flightsim.andyjohnston.net
flightsim.andyjohnston.net Exclude Switches August 20, 2000

If you create scenery for an area which already contains items, it may be necessary to instruct Flight Simulator to ignore the default scenery. This is done through the use of exclude switches in the scenery.cfg file, which is found in the main Flight Sim 2000 folder.

Start by opening FlightSim and creating a scenery area to contian your new files.

Next use a text editor, such as Notepad, to edit the scenery.cfg.

The switch will exclude a four sided area that you specify.

This is what an exclude switch resembles:

Exclude=North Latitude,West Longitude,South Latitude,East Longitude,category

Unlike with a flatten switch, where you specify four points, for an exclude you specify a square composed of lines of latitude and longitude. The category selects exactly which items you want to exclude. There are 4 categories:

  • Objects - Excludes all default 3-dimensional buildings and objects as well as airports.
  • VORs - Excludes all default VOR and ILS navigational aids
  • NDBs - Excludes all default NDB navigational aids.
  • All - Excludes all default objects and navigational aids.

Here is an example of a fictional exclude which ignores everything but NDBs:

[Area.100]
Group=Your Area
ID=Your Area
Title=Your Area
Active=TRUE
Layer=100
Local=C:\Your Area
Exclude=N45 30,W120,N45,W119 30,objects,vors

Flight Sim reads layer 1 as the most basic scenery. Then counts up to the highest number. They appear the opposite of how they do in the FlightSim scenery box. In this case the area is 78. Area and layer mean the same thing.

Next is the title as it appears in the FlightSim scenery box, followed by the path to the files. I set up the files in c:\fsscenery\ic\scenery. Note how the final subfolder is left out, because FS-2000 knows to look for it without being told.

Active chooses whether or not the scenery will be included. The value can be set to TRUE or FALSE. It is the same as checking the box in FlightSim.

Next comes the part which is important. The Exclude. Note the syntax, it must be exactly right if you want it to work.

By using the exclude switch, you can erase default airports in order to create your own improved versions.

© flightsim.andyjohnston.net, 2000