User’s Manual
© 2005, 2006 - HiFi Simulation
Software
Table of Contents
Overview
The
Graphics Submission Process
Themes
Quick
Select Panel
Browse
Panel
Selection
Details Panel
Properties
Panel
Options
Panel
Save
Theme Panel
3. Using
Random and Wx-Influenced Selections
Random
Themes
Random
Texture Selections
Wx-Influenced
Themes
Chapter 1 – Using ActiveSky
Graphics
Overview
ActiveSky
Graphics (ASG) is a comprehensive new sky and environment graphics enhancement upgrade
for AS2004, with a completely new enhanced interface to make configuring and
depicting great graphics a very pleasant and intuitive experience. ASG is completely integrated with ASv6 for
automatic texture submission and optional Wx-Influenced texture selections.
ASG
replaces Active Environment (which was included with ASV) and contains major
improvements to all texture content especially in the cloud categories. Because of new image manipulation techniques,
we have included more content and combination possibilities while significantly
decreasing the download/package size.
All resolutions (512x512, 256x256, 128x128 and 64x64) are available with
full 32-bit and optional DXT3 modes in the single small compact package. Our cloud images are now generated on-the-fly
in native FS9 image format with full mip-maps for better performance. This means no more lengthy conversion
processes!
To
use ASG, you simply run the ActiveSky Graphics program via the ASv6 button or
the separate ASG program icon entry.
From here, you can use the “Quick Select” panel to easily select a theme
and then “Send to FS” to make these graphics available in the sim (after fresh
FS9 launch). Alternatively you can
explore the many different options and advanced configuration parameters which
are outlined in the next few sections.
The Graphics Submission
Process
When
you first install ASG (which is automatically installed with ASv6), your FS9
sky/environment textures are still in their original state. You must actually submit something from ASG
before the new graphics can be depicted.
It
is important to note that FS9 must be loaded or re-loaded before new graphics
selections can be depicted. There is one
exception: Cirrus clouds can be updated
“on-the-fly” and will be updated in FS after some time if using ASv6 automatic
updates (online or offline).
To
submit graphics to FS, use the “Send to FS” button in the ASG interface. When in “Quick Select” mode, your currently
displayed selection will be automatically activated then sent to FS9. If you are in Selection Detail or Browse
mode, your selection list is configured using the “Select” button. Then the full selection list is submitted to
FS when the “Send to FS” button is pressed.
ASG
remembers your last submitted theme or custom sky theme / selection list and
displays this on startup. Custom themes
are stored in the Full Sky Theme named “Last Custom Submit”.
Themes
Themes
make it easy to quickly select several different similar-category textures in
one step. For example, load a Full Sky
theme for an array of all available texture categories such as Clouds, Moon,
Rain, Dawn and Dusk Sky Color, etc. Or
load a Sky Color theme for just the Dawn, Day, Dusk and Night sky color
categories. With these theme groups you
can easily mix and match different themes in the different groups (i.e. “Cotton
Candy” 3D Cloud theme with the “Rainy Nights” Environment Theme).
There
are 5 different Theme types within ASG:
Full Sky, 3D Cloud, Cirrus Cloud, Sky Color and Environment.
The
Full Sky Theme represents a master “all-inclusive” theme that contains
selection items in all categories (clouds, sky colors, runway lights, rain,
snow, etc.)
The
3D Cloud Theme only contains the 3D Cloud Texture, 3D Cloud Stratus Shape, 3D
Cloud Wispy Shape, and 3D Cloud Solid Cumulus shape categories.
The
Cirrus Cloud Theme only contains the Cirrus FEW, SCT, BKN and OVC categories.
The
Sky Color Theme only contains the Dawn, Day, Dusk and Night color categories
The
Environment Theme only contains the Sun, Moon, Haze Color, Haze Density, Rain,
Snow and Runway Lights categories.
Themes
of any type can be saved at any time in ASG by using the “Save Theme”
button. Your current selection list as
populated will be used to build the theme.
Once a theme is created, you can easily add a screenshot to it and/or
change its name using the “Properties” feature.
