Atlanta Motor Speedway for FS2002
by Bill Molony, Atlanta GA USA
bmolony@bellsouth.net
9/9/2002
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002 add-on scenery for the Atlanta Metro Area. Adds not only AMS but also the Atlanta ARTC--the regional Air Traffic Control Center--and also many buildings to nearby Tara Field airport. As close as possible to the real world using real photos wherever possible and highly precise dimensions and proportions.
For more information and details, see further down below in this ReadMe file.
This scenery was designed specifically using FS2002. It has NOT been tested in any manner with any other versions of the simulator.
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SPECIAL NOTICE:
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After reading and installing this scenery, be sure to read another special ReadMe file that is included in the folder:
...\FS2002\ADDON SCENERY\Atlanta By Molony\AtlantaMotorSpeedway
The file is called:
ReadMeToo--AMS Race Cars.txt
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INSTALLATION:
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Be sure to read this entire file first before installing. Installation
is really very simple. It's the instructions that are complex! :)
1 In Windows Explorer, navigate to your FS2002 ADDON SCENERY folder.
It will probably be:
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\FS2002\ADDON SCENERY\..."
but yours may be different depending on where you installed FS2002.
2 Within your FS2K2 "ADDON SCENERY" folder, you should
find already existing folders named "Scenery" and "Texture".
NONE of these files will go into those folders!
3 Unzip the ZIP file directly into the "ADDON SCENERY" folder:
(see the Installation Cautions section below regarding unzipping)
It should automatically create the following new subfolders:
"...\FS2002\ADDON SCENERY\Atlanta By Molony"
"...\FS2002\ADDON SCENERY\Atlanta By Molony\AtlantaMotorSpeedway"
"...\FS2002\ADDON SCENERY\Atlanta By Molony\AtlantaMotorSpeedway\Scenery"
"...\FS2002\ADDON SCENERY\Atlanta By Molony\AtlantaMotorSpeedway\Texture"
The correct files should automatically go where they belong.
4 Run FS2002.
5 From the FS2002 "World" menu, choose "Scenery Library".
6 In the "Scenery Library" window, click the "Add Area" button.
7 From the "Select Scenery Directory" dialog that appears,
navigate to the folder you created above:
"...\FS2002\ADDON SCENERY\Atlanta By Molony\"
8 Within the "...\Atlanta By Molony\..." folder,
select the "...\AtlantaMotorSpeedway" folder.
9 Near the bottom of the dialog box beside Scenery Area Title,
you should see "AtlantaMotorSpeedway".
10 Also be sure that "Use this scenery directly" is checked.
11 Click the "OK" button.
12 On the "Scenery Library" screen that reappears, "AtlantaMotorSpeedway"
should be at the top of the list. Click the "Move Down" button
several times so that the "AtlantaMotorSpeedway" entry is below "Airport
Libraries" but anywhere above "Atlanta".
13 Click "OK". The scenery should reload.
The installation is complete. Go to Atlanta Motor Speedway to enjoy the new scenery! To start with an overview, go into slew mode, open the map window, and enter these coordinates:
Latitude N33* 20.54'
Longitude W84* 18.94'
Altitude 4286
Heading 360
That will place you in the air facing toward AMS. You will see KATL and the Atlanta Metro Area in the distance. AMS is actually located some 30 miles or so south of Atlanta. Tara Field will be to the left side of your screen and the Atlanta ARTC traffic control center will be to the right side.
As you fly, note the following:
You MAY notice in a few places that the scenery may flicker a bit--particularly the sides of some buildings or even portions of the "ground". Those are called "moire" patterns. They are caused by the difference in resolution between the texture on the object and the resolution of the dots that make up your monitor screen picture. You will even occasionally see this on TV when someone wears checkered pattern clothes. There is nothing that can be done to make them go away. They have nothing to do with my scenery specifically. If you notice, it will happen with many default buildings and other scenery throughout the FS2K2 world.
You will also find in the folder:
...\FS2002\ADDON SCENERY\Atlanta By Molony\AtlantaMotorSpeedway
a file called:
AMSScreenPrints.zip
This file contains screen prints of the area pointing out some of the details.
