FSX Ants Aussie Airports Vol. 2

Ants Aussie Airports Vol. 2: New South Wales. Includes a number of airports which can be found in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Most of the airfields contain photoreal backgrounds and these are designed to blend in with the payware FTX textures. By Anthony Lynch.

There is a PDF version of this document in the Ants Aussie Airports/Documentation folder.

ANTS AUSSIE AIRPORTS VOL 2 : NEW SOUTH WALES.

Freeware scenery for Microsoft's Flight Simulator X.

INTRODUCTION

Here we again with the second Ants Aussie Airports pack. This download contains scenery for FSX and includes a number of airports which can be found in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Most of the airfields contain photoreal backgrounds and these are designed to blend in with the payware FTX textures. It is therefore recommended that you have the FTX textures installed if you wish to see these airfields at their best. I try to make these airfields as accurate possible. This means that almost all of the models are custom made with the use of library objects kept to the minimum.
Note: Many of these airports are available for FS9 as part of the VistaOZ freeware package.
Note: Each airport pack I make is a standalone pack. You do not need to have Ants Aussie Airports Vol 1 installed to use Vol 2. You can download and install Vol 1 later if you want.

REQUIREMENTS
- Microsoft's FSX is essential (this scenery is not compatible with FS9)
- ORBX's payware FTX textures are highly recommended.
- OZx freeware airports are recommended though not essential.

INSTALLATION

Note: If you have Ants Aussie Airports Vol 1 then Vol 2 will install into the same folder as Vol 1. This is to prevent your scenery library from filling up with individual entries for each Volume. You do not need to have Vol 1 installed to use Vol 2 and you can install Vol 1 at a later date if you wish.

This scenery makes no changes to your default installation nor does it install things into default folders.

1. Unzip the download into a temporary folder

2. Move the "Ants Aussie Airports" folder into the "Program Files\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\Addon scenery" folder. If you installed "Ants Aussie Airports Vol 1 : Snowy Mts" then you should already have a folder "Ants Aussie Airports". Click OK to overwrite any existing files (I have made a few object libraries, eg cars, cones, gables etc and I include a copy in each pack).

3. Move the "effects" folder into "Program Files\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X" folder.

4. Start FSX and select "SETTINGS". In the "Other settings" section on the right of the screen select "Scenery Library". If you have installed any "Ants Aussie Airports" pack before then you will have already added it to the scenery library and you should skip to step 7.

5. I select "Add Area"

6. Navigate to the "Addon Scenery\Ants Aussie Airports" folder and select "OK"

7. Ensure the Scenery area "Ants Aussie Airports" is above the FTX entries and click "OK" (see below for a screenshot). Please note, if you have installed any of the ORBX products to check your scenery library. I've found that sometimes the ORBX installer will mess with the order of your scenery library and will place the FTX files at the top of the list.

You are now ready to fly so select one of the airfields listed on the following pages.

AIRPORTS INCLUDED

Gundaroo, Gundaroo NSW, YGDO
Also known as Bowylie this is a private strip owned by the great Australian aviation adventurer Dick Smith so make sure you ask permission before landing. Note that approaches and departures from the south are preferred. Gundaroo is located just north of Canberra.

Wilton, Wilton NSW, YWIO
Busy? Yes. Sydney Skydiving based at Wilton to the south of Sydney is flat out throwing people out of airplanes (which is why there are so many windsocks). Note : A version of Wilton appears as part of OZx. This version will exlude the OZx version. If you prefer the OZx version you should delete my Wilton (refer to the partial uninstall instructions below which lists the files to be removed for Wilton)

Wedderburn, Wedderburn NSW, YWBN
This is more like it. A busy little airfield south of Sydney (and close to Wilton) which mainly caters to light sport aircraft. The runway used to be only half paved but recently the whole runway was paved.

South Grafton, Grafton NSW, YSGR
A small airfield in the heart of South Grafton in Northern NSW. The runway is a fair way from the hangars (make sure you don't taxi into the drainage ditch). Makes for a good flight to nearby Coffs Harbour for those with this FTX payware airfield. Also nearby is the OZx version of Grafton which is a regional airport.

