VERSION 2 FOR FS2004
(See note on FS2002 compatibility and compatibility with UK2000 scenery)
By: John Young
INTRODUCTION
Last month saw the first commercial flight from the new "Robin Hood" Airport built on the old RAF Finningley airfield near Doncaster. Versions 1 and 1A were a first attempt at updating my previous scenery of the RAF airfield to include the new taxiway layout and the new terminal and car parks. I spent about 60 hours on the scenery working from the very few photographs that I found on the net. Details of the airport and the airlines that fly from there are at http://www.robinhoodairport.com/. I am grateful to the fellow enthusiasts who have sent me additional photographs of the airport that has enabled me to produce a more accurate Version 2. I am particularly grateful to Mark McCorquodale who was able to take some shots air-side for me.
The scenery is aligned to the Just Flight/Get Mapping/Visual Flight Photographic scenery of the UK but will work fine without it. Because of this alignment, the main road that should pass the airport to the south in the default scenery actually passes under it. To overcome the problem, I am grateful to Nigel Broder who found a way to re-route the offending default road around the airport. The required files are included in this archive as an option - see separate installation instructions.
SO WHAT'S NEW IN THIS VERSION?
The terminal walkways have been re-designed to reflect the real thing and new textures to the air-side surfaces of the terminal have been applied.
Lighting poles on the main apron have been repainted.
The control tower complex has been re-vamped.
The new fire station has been added along with some appliances.
The old RAF Hangars have been repainted in their current colour.
Heyford House has been re-textured and the operational buildings to the left of the terminal (air-side) have been added.
The runway PAPI lights have been added.
The NDB has been added to the AFCAD file.
INSTALLATION - Previous version installed
If you have Version 1 or Version 1a installed just delete all the files in your Doncaster\scenery and Doncaster\texture folder and replace with the files in this Zip (except for the optional road re-route files that require a separate installation - see below). Also replace your AF2_EGCN.bgl file.
INSTALLATION - new
If you have my RAF Finningley scenery installed then first remove it, along with any AF2_EGXI.bgl file that you might have had in use.
The Zip file, when unzipped to a temporary directory, should have produced a nest of folders called FS Scenery\United Kingdom\Doncaster with two sub folders "scenery" and "texture" beneath Doncaster and an additional folder "Doncaster Road". Unzipping will also produce this readme file and the same file in ".txt" format and the all-important AF2_EGCN.bgl file which is the AFCAD2 file that controls the AI traffic paths amongst other things.
1) Move the folder called "Doncaster" with its two sub folders"scenery" and "texture" to the usual FS2004\Scenery folder or to wherever else you keep your scenery files if you know what you are doing.
If for any reason the Zip file only produces a list of files, then create the Folder "Doncaster" with two sub folders "Scenery" and "Texture" manually and then place all .bgl files in the Doncaster\Scenery folder (with the exception of the optional road re-route files - see below) and all .bmp files in the Doncaster\\Texture folder. (note "Texture" not "Textures").
2) Place the AF2_EGCN.bgl file in your Flight Simulator 9\Addon Scenery\ Scenery folder, which should sit at the top of your scenery library.
3) Launch FS2004 and from the drop down menu go to "World" then "Scenery Library" and add in Doncaster by navigating to the folder where it is installed. There is no need to add-in the AF2 file in the same way if it has been placed in the default Addon\Scenery folder. You must then close and restart FS2004 for the new addition to become active.
You are now ready to fly and can access Doncaster through the "Go to Airport" menu using the "search places" (runway start up positions) or "search add-on scenery". The latter has a number of start-up positions specific to my scenery. Map view contains Nav aid frequencies.
