As released, Microsoft FS2004 / FS9 did not provide for the huge engineering feat which sits on the United States / Canadian border at Sault Saint Marie.
Short history lesson here; the word Sault translates into English as 'jump'. Not an unlikely beginning when you consider that there is roughly 20 feet difference between the water level of Lake Superior and lakes Huron & Michigan. The Saint Marie portion was named for the Virgin Mary.
With that portion explained, the Saint Mary's River that flows out of Lake Superior and into Lake Huron had / has rapids that are not conducive to navigation. The native Americans were forced to remove their canoes and walk them to a point below the rapids, thus the 'jump' or Sault. If you are familiar with Sault Saint Marie, this is how Portage Street derived its' name.
The first lock on the Saint Mary's was built in the late 1700's. It was followed by a series of revised locks until 1850, when the current lock system design was begun. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers took over the project in 1870 and still controls the US side today. The locks, as they are today, were completed in 1968 and are now classed as the busiest locks in the world and the largest locks in the Western Hemisphere.
An explanation of the scenery files follows. It is suggested that you place the entire folder for Sault Saint Marie into your Flight Simulator 9\Addon Scenery directory. From there, follow the directions below for the installation
Additional scenery is available for this area at http://www.bozair.com/revairport.html in the form of the airport, FS9_ANJ.zip and LandClass scenery for the area, SooArea_LCF.zip. It is strongly suggested that you add these to your scenery collection as they greatly enhance the realism. While at the BozAir site, please feel free to download other scenery that is available for Michigan.
Installation
Unzip the Sault_Saint_Marie.zip file and direct the complete contents to your Flight Simulator 9\Addon Scenery directory. Specific directions for necessary file movement or copying follows:
* A folder containing DOCUMENTATION is provided and contains this information. After reading it, there is no need to retain it.
* A folder containing EFFECTS files is provided. This folder contains one file, which must be placed in your FS9 'Effects' sub directory. For information, this file provides the smoke that is coming off of the foundry on the Canadian side.
* Within the EFFECTS folder, there is a sub directory for TEXTURE(s) that are required for this scenery. Please move the file(s) to the TEXTURE sub directory that accompanies your EFFECTS directory.
* A folder containing SCENERY files is provided. This folder contains the numerous BGL files that are required to place the scenery. If you have moved the complete Sault Saint Marie folder to your Flight Simulator 9\Addon Scenery directory, no further action is required for this sub-directory.
* A folder containing TEXTURES is provided. This folder contains all of the various texture files required to make the scenery look like it should. Assuming that you have moved the complete set of files to your Addon Scenery directory, you may leave the texture files here or as many of us do, copy them to your master Flight Simulator 9\Texture directory.
Remember to ADD to your Scenery Library
This scenery will not be visible if you do not add it to your SCENERY LIBRARY within FS-2004 / FS9 program. To complete this:
* Start your Flight Simulator program and select SETTINGS screen that appears when you would normally select a flight. The SETTINGS tab can be found in the lower left portion of the window.
* This will open a SETTINGS window. From this window select SCENRY LIBRARY located about in the middle of your screen and the lower part of the window.
* When the SCENERY LIBRARY window opens, you will see a line of buttons along the right side of the window. From this row, select ADD AREA.
* The ADD AREA window will then open allowing you to enter your file structure for the scenery.
* If you have installed to the default Flight Simulator 9 directory, your file location will be C:\Flight Simulator 9\Addon Scenery\Sault Saint Marie. You can use your mouse and point to the Addon Scenery directory, then Sault Saint Marie sub-directory. This will show the name Sault Saint Marie in the SCENERY AREA TITLE window and you can press OK.
* You may also select whether you want to cache the scenery. You may select to cache or leave it as the default.
Enjoy Sault Saint Marie
Copyright and Distribution
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THIS IS FREEWARE SCENERY Copyright (C) 2003 James C. Bosworth & Al Heline
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 THE ABOVE.
AS STATED, THIS SCENERY IS OFFERED AS FREEWARE. EVERY ATTEMPT TO TEST THE FUNCTIONALITY OF THE SCENERY HAS BEEN TAKEN, HOWEVER, WE CANNOT ASSURE THAT IT WILL WORK ON EVERY SYSTEM MANUFACTURED AND WE CANNOT ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY FOR PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED ON ANY SYSTEM.
This scenery was tested using Microsoft Flight Simulator 9, on a pair of home built computers - an Athlon K7 1.4GHz processor, Asus V7700-Pro GeForce2 64MB video card AND an Intel Pentium 4 -478 2.0GHz processor with 512MB of DDR memory feeding a PNY Verto GeForce4 Ti 4200 64MB DDR Ram video card. It was created with FS Architect 2002, GMAX, and Ground2K4.
We thank the following people for the use of their macro's and texture files:
Russel Dirks (who wrote EZ Landclass), Robert Palmer & Matthias Breuckner, Kern Pegg, Jimmy R Martin, John de Langristin, and Christian Fumey (author of Ground2K4 V5.1).
Without their products, this scenery wouldn't be possible.
