Hi Lou... good to see you back in the FS forums again !
In FS9 we could use Ultimate Terrain USA ("UT-USA") to add roads with a high degree of control over the configuration, and the FSX version of that product ("UTX") is even more configurable.
There are separate patches made for Ultimate Terrain in most major scenery packages, and I believe all of Holger's FSAddon and freeware add-ons accommodate UT-USA and/or UTX, so you should be able to achieve the degree of realism you might want in that regard without significant losses of detail.
Additionally, UTX adds ground vehicle traffic to many roads (...rather than removing it, although one can control that as well).
FYI: One might still need to tweak one of the FSX default files to set the speed of any ground vehicle traffic to be more realistic to scale:
In C:\Documents and Settings\[active user profile name]\Application Data\Microsoft\FSX folder (Windows XP Pro path shown)
1.) Decompile
LWcfg.SPB using Lamont Clark's [FONT=verdana, sans-serif]
spb2xml:
a.) Copy [/FONT][FONT=verdana, sans-serif]
spb2xml.exe into the proper folder as above
b.) Open a [/FONT][FONT=verdana, sans-serif]
"command console session" via[/FONT][FONT=verdana, sans-serif]
Start > Run > CMD [Enter]
c.) [/FONT][FONT=verdana, sans-serif]
At the flashing hyphen "command" prompt, t[/FONT][FONT=verdana, sans-serif]
ype: "CD [/FONT]
C:\Documents and Settings\[active user profile name]\Application Data\Microsoft\FSX[FONT=verdana, sans-serif]
"
d.) [/FONT][FONT=verdana, sans-serif]
At the flashing hyphen "command" prompt, t[/FONT][FONT=verdana, sans-serif]
ype: "[/FONT][FONT=verdana, sans-serif]
spb2xml LWcfg.SPB LWcfg.XML"
Note: This converts the [/FONT]
LWcfg.SPB[FONT=verdana, sans-serif]
file into [/FONT]a
copy named
LWcfg.XML[FONT=verdana, sans-serif]
; reportedly, after editing, the [/FONT]LWcfg.XML file does NOT need to be re-compiled.
http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fsxutil&DLID=94549
http://forums1.avsim.net/index.php?showtopic=64263&pid=454110&start=0&#entry454110
http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13250&highlight=road+speed
2.) Open LWcfg.XML in NotePad and edit the line:
<freewaytraffic trafficspeed="100">
"
< FreewayTraffic TrafficSpeed="100" >"
<freewaytraffic trafficspeed="100"></freewaytraffic>
...a replacement value of about "
50" seems to be a more realistic speed.
3.) Save and re-start FSX to test the ground roadway traffic speed tweak results.
BTW: Ground </freewaytraffic>roadway traffic density avries with population density in FSX, so in some rural areas, vehicle density may appear different than in urban areas.
Alternatively, one could try using this freeware file from OrbX / FTX (not well documented as to which FSX file(s) it changes to adjust traffic speeds):
http://forums.flightsim.com/vbfs/archive/index.php/t-195903.html
http://fullterrain.com/freebies/SLOWER_VEHICLES_TWEAK.zip
<freewaytraffic trafficspeed="100"> Additionally, the [FS install path]\Autogen\default.xml file still can be edited or removed from the FS configuration if desired in both FS9 and FSX, although in FSX that seems less necessary on newer computers.
Autogen displayed as a result of one's autogen density slider setttings in FS for trees and building can be further configured if desired with a couple of optional tweaks in FSX.CFG.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555739
Hope this helps ! :mixedsmi:
GaryGB
</freewaytraffic>