Evans Head, Evans Head NSW, YEVD
Evans Head memorial aerodrome is one of those old RAAF bases set up during WWII to train pilots. The future of this airport is unknown as the local council wants to sell off some of the land for a nursing home. My version includes scenery for the airshow held at the aerodrome at the end of 2007. If you don't like the airshow scenery or would like to see the airfield as it appears most of the time reduce your scenery complexity setting to VERY DENSE (the airshow scenery will only appear when scenery complexity is set to EXTREMELY DENSE) or you can permanently disable the airshow scenery by removing or disabling the file "Addon Scenery\Ants Aussie Airports\scenery\aaa2_YEVD airshow scenery.bgl". Note that Evans Head does not have photoreal ground textures.

Casino, Casino NSW, YCAS
Another regional field that isn't what it used to be. Half the field (and half the runway) was sold off (for a very cheap price) a few years ago and converted to a caravan park. Make sure you land on the still active part of the runway as there is a fence running across the old part. This field makes for some good glider flights (a grass runway runs alongside the paved runway). See if you can glide from Casino to Tyagarah (available in OZx).
I have supplied two airport files for this scenery. One uses the standard FSX runway textures and the other uses the photoreal ground texture for the runway. The photoreal looks more realistic but can suffer from bluriness problems. You can choose which to use by changing the filename extension on the files "AFX_aaa2_YCAS Casino.bgl" and "AFX_aaa2_YCAS Casino Photoreal RWY.bgl" from .bgl to .off. Make sure you have one active (use .bgl) and one inactive (use .off). By default "AFX_aaa2_YCAS Casino.bgl", which uses the default FSX textured runway, is active. The screenshot above shows the photoreal runway active.

BONUS AIRPORT : Warnervale NSW, Warnervale YWVA
Originally I wasn't going to release this as the FTX team said they were going to release a freeware version. They have since decided to make it a payware airport. Anyway, here is my freeware version. I'm sure it's not as accurate as the FTX payware version but the price is a lot friendlier. You will have to add this airport manually to the "Ants Aussie Airports" scenery folder (if someone had installed the FTX payware Warnervale I didn't want to overwrite it with my version). To do this copy the 8 Warnervale files from the "Addon Scenery\Ants Aussie Airports\aaa2 Bonus" folder to the "Addon Scenery\Ants Aussie Airports\Scenery" folder.

FAQ

Will this scenery work in FS9?
No. However, these airfields have been converted from FS9 airfields which are available as part of the vistaoz package.

The photoreal doesn't blend with the default textures.
It is highly recommended that you have the FTX textures installed. These not only provide better ground and tree textures for Australia but also provide better coastlines, landclass and roadways as well as improving a few of the major cities. Plus they also have plenty of free airports which you can download. I consider FTX an essential purchase for anyone flying in Australia so the airfields are designed to blend with these textures.
Please do not ask me to modify this scenery to work with the default textures. It would just mean a lot of time and effort from me with no benefit to myself.

Why are the windsocks so ugly?
It is difficult to create windsock models that work well in FSX. The FSX SDK doesn't allow access to the necessary parameters so developers must use windsocks developed using the FS9 SDK. Unfortunately FS9 windsock models don't work all that well either and will more often than not display the incorrect weather conditions. This is not a fault of scenery developers but is a fault with MS FS9 and FSX. For FS9 I used to make windsock poles and added the FS9 default windsock to the top. It wasn't perfect but it looked better than the default and at least showed which way the wind was blowing. In FSX I can't do this as FSX (for some unknown reason) will move the windsock away from the pole. So, rather than use unreliable windsock models I decided to use the ugly default windsocks which at least show the correct wind conditions which is more important than looking pretty.

