CFS2 Scenery Tutorial

CFS2 Scenery Tutorial Page

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The BIGGEST difference that you will find between this Web site and others that offer downloads for the various flight simulations is that whenever possible I have attempted to create an "installation" program for the downloads...No more having to create folders, and then copying and/or moving files. The installation program does all of this for you AUTOMATICALLY. So, where possible, all you have to do is to simply double-click on the installation program and enjoy! I strongly encourage you to visit the Installation Page to see how this program works before downloading any of the wonderful add-ons from this site.

Michael Priester

AB_Lt_Cmd_Riker

Commanding Officer

ABSquad

If you are not experienced with installing sceneries here are the steps in detail:

Double click on the installation program. It will install the scenery to the correct directory in Combat Flight Simulator. All you have to do then is get CFS2 to "recognize" the scenery by adding it to the Scenery Library

Start CFS2, and and then click on the "Settings..." button. Your screen should look similar to the screen shot shown below:

Figure 1: Main CFS2 Window

You will be taken to the CFS2 "Settings" page. From here, click on the "Scenery library..." button located at the bottom of the window. Your screen should look similar to the screen shot shown below:

Figure 2: CFS2 Settings Window

In the main Scenery Library window, click on the "Add area..." button located on the right side of the window. The screen will look similar to the screen shot shown below:

Figure 3: Scenery Library Window "Add Area..." Button

From here, another smaller window will open. This is the CFS2 "select scenery directory" window, which basically is asking you where the new scenery files are located on your computer. It is important to note that all scenery downloaded from this site is installed by default to the CFS2 "SCENEDB" folder. Click on the "SCENDB" folder once to highlight it and then click the "OK" button (or simply double-click on the "SCENEDB" folder) to open it. The screen should look similar to the screen shot shown below:

Figure 4: Select Scenery Directory Window

This will open the main SCENEDB folder, which is where most of the scenery for CFS2 is stored. Notice the RAFBiggin Hill folder. We want to click on the "RAFBiggin Hill" folder once to highlight it and then click the "OK" button (or simply double-click on the "RAFBiggin Hill" folder) to open it...This is the scenery that we want to install. Your screen should look similar to the screen shot shown below:

Figure 5: "RAFBiggin Hill" Folder Selection Window

Next, we need to do three things to the scenery:

Select the "RAFBiggin Hill" folder once to highlight it.

Make sure that the "Directory:" name for the scenery is the same as the folder name that appears in the upper half of the window. You may experience problems with the scenery if it does not match.

Choose a name for the name scenery in the "Scenery area title:" line. By default, CFS2 will simply choose the name of the folder. I like to add a space between the "RAF" and "Biggin" part of the name (this is simply a personal setting, and is not required). Click "OK".

Your screen should look similar to the screen shot shown below:

Figure 6: Edit Scenery Library Window

When you click the “OK” button, you will be taken back to the main “Scenery Library” window, and the new RAF Biggin Hill scenery should appear as number "1" in the "priority" section. The priority number tells CFS2 how much "priority" to give the scenery over other scenery objects in the library. The lower the number in the priority listing, the more priority the scenery will get from the computer's CPU and video card. Your screen should look similar to the screen shot shown below:

Figure 7: Scenery Library Window - RAF Biggin Hill Scenery Added

Because of the priority levels in CFS2 for the scenery, I would advise moving any added scenery down the listing to just above the "CFS1 Library" entry. This way all of the "stock" CFS2 scenery will get priority usage in the game, thus assuring better frame rates and overall game performance.

To move the scenery down the priority listing, click the "Move down" button located on the right side of the window until the scenery you've added appears directory above the "CFS1 Library" entry. Your screen should look similar to the screen shot shown below:

Figure 8: CFS1 Library Scenery Entry

I should also mention here that most of the scenery add-ons currently available for CFS2 require that the "Scenery object density:" section be set to at least "Dense". It should be noted that if you have an older computer system and/or video card that these higher density settings can have an effect on your game performance, particularly when playing "online".

Okay...We're just about finished. Click the "OK" button located at the bottom of the screen t complete adding the new scenery to the CFS2 Scenery Library. When you do, you will get a screen similar to the one shown below for a few seconds as CFS2 adds the new scenery to the scenery file indexes and database:

Figure 9: Add Scenery Area Window

Once completed, you will be taken back to the main "Settings" page shown in Figure 2 above. At this point, I strongly recommend you exit CFS2 and then restart it before using the new scenery. This will help avoid any conflicts within the stock scenery library...I have seen items such as certain "add-on" weapon packs not appear, and have CFS2 say that they couldn't be located in the weapons library when CFS2 isn't exited and restarted before using a new add-on scenery.

Once you've restarted CFS2, select the aircraft you'd like to fly and choose the newly added scenery from the airfield drop down menu. Your screen should look similar to the screen shot shown below:

Figure 10: Main Airfield ("Go To Location") Selection Menu

But suppose, after following the instructions here, the scenery doesn't show up in the airfield selection menu (...trust me, it happens). In this case, it's probably due to the fact that the scenery was created with a scenery tool that is older than what is now available for creating scenery in CFS2 and FS2000. This is true for a scenery add-on called "Buccaneer Island" that I have installed. Let's take a look at how to select this type of scenery if it doesn't show up in the airfield selection menu.

In the airfield selection ("Go To Location") window, click on the "Advanced Go To..." button. Your screen should look similar to the screen shot shown below:

Figure 11: Go To Location - "Advanced Go To..." Option

You'll be taken to the "Advanced Go To" window. Click on the "Scenery from FS95 and before" toggle button to see a list of older scenery files. Notice that the "Buccaneer Island" scenery I talked about above appears in the list. Your screen should look similar to the screen shot shown below:

Figure 12 Add Scenery Area - Scenery Area Active Box

Select the scenery by clicking on it once to highlight it. On the left side of the window, CFS2 will list the scenery and any runways associated with it. If the scenery has more than one runway, you can pick the specific runway by clicking the drop down arrow to the right in the "Runway" line.

Click the "OK" button located at the bottom of the window, and you’re off!!!

I hope that this little tutorial will help you understand how the CFS2 Scenery Library is set up and how to add scenery to it. Any questions, comments or suggestions, please feel free to contact me.

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