Ubon Ratchathani 2003
For FS2002
The Airport
Ubon was on of the RTAF bases used by American forces during the Vietnam War. There is still evidenc of this in the form of revetments and the ample parking areas. It is home to 211 Squadron (The Eagles) of the 21st Air Wing, flyin the F-5E/F. The military side of the airport makes the airport seem more busy than it really is. If you were to only consider the civil side, you would compare this aiport in terms of size to those found at Chiang Rai or Krabi.
Still, the airport buildings are modern, and it is obvious that the government has invested some money into the airport. Ubon is one of the larger cities in Thailand, and it is a fairly long distance to travel to by bus or train. Given it's location near the border, you can imagine that it has the potential to prosper due to trade.
According to the Thai government, the airport had 188 scheduled flights in January 2003, with 11,204 departing and 10,201 arriving passengers. Being a military airport, it also had 326 Military flights during this same period. This equates to an average of 690 total passengers per day, on the three daily flights to and from Bangkok. Although it is an international airport, I am unaware of any international flights at this time.
Installation
Unzip to any folder you wish. Make sure se folder names is checked off in Winzip so that the proper directories will be created for you. It should create a directory called bon 2003 with subdirectories called cenery and exture If this doesn happen for some reason, then just make a new directory called bon 2003 and create sub-directories names cenery and exture and place all the *.bgl files into the cenery subdirectory and all the *.bmp files into the exture subdirectory. Go into FS2K and add the scenery in the usual manner. If you don know how to do this, then RTFM or go to www.SurClaro and there are tutorials that tell you how to do this. Flatten and exclude switches are not required for any of this scenery.
There are three other folders created at this time also: AFCAD, AI aircraft, and Landclass. These files are not necessary to use the scenery, but they will enhance it in various ways. However, these files require further installation to be useful. Most people will know what to do with these files, but for those of you who don't know what these files are for, a brief description follows.
AFCAD
I have included an AFCAD file for use at the airport. AFCAD is a program that modifies the parking and taxiways at an airport for use by AI aircraft. Using AFCAD is beyond the scope of this document, but the program comes with an excellent tutorial that even I was able to figure out, and installing AFCAD files is very easy.
Due to the unusual layout of the airport, the AI aircraft will sometimes get caught in traffic jams. This is especially noticable on the military side where there is only one taxiway, and traffic going in both directions. If you aren't using any military AI aircraft, then this will not be as much of a problem. I have played around a little bit, and considered creating a second overlay, but this would cause other problems since there is only one runway to share.
Also, the parking at the gate may not reflect what happens in real life. When I flew from Ubon to Bangkok, the 737 never parked at the gate instead it just sort of parked in the middle of the apron, and we walked out to it.
AI aircraft
I have included an extra aircraft an F-5 in RTAF colours, that is meant to be used by the AI to create traffic. I didn't intend for you to go flying around in this aircraft since it looks so crappy (but, it is good enough for AI purposes). It is installed in it's own zip file in the "Ubon 2003" directory. You can install it like you would any other aircraft, but unzipping it to the aircraft folder, making sure that you select "Use folder names" when you unzip it so that the folder integrity is maintained.
Next, you have to edit your traffic.bgl file. I'm not even going to bother to explain how to do that, since there are many excellent tutorials out there that explain how to do this. Basically, you use a prgram like "Traffic Tools" from Lee Swordy to decompile the traffic.bgl file, edit the various text files so that the F-5 and it's flightplans are included, and then re-compile the traffic.bgl file.
Here's a sample from my aircraft.txt file and my flightplans.txt file:
From the aircraft.txt file:
I'm sorry that I can't explain more how to do this since there are many tutorials out there that can explain it much better than I ever could. If it were possible, I would compile this for you, and distribute it that way, but due to the way that FS2002 handles AI traffic, it can not be done.
You can find Lee Swordy's Traffic Tools on the internet at either www.SurClaro.com or www.SurClaro. If you've never tried to do this before, then good luck to you.
FSNavigator
I have uploaded some STARS for FSNavigator, so if you use this program, you might find them when you update you current STARS.
Landclass
I have included a landclass file for Ubon, which you can use if you like. It is not necessary for the scenery, but it makes it look a little more realistic. Landclass files are extrememly small scenery files that change the appearance of the ground textures using the regular scenery textures used by FS2002. The result is that huge areas of the world can be made to look different using these tiny files. I use them to change the appearance around the airports to make them look more realistic.
I'm still thinking about alternate ways to distribute landclass files so that you don't have to do two instalations every time you get new scenery. It's just a small thing, but it can get to be a pain. In case you're new, here's what the problem is:
When we install scenery, we normally have a "scenery" and a "texture" directory in which all the files go. All the .bgl files contain the scnery information, and then go into the "scenry folder". The .bmp files are bitmaps, and they go into the "texture" folder. Landclass files are .bgl files, so they would go into the "scenery" folder, however, due to the way that these special files work, if there is a corresponding "texture" folder, then they look there, and only there, for their textures. Other .bgl files will norally also look in the default texture directory.
Anyway, what happens is that when it doesn't find the textures, things go sort of haywire in FS2002. As a result, all landclass files must exist in a "scenery" folder without a corresponding "texture" folder. I've received lots of email about this, so I'll hold your hand this time.
So, in the above example, we see the folder where the Ubon scenery was installed. The scenery folder is highlighted and we see the various scenery files (*.bgl) in the pane on the right. This is the wrong place to put landclass files, since there is a corresponding "texture" folder visible beneath the "scenery" folder. Get it?
Ok, here is a better place to put landclass files. Again, we see the "scenery" folder is highlighted, and we see various scenery files in the pane on the right. This time, there is no "texture" folder, so the scenery will display correctly. Notice that there can be other landclass files in this folder and that is exactly what I do. I don't make a separate folder everytime I install some landclass files. I just put them all into one big folder, and it all works out fine.
Well, I think I beat this horse to death, but it seemed to be causing a lot of people some problems.
Thai Flight Simulator
http://www.thaiflight.com/
I strongly recommend that you drop by this site if you are interested in Thailand. He has collected many sceneries for Thailand, most of which have been updated for FS2002. The people there have been very helpful with all my development.
Future Projects
- updating Sukhothai.
- updating the FS2000-era Bangkok
- Korat
- Takhli
Other crap
This scenery is freeware. You never have to pay to use it. It will always be free from my website at http://www.martinstrong.com/FS_Project.htm . The textures and objects that I have created are copyrighted by me. If you want to use them, just email me at martinstrong@martinstrong.com and I'll be more than happy to let you do this. If you want the original *.api files for any of the objects, just email me and it'll be "no problem". Just remember to give me credit.
Contact
Email me: martinstrong@martinstrong.com
Website: www.martinstrong.com
Thailand stuff: www.martinstrong.com/Thailand.htm
Copyright and Distribution
This aircraft is released as Freeware. Copyright (C) Martin Strong. As freeware you are permitted to distribute this archive subject to the following conditions,
- The archive must be distributed without modification to the contents of the archive. Redistributing this archive with any files added, removed or modified is prohibited.
- The inclusion of any individual file from this archive in another archive without the prior permission of the author is prohibited. This means, for example, that you may not upload an archive that uses our visual or flight models with your own aircraft or include it in a package containing a panel or aircraft sounds without first obtaining the authors' permission.
- No charge may be made for this archive other than that to cover the cost of its distribution. If a fee is charged it must be made clear to the purchaser that the archive is freeware and that the fee is to cover the distributor's costs of providing the archive.
- The authors' rights and wishes concerning this archive must be respected.