Chapter 2 – The User Interface
Shown: The interface in
Quick Select Mode
This
shows the main ActiveSky Graphics interface screen which has defaulted in
“Quick Select” mode with the “Quick Select” panel located in the middle of the
screen.
The
individual panels and their operation will be explained below. For now, let’s examine the main interface
buttons that are available.
Options
This is where you can adjust your texture resolution, DXT3 mode and FS9 folder
location
Save Theme
Save
your current selections into a theme file
Quick Select
Bring
up the “Quick Select” mode where you simply locate a theme selection and “Send
to FS”. When submitting, your currently
viewed item will be applied to the active selection list.
Selection Details
Brings
up the Selection Detail Panel and shows all individual texture categories and theme
groups. This allows easy browsing of
possible entries and previewing of currently selected items.
Browse
Brings
up the Browse Panel and displays selection possibilities within the current
category, shown by 9 thumbnail images at a time.
Send to FS
Submit
your current “Quick Select” theme or active selection list to FS9. After submission, FS9 must be
started/restarted to depict changes (with the exception of Cirrus clouds, which
can be updated while FS is running).
Close
Exit
ActiveSky Graphics and close the ASG Interface.
Interface Panels
Quick Select Panel
The
Quick Select panel allows easy previous/next browsing of available theme items
by using the arrow buttons. The
“Category” buttons change the next/previous Theme category. The “Selection” buttons change to the
next/previous selection within the category.
A
preview screenshot is shown so you can get an idea of what this theme item
contains. Remember, however, that the
screenshot may not always depict what you will see exactly, as many variables
can exist (time of day, weather conditions, etc.) The screenshot preview serves as a rough-idea
only.
In
Quick Select mode, the currently shown item will automatically be “Selected”
when you use the “Send to FS” button.
Selection Details Panel
Here
you can individually select themes or textures in all categories. The category names are listed on the left and
active selections are listed on the right.
You can click on the category names (or browse icon) to open up the
browse panel for that category, or click the actual selection name (or camera
icon) to get a preview.
To
the left of each texture category is a checkbox. This is the category enabler. If this box is checked, this category is
actively used for submissions or automatic random/IGS selections. If unchecked, the category is completely
inhibited.
When
a category is disabled/inhibited, it will not be submitted to FS9 and will not
be saved in Theme files.
Using
the inhibit capability you can selectively choose which types of textures you
want used. This would be handy when
using other graphics add-ons (i.e. use one add-on’s Clouds and another’s Sky
Color).
Browse Panel
Up to
9 thumbnails per page will be displayed, representing the individual selections
available within the category chosen.
You can change the category displayed with the “Category” drop-down box.
The
buttons on the bottom of the panel are used for moving back and forth between
available pages. Use the single arrows
“<” and “>” to move to the previous or next items, respectively. Use the double-arrow “<<” and “>>”
to move to the first and last pages, respectively.
Clicking
on any image or name will bring up the expanded “Preview” of that item, where
you can see the larger screenshot, select it, change it’s properties, etc.
When
browsing categories using the category name or browse button in the Selection
Details Panel, the page first shown will contain your currently selected item,
starting on the relevant page.
If
the item’s name is in yellow, it represents the selected item in that category.
Options Panel
Here
you can change the various options within ASG.
Your
FS9 Folder is displayed at the top. This
folder location must be correct so that proper texture submissions to FS can
occur. To change the FS9 folder
selected, click the “Browse” button.
Normally this will not be necessary as ASG automatically detects the FS9
folder on startup. WideFS users will
need to manually specify this location (which should be a shared folder from
the FS9 machine’s FS9 directory location).
Your
3D Cloud Texture resolution can be selected via the radio buttons. The higher the resolution, the higher the
quality. Higher quality will also
provide lower performance. The best
quality/performance balance will depend on your system and needs. By default, textures are submitted in 32-bit
color format. Using DXT3 mode will
compress into the DXT3 format, reducing color depth and color transition
details but providing enhanced performance.
We
recommend starting with 512x512 and normal 32-bit mode to start, and reducing
quality (starting with DXT3 mode) one at a time to find the desired performance.
When
ASG is first run, it will automatically back-up your FS9 Texture Folder. This way your original pre-ASG complete
Texture set can be restored at any time.
