM A MANUAL INSTALLATION, PLEASE FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS.

Our overall experience is that the MegaScenery titles do not quite perform as well with FSX as they do with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004, however you can do a lot of tweaking to achieve very satisfactory performance.

If your MegaScenery files are already on your hard drive, you do not need to install the MegaScenery. All you need to do is to manually set up pointers in the FSX Scenery Library.

If you removed MegaScenery then you will need your original CDs or DVDs.

Installing MegaScenery That Already Exists On Your Hard Drive
This procedure simply involves setting up the pointers to MegaScenery files in the Flight Simulator X Scenery Library. This method gives you the full functionality of MegaScenery since it has all the files required to fly in all 4 seasons. 

  1. Run Flight Simulator X

  2. At the opening screen select SETTINGS

  3. On the right side of the screen under Other settings – select SCENERY LIBRARY

  4. At the SCENERY LIBRARY SETTINGS Screen Select ADD AREA

  5. Locate the MegaScenery folder you wish to install e.g. MegaScenerySOCAL

  6. Double Click on the main folder e.g. MegeScenerySOCAL so that it opens that folder and displays the subfolders e.g. LongBe_e, LosAng_ee, LosAng_ew etc.

  7. Select the first folder LongBe_e and then select OK

  8. This will take you back to the Scenery Library Settings Screen.

  9. Select ADD AREA again and repeat steps 5 to 6

  10. Select the Second Folder – LosAng_ee

  11. Continue doing this until all subfolders are added to the scenery library

  12. When you are done select OK in the Scenery Library Settings Screen

  13. The system will pause for a moment and then you will see a Window indicating that the Scenery Library is being updated

  14. MegaScenery has been added to your FSX Scenery Library

  15. Proceed to the Optimum Settings section below.

Installing MegaScenery From The CD or DVD
This procedure assumes that MegaScenery does not exist on your hard drive. This is the least preferred method since files for all 4 seasons are not created. This normally occurs during the scenery library updated phase however this method requires that you do not run scenery library update.  

  1. Ensure that Flight Simulator X is not running

  2. Insert your MegaScenery CD or DVD into your drive

  3. The AutoInstaller will run

  4. Proceed with the installation so that all files are copied to your hard drive

  5. When all files have been copied across a Window will open titled SCENERY LIBRARY UPDATE. This window will ask which version of Flight Simulator do you wish to install MegaScenery to – you will be presented with FS2002 and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 options.

  6. DO NOT hit the Next Button – Instead close this Window by clicking on the X on the top right hand corner of this window.

  7. When you have done this – perform the first procedure - Installing MegaScenery That Already Exists On Your Hard Drive

Optimizing MegaScenery for FSX
Flight Simulator X has a newer, better scenery engine. Support is still maintained for previous scenery versions such as Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 versions of MegaScenery. This enables MegaScenery for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 to run on FSX. In the future we will be creating better, higher resolution MegaScenery for FSX but that is still some time away. 

There are settings you can choose for FSX to make MegaScenery perform optimally in FSX. Some of these settings are actually opposite to settings recommended for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004. 

  1. In the opening screen of FSX, select SETTINGS

  2. Under Display Settings Select CUSTOMIZE

  3. The first tab you will be brought to is the GRAPHICS TAB

  4. TARGET FRAMERATE – in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 we recommended that you selected UNLIMITED. This has changed now due to the new scenery engine. We recommend that you now set a lower number so that the background processes can devote more time specifically to loading MegaScenery bitmaps. The lower you set this – the more resources are devoted to loading scenery bitmaps. Set it too low and you will have unsatisfactory framerates. We suggest you set around 15 to 20 fps.

  5. On the right there is an option for Global Texture Resolution – Drag this all the way to the right – VERY HIGH

  6. FILTERING – The results of this depend upon your video card. We suggest that you try all three – Bilinear, Trilinear or Anisotropic to see which gives you the most satisfactory results.

  7. No other settings on this screen are critical to MegaScenery displaying optimally.

  8. Now SELECT THE SCENERY TAB from the tabs.

  9. Terrain and Water have the most critical options.

  10. Level of Detail Radius – this determines how far MegaScenery displays into the distance. The higher you set this the longer it takes to load the scenery when you select Fly Now. If you have a powerful system then select MEDIUM. If you have a less powerful system select SMALL

  11. Mesh Complexity – You can set this to medium

  12. Mesh Resolution – Set this to 38

  13. Texture Resolution – Set this to 5 meter since this is the highest resolution of the current MegaScenery titles.

These are the only settings that you need to optimize MegaScenery texture display. All other options you can set according to your wishes – but please bear in mind that the more complex your scenery and autogen options – the more processing time this takes away from displaying MegaScenery at its clearest.

For the more advanced users – there is a setting that you can add to the [MAIN] section of your FSX.CFG file.

FIBER_FRAME_TIME_FRACTION=0.50

The value of 0.50 is the value that we have seen best results from a subjective viewpoint.

For more information on this particular setting – please follow this link to the Microsoft website. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555738

For other general graphics related issues relating to FSX - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925722

For general FSX tech support visit: http://support.microsoft.com/ph/11941

Please visit the MegaScenery Forums if there are any additional issues you wish to discuss with forum members – many of whom are experts when it comes to using MegaScenery.