This page is provided to take you through the basics of installing scenery  files into FS2000 and 2002. 

Most freeware scenery addons come compressed into "ZIP" files. To open zip files you will need a compressed file extractor - the one we will be describing will be "Winzip" - perhaps the most popular available. It comes on magazine cover disks, and can be downloaded from the likes of www.flightsim.com 

When you extract scenery files, it is always best to extract them to their own folder. It doesn't matter where, because you can point FS to it, but in this example, we will be creating scenery folders, in the main FS Scenery folder.

  A ZIP file, looks something like this: 

  

When you open the file up, you get a window like this:

Note the filenames on the left, and the path it will install into on the right.

There are two parts to a scenery installation:

1. Extracting the scenery files (_.bgl, .xcl), and texture files (.bmp, .*af, .pat, .vod. *av, etc)

::NOTE:: .gif files and .jpg files are not textures, they are usually provided by the author to provide a screenshot viewable from the site it is uploaded to.

2. Getting FS to find it.

 To extract files, they are highlighted, and the extract button pressed. This window will open:

If a pathname is present in the zip file (as above), click the "use folder names" box in the bottom left corner, and in the window, select the directory you wish to install to. For example, if you installed Flight Simulator into "C:\FS2002", then you would select C:\ as the directory to extract to (for the example above). Click the extract button on the top right of the window, and all the files will extract into folders that Winzip will create.

If, however, there is no path name in the Winzip file, then it's a little more laborious. You will then have to pick out the scenery files from the list, highlight them, and, when you click the "extract" button, type the pathname into the "extract to" window (see in the picture above). This will then allow Winzip to extract it into the correct location. 

You then do the same with the texture files (It's easier to select all the rest unless you know exactly what are texture files, and which are not). These are then sent to your scenery texture folder.

When you've finished, you should have a folder that looks similar to this:

(Note - the SCENERY.dat file is produced by FS later)

Inside the "Scenery" folder should be the scenery files, and inside the texture folder should be all the texture files.

The next step is to make FS recognise the scenery. This is similar for both FS2000 and 2002.

Start flightsim, and go to the "World\Scenery Library" menu, and you will get this window:

Click on the "Add Area" button (on the right), and this window will open:

Use this window to find the SCENERY folder of the scenery you wish to select. You can install your scenery anywhere you like, in the main scenery folder, in the "ADDONS" folder, or outside the main flightsim folder altogether, as long as you point to the scenery's scenery sub-folder. Give your scenery a Title in the "Scenery area title" box.....

Then click ok. 

A final point to note: always read the install instructions carefully. Most new sceneries will just require the above to be carried out, however, there are a number of sceneries around that need amendments to the flight simulator "SCENERY.cfg" file. If it does, it will tell you in the installation instructions.

Do it like this:

Carry out the above, and close flight sim down.

Go to the main flight simulator folder and look for "scenery.cfg". Make a backup of it for safety, then open it (use notebook for example).

The scenery you just installed will be listed at the bottom, and will look something like this:

[Area.156]        
Title=EGNJ                   
Local=scenery\EGNJ\Scenery  
Remote=
Active=TRUE        
Required=FALSE
Layer=150

(The line "Required=" won't be there in fs2000)

Go to the installation instruction text file, and find the bit that mentions the amendment. It will usually be to add one or both of a couple of lines of text that look like this.

Exclude=N51 41.5,E0 48.5,N51 26.5,E0 33.5,all
Flatten.0=48,N51 41.5,E0 48.5,N51 41.5,E0 33.5,N51 26.5,E0 33.5,N51 26.5,E0 48.5

SO...

the easiest way is to copy and paste the lines into the scenery.cfg file directly after the block of text that refers to your scenery, so in another example it would look something like this:

[Area.129]
Title=Southend
Layer=130
Active=TRUE
Local=scenery\Southend\scenery
Remote=
Required=FALSE
Exclude=N51 41.5,E0 48.5,N51 26.5,E0 33.5,all
Flatten.0=48,N51 41.5,E0 48.5,N51 41.5,E0 33.5,N51 26.5,E0 33.5,N51 26.5,E0 48.5

The "flatten" and "exclude" lines tell flightsim to remove default scenery in the area of the one you just installed (otherwise you get double runways etc), and to flatten the mesh scenery altitude to the correct level. In later scenery, these lines are not required, because these commands are provided within the scenery .bgl file when it is created by the scenery designer.

Finally, save the scenery.cfg file, and restart flight simulator. All should be well.