Scenery Entries

[jackryan172]

Hi All,

In the ongoing rebuild saga, I was just wondering if there is a limit to the number of scenery entries? I seem to remember having like 480 entries in my old system.

Sean

 

[aardvark62]

Sure I read somewhere that there is a limit - of 999 scenery cfg entries. So you should be okay for a while.

A.

 

[Mick]

I don't know about a limit, but in my previous confuter I found that when the list got long, adding new scenery in the usual way resulted in FS9 badly scrambling the scenery.cfg file, resulting in scenery not showing up, FS failures to load, CTDs and all sorts of troubles. I don't know at just what point that started happening, but I suspected it was when the number of entries reached triple figures. Maybe the number of entries wasn't really the cause of the cfg scrambling, but I can't imagine what else it might have been. All I know is that every time I added a scenery area, I ended up having to fix the scenery.cfg file after FS messed it up.

Anyway, I got into the habit of adding scenery areas manually. That can also result in errors, but one's own errors are within one's control, avoidable with proper care and caution, while system errors can't be avoided. It can be a tedious process, due to the renumbering of areas and layers, or not, depending on where one wants to place a particular scenery in the stack. Of course it becomes much simpler if one keeps the scenery number and the layer number the same, and keeps the entries in proper numerical order on the list. It's still tedious that way, but at least not inherently confusing. That orderliness also might satisfy one's obsessive-compulsive tendencies, if any, and I have an unfounded suspicion that FS might find the scenery.cfg file quicker and easier to read when the order of entries in the cg file is the same as the order of their layers in the sim, and all are listed in numerical order. But what do I know...?

I hesitate to recommend doing it this way, because there certainly is plenty of room for error if one isn't careful, but it works for me. I've never had a scenery.cfg problem since I started doing it this way, and I've done a tremendous lot of scenery installing since I've been recreating two highly developed FS9 installations on my current confuter, plus adding a third from scratch.

Of course, one should always keep a backup copy before editing the cfg file.

 

[aardvark62]

This little freeware utility (from Avsim - links didn't copy across -sorry!) makes adding and removing scenery a doddle; no more scrambled scenery cfgs and no restarting FS to re-order scenery layers. (but DO keep a backup of your cfg, just incase!):

Category: Flight Simulator 2004 - Utilities
FS Scenery Manager v1.8

File Description:
FS
Scenery Manager is a little tool to manage easily sceneries of FS2004. The main
function is the possibility to classify scenery into folders, for a simplified
management of several sceneries in one click. Moreover you can add more than one
scenery with the scan function. Version 1.8 adds a check function (available in
the V1.7 but with a possible crach) and now this functionality is documented.
For more details see the pdf in the zip file.

Filename:	fs_scenery_manager_v1.8.zip
License:	Freeware, limited distribution
Added:	12th January 2011, 22:40:19
Downloads:	1746
Author:	Lionel Uzan
Size:	199kb

Hope this helps, A.

 

[Terry]

There is also this simple little program that keeps the cfg clean and orderly.


Application: FSTscenery.exe (last update: 27 Feb, 2007)
Purpose:
========
This application creates a new version of scenery.cfg with Areas sorted by your current Layer number sequence/priority, with matching Area and Layer numbers assigned sequentially. Existing Area numbers are ignored in greating the output. Gaps in Area or Layer numbers are closed.


This process can solve some problems with the scenery.cfg file when Areas/Layers are numbered incorrectly. The warning messages may help identify the source of such problems.


The program checks for obvious issues first:


Areas - correct format is [Area.xxx]


the following issues may have caused problems, but do not interfere here,
so warnings are issued but processing continues:


incorrect line length
non-numeric value
duplicate area numbers
out of numerical sequence


Layers


critical errors, processing halted:
non-numeric values
duplicate layer numbers


Because the new file will be sorted by Layer value,
these must be corrected manually before program will proceed.


The simplest solution for duplicates is to assign a layer
number greater than any in use. Then run the program.
You can then set the correct priority using the Scenery Library menu
and run this program again if desired.


Issues: Any issues identified in the above checks are reported in _issues.txt.




Use:
====
Place FSTscenery.exe and scenery.cfg in the same folder.


Double-click FSTscenery.exe to run the program.


The application creates a copy of your original as scenery.org
and constructs a new scenery.cfg file in the same folder


Move your new scenery.cfg file to your FS folder, if created elsewhere.




Notes:
======
I do not know if any or all conditions checked above can cause problems in the sim, but they seemed worth checking anyway. Please let me know if you encounter other conditions that should be added to the checks.


There are no other checks of the integrity of the file; I assume it is otherwise "well-formed". If you stil have problems, you should probably restore your original cfg file (delete scenery.cfg and rename scenery.org to scenery.cfg) and resolve those problems before continuing.


An "Area" block begins with a line starting with "[Area" and continues up to the next occurrence of "[Area"


Blank lines are removed, then a single blank line is inserted between each scenery area.


Comment lines are included with the preceding area, so you may have to manually
reposition any comments used to identify regions in the file.


This is a Visual Basic Application and requires MSVBVM60.DLL for VB runtime support on your computer. This file can be placed in the folder with this application if you would rather not install it, but it is normally installed in the Windows\System folder.


If this file is not present, you can download and install it from:


http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...f9-b5c5-48f4-8edd-cdf2d29a79d5&DisplayLang=en




Limitations:
==========================
Maximum Areas: 2000
Maximum lines per Area: 50 (to handle possible comment, flatten, exclude lines for the Area)




Steve Greenwood


http://home.earthlink.net/~smgreenwood/
fs-traveler@earthlink.net