Copyright and Distribution
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THIS IS FREEWARE SCENERY Copyright (C) 2000 James C. Bosworth.
IT IS INTENDED FOR THE ENJOYMENT AND FREE USE BY THE FLIGHT SIMULATOR COMMUNITY AND MAY BE DISTRIBUTED TO, UPLOADED AND/OR DOWNLOADED TO THE INTERNET FOR FREE OF CHARGE USE BY THE PUBLIC, SO LONG AS ALL FILES REMAIN INTACT AND THIS TEXT FILE IS INCLUDED. HOWEVER, THIS SCENERY MAY NOT BE SOLD, UPLOADED OR DISTRIBUTED TO ANY PERSON, BBS, ORGANIZATION OR ANY OTHER TYPE OF ENTITY WHICH INTENDS TO OR IN ANY WAY PROFITS FINANCIALLY OR OTHERWISE FROM DISTRIBUTION OF THIS SCENERY. ALL RIGHTS INCLUDING OWNERSHIP AND COPYRIGHT ARE RESERVED BY JIM BOSWORTH.
This scenery was tested using Microsoft Flight Simulator 98, on an IBM Aptiva with a 266 PII processor. It was created with Abacus' Airport & Scenery Designer, Version 2.0
NOTE: You MUST have the latest Airport 2.02, Abacus A&SD 2.0, and VOD texture files installed on your system in order for this scenery to work. Since these textures are readily available from numerous sources, these files are NOT included in this distribution in order to keep its size small. These texture files need only be installed once in the main texture directory of Flight Simulator and are used by numerous other third-party scenery files.
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Just a few basic notes about OldMich1. First of all, be sure to read ALL of the
documentation before installing and/or running this package. While the procedure is standard, there are a few special situations that you need to be aware of. I WILL NOT be responsible for any problems you may encounter, including program lockups or data loss, because you did not read the documentation before installing the scenery! In other words, if you follow the directions to the letter, you'll be ok. If you don't follow the directions, you may end up having to reinstall FS98 on your system.
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Old Michigan
Shortly after I released Mi98v30 I was contacted by Tom Constantine, who asked if I would be interested in making some "old" Michigan airports for a group of Flight Simmers who enjoy flying vintage aircraft. We exchanged a number of Email messages and after much encouragement ;-) I decided to give it a try. My original plan was to do just a few local airports, which I felt would be easy to research. My efforts were unsuccessful, my local Historical Society apparently had better things to do and never got back to me with the information I requested. Tom put me in touch with Kevin Breen, who promptly provided me with information, including a photo copy of the 1936 Michigan Airport Directory and (copies of) photos of a few Michigan airports which had been taken in the 30s. (Id also like to throw a "Thank You" in here to one of my relatives who lives in the Detroit area, Don Carrier, for information he provided - Ford airport would be on the wrong side of the street if not for him).
Kevin snail mailed the Directory to me, which cost him some cold, hard cash - and thats when I realized how important this project was to him and his friends. At that point I decided to get serious about the project and do the entire state. I asked for and received a few "concessions", the main one being there would be no Elevated Mesh Terrain in this package. I do not feel that EMT is all its cracked up to be, at least not in FS98; and its definitely a frame rate killer. It also greatly restricts what scenery designers can do with building macros, etc., and causes some very distracting bleed through issues.
This package is based on the Directory, (which listed 117 airports in Michigan in 1936), and the photos Kevin provided. I had no maps or drawings to work with beyond that, so I had to "guess-timate" what most of the airports looked like. The Directory was something less then perfect, an example - according to the given coordinates, one Keweenaw Peninsula airport was located about 35 miles out into Lake Superior. I have nothing but sympathy for those "old time" pilots who had to put their lives into the "hands" of that directory!
I have removed all of the VORs, most of the NDBs, and most of the radios (ATIS), as per the Directory. I also removed all of the expressways and drew in the "old" roads which they replaced, when I was able to determine where they had been. This is "road map and compass" scenery, you will need a Michigan road map to fly it - and make sure your aircrafts compass is working. Leave your Navigation and GPS programs at home. Also, leave your heavy iron at home (one military field has 500 ft. runways). Most of the airports of the 30s were small grass fields, with no lighting, poor approaches and little in the way of service, and Ive done my best to replicate them here.
Im getting a bit better with VOD now, so I was able to build some custom macros and textures which helped add to the feel of the scenery (dont get your hopes up, though, Ive still got a lot to learn). I also "borrowed" a few textures from some of Toms Old Maine scenery.
As with most things, there are a few glitches in Old Michigan.
· I couldnt remove RenCen in Detroit without destroying half the city, so I left it in.
· A few of the hanger macros I used had modern aircraft inside them, so if you see a Lear in some hanger, just pretend its an early EAA hanger and some "ahead of his time" aircraft designer is busy inventing the first jet.
· I got a little carried away with the Soo Locks, one of the ones shown wasnt actually completed until 1968. Just couldnt control myself (and I have no idea which one I should have left out).
· There are a few airports (generally in the U.P.) which will appear to have floating runways as you approach them. This will correct itself as you get closer - just trust your altimeter, not your eyes.
· One city apparently doesnt exist any more, so youll have fun trying to find it on a current Michigan road map.
· There is a strange square hunk of land west of the Two Hearted river which juts out into Lake Superior, it will go away if you approach the airport there from the right direction (sometimes). It has something to do with the default FS98 tiles, I cant make it go away and stay away.
I think that about covers everything but Im sure other glitches will turn up. I hope they do, that is part of what flying was back in 1936! Have fun.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
When going to an airport with the FS98 Airport directory, look for "Old" airport names. The current airport will not always be in the same spot.
To run Old Michigan, you will need all of the "standard" texture files (VOD, A&SD, etc.) that are normally available at almost every major flight sim web site. In addition, you will need the new A&SD 2.0 texture file set. You can find this file (asd2txtr.zip) in the download section of Justin Tymes website: http://www.fsgenesis.com/ , and it is probably available at the other major sites by now, perhaps under a different name. If you see any areas or buildings that are grayed out or dont appear to be "all there", you are probably missing some texture files.
This scenery package is designed for FS98. I have no idea how it will work in FS2000 and I am not supporting it for FS2000.
[Soapbox mode ON]
At this point I have decided not to buy FS2000, maybe some day Microsoft will learn that many people cant afford to go out and buy a new computer every time they come out with a new program. And maybe they will come out with programs which "work".
[Soapbox mode OFF}
· I have a little Flight Sim web page set up to support this package, for the latest information about it go to : http://www.concentric.net/~jcboswor/index1.html
· A special thank you is due David Andrew Green for creating the HAS.scm macro, which is used in a couple places in this package. Thank you, too, to Travis McDanold for his golf.r8 texture file. Also, although I dont think this is legally required, Id like to thank Tim Dickens and Rafael Sanchez for their macros, which were part of the A&SD 2.0 program.
· And as long as Im thanking people, I should include all of those responsible for A&SD 2.0 - OldMich simply wouldnt be without them.
