Taos is a world renowned arts and resort community leaning high up on the edge of the Sangre De Cristo mountains. West of Taos is the Rio Grande Rift, a massive crack in the Earth. East are the highest mountains in New Mexico, including Wheeler Peak, its highest point. The west half of this mesh merges with the previously released Albuquerque mesh. The northern edge is the border with Colorado. 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 quickest way to install this file is to extract the file skx1saa.bgl from the zip archive and place it in this folder:
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.
Airports in this area:
Taos Regional Airport (KSKX)
Ensenada Airport (NM48) Private strip with spectacular landscape around it
Websites about this area:
Rio Grande Gorge - http://sangres.com/features/riogrgorge.htm
Technical Information ---
Source data: 126 7.5 Minute UTM-based DEM files from the USGS (at 10 meters horizontal spacing). The merged files were converted to a DTED Level 2 file (1 by 1 arc-second which is about 30 meters) then converted to BGL using LOD of 10.
Level of Detail (LOD): 10 for file skx1saa.bgl (38.2 meters horizontal spacing)
Approximate area covered: 15400 square kilometers
Corners of the area covered (WGS84 Datum):
N 36°54.800' W106°52.450' N 36°54.800' W105°14.117'
N 35°56.883' W106°52.450' N 35°56.883' W105°14.117'
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. They also don't add or remove objects from the scenery.
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 airport sceneries as 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 the elevation of its surrounding terrain perimeter. There might be a few private strips in this scenery that may appear on high plateaus or sunken too deep. The problem with those strips is that their elevation was derived from geographical databases where it was listed as estimated. In most cases the exact position or the estimated elevation of those strips are not consistent with the terrain elevations derived from the USGS DEMs.
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.
San Francisco, California, USA - VERSION 2 - (sfo30mab.zip)
Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA (abq30m10.zip)
Death Valley, California, USA (dv30m10.zip)
Monterey, California, USA (sns30m10.zip) (merges with this San Francisco mesh to the south)
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
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 distribution of these files. You can do 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 much improved AVSIM library:
You can copy and paste it to your favorite browser's Open URL field.
Acknowledgements:
Dr. Peter Guth (creator of Microdem) fine tuned his tools to make this work possible. He offered valuable insight on the method 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.
February 6, 2002
Questions or comments? Contact Orlando Sotomayor by email at mesh64@att.net or check the website (still under construction) at http://mesh64.home.att.net/ for more information.
