Vector Land Class Installation Instructions
Important- Before starting this installation, any addon packages which
replace default autogen and object textures such as Orbx will need to be
switched off to ensure that backup copies of the correct files are carried
out.
Failure to carry out this step will mean proper deactivation or uninstallation will not be possible.
1.
After downloading the VLC installation package to your hard drive, navigate to and
double click on the zip file to open it.
2.
Double click 'VLC_Install.exe' to start the installation.
3.
The installer will attempt to locate your installation of FSX by looking in the
registry. Since the installer requires FSX to be installed, if it cannot find a valid
path in the registry it will display this message:
This message can mean that you don't have FSX installed already, or that the
Registry Entry for the FSX install location is missing. In either case, the installation
will stop, and you will need to fix this issue before rerunning the installer. The
installer requires a valid FSX installation, as it needs to access some default FSX
textures.
4.
The installer will then prompt you to ensure you have turned off any texture
replacement packages such as Orbx or NL2000. This is necessary because VLC
provides its own replacement versions of textures in Scenery/Global/Texture. To
ensure that this package can be un-installed correctly, backups need to be made
of the original Microsoft textures. If non-original textures are copied at the time of
VLC installation, then non-original textures will be replaced at time on installation
and will affect the operation of the VLC Configuration Tool.
Choose 'Cancel' if you wish to exit the installer and deactivate any other scenery
configurations, otherwise choose 'OK' to continue with the install.
5.
Follow the instructions on the Welcome screen, and press ‘Next’ when ready to
proceed.
6.
Read and understand the terms and conditions. If you agree with these terms and
would like to continue installation, click the box marked 'I agree'. If you do not
agree, click 'Cancel' to exit .
7.
On the 'Choose Components' screen you get to make some choices. The first
choice relates to a fix for the elevation of Milford Sound airfield, which is incorrect
in the default scenery. If you already have an addon scenery which includes a fix
for Milford, then you can unselect this, otherwise it is recommended that you
install this fix. This checkbox is selected by default.
The installer will also offer to automatically activate this scenery in the FSX
Scenery Library. This is your choice -- some users prefer to activate any new
scenery themselves, either by using the Scenery Library option within FSX, or by
some other method. If you are happy to allow the installer to do this for you,
select the check box. This checkbox is unselected by default.
When you are ready to continue with the installation, click 'Install'.
8.
Installation may take some time - please do not interrupt the process.
9.
If you chose to allow the installer to activate the scenery automatically, it will do
so at this point by attempting to find your Scenery.cfg file. If it cannot find this
file, or is unable to edit it, it will display this message:
There are very few reasons why this may happen -- the Scenery.cfg file may be in
use by another application, for example, or there may be a problem with your FSX
installation. Choose OK to close the message dialog, and skip to the Manual
Addition instructions. VLC has been installed at this point but needs some further
steps to ensure it works properly.
Note: Scenery Priority
Scenery Priority is normally handled automatically by FSX, and most addon
scenery does not require special consideration -- it can just be added to the
Scenery Library to display correctly. However any Land Class scenery such as
this requires some thought to Scenery Priority. For example, if it is loaded
after any photo scenery you may have installed, it will take precedence and
display in place of the photo scenery, which may not be what you expected.
To prevent this, the installer will attempt to determine a proper priority so
that any photo scenery displays on top of the land class scenery.
To do this, the installer will try to locate the Addon Scenery folder in your
Scenery Library, and tuck the Vector Land Class scenery close to this. There
are reasons why this may not be possible. First, it may not be able to locate
the Addon Scenery entry in the library, if you have deactivated this for any
reason.
If there is an issue with the Scenery Library, it will display this informational
message:
In either case, you will need to consider the priority within the library. This is
covered in the 'Manually Set VLC Priority' instructions below.
10.
When VLC has been successfully installed, the installer program will prompt you to
exit.
11.
After VLC has been successfully installed it is recommended to be configured for
first use. This is achieved using the 'VLC Configuration Tool' which will
automatically open on exit from the installer program.
