FSX Tongass Fjords X lighthouse Replacements

Tongass Fjords X lighthouse replacements Replaces Five Fingers Lighthouse and Cape Decision Lighthouse in Tongass Fjords X. Requires Tongass Fjords X to display/function properly. By Larry Silsbee.

This scenery will replace the Tongass Fjords X versions of Five Finger Lighthouse and Cape Decision Lighthouse. It uses several components of the Tongass Fjords X product which are NOT redistributed with this package, and objects are positioned based on the coastlines in Tongass Fjords X. It will not function or display properly unless you have Tongass Fjords X installed.

I am not a paid member of the Tongass Fjords X team and do not receive any money or other rewards for purchases of Tongass Fjords X.

***Install ***
I tried to keep this pretty straightforward. Extract the contents of Tongass_lighthouse.zip into your root FSX folder (usually Programs Files\Microsoft Games\ Microsoft Flight Simulator X). The zip is set up so that all files will go into the correct subfolders. For those who keep addon scenery in a different location, I still suggest doing it this way to make sure all the files go where they belong, and then move the Tongass Lighthouse folder to the desired location.

Then just startup FSX, go into the scenery library and add Tongass Lighthouse (the default location is addon scenery/Tongass Lighthouse).
IMPORTANT - this scenery includes several exclude files and MUST HAVE HIGHER PRIORITY than the Tongass_Fjords_higher_priority and Tongass_Fjords_lower priority entries to function properly.

***Seasons***

There is no way to assign seasonal textures to scenery objects in FSX at this time. There are some really smart people looking at the problem, but for now, I did a work around. In the Tongass Lighthouse folder (under addon scenery) you will find two batch files - summer.bat and winter.bat. When summer textures are appropriate, run (double click) summer.bat. When winter textures are appropriate, run winter.bat. The summer versions will be active when you first install the scenery.
NOTE - files can't be replaced while they are in use, so DON'T try to run these batch files while FSX is running.

***Framerates***

I'd like to say that if you get acceptable framerates at Sitka, you shouldn't have any issues with this. I'd like to... but I won't - scenery is just too unpredictable. Making an object the size of the big island at Five Fingers in Gmax means lots and lots of polygons, and polygons are the natural enemy of framerates.

I had to make a compromise between polygons and detail in order to keep the framerates as high as possible. The end result is the big island at Five Fingers looks a bit like a meatloaf.

My beta tester and I see minimal impact; but depending on your system specs, slider positions, etc., this scenery may not work as well for you.

Special thanks to Al Wheeler (Calif central coast scenery) for doing beta, and finding/suggesting solutions for many of the problems encountered.

Larry Silsbee