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Gerrish's Trees Library for FS2002
(1) Autogen Trees Replacement
Release 1, 2002-02-17
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by
Gerrish Gray
Copyright (C) 2002 G Gray
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These files provide a high quality replacement for the default Autogen
tree textures which provide the 3D vegetation in the FS2002 scenery. All
19 different trees, palms and shrubs used for the Autogen vegetation are
replaced with enhanced high-resolution images depicting each of the five
seasons: spring, summer, autumn, winter and 'hard winter' (i.e. snow).
They transform, and greatly enhance, the appearance of the FS2002
scenery.
INSTALLATION
============
1. Go to the default FS2002\texture folder and locate the original
copies of files called
treesfa.bmp treeshw.bmp treessp.bmp treessu.bmp treeswi.bmp
These files contain the default Autogen tree textures.
2. Make a new sub-folder called FS2002\texture\Original or something
similar and copy the original five Autogen files into it.
3. Unzip the present archive into a temporary folder and locate the
five replacement Autogen texture files with the same names as
above. They are in a Texture sub-folder.
Copy these files to the default FS2002\texture folder, overwriting
the original copies (that you have backed up at Step 2).
By the way, the *.jpg and *.gif files are simply screenshots for you to
look at to give you an idea of the enhanced appearance. You don't need
to copy them to your FS2002 folders!
And that's all there is to it. Run FS2002 and see what you think of the
changed appearance. If it's not to your liking, just copy the original
files back from the ..\Original sub-folder created at Step 2.
NOTES
=====
The textures were partly developed from those employed in my earlier
Trees Library for FS2000. A great deal of extra work has been done to
correct some of the faults with those earlier textures that resulted in
a somewhat unrealistic appearance under some conditions.
Special attention was needed to create the bare branches and twigs for
deciduous trees in winter. The result remains a compromise and further
experimentation will be undertaken to see if a technique can be found to
create a still more realistic appearance. FS2002 offers various
different 'extended bitmap' formats, and it may be possible to use one
of these to obtain the required effects, although, for the moment, there
are limitations imposed by the graphics tools available for working with
these formats. The best of these tools are produced by by Martin Wright,
and Martin is continually working to enhance the range of facilities
offered by his tools.
Further limitations are imposed by the workings of Autogen itself and by
the limited range of Land Classes presently used by FS2002, although
Burkhard Renk has provided us with the wonderful FSLandClass tool for
making the most of the default Land Classes and Autogen patterns.
Burkhard's tool and the associated Country Packs are available at
http://fssharecenter.com/fslandclass
As more is learned about the Land Classes and Autogen patterns, further
enhancements may prove possible. One particular problem that has been
widely noted is the lack of any Land Class for properly depicting
tropical vegetation consisting mainly of palm trees - the best that is
offered is a mixed woodland of evergreens and palms, with more
evergreens than palms. I will try to address this problem in some future
developments.
I plan next to release some of the long awaited additional trees as a
new, enhanced, Gerrish's Tree Library for FS2002 scenery designers,
complete with easier-to-use macros than the 'generic' ones in the SDK
for my previous FS2000 library.
All comments, suggestions, and queries are welcome. E-mail me at
gerrish.gray@wimborne-dorset.fsnet.co.uk
I try to reply to everyone as quickly as possible, but please accept my
advance apologies if my reply is not immediate as I am often busy with
the other "real" work that I have to do to earn a living and pay for my
flight-sim hobby!!!
All users who register with me by e-mailing the above address are also
placed on a mailing list and kept posted from time to time on future
developments etc.
COPYRIGHT
=========
This archive and the textures it contains are released as FREEWARE.
Copyright (C) 2002 G Gray with all rights reserved.
The archive may be re-distributed in its complete and original form
without modification. It may not otherwise be reproduced or
re-engineered in any way and the textures it contains may not be
separately used, copied or re-worked in any way whatsover for any
purpose.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
===============
FS2002 and Autogen are copyright of the Microsoft Corporation.
Many thanks go to Martin Wright and his wonderful graphics tools which
were used to prepare these texture files for use with FS2002. Without
Martin's tools it would not have been possible to create these textures
to the quality achieved. Martin's tools can be found at
http://fly.to/mwgfx
The remainder of the work was done with PaintShop Pro 7, a product of
the Jasc Software Corporation.
Thanks, too, to all my many friends around the flight sim world who have
made kind and helpful comments on the previous Trees Library to
encourage me with my efforts.
Happy Flight-Simming!
Gerrish Gray
Feb 2002
gerrish.gray@wimborne-dorset.fsnet.co.uk