Manual Addition of VLC
(Skip this step if you allowed the installer to automatically add VLC to the
library)
A.
Start FSX
B.
Click on the Settings tab to the left of the main dialogue box and
then click the Scenery Library button to open the scenery library.
This list shows all the scenery packages, both default and addon,
that have been added to your FSX installation.
C.
You will need to add Vector Land Class and Vector Land Class Terrain
to the scenery library manually. Do this by clicking the 'Add Area'
button on the left of the Scenery Library dialogue box and navigating
to the two VectorLandClass folders on your hard drive. The default
location is directly inside your FSX installation (i.e. C:\Program
Files\Microsoft Games\FSX\VectorLandClass).
D.
For
the
For
the
the
E.
Repeat step D for the VectorLandClass folder
F.
Check that both folders are present in the library and
that VectorLandClass_DTM sits below VectorLandClass in the
list.
G.
Carry out the 'Manually Set VLC Priority' instructions below.
XP and Vista users, click once on
VectorLandClass_DTM folder to highlight it and then click 'OK'.
Windows 7 users, double click
VectorLandClass_DTM folder, then click anywhere in
whitespace of the dialogue box and click 'OK'
Manually Set VLC Priority
A.
If not already open, start FSX and click on the Settings tab to the
left of the main dialogue box and then click the Scenery
Library button to open the scenery library. This list shows all the
scenery packages, both default and addon, that have been added to
your FSX installation
B.
Scroll down the list until you find the 'Vector Land Class' and
'Vector Land Class DTM' entries.
C.
Using the Move Up/Down buttons on the right of the dialogue box,
move both the Vector Land Class and Vector Land Class Terrain
entries so they sit just above the default scenery items such as
'Propeller Objects', or 'Global, Generic & Vehicle Libraries'. 'Vector
Land Class DTM' should be moved so it sits below 'Vector Land
Class'.
D.
Click OK (The FSX Library will rebuild its index at this stage)
E.
If you have already chosen your preferences using the VLC
Configuration Tool, then you can begin flying immediately. If not,
exit FSX, run the VLC Configuration Tool and then re-start FSX.
Using the Vector Land Class Configuration tool
The Vector Land Class Configuration tool is a small program which allows you to choose
which parts of the VLC package are active in FSX depending on your performance or
visual requirements. Given that each users' hardware limitations and visual preferences
are different, it is recommended that you use this tool at least once before starting FSX
with VLC installed.
Note: Due to the way FSX locks files it is using, if you wish to make changes to VLC,
you must run the VLC configuration tool before starting FSX to ensure your changes
take effect. Changes only need to be applied once, you do not need to the run the tool
before every FSX session.
VLC Scenery Options
Start the program from the shortcut added in the Vector Land Class item in your Start
Menu/Programs list. The program currently allows switching of Roads, Streams and
Night Lights, and disabling of the custom VLC autogen textures.
From the drop lists, choose which option matches your preference. To help you decide,
a picture and description is presented when selecting each option showing the visual
and performance considerations.
To get you started, here are some settings for some common flying types and hardware
limits.
'Balanced Performance' (The best of VLC for those that also value
performance)
Water: Minor Streams On
Roads: Major Roads Only
Night Lights: Main Only
'High- Flier' (High altitude, high ground speed flying such as large
commercial aviation)
Streams: Minor Streams Off
Roads: Major Roads Only
Night Lights: Off
'Slow and Low' (Low altitude, low ground speed flying such as
helicopter or bush flying)
Water: Minor Streams On
Roads: All Roads On
Night Lights: Main Only
'General Aviation' (Low-med altitude, med ground speed flying such as
cross country flight in a light aircraft)
Water: Minor Streams On
Roads: Major Roads Only
Night Lights: Main Only
'Max Detail' (Got a machine that can handle everything that FSX can
throw at it? Use this setting)
Water: Minor Streams On
Roads: All Roads On
Night Lights: All
VLC Autogen Textures Option
Custom VLC autogen textures are applied to the default tree models to make New
Zealand Native bush more realistic- When flying in New Zealand, ensure the 'VLC
Autogen Textures Active' box is ticked to ensure New Zealand looks as good as possible.