Be sure to slew down to the Atlanta ARTC. It is located at the SE corner of the scenery area. You can recognize it by the tall microwave tower on the property. In the real world, when you are flying anywhere around much of the southeast and you are in radio contact with "Center" or the "Atlanta Center", this is the place where that person you are talking to is physically located--just outside of the tiny town of Hampton GA.
They have microwave and land line connections to radar/radio transimission towers located all over the southeast. The signals from these towers are all routed to this center and are displayed on huge "radar" screens (they are actually huge computer monitors now) in front of the 400 or so controllers in the center. Each "blip" on the screen also includes basic information about each aircraft very much like you see if you use the FS2K2 add-on "AI Map". But these screens are MUCH larger than normal computer screens--something like 2 feet square.
I am deeply endebted to Ben Thurston and many members of his staff and personell at ARTC. Ben recently treated me to a comprehensive personal tour of the ARTC facility usually reserved for military brass and other VIP's. I was even able to spend a half hour seated beside one of the controllers. He "plugged me in" with a headset and I was able to watch the huge radar screens and listen in on comunications between him and the many hundreds of aircraft he was safely leading through the Atlanta area and into KATL. Quite a wonderful and educational experience! And on top of that, I found there were MANY Flight Simulator enthusiasts there. Thanks Ben and guys!!!
Also be sure to slew over to the revised Tara Field located adjacent to AMS on the NW corner of the scenery area. Their airport designation is 4A7. Although the airport is actually located in Henry County, it is owned and operated by Clayton County. I have added many new hangers and buildings and replaced the main terminal and tower with exact representations of the real world structures.
I am also deeply endebted to James Sease of Metro Engineering & Surveying. Their offices and hanger are located as the most westerly buildings at Tara Field. If you really get close you will notice their sign and even the rocking chairs on the front porch of the office! :)
James provided me free of charge an outstanding extremely high resolution digital aerial image of the entire AMS area. I was able to use portions of it directly as part of the AMS scenery. It is most unfortunate that the FS2K2 graphics engine found it impossible to clearly duplicate the details of that image! :( I had to greatly reduce the resolution before I could use it and even then, the graphics engine had problems with it. Oh well :) But thanks so much James for providing that for me! It helped tremendously!
Be sure your ZIP program is set to "Use folders" so that the correct subfolders will be created and the files will go into the correct folders. If not, then be sure you manually create the following folder structure under your "...\FS2002\ADDON SCENERY\" folder:
...\FS2002\ADDON SCENERY\Atlanta By Molony
...\FS2002\ADDON SCENERY\Atlanta By Molony\AtlantaMotorSpeedway
...\FS2002\ADDON SCENERY\Atlanta By Molony\AtlantaMotorSpeedway\Scenery
...\FS2002\ADDON SCENERY\Atlanta By Molony\AtlantaMotorSpeedway\Texture
The reason for the "Atlanta By Molony" part of the path is that I have other Atlanta scenery available for download and it simplifies things to keep them all together. If you already have my scenery for Atlanta Skyline, Stone Mountain, and/or changes for KATL, and you followed those instructions correctly, then those folders will remain where they are unchanged and this scenery will install into the above described folder structure perfectly.
After the folders are created,
Put all of the .BGL files in the Scenery folder.
Put all other files in the Texture folder.
It is possible to simplify installation further by just putting all of the .BGL files in the "...\ADDON SCENERY\Scenery" folder and all the rest of the files in the "...\ADDON SCENERY\Texture" folder. If you do that, you do not need to follow the instructions above concerning the FS2002 Scenery Library menu. But I DO NOT RECOMMEND THAT! If you add scenery often, regularly putting your files in those folders can eventually cause filename conflicts. In fact, you can even put all of the files except the .BGL files in the main "...\FS2002\Texture" folder. But I even more STRONGLY recommend against that for that same reasons.
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MORE DETAILS ABOUT SCENERY FEATURES ADDED:
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Most of the scenery texture files were created by using directly or modifying portions of actual digital photos I made in the AMS area. At ARTC, I was not allowed to make photos of the interior and, as you can probably imagine, I was carefully scrutinized before I was allowed to make photos of even the exterior of the buildings. I was escorted the entire time and it was at times a bit uncomfortable yet actually very consoling that, even with an escort, I was approached and questioned by several different people while making the photos! Of course, I was required by security to wear my ID badge the entire time. But they were all super nice to me and really bent over backwards to help!
