FS2002 MONTEREY CALIFORNIA TERRAIN MESH
This terrain mesh file spans the area around Monterey, California, USA. This area, south of San Francisco includes many popular places near the Central Coast of California, including Santa Cruz, Pebble Beach, Salinas, and Carmel-By-The-Sea. This high resolution terrain mesh is based on USGS 30 meter digital elevation models, resampled to LOD of 10 (38.2 meters).
To Install:
The terrain mesh is contained in a BGL file called sns30m10.bgl. The quickest way to install this file is to extract it from the zip archive and move it to this folder:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\FS2002\ADDON SCENERY\Scenery
Your own installation of FS2k2 may use another root directory than C:\Program Files so make sure you find the ADDON SCENERY\Scenery folder under FS2002. You don't have to create it. The ADDON SCENERY folder is already configured in the Scenery.cfg file so the next time you start the simulator the terrain mesh file will be active. This technique can be used to install any add-on scenery quickly.
Technical Information ---
Source data: 88 7.5 Minute UTM-based DEM files from the USGS (at 30 meters horizontal spacing). The merged files are converted to a DTED Level 2 (1 by 1 arc-second) file then converted to BGL.
Level of Detail (LOD): 10 for file sns30m10.bgl (38.2 meters horizontal spacing)
Approximate area covered: 10000 square kilometers
Corners of the area rendered by FS2k2 (WGS84 datum):
N 37°10.617' W122°22.667' N 37°10.617' W120°56.300'
N 36°12.700' W122°22.667' N 36°12.700' W120°56.300'
See maps included in files RELIEF_MAP.gif and map.gif.
Tools used:
Microsoft Terrain SDK ( http://www.microsoft.com/games/fs2000/devdesk.asp )
Microdem ( http://www.usna.edu/Users/oceano/pguth/website/microdem.htm ) (latest debugging version)
DEMconvert ( http://members.bellatlantic.net/~pguth/demconv.htm ) (version that can export BSQ files)
CAVEATS:
Terrain mesh files don't change roads, rivers, coastlines and the placement of textures over the terrain. We are hoping that a new SDK will come forward from Microsoft that will allow making those type of changes. This should allow us to better adjust those features to the specific elevated terrain mesh file in an efficient manner.
If an airport appears to be on a plateau or a basin, in most cases it's due to the restriction of the simulator to design airports on perfectly flat areas. In real life most airports are not absolutely flat, therefore this terrain mesh will show the discrepancies between the fixed airport elevation and its surrounding terrain perimeter. There are a few private strips in this scenery that may appear on high plateaus or sunken too deep. The problem with those strips is that geographical data used in creating the FS2k2 scenery is estimated. In most cases the exact position or the elevation of those strips is not consistent with the terrain elevations derived from USGS DEMs. You can report those strips to me as you find them.
The new terrain engine in FS 2002 has many features that are new and were meant to increase the performance of the simulator and improve the apparance of the terrain. There are side effects to these, like textures that remain blurry for too long, floating autogen objects, and the resolution of a mesh not getting displayed right away. In high-end systems these problems are less evident. Tuning the special effects that you want displayed, rather than maxing everything out, should help.
List of other 30 Meter Resolution Projects Previously Released, all work in FS 2000 and FS 2002. Exceptions noted.
Gunnison, Colorado, USA (guc30m10.zip) (merges with Telluride and Central Rockies mesh)
Telluride, Colorado, USA (tex30m10.zip) (North boundary merges with Gunnison)
Colorado Central Rockies, Colorado, USA (ase30m10.zip) (South boundary merges with Gunnison)
Sedona and Meteor Crater, Arizona, USA (sez30m10.zip)
Island of Oahu, Hawaii, USA (hnl30m1011.zip, or hnl30m10.zip) - FS 2002 only
San Francisco, California, USA (sfo30m10.zip) - works better in FS 2002 - a new version is in the works
Salt Lake City, Utah, USA (slc30m10.zip - for FS 2002 you may just want to install slc30m10.bgl)
Glacier National Park, Montana, USA (fca30m10.zip)
Los Angeles, California, USA (lax30m10.zip)
St. Martin/St. Maarten, Caribbean (sxm30m11.zip)
San Diego County, California, USA (merges with Riverside area) (san30m10.zip)
Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA (cos30m10.zip)
Riverside Area, California, USA (merges with this Los Angeles and San Diego areas) (ral30m10.zip)
Las Vegas Area, Nevada, USA (las30m10.zip)
El Paso, Texas, and South Central New Mexico, USA (elp30m10.zip)
Phoenix Area, Arizona, USA (merges with Tucson Area) (phx30m10.zip)
Tucson Area, Arizona, USA (merges with Phoenix Area) (tus30m10.zip)
Puerto Rico, Caribbean (purtmv1.zip)
Where to obtain these files:
I don't maintain my own web site for this type of work. You can make a search under my last name in any of the major file libraries of FS freeware (e.g. www.SurClaro.com or www.SurClaro). Here's the URL to search in the AVSIM library:
http://ftp.SurClaro.com/library/esearch.php?&Author=Orlando+Sotomayor&CatID=01MS
You can copy and paste it to your favorite browser's Open URL field.
Acknowledgements:
Peter Goovars was the instigator of this project. He purchased the DEM files for the entire state of California. So there's more freeware high definition California mesh coming!
Dr. Peter Guth (creator of Microdem and DEMconvert) fine tuned his tools to make this work possible. He offered valuable insight on the method to use to convert multiple 7.5 minute DEM files into a single seamless terrain file for flight simulator. Recent improvements to Microdem are making this type of project more streamlined than in the past.
Copyright and License to Use:
This archive is Copyright by Orlando Sotomayor. You have the right to use it for your personal enjoyment. Redistribution on a commercial basis is strictly prohibited.
January 27, 2002
Questions or comments? Contact Orlando Sotomayor by email at mesh64@att.net