When compiling a scenery .bgl file for Microsoft Flight Simulator or Prepar3D, the compiler examines each entry that positions an object and places some code in the file header that defines the geographic coverage of the placement items. In this way, Flightsim needs only examine the file header to determine whether there is anything in the file relevant to the current position of the user aircraft. This, in turn, reduces processing overhead because unneeded (relative to the user aircraft position) objects and positioning data is not loaded. The file is considered geo-locked to its coverage area.
But, there’s also a “downside” to this scheme. If the file contains any objects that might be useful outside the area to which it is geolocked, those objects are not accessible. Further, library object .bgls (which contain only object model data but no positioning data) are not geo-locked by the compiler. Hence, objects in such files are always loaded, whether or not they are needed. To address this latter situation, Microsoft geo-locked some of the stock libraries (e.g., Scenery\Orlando.bgl) when developing Flight Simulator. But, this capability is not supported by the released compilers.
Geolock to the rescue! GeoLock is a utility which allows you to:
But, there’s also a “downside” to this scheme. If the file contains any objects that might be useful outside the area to which it is geolocked, those objects are not accessible. Further, library object .bgls (which contain only object model data but no positioning data) are not geo-locked by the compiler. Hence, objects in such files are always loaded, whether or not they are needed. To address this latter situation, Microsoft geo-locked some of the stock libraries (e.g., Scenery\Orlando.bgl) when developing Flight Simulator. But, this capability is not supported by the released compilers.
Geolock to the rescue! GeoLock is a utility which allows you to:
- unlock geo-locked .bgl files,and
- create geo-locked or unlocked subsets of models contained in scenery and object library .bgl files irrespective of whether the source bgl was geo-locked or not.
In addition, GeoLock can display a 3D image of each model in a file. So, it is also useful in examining the models contains in an scenery object library.