FS2004 Editing or creating Seasons BGL file for a certain area of the globe?

[Leo2789]

Hello,

I have an addon scenery for the area of a whole country (Portugal) that came with its own 'local' seasons bgl file, mainly to add snow to the highest mountains in winter, which was lacking per the default seasons.bgl from FS2004.
Despite this, I'm still not entirely satisfied with the snow distribution in winter and would like to add a few more patches. Now the problem is that I can't find any clear information about this anywhere, I checked tons of forums, read the Terrain SDK and nothing has helped!
What I would like to know is the following:
- Can season BGLs be decompiled and if so how? (because it would be much easier to just edit the one I have than make a whole new one for the whole country!)
- How exactly do you edit/create a seasons file? Ive read about making INF files and such but it all seems too techy and complicated to me I read that seasons are treated in a way somewhat like landclass by the sim, so is there a tool like SBuilder or EZLandclass where you can just easily map various tiles with the season you want?
Also I am aware of the 12 seasons (1 per month) stuff and that the LOD of seasons is much lower than that for LandClass.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you

 

[arno]

Hi,

There is an experimental tool that can decompile some resample made bgl files.

But I think in general it's easier to make your own. You need to make a bitmap for each season and an inf file that combines all. Then resample can make a season bgl for you.

 

[Leo2789]

Hi @arno !

First of all let me give you a BIG thank you for all the tools you have developed over the years for FS scenery design!

I see, would you know where I could get that tool?
Also i have no idea how to make bitmaps, and the inf file making is still a confusing matter to me, I have to read the SDK again and thoroughly!
This is to use the default seasons by the way, theres no intention of doing photoreal seasons and such! (in case you understood it as such)

Thanks!

 

[arno]

If only I could remember the name

I can upload a sample inf file if that helps.

 

[Leo2789]

If only I could remember the name

I can upload a sample inf file if that helps.

That would be a great help indeed!

 

[JRobinson]

Can season BGLs be decompiled and if so how? (because it would be much easier to just edit the one I have than make a whole new one for the whole country!)

There's no need to decompile and modify the default seasons.bgl, you can make a small seasons adjustment just for the area you're interested in. Further if it's only the month of March you want to change it's possible to make a seasons adjustment that only affects the month of March.

Here's the thread that turned the lights on for me:

seasons.bgl?? which forum?

My first post here! Some of you might recognize my handle from AVSIM as I hang out there some. I am a lifetime FS tweaker so all things scenery design always interest me. Anyway, my question is, which subforum here, is appropriate to ask a question about the 'seasons.bgl' file? This...

www.fsdeveloper.com

 

[Leo2789]

There's no need to decompile and modify the default seasons.bgl, you can make a small seasons adjustment just for the area you're interested in. Further if it's only the month of March you want to change it's possible to make a seasons adjustment that only affects the month of March.

Here's the thread that turned the lights on for me:

seasons.bgl?? which forum?

My first post here! Some of you might recognize my handle from AVSIM as I hang out there some. I am a lifetime FS tweaker so all things scenery design always interest me. Anyway, my question is, which subforum here, is appropriate to ask a question about the 'seasons.bgl' file? This...

www.fsdeveloper.com

Thank you @JRobinson ! I'll read up on that thread and see if it can help me out! The method using EZLandclass sounds promising!

 

[JRobinson]

TBH I didn't catch the FS9 tag so I'm not sure if:

you can make a small seasons adjustment just for the area you're interested in. Further if it's only the month of March you want to change it's possible to make a seasons adjustment that only affects the month of March

...is actually true for FS9. I know it is for FSX & beyond, I've done it.

At any rate here's another thread where Holger explains it for FS9 and provides an example he did for Alaska:

[SOLVED] Seasons

Hi, All This is for FS2004 Changing Terrain Texture Using FS2004 Terrrain SDK, Resampler Problem related to seasons, dates, etc. If this is listed elsewhere, please forgive me and tell me where it is. My problem is that all references in the SDK are to 5 seasons around the year...

www.fsdeveloper.com