RE-ROUTE OF THE MAIN ROAD
When the scenery is used with the default FS2004 scenery you will see that the main road that should pass by the airport on the south side actually disappears under the airport grass. This is because the airport is shifted slightly to the south to align with the Just Flight/Get Mapping/Visual Flight Photographic scenery of the UK. Nigel Broder's files actually re-route the default road back around the airport but they need to be set up as a separate scenery area. The files are contained in the folder "Doncaster Roads\scenery" and comprise the following:
Add this folder into the scenery library in the usual way but do not add an associated "texture" folder. These files are for use with the FS2004 default scenery only. If you have the Just Flight Photographic Scenery installed, you do not need to install these files. I am not sure if the position in the scenery library is critical but I have the folder positioned above my Doncaster scenery (ie Roads has a lower number) and it works fine. If anyone is interested in re-routing default roads and railway tracks, Nigel would be pleased to advise. His e-mail address is: nigel_broder@hotmail.com.
AI TRAFFIC
The AFCAD2 file included (AF2_EGCN.BGL) has 15 parking positions that are not assigned to individual airlines with specific parking codes, though you can add these yourself with AFCAD2 if you have it. To set up AI traffic will required "Traffic Tools" by Lee Swordy, available from most popular FS sites and some suitable aircraft and flight plans. In order to do this you will need to add in the location of the new airport to your airport.txt file. The entry is as follows:
EGCN,N53* 26.51',W0* 59.86',56
You might want to delete any entry you have for the old Finningley (EGXI).
If you have "Editvoicepack", you will find that Lee Brompton's file egcn_vp useful. It contains the airport name "Doncaster", for ATC use.
COMPATIBILITY WITH FS2002 and UK2000 SCENERY
The scenery will sit quite nicely in FS2002. However, I have not produced a compatible AFCAD file for FS2002, though you can do this yourself with the FS2002 version of AFCAD. This means that the airport will not show in map view or in the GPS screen. ILS frequencies are not contained in the scenery.bgl files to avoid duplication with the FS2004 AFCAD2 file so visual approaches only.
The scenery should work with UK2000 scenery but to be sure, place my scenery above your UK2000 scenery in your scenery library.
TRADING DETAIL FOR FRAME RATE
If you want to trade a little detail for frame rate, you can remove the trees from the scenery. Just delete the files Finningley5.bgl and Finningley_trees_library.bgl from the Doncaster\scenery folder.
IMPORTANT: DO NOT REMOVE THE LIBRARY FILE ON ITS OWN OR YOU WILL EXPERIENCE POP-UP ERRORS "SCENERY OBJECTS NOT FOUND".
REQUEST FOR HELP
You will notice with this scenery that the surrounding autogen scenery is pushed back a fair distance even though it is outside the exclusion area boundary within the scenery. I think I read somewhere a while ago that FS2002 (and presumably FS2004) does this to compensate for dense add-on sceneries in order to preserve frame-rate. The same thing happens with my San Juan Puerto Rico scenery. I am not sure that my understanding is correct and if anyone could tell me why this happens I would be pleased to hear from them. If there is a solution that would be even better.
VERSION 3?
I understand that there could be some expansion of the size of the terminal to the left of the apron (when viewed air-side) and the addition of some jetways. There is also likely to be a new ATC tower. I hope to add in the new features as they come into service.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
RAFAEL GARCIA SANCHEZ, for his payware "NOVA" and "Novasim" programs, used to produce the scenery objects.
MANFRED MOLDENHAUER, for SCASM and Pascal Meziat, Brian McWilliams and Tom Hiscox for the freeware "Airport For Windows V3.
LEE SWORDY for his freeware "AFCAD2" and "Traffic Tools".
LEGAL
Copyright of this scenery is with John Young and the archive may not be altered in any way without my permission. The scenery is freeware. It has been designed for the benefit of the flight sim community worldwide with thanks for all the great downloads that I have obtained over time. It may not be used, uploaded or placed on any medium that may cause money to be made in any way. Please do not upload the file to a web site without my permission.
This software is provided "as is" with no guarantees or warranty of fitness and you use these files at your own risk.
MOST IMPORTANTLY
Have fun but e-mail me if you have any problems or want to give feedback.
