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Autogen Building Textures
(1) Africa
released August 2002
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by
Gerrish Gray
Copyright (C) 2002 G Gray
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*** PLEASE READ THIS FILE CAREFULLY AND FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS! ***
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A set of replacement texture sheets to improve the appearance of the
Autogen buildings in Africa. This is the first of a series and further
sets for other regions will be released shortly.
Two alternative sets are included: a high-resolution 1024x1024 set for
optimum appearance, and an alternative 512x512 set for those who
experience frame rate problems with the higher resolution version.
Please note that this set will also unavoidably alter the appearance of
buildings in some Middle Eastern countries (see note 5 below), although
the series will later include an alternative set designed specifically
for that region.
TECHNICAL DETAILS
=================
There are 11 pairs of BMP files, or 'texture sheets', in the main
FS2002\TEXTURE used by Autogen to display the default buildings in the
FS2002 Autogen scenery. Of the eleven pairs, it seems that only six are
actually used at present, whilst the remaining five are a resource for
future expansion of the system (in FS2004?).The filenames are
blda2.bmp/blda2lm.bmp - used in Europe
bldb2.bmp/bldb2lm.bmp - used in North America, Mexico & Hawaii
bldc2.bmp/bldc2lm.bmp - not presently used ?
bldd2.bmp/bldd2lm.bmp - used in Latin America (South & Central
America - except Mexico - and the Caribbean)
blde2.bmp/blde2lm.bmp - used in Africa and the Middle East (west of
the Persian Gulf)
bldf2.bmp/bldf2lm.bmp - used in Asia and Oceania
bldg2.bmp/bldg2lm.bmp - used in Australia
bldh2.bmp/bldh2lm.bmp - not presently used ?
bldi2.bmp/bldi2lm.bmp - not presently used ?
bldj2.bmp/bldj2lm.bmp - not presently used ?
The present files replace the blde2.bmp/blde2lm.bmp set only.
INSTALLATION & USE
==================
1. BACKUPS ETC: First make a backup of all 22 original files with the
above names from the main \TEXTURE folder to a suitable
sub-folder. My personal recommendation is that you make a sub-folder
called
\texture\AUTOGEN_BUILDINGS
and then a further sub-folder within this called
\texture\autogen_buildings\ORIGINAL
Now copy all 22 original files, as listed above, into the new
..\ORIGINAL folder
2. Now make another folder in the same folder tree called
\texture\autogen_buildings\AFRICA
and unzip the contents of the current archive into it. This will
create two further sub-folders named
\texture\autogen_buildings\africa\1024
& \texture\autogen_buildings\africa\512
and place two files called blde2.bmp and blde2lm into each.
3. To use the high-resolution files in FS2002, copy the two files from
the new ..\1024 folder into the main \TEXTURE folder,
overwriting the original copies (perfectly safe if you have made a
backup as instructed above!).
4. Start FS2002, go to the Settings menu, pick Display Settings and
adjust the Texture Size slider on the Aircraft tab to its maximum
setting ('Massive'). Although not essential, I would also recommend
that you have Anti-Aliasing turned ON (see Hardware tab of the
Display Settings) to minimise any flickering from these relatively
sharp, high definition, textures.
No other particular settings are necessary and no new entry is
required in the Scenery Library (scenery.cfg).
5. Now go to your favourite African airport/city and admire the new
buildings! Fly around over a large city and over some bush villages.
Look out for the thatched and rusty tin roofs, simple rustic houses
and hot tropical street scenes. These African building textures look
a lot more like real Africa than Microsoft's original (although all
Autogen buildings are, necessarily, generic and 100% realism just
isn't possible).
The buildings in North Africa and some Middle East countries will
take on the same appearance. This is unavoidable and is a result of
the way that the Autogen scenery works in FS2002. If you find this
appearance inappropriate when flying in these areas, you may want to
download my alternative Middle East set, available shortly ...!
The files are fully compatible with all third party scenery and
landclass files. They will not affect the appearance of the scenery
in areas outside Africa and the Middle East.
6. If you find that your frame rates are too low using the 1024x1024
high-resolution textures (this should only happen to a few users with
older PCs with limited resources), overwrite the two new files in the
main \TEXTURE folder with the medium-resolution pair from the
..\512 folder. If you don't use any 1024x1024 textures, you can set
the Aircraft Texture Size slider back to a lower setting.
7. If at any time you wish to revert to the original textures supplied
with FS2002, copy the backup files from the ..\ORIGINAL folder back
into the main \TEXTURE folder.
8. When you have a free moment, send me an e-mail at
gerrish@flightsims.co.uk
to register your interest and tell me what you think of the revised
buildings. ALL feedback is very much appreciated and helps me in to
get things right, and to your liking, in future release. Also, if you
have any problems or queries, let me know about them and I will reply
as quickly as possible.
I will also add your name to my mailing list and try to keep you
posted about new developments etc. (including replacement building
textures for other parts of the world).
- 0 - 0 - 0 -
I have adapted textures and images from a wide range of sources in
compiling these files, including default textures from FS2002, copyright
Microsoft, resources from FS Nova, copyright Rafael Sanchez, and
textures from many other third party sources. Please excuse me if I
have not specifically acknowledged the sources of some of these files,
(to be honest, I have lost track amongst my vast collection!) If you
spot something that originated with you and would like a proper
acknowledgement, please let me know.
