Downloading and Installing World Scenery 1

19 July 2020

Downloading and Installing Scenery (This works *, tested with FG 1)

Flight Gear 1.0 uses the older version of scenery. The older scenery data files are easy to identify, they are usually less than 100 MB, the a file from the new scenery is between 500 MB and 700 MB in size.

1) Refer to this page : https://www.flightgear.org/download/scenery/ and refer to the link called v1.0.1 “SD” .

Getting the World Scenery for FlightGear

v1.0.1 “SD” – Click on a file to download the corresponding 10×10 degree scenery tile.

2) Refer to this map to locate the correct scenery tile. Do not download from here as the map links to version 2 scenery, this can be verified by attempting to download a file which turns out to be many hundreds of MB.

Remember default scenery is W130N30 ( includes KSFO KOAK).

Instead:

3) Using the scenery map to locate the correct tile, note its name, and then navigate to this FTP location and download the correct scenery tile.

4) Follow instructions in the fgstart.pdf document in your FlightGear 1.0 folder. Don't forget to click 'refresh' in FGRUN, the Flight Gear Launcher, for the airports in the new scenery to show up.

The instructions for installing scenery from the manual are below, but some clarification is needed:

The structure for default scenery is like this. There is a folder named Flight Gear/data/Scenery:

FlightGear/data/Scenery/ contains two folders: Objects and Terrain

Navigating further into this folder : (default scenery remember)

FlightGear/data/Scenery/Objects/w130n30/w122n37/ *.stg files

FlightGear/data/Scenery/Objects/w130n30/w123n37/ *ac files, *.xml files, *.rgb files *.stg files (Buildings etc)

Now for the Terrain folder: two folders names w122n37 and

FlightGear/data/Scenery/Terrain/w130n30/w122n37/ *stg and *.btg.gz files

FlightGear/data/Scenery/Terrain/w130n30/w123n37/ (same thing, *stg and *.btg.gz files)

Extract the new scenery files, for example w120n30.tgz to a folder called WorldScenery

FlightGear/data/WorldScenery/w120n30.tgz Select extract here and what happens?

We have two folders called:

WorldScenery/w120n30/Objects/w120n30/w112n30... and a whole bunch of similar directories containing stg files only.

FlightGear/data/WorldScenery/w120n30/Terrain/w120n30/w113n37... and similar folders containing .btz.gz files

When Flight Gear is started, do we have scenery? Select an airport in the new scenery such as KLAX (Lost Angeles International Airport)

Middle of the ocean , no scenery. To be fair th efolder is named in WINE after all,a s

--fg-scenery=C:\Program Files\FlightGear\data\Scenery;C:\Program Files\FlightGear\scenery;C:/Program Files/FlightGear/data/WorldScenery/

Middle of the featurelss ocean. So lets assume it is not hte path bu the wy the data is stored that is the probem

Compare the Terrain paths of the defult and the new scenery nest to eahother, there is an extra folder inbetwen

FlightGear/data/Scenery/Terrain/w130n30/w122n37/ *stg and *.b

FlightGear/data/WorldScenery/w120n30/Terrain/w120n30/w113n37.

So we remove the w120n30 folder so that we have WorldScenery/w120n30/Terrain/w120n30/w113n37.

This works, except that due to not finding an object th e FG hits and error and closes. Scenry crash. KLAX hat is, KLVK is ok runs and scenery is sceen. Interesting...

(NOTE: Refer to image below: I have marked the scenery adjacent to the default scenery to help identify the correct scenery file.

The Map shows the location of the scenery tiles.

Red dot: W130N30 (Default, includes KSFO KOAK)

Green dot: W130N40

Black dot: W120N40

Blue Dot: W120N30

Downloading this scenery will result in filling in the areas around the default scenery. There is a lot of space to fly in, for example Seattle Tacoma to KSFO is a flight of about 5 hours in a Cessna 172 at a speed of 110 knots. At 500 knots it will still be 1 hour and a reasonably long trip for a 200 knot aircraft.

from getstart.pdf in FGROOT folder:

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Whatever scenery you choose to download, it should be kept in a separate directory from the scenery delivered with the binaries. To do this, create a WorldScenery directory in the FlightGear data directory, usually c:\Program Files\FlightGear\data on Windows or/usr/local/share/FlightGear/data on *nix.

Underneath this directory create Terrain and Objects subdirectories. These are used for terrain information and buildings/bridges/structures respectively.Unpack the downloaded scenery into the WorldScenery/Terrain. Do not de-compress the numbered scenery files like 958402.gz! This will be done by FlightGear on the fly.As an example, consider installation of the scenery package w120n30 containing the Grand Canyon Scenery into an installation located at/usr/local/share/FlightGear.

Once your installation is complete, you’ll have the following directories

/usr/local/FlightGear/data/WorldScenery/Objects/

/usr/local/FlightGear/data/WorldScenery/Terrain/w120n30/w112n30

/usr/local/FlightGear/data/WorldScenery/Terrain/w120n30/w112n31

.../usr/local/FlightGear/data/WorldScenery/Terrain/w120n30/w120n39

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Initially, there are 27 airports in the default scenery. Click in refresh in FGRUN Launcher does not show any additional airports at all, so I start flight Gear and see.

FG Launcher add WORLD SCENERY circuit to the launcher and then click refresh