When flying outside of New Zealand or when using other addon packages that change
autogen textures, un-tick this option and click 'Apply'. This will restore the default
autogen textures allowing you to fly with default autogen textures or enable other
similar addons covering different countries.
When you have decided on your settings, click 'Apply' then click 'Exit' to exit the
program. You can then start FSX to see your changes. Note that a single click on 'Apply'
is sufficient to change the settings.
Tip: If you forget to disable VLC autogen textures before activating another scenery
addon that also replaces autogen textures (such as Orbx), simply run the VLC config
tool before flying in NZ again, ensuring the 'VLC Autogen Textures Active' box is ticked,
then click 'Apply'.
If you would like to un-install Vector Land Class for whatever reason, the un-installer
provided should take care of most things. Before running the un-installer, you should
remove the entries for VectorLandClass and VectorLandClass_DTM from the Scenery
Library within FSX. However there is one extra step which must be performed first:
Start the Configuration tool, untick the 'VLC Autogen Textures Active', click 'Apply' and
then exit. You can now un-install VLC using the un-installer shortcut found in the Start
menu - VectorLandClass folder.
When Vector Land Class is installed, the default Tropical Bush autogen textures which
need to be replaced are backed up in Scenery\Global\Texture\VLC_BAK. The installer
will back up the default textures the first time it runs, and will then leave these files
alone as long as they remain in this folder. So at any point these files should represent
the textures which you had before Vector Land Class was installed. To safeguard this,
the un-installer will leave these files where they are, which is why you need to run the
Configuration Tool and unselect the Autogen textures if you wish to use the default
autogen textures. If you do end up with some other autogen textures displayed in place
of the default Tropical Bush textures (currently there are three textures replaced by the
installer), then these backups can be used to return them to default after un-installing.
The VLC_BAK folder should not be deleted until you are sure that you have the correct
Tropical Bush textures in Scenery\Global\texture.
Vector Land Class - Version 1.0 Release Notes
As VLC is intended to have ongoing future development, there are some items that may
be changed, added or fixed depending on the requests of users.
Some possibilities are: inclusion of more 'point' objects in their real world locations such
as petrol stations, schools and fast food restaurants, inclusion of more custom ground
and autogen textures, update of airspace boundaries.
Known Issues and Omitted Features
Airfields: As with any new mesh, airports may now either sit in a small valley or
plateau. We intend to release fixed airports in the near future (the worst offender due to
errors in the default mesh, Milford Sound, has been included in this release). Many will
simply be updates using default objects while others will be custom made especially for
VLC.
Default airport boundaries may also cause some visual anomalies. VLC data is more
accurate than the default FSX Airfield polygons which make up both the landclass
polygon and the flatten/exclude. Where the default exclude crosses VLC airfield
polygons, areas of 'dirt' may be apparent. These will be fixed with the airport updates.
RealNZ Scenery addons are also intending to release custom highly detailed airfields
blended into VLC - see the Godzone website: http://www.windowlight.co.nz for more
details.
Bridges: Extrusion bridges are still using default data which is good in 95% of cases.
Some bridges may not align properly with new VLC road data but we hope to provide
matching bridges in the near future.
Light Houses: These were originally included but subsequently removed as the default
library models aren't typical of New Zealand style light houses. It is probable that
custom models will be made and included with an update.
Tides: Simmers who followed the development of VLC may have noted that high tide/
low tide environments didn't make the final release. This was mostly due to time
constraints rather than technical constraints so if the community feels this would be
beneficial it can be added in the future.
Fences: Another feature which missed the cut were fence lines. These were dropped
out for a number of reasons including performance, mis-alignment with landclass
textures and needing to alter the scenery.cfg file.
If there is a feature you would like or a bug you have noticed, please let us know by
sending an email with a description of the problem to [email protected]
Please note that some 'problems' may simply be due to the way FSX displays data or
limitations in the source data which cannot be realistically fixed.
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