Stuff you need (1): Scenery Config Editor

[Aerosoft Team [Inactive Account] 51558]

We'll start a new series of software you really need to manage your simulation(s). I mean REALLY need. Stuff you should not be without. The first in the range is Scenery Config Editor, created by Andrew Thornton.

These days keeping track of your activated scenery is pretty important as a lot does not work great together and keeping things deactivated will greatly reduce your chance of running into a OOM error. And Scenery Config Editor has some great options for that. On starting it seems like one of the many tools that let's you activate and deactivate scenery.

But even on that page you got some good stuff. You see there are no errors in the scenery.cfg (and believe me, many people have and they cause serious problems) and you can re-order the scenery files. When you click on Actions some of the more powerful options are seen.

You can for example have a scenery.cfg created, fix errors and clean up the scenery.cfg using the Reset Layer option. This is a great option because it renumbers all scenery entries. As some installers have problems finding the next available number it is a fine idea to do this before installing new scenery.

The real powerhouse however are the areas and groups. Say for example you want to do a night flight in The Netherlands. For that I would disable all VFR scenery (you simply don't see it at night), activate the two airports and Night Environment - Benelux. All other scenery is disabled and you have almost no chance of running into an OOM or scenery conflict. Sure you can do this in the FSX scenery manager, but here it is one click. And that feature alone makes is a bit of software you need.

You'll find it here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/fs-sceditor/

If you have any other suggestions for this topic, let us know!

[jonesrob 37]

It's the very first item on my pre-flying checklist - it's really, really good. Good post Mathijs.

Rob.

[Cheyenne Chief Pilot 829]

This is a valuable tool, VAS-wise: Depending on how "mature" your FSX installation is (in terms of addon scenery, photoscenery especially), disabling the not-used layers may give you anything between, say, 200 MB and 1 GB of additional VAS to spare. (Find out by disabling ALL your addon scenery, just for a test, and for obtaining your personal VAS gain.)

A word of caution may be in order, as far as the SCE groups and areas are concerned: If you install additional scenery, after you have created those groups and stuff, make sure your latest scenery is reflected within those groups appropriately.

(And I'm not sure what's the effect of switching between regions and default in FTX Central - can anyone comment on this, pls.?)

For another great tool, concering VAS: Get Microsoft Process Explorer, as it can give you a continuous readout of your VAS-in-use: You can start a flight with lower graphics settings, see what these do to your VAS usage, and eventually increase your graphics settings according to the Process Explorer readout (make sure you keep enough of a headroom for the remainder of your flight, though!).

[HarryB 2]

Thank you so much for sharing. I've been running into a couple of OOM's since I am running FSX on my new system recently (before that I was a strict FS2004 user, but now it's been banned to a drawer).

This could help me deactivate alle unnecessary sceneries and prevent OOM errors.

[Aerosoft Team [Inactive Account] 51558]

For another great tool, concering VAS: Get Microsoft Process Explorer, as it can give you a continuous readout of your VAS-in-use: You can start a flight with lower graphics settings, see what these do to your VAS usage, and eventually increase your graphics settings according to the Process Explorer readout (make sure you keep enough of a headroom for the remainder of your flight, though!).

Even easier, have it shown in the title of FSX:

[Cheyenne Chief Pilot 829]

Even easier, have it shown in the title of FSX:

4-4-2014 12-23-06 PM.png

Arghhh, I forgot that your tip works with the unregistered version of FSUIPC, too. So, no matter whether it's registered or not, simply follow Mathijs' advice (readout, in this case, is the free VAS - like in "NOT used").

[738 756]

Thanks for posting this Mathijs.

I did a long haul yesterday, PMDG777 Aerosoft EGLL-Flightbeam KIAD. Everything went well and got her down after 8hrs20mins, turned off the rwy and heard some strange noise in the background. Then FSX froze so i alt&enter to see the error message....not a happy bunny coz in my haste i flipped the power supply switch off and lost the entire flight and this was with one of my VA's so i lost the hours

I will defo be using this little tool in future so

[JPL19 11]

I use Scenery Config Editor extensively. There are certain programs (FTX Central, for instance) that may wipe out your groups. There is a "Restore Groups from Backup" function that will reset your groups. If you find some sceneries still ending up "ungrouped", below is a paste from a post I made on AVSIM on how to fix:

I was hoping the latest release of Scenery Config Editor would fix the issue of some areas not being properly placed back in their group when using "RESTORE GROUPS FROM BACKUP". For me, it was about 30-40 areas I always had to place again manually, somewhat of a pain.

Well, the new release did not fix that for me, so I dug into it and found out why this is happening, and, fixed it in my case.

I found two things that will prevent the program from restoring an area to a group, both easily fixed.

#1 - Any scenery area with a location that ends with a " \ ":

Local=C:\Program Files (x86)\FSX Add On Scenery\Addon Scenery\PWS Vol 1\

needs to become:

Local=C:\Program Files (x86)\FSX Add On Scenery\Addon Scenery\PWS Vol 1

#2 - Any area that includes a full path description despite being in the FSX main folder:

Local=D:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\aerosoft\Maldives X\Maldives X - low priority

needs to become:

Local=aerosoft\Maldives X\Maldives X - low priority

Once I made these fixes to my Scenery.cfg the Scenery Config Editor program restores every area to its proper group.

Just passing on the tip in case it helps anyone else. Always keep a back up if you start digging in on your own.

Joe