Combine one installation of most scenery into the box edition and Steam edition of FSX

[Karl]

In these days of routinely using both editions of FSX having to install scenery into one & then the other is cumbersome. It uses a lot of hard drive space & is time consuming. I have found that both editions can use one installation of the sceneries that I use. The only downside for this procedure is that is must repeated every time scenery is changed in FSX.

*** This process is has not been widely tested. It works well on the two computers I use. A few people have successfully used this method. One did experience some issues whose cause has not been identified. But if it works for you it will certainly be worth the time it takes to perform the process. ***

Using this method will require working editions of the original boxed version of FSX and FSX-Steam Edition . The process should only be used by those familiar with Wordpad and the copy/paste functions of Windows explorer .

FSX uses a file named “SCENERY.CFG” to manage how it uses installed sceneries. Another file, “TERRAIN.CFG” is used as well. This process involves making some quick changes to the “SCENERY.CFG” file in the box version and copying both the SCENERY.CFG and TERRAIN.CFG files into the Steam installation. The procedure should only take a few minutes the first time and much less thereafter.

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• File locations:
  • The SCENERY.CFG file is located in C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\FSX for the boxed version and C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\FSX-SE for the Steam version.
  • The TERRAIN.CFG file is located in the main FSX folder for both versions
  
  
• Make a backup copy of both of these files. In the event that changes don’t perform as desired the originals can be restored.
• Open SCENERY.CFG in with Wordpad.
  • You’ll notice that each item starts with the title of [Area.XXX]. In each item there is a line that starts with “LOCAL=”. These will be replaced with “LOCAL=<Full Windows path to FSX>".
  • The default path to FSX is C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X. Mine is not. It is D:\FSX. You’ll need to know what your FSX installation path is.
  • Click the item “REPLACE” on the toolbar of Wordpad. This will bring up the dialog box for replacing the text.
  • In the “Find what” box enter “LOCAL=”
  • In the “Replace with” box enter “LOCAL = <FSX Path>”.
    • For me that was “LOCAL=D:\FSX\” *Be certain to include the backslash at the end*
    
    
  • Click the “Replace All” button.
  • Each item now has a line that starts with LOCAL=D:\FSX\ in my file. An example of changed item from my file:
  
  

[Area.167]

Title=FTX_NA_NRM08_CUSTOM

Local=ORBX\FTX_NA\FTX_NA_NRM08_CUSTOM

Layer=167

Active=TRUE

Required=FALSE

<CHANGED TO>

[Area.167]

Title=FTX_NA_NRM08_CUSTOM

Local=D:\FSX\ORBX\FTX_NA\FTX_NA_NRM08_CUSTOM

Layer=167

Active=TRUE

Required=FALSE

• Check some of the sections to make sure the changes were made correctly.
• Save the file and close Wordpad.
• Copy-Paste the SCENERY.CFG file from C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\FSX to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\FSX-SE
• Copy/Paste the TERRAIN.CFG file from the boxed FSX folder to the Steam FSX folder
• Run the FSX Steam edition to check that it is working properly and the scenery is properly displayed.

In order for the Steam Edition to continue to work properly this procedure needs to be done whenever any scenery is added/deleted/modified.

v0.02