This is a collection of some objects that I created and used in some scenery I created. I'm going to go back through my various projects and see if there are any generic and reuseable objects which people might need. These objects will tend to be generic in nature, and are not of the highest quality. They are suitable for filling out scenery, or for placing objects in the background.
In order to use these objects, you need to have a basic understanding of how to create scenery for Flight Simulator. I am providing the following:
- BGL file ...the file which contains all the objects in a library,
- MDL files ...in case you want to create your own custom library,
- XML file ...you can edit this and recompile it into a BGL file if you don't need all the objects,
- BMP files ...all the textures, in DXT1 format.
The files are ready use as-is. That is to say that you don't need to customize anything (although I do provide you with that option), and you can just place the BGL file in the "scenery" folder that you are working on and the BMP files in the "texture" folder. The MDL and XML files are only there if you wish to add the objects to you own library. This can be useful if you want to use only one of my objects, and you would like to keep the scenery files smaller and better organized. The names of the texture files match those of the MDL files, so it should be pretty easy to figure out which textures go with which objects.
I'm not going to go through the details of how to create your own library files, but I recommend you use the freeware software "Library Creator XML" written by Arno Gerretsen (www.scenerydesign.org). Alternatively, you may just edit the XML file which I have provided. I reiterate that you don't have to do this and you may just simply use the BGL and BMP files which I included.
You can place objects in your scenery by referenceing the GUID number. I have included a handy graphic file which includes the first 15 digits of the GUID as well as the final digit in the upper right hand corner of each objects graphic. So, for example, to place the guard tower, you would use the GUID "656A889E84164C699A4CE55F1E47FB1" + "7", so that would be "656A889E84164C699A4CE55F1E47FB17". I can't make it any more simple than this, but heres a list of all the GUIDs and their associated objects:
Even easier is to use a program like EZ-Scenery, which is sold by Abacus. In terms of simplicity, this program has it all figured out. You can place objects in real time while in the sim, so you don't have to go through the endless cylcle of recompiling the scenery and restarting the sim to check your work. It's well worth the money. There are freeware alternatives, like Runway12 and SceneGenX, but I prefer EZ-Scenery.
Finally, these objects are released into the public domain. You may use them freely without any restrictions. It would be nice if you could give me some feedback and perhaps a mention in the credits would boost my ego, but don't worry about if you forget. Also, since they are public domain, there is nothing to stop you from creating your own libraries and uploading them. However, since the release of EZ-Scenery, I have noticed a tendency of object designers to release larger "compilations" of objects as one big mega-library. I strongly discourage this. To start with, if I only want to use one object from the library, I still have to include the BGL file which may contain 30 objects, which will make my filesize larger. Also, sometimes the texture files aren't named in a way that it would make it easy to figure out which ones are used by a particular object. Again, this can mean that the scenery designer has to include extra textures because he is not sure which ones are used, which results in unnecessarily large file sizes. I already know what you are going to say; the libraries are provided to th end user so he can install them and so that the same library doesn't have to be distributed over and over. This is how Gerrish's Trees were distributed, and for him, it worked. However, I can tell you that most people don't want to do this. When they downlaod a scenery, they expect it to be complete. This is why in my library, I have included the MDL files, and the easily-named texture files.
- Martin
email: martinstrong@martinstrong.com
website: http://www.martinstrong.com/FS_Project.htm
