questions regarding scenery and area switching?

[UKJim 502]

Hi,

So I have been reading about having different scenery/config files for each area - switching them when I fly depending on where it is I am flying etc. This also includes removing entries that are default FSX.

This is supposed to make the game load faster (nothing to do with FPS)

Has anyone tried this or has any application that can do this?? What is your experience?

Thanks,

Jim

[flybytes 34]

Jim,

The scenery config files are tied to the user.

Just as different users can personalize their own desktop, you can do the same with FSX.

If you create different users on your PC it would normally be for yourself (e.g. Jim) and for other members of your family.

Why not call another user FSX_UK, another FSX_North America, etc.

If you logon as FSX_UK you can populate your scenery library with just your UK sceneries.

Logon as FSX_North America and you need add only USA/Canadian scenery to your scenery library, etc, etc.

Cheers,

Ray.

[brett 2,283]

I keep all the default entries in the FSX scenery library turned on all the time because I read that it was a good idea. As for the other addons, I turn them off when not flying in the area using the library and of course also using the FTX Central for Orbx areas. This does speed things up from what I see as far as load times. I did at one time have a freeware scenery config editor program but deleted it for lack of use. I also like Ray's idea but probably will not do that for myself as the way I have been doing it all along has worked for me just fine.

[Kasper 14]

I don't think it is worth the hassle. You'll be longer adjusting the settings to get FSX to load faster than it takes to load in the first place (my experience).

[allardjd 1,853]

I agree with Kasper. If you feel there's a benefit to have scenery for areas you're not flying in turned off, just uncheck them in the Scenery List in FSX on the way in.

John

[Tim_A 995]

I'm with Kasper: I think it's very much a false economy. If you spend 10 minutes tweaking the config file whenever you start FS, only to dave a few seconds of loading time, was it worth it?

[UKJim 502]

OK so here we go - I have done all the hard work up front by making several copies of scenery files, autogen files and config files - renaming them all for the areas I fly in and setup in.

I modify the scenery files so that only the area I am flying in is populated so if I am in north america - I ahve removed europe and australia etc etc also any other addon sceneries in non-active areas.

I have wrote a batch file that deletes the current files in those locations and copies the selected location setup files.

Loading FSX has got faster on my machine and while flying too I do not get blurries (not sure why not though)

The idea I got from a blog site called 'FSX Times' - I suggest people go have a read there it is very good for information and it has the best config file setup EVER!!!

I did get his Scenery Switcher but wanted to do my own so I can easily maintain it but credit goes out to Tim from that site for the ideas

[britfrog 180]

I have grouped all my similar sceneries together so that before I fly i go into scenery list and activate the area i shall fly in, I cant say that i have seen an apreciable difference but to me it only makes sense to activate the scenery that you are going to use as the remaining activated zones will only use memory in some form or another. It certainly reduced the lock up's using ftx stuff combined with a large lod radius

[UKJim 502]

I have read that simply unchecking the boxes and 'disabling' the area etc is not enough - my method actually removes the unused areas completely off the list (as though you have clicked delete area button)

Good thing about this though is I can change it back in less than 10 seconds

I have been flying today and found my frames are a lot better too - I have not done anything other than this modification so I am assuming this has also helped my frames too.

All in all, I am extremely happy with what I have done. The only downside of this is if you buy a new mod like a plane or scenery you would have to update the files that are being copied from. This is not too bad as if you buy some more FTX scenery and need to add it - then you simply need to update only the north america files.