I'm having problems with Wilton
OZx includes a version of Wilton and you may see this as well as my version. My version should exclude the OZx version but problems can occur if the Scenery Library gets mixed up (which some of the ORBx installers can do). Check the Scenery Library order (refer to the installation instructions) to make sure Ants Aussie Airports is above OZx or you can delete my Wilton if you prefer the OZx version (see below for the uninstall instructions).

Will there be more Ants Aussie Airports?
Yes. The following is a list of the planned volumes (note that the order given here is not necessarily the order they will be released):
AAA VOL 1 : Snowy Mountains (released and available now)
Cooma, Tumut, Polo Flat, Khancoban, Geehi, Adaminaby
AAA VOL 2 : NSW (this scenery)
Gundaroo, Wedderburn, Wilton, Evans Head, Casino, Sth Grafton, Warnervale
AAA VOL 3 : Darwin International (coming soon)
Darwin International, Darwin Hospital, Robertson Barracks
AAA VOL ? : Northern Territory
RAAF Tindal, Emkaytee, Batchelor, Delissaville, Dum in Mirrie, Albany Park, Dundee Beach
AAA VOL ? : Southern QLD
Brisbane Intl (maybe), Lady Elliot Island, Bundaberg, Hervey Bay (maybe), Gympie
AAA VOL ? : Northern QLD
Longreach, Barcaldine, Aramac, Hamilton Island, Rockhampton (maybe)

Where's Palmers Island and Swan Bay?
I've said before that I'd do Palmers Island and Swan Bay. Mark Lee has done a version of Palmers Island for OZx so I've supplied him with some models of the buildings. For Swan Bay it is located running alongside a road which doesn't seem to be that accurately placed in FSX. Unfortunately moving roads in FSX and FTX is difficult to do so I've decided not to do this little private strip as it would involve to many compromises to get it to work well. No great loss as all there is at Swan Bay is a shed and a windsock.

Why doesn't the airport data work well on some of the airfields?
The way most FSX airifelds are designed is with runways and taxiways defined in an airport file. The problem with these airfields is that the terrain must be absolutely dead flat beneath them for the runways and taxiways to appear (see Casino and Evans Head for examples of these types of airfields). Not all airfields are completely flat with many having sloping or bumpy runways so, rather than flatten those fields I have included a simple airport file which only contains comms data and a few start locations. These fields cannot handle AI traffic nor will they appear on the ATC nearest airport screen. The airport file is there merely to allow easy selection of the airfield from the FSX menus and GPS.

Any other problems
Before emailing me asking for support consider the following. This scenery is designed to work with FSX SP2. Please also consider that this scenery works great on my system and that's all that really matters to me. If it doesn't work on your system then I may be able to give a few tips and pointers but please don't expect me to spend too much of my valuable time trying to solve problems as my advice would probably be to read the section below.

UNINSTALLING

Start FSX and remove "Ants Aussie Airports" from the "Scenery Library"
Delete "Ants Aussie Airports" from the "Addon Scenery" folder
Delete any effects file (.fx) starting with "AntsAussieAirports_" from the "Microsoft Flight Simulator X\Effects" folder

PARTIAL UNINSTALL

You may wish to remove some airports but not all. Each airport will have a number of files associated with it so to uninstall a particular airport you will need to remove each of these files. For example: To remove Wilton airport you will need to remove the following files:

aaa2_WiltonPhoto.bgl (The photoreal background)
aaa2_WiltonScenery.bgl (Placement of the 3D models)
aaa2_WiltonWindsocks.bgl (Windsock model, unfortunately uses the default windsock)
AFX_aaa1_YWIO Wilton.bgl (runways, taxiways and aprons as well as excludes)
CVX_aaa1_Wilton.bgl (SBuilderX vector data ie flattens, roads etc)

It is not recommended that you remove aaa1_WiltonModelLib.bgl as this contains the 3D model library which may include models used at other airfields.
Note that the AFX file includes excludes. If you edit this file with an airport editor that is not AFX then this data may be stripped from the file.

This scenery is freeware.

Thank you for taking the time to read this manual and I hope you enjoy the scenery.

Anthony Lynch

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