Chiang Mai International Airport is under the authority of the Airport Authority of Thailand. It was somewhat difficlut to find detailed information on this airport, and I had to rely on help from others. One person who really wanted to see this scenery made a point of getting a copy of the airport layout from the AIP and sending it to me. Photographs are helpful for making custom buildings, but layout diagrams are invaluable to accurate placement of buildings and taxiways. Khun Sukit from Thaiflight.com also provided many useful photographs. If you ever want someone to build an airport for you, you can encourage them by providing as much resources like these people have. I get lots of email from people asking for a specific airport, but they are unwilling to help out. I started designing the airport the same day I received the layout from Tanj.
There are two small airports near Chiang Mai that I have included in with this project. Lamphun Airport VTCO is about 12 miles south of Chiang Mai, and Lanna Airport VTCM is about 9 miles to the southwest. I believe that both of these airports are privately owned by the clubs that fly out of there.
Chiang Mai City
I have been to Chiang Mai several times, and I really think it is a beautiful city. It is one of the largest (or the actual largest- depending on where you check) cities in Thailand, and all the modern conveniences of Bangkok without the inconveniences (traffic, etc.). It has a large ex-pat community, and there is plenty for tourists to do. Also, because of its elevation (1000 feet or so), it is noticable cooler than Bangkok. If you are out early in the morning, it almost feels uncomfortable, like the 7-11 with its high-powered air conditioner. If you visit Thailand, you just spend a few days there. You can fly from Bangkok for around $50 US.
There a few international flights, from China, Laos, and maybe India, but most are domestic flights from Bangkok. The airport is shared with the military, and there is a small Air Force Base just North of the terminal area. There is a museum located on the base, and you may freely enter, but there are plenty of signs reminding you not to take pictures.
Installation
Unzip to any folder you wish. Make sure se folder names is checked off in Winzip so that the proper directories will be created for you. It should create a directory called Chiang Mai 2004 with subdirectories called scenery and texture If this doesnt happen for some reason, then just make a new directory called Chiang Mai 2004 and create sub-directories names scenery and texture and place all the *.bgl files into the cenery subdirectory and all the *.bmp files into the texture subdirectory. Go into FS2K2 and add the scenery in the usual manner. If you dont know how to do this, then RTFM or go to www.SurClaro and there are tutorials that tell you how to do this. Flatten and exclude switches are not required for any of this scenery.
There is one other folder created at this time also: Landclass. These files are not necessary to use the scenery, but they will enhance it in various ways. However, these files require further installation to be useful. Most people will know what to do with these files, but for those of you who dont know what these files are for, a brief description follows.
Landclass
I have included a landclass file for Chiang Mai, which you can use if you like. It is not necessary for the scenery, but it makes it look a little more realistic. Landclass files are extrememly small scenery files that change the appearance of the ground textures using the regular scenery textures used by FS2004. The result is that huge areas of the world can be made to look different using these tiny files. I use them to change the appearance around the airports to make them look more realistic.
Im still thinking about alternate ways to distribute landclass files so that you dont have to do two instalations every time you get new scenery. Its just a small thing, but it can get to be a pain. In case youre new, heres what the problem is:
When we install scenery, we normally have a scenery and a texture directory in which all the files go. All the .bgl files contain the scnery information, and then go into the scenery folder. The .bmp files are bitmaps, and they go into the texture folder. Landclass files are .bgl files, so they would go into the scenery folder, however, due to the way that these special files work, if there is a corresponding texture folder, then they look there, and only there, for their textures. Other .bgl files will norally also look in the default texture directory.
Anyway, what happens is that when it doesnt find the textures, things go sort of haywire in FS2004. As a result, all landclass files must exist in a scenery folder without a corresponding texture folder. Ive received lots of email about this, so Ill hold your hand this time.
So, in the above example, we see the folder where the Ubon scenery was installed. The scenery folder is highlighted and we see the various scenery files (*.bgl) in the pane on the right. This is the wrong place to put landclass files, since there is a corresponding texture folder visible beneath the scenery folder. Get it?
Ok, here is a better place to put landclass files. Again, we see the scenery folder is highlighted, and we see various scenery files in the pane on the right. This time, there is no texture folder, so the scenery will display correctly. Notice that there can be other landclass files in this folder and that is exactly what I do. I dont make a separate folder everytime I install some landclass files. I just put them all into one big folder, and it all works out fine.
Well, I think I beat this horse to death, but it seemed to be causing a lot of people some problems.
Thai Flight Simulator
http://www.thaiflight.com/
I strongly recommend that you drop by this site if you are interested in Thailand. He has collected many sceneries for Thailand, most of which have been updated for FS2004. The people there have been very helpful with all my development.
Other Stuff
This scenery is freeware. You never have to pay to use it. It will always be free from my website at http://www.martinstrong.com/FS_Project.htm . The textures and objects that I have created are copyrighted by me. If you want to use them, just email me at martinstrong@martinstrong.com and Ill be more than happy to let you do this. If you want the original *.api files for any of the objects, just email me and itll be no problem. Just remember to give me credit. Do not upload this scenery to other websites. I am tired of seeing my scenery on other peoples sites with uploaded by: Joe Blow underneath it. If you feel that this scenery would complement your websites library, then please contact me first, and I will deal with it on a case-by-case basis. Usually it wont be a problem.
This aircraft is released as Freeware. Copyright (C) Martin Strong. As freeware you are permitted to distribute this archive subject to the following conditions,
- The archive must be distributed without modification to the contents of the archive. Redistributing this archive with any files added, removed or modified is prohibited.
- The inclusion of any individual file from this archive in another archive without the prior permission of the author is prohibited. This means, for example, that you may not upload an archive that uses our visual or flight models with your own aircraft or include it in a package containing a panel or aircraft sounds without first obtaining the authors' permission.
- No charge may be made for this archive other than that to cover the cost of its distribution. If a fee is charged it must be made clear to the purchaser that the archive is freeware and that the fee is to cover the distributor's costs of providing the archive.
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