Click the “Restore Original Pre-ASG FS9 Texture Folder” button to
perform the restore operation. You can
also manually copy the ASG\Original_FS9_Textures folder back to FS9\Texture at
any time. Note that when uninstalling
ASG, the backup folder will remain and will NOT be automatically restored. If you wish to restore back to full pre-ASG
textures please copy this folder manually described above.
To
cancel any changes made on this screen, press the “Cancel Changes” button. Press “Save Changes” to keep the new
settings.
Properties Panel
In Properties,
you can change the name and/or Screenshot of any item, including Themes.
Please
use this carefully. Existing content can
be edited. You might, for example, want
to rename an item or change its screenshot.
When renaming, existing Themes can lose their link to the selection
item, so remember to manually edit the theme files or re-select the changed
item and re-save the theme.
Use
the “Import Screenshot” buttons to bring in a new screenshot for that item.
Use
“Cancel Changes” to cancel everything, or “Save Changes” to make the new
settings permanent.
Save Theme Panel
When
saving Themes, your active selection list is used. Enter the desired Theme Name and type and
press “Save” to write the new theme file.
Existing
themes can be overwritten, so please use care with naming your new Themes.
If
you have selected Random entries for certain categories (as per the Selection
Details), you can either save the theme with the actual randomized selections
(for that session), or you can save the category as Random again so that a new
selection is made each time the theme is used.
“Preserve Random Selections” controls this behavior. When checked, the randomized current-session
selection is saved (preserved). When
unchecked, it is left “random” to be randomized on each load.
“Cancel”
closes the panel without saving.
Chapter 3 – Using Random and
Wx-Influenced Selections
Random Themes
Random
Themes are listed in each theme group category.
There are two types of Random Themes:
“Random All” and “Random Theme”.
Random
All selections will randomize all items within that theme category (i.e. Sky
Color theme will randomize all Sky Color categories including Dawn, Dusk, Day
and Night). Random All with a Full Sky
Theme will load ALL random entries.
Random
Theme selections will simply choose a random Theme within that category. I.e. Choose “Random Full Sky Theme” to have
it randomly select any of the Full Sky Themes.
Random Texture
Selections
Each
individual texture category can be randomized by selecting the “Random” item
within any texture category.
This
will set the current category to “Random” mode and provide a randomized
selection. When saving Themes, you can
specify which way to save the category – either with the current randomized
selection preserved, or in “random” mode.
By
using Random-Mode selections, you can easily create your own custom Random
Themes including your desired texture categories. Certain categories may be Random while others
are fixed.
Wx-Influenced Themes
“Wx-Influenced”
Theme selections will automatically use the ASv6-supplied weather to
intelligently select appropriate graphics for the current conditions.
Weather
conditions considered include Air Stability, Visibility, Surface Wind Speed,
and Upper-Air Wind Speed.
Custom
themes with individual Wx-Influenced items can be created by manually editing
the .thm to include the “WX” string as the selection name.
The
logic behind the selection process is based on the IGS configuration file which
is found in the Modules\ASGraphics folder as ASG.igs. Certain weather condition categories (i.e.
Lower air stability, Higher surface wind speed, Lower visibility, etc.) can be
applied to all selection items. Different
categories use different conditional influences. There are also random processes to make the
end-result wx-influenced texture selections more unpredictable yet realistic. The IGS file is text-based and easily
readable to better understand the conditional influence process. Modifications (at one’s own risk!) are of
course possible.
Note:
Developers interested in having their graphics add-ons integrated with the IGS
Wx-Influenced selection system should contact us at development@hifisim.com. Our utilities allow easy integration with a
wide range of different texture types (including Clouds, Sky Color, Water,
Ground Textures, etc.). We are able to
develop any kind of further integration tools on an as-needed basis. We welcome all developers to enable ASv6 IGS
integration! If you are a user
interested in having an add-on integrated with ASv6 IGS System, please have the
author contact us via e-mail.
Chapter 4 – Troubleshooting and Support
If your experiencing a problem with
ASG, check our website and/or forum, as the issue you are having might be
discussed.
All users of ASG are entitled to free support (via
online forums) and updates (via our website).