While speaking of security, the most interesting aspect of my adventure was that even though I had no real trouble getting into the ARTC Center, I was not allowed inside the AMS track area at all! :) Hmmmm. Wonder which is more sensitive??? :) I couldn't even find anyone to contact about it. Even my emails were simply ignored. I had to make do with making all the photos from the exterior areas. As a result, you will probably notice that the interior sides of the structures are not as detailed as the exterior sides. Oh well! :)
Although most of the scenery is photo realistic, I dont advise that you get down too close. Keep in mind that the Flight Simulator is for modeling flying not driving! In particular, you will find the track VERY bumpy! :) Modeling the continuous changes in banking of the track was an extreme challenge in GMax! :) And most of the "ground" is actually sitting about a meter above the FS2K2 ground. That was unfortunately necessary to keep the scenery from flickering against the default scenery (moire patterns). If you go to the edges of the scenery areas you will see the edges "bent" down to match as close as possible with the default scenery.
These are only some of the things you can see. In many cases there is tremendous detail--more than what is necessary to just fly over. Take some time to go into slew mode and just explore. No telling what you might find. :)
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TOOLS USED:
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All of these additions were created using the following freeware tools:
GMax (stock version that comes with FS2K2)
Paint Shop Pro (ver 6.00) Jasc Software
Bmp2000 (ver 4.00.19) Martin Wright
Be sure to try them and don't forget to thank these great people for putting out some outstanding software! In particular, while GMax is extremely powerful, it is also extremely difficult to learn. But I found it very worth the trouble!
And a very special thanks goes out to all those on the www.SurClaro.com and www.SurClaro bulletin boards for their excellent comments and ideas that have made my MSFS experience so much fun!
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UNINSTALL:
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Sorry but there is no automated uninstall. But since the install is really so simple, the uninstall is much the same way. Just reverse the procedure.
First in Flight Simulatore, select the Scenery Library option and and remove the listing.
Then go to the folders listed above and delete them.
However, there is one more thing you might wish to do. There may be individual parts of the scenery you dont particularly like for one reason or another. The way these were built, they are almost all stand-alone objects. If you browse the folders created during the install, you will see the actual names used as filenames.
Therefore, to delete a specific structure, look in the appropriate ...\Scenery folder and simply delete the .BGL file named with the same or similar name. You might want to make a backup copy of it first.
It is really not necessary to delete the texture files unless you just want to be clean. But if you do, then just look in the appropriate ...\Texture folder and you will see that the texture files are similarly named. Usually there will be a set of 2 files for each structureone with the same name and the other adding _LM to the name. The _LM version is the night version of the texture.
And thats all there is to it.
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SPECIAL NOTICE:
---------------
After reading and installing this scenery, be sure to read another special ReadMe file that is included in the folder:
...\FS2002\ADDON SCENERY\Atlanta By Molony\AtlantaMotorSpeedway
The file is called:
ReadMeToo--AMS Race Cars.txt
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CLOSING STUFF:
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Be sure to download and try out other scenery files I have created:
Atlanta Skyline--adds over 100 "real world" buildings to the Atlanta Metro Area.
Atlanta Airport Additions--brings KATL to life--particularly with nearly 400 new signs such as runway/taxiway markings and much more!
Stone Mountain and Stone Mountain Fireworksa major scenery addition for the Atlanta area; marvelous reproduction of the mountain and surrounding area.
That's it. Hope you enjoy! Let me know if you have any problems.
Happy Flying!
Bill Molony
Atlanta GA USA
Under KATL Rwy 27L Approach
bmolony@bellsouth.net
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COPYRIGHTS ETC:
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This scenery is made available for the private use of Microsoft Flight Simulator enthusiasts. It and all of it's components not owned by others are Copyright by Bill Molony--All Rights Reserved. All company logos and/or trademarks presented are copyrighted by their respective owners. You have the right to use this scenery for your personal enjoyment. Under no circumstances may this zip file or its contents be modified without express written permission. Use or redistribution on a commercial basis is strictly prohibited--do NOT attempt to make money using this scenery!
NO WARRANTY IS EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED--USE AT YOUR OWN RISK--I WILL NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY DAMAGES RELATED TO THE INSTALLATION OR USE OF THIS SOFTWARE!
By installing this scenery, you are agreeing that you have read, understand, and agree to the terms of these copyright statements.
