"Soft Horizons" is my effort to make the transition between sky and ground less extreme for Flight Simulator X users. It is modeled after my similar package for Flight Simulator 9 and is essentially the same set of textures, converted to a format Flight Simulator X requires. The biggest difference you will see between "Soft Horizons" and the default texture is in the cloud realism--clouds almost seamlessly blend into the Horizon. It consists of 110 bitmaps, which are used by Flight Simulator X to provide a varied and spectacular skyscape during the daylight hours. The remaining 30 bitmaps used by Flight Simulator X for nighttime hours are unchanged.
**Please note Several add-on packages which change the sky color or Flight Simulator X environment also use these bitmaps. Replacing them with my set without first doing a backup may damage such packages. Backup the sky set using either my included batch file or through manual means (via explorer)
Also, Flight Simulator X models the environment into space. To achieve the effect Soft Horizons originally had for Flight Simulator 9, the smooth transition between the atmosphere and space is lost. If you never fly Flight Simulator X beyond 45K feet, this probably won't be noticeable to you but if you fly often outside of the atmosphere, I would suggest skipping install of this add-on.
To install:
Step #1--Unzip skyback.cmd into the "Microsoft Flight Simulator X\Texture" folder. Double-click to run. A folder should be created named "skyback". That folder should contain 110 files. If that folder does not exist or the files are not present in the folder, you will need to manually copy the files to a backup folder. The files are easy to recognize by name. An example is sky_sunset_7.bmp. All the files are preceded with the word "sky" followed by a reference to the time of day in the filename, such as "sunset".
!!!!! DO NOT RUN SKYBACK.CMD AFTER SOFT HORIZONS IS INSTALLED !!!!!
!!!!! DO NOT RUN SKYBACK.CMD AFTER SOFT HORIZONS IS INSTALLED !!!!!
!!!!! DO NOT RUN SKYBACK.CMD AFTER SOFT HORIZONS IS INSTALLED !!!!!
Step #2--If the backup is complete, unzip all the bitmaps into the "Microsoft Flight Simulator X\texture" folder, and overwrite if prompted.
Step #3--Start Flight Simulator X and enjoy.
If for any reason you wish to return to your previous sky set, copy the files from the backup folder created in step #1 to the Microsoft Flight Simulator X/Texture subfolder.
"Soft Horizons" is being released "as is".
-No charge may be made for this package
-These textures may not be bundled with any other package ( freeware or payware )
-The use of these textures is at your own risk, the author cannot be held responsible.
-THIS PACKAGE MAY NOT BE SOLD IN ANY WAY, WHETHER FOR "NON-PROFIT" OR FOR PROFIT
-THIS PACKAGE MAY BE UPLOADED FREELY TO ANY SITE, WITH THIS DOCUMENTATION, AS LONG AS THE SITE PERMITS FREE ACCESS TO THIS PACKAGE.
-I will not offer any support of this package.
"Soft Horizons" for Microsoft Flight Simulator X is Copyright (C) 2009 - John Cillis
