FSX Golden Wings
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Thread: FSX Golden Wings

  1. #1

    FSX Golden Wings

    Hello everyone,

    After a long absence from flight sims I decided to come back and give it a try again. Man I have really missed it. I was gifted a PC that has Win10 on it and it has been a little bit of a challenge to get my games up and running again but I think I'm getting there.

    I love FS2004 Golden Wings and was wondering if there was something similar for FSX.

    My apologies if this has been asked before.

    Thanks,

    Rob

  2. #2
    Welcome back Rob. I don't recall what Golden Wings was, but this forum hosts some really incredible freeware for FSX. That era for creation of freeware is largely behind us, but the library contains dozens of payware quality aircraft and sceneries. Some aircraft are easily payware quality. Recently, Orbx has gathered some aircraft that were formerly payware and offered them free. If I was you, I would go back through the archive of discussions and look for threads about freeware aircraft that run on for pages. You will be able to see screen-shots in those discussions. The library is easy to access and use. Good hunting!

  3. #3
    Golden Wings was developed by Bill Lyons for FS 2004 which reverted the entire some to Golden Age of Aviation time period. It was a fantastic team effort. It was never updated for FSX

  4. #4

    Might Check Out

    You can do a Google search for Tom Gibson's CalClassics website which has a lot of really cool aircraft and airports from the bygone age. Also in the payware department Golden Age Simulations has fantastic unusual aircraft you can see at their website. Spad54 is Golden Age Simulations. You can checkout their latest the N3N in a thread above entitled GAS next project.

  5. #5
    I have two recommendations for anyone looking for vintage flying in FSX. First, buy the FSX Steam Edition of FSX, it is smoother than the boxed versions, has all the fixes and tweaks necessary to run FSX smoothly, and is far better at managing its 4 GB memory use limit. Second, Tom Gibson's CalClassic site. Plenty of information as well as vintage scenery and aircraft for FS9 and FSX.
    My computer: ABS Gladiator Gaming PC featuring an Intel 10700F CPU, EVGA CLC-240 AIO cooler (dead fans replaced with Noctua fans), Asus Tuf Gaming B460M Plus motherboard, 16GB DDR4-3000 RAM, 1 TB NVMe SSD, EVGA RTX3070 FTW3 video card, dead EVGA 750 watt power supply replaced with Antec 900 watt PSU.

  6. #6
    Thank you all, on my way to check out Tom Gibson's CalClassic site.

    Rob

  7. #7
    Rob,

    I've been working on a project I call "Platinum Wings" for a while now. It started as an FSX project, but now back to FS9 as an improvement of GW3 (I hope).

    I'll post a "simple" way to retro your FSX later when I get the chance so you can at least try to get a sort of GW-ish install with FSX. It's an involved process, but it does get things set up for making things "retro" so all you have to do is redo the landclass and a few other things if you're up to it.

    I went back to FS9 since it seems more stable, it's simpler in many ways when compared to FSX for designing, it has a LOT more information when it comes to SDK work and tips, and - the most improtant for me - FS9 runs WAY better on my 10-year old computer. Besides, it's easier to create the "generic" airfields I came up with to repopulate the FS world when working with FS9 than with FSX. At least for me, anyway. It COULD be possible with FSX, though.

    I have some screenshots over at CalClassic's forums of the initial attempts. Just look for Platinum Wings, though I haven't had any updates for a while.

    Jorge

  8. #8
    Senior Administrator huub vink's Avatar
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    Hi SgtT,

    Ground textures are a weak point in FSX (At least that is what I think). You will be able to find some alternatives at the usual sites (Flightsim.com, AvSim) Based on my own experience, I consider the freeware option limited and not very satisfying.

    Therefore I have invested some money in ORBX products. The Global base pack isn't really cheap, but it will provide an amazing update. I have also purchased Vector, which adjust coastlines, lakes, roads, railways etc. This is nice but not mandatory.

    As ORBX product are on sale quite often. I advise you to wait until there is a sale as this can save you up 50%.

    Cheers,
    Huub
    Last edited by Desert Rat; June 16th, 2022 at 12:52.

  9. #9
    In addition to what Jorge wrote above, FS9 still offers many more possibilities. As example, while searching with the keyword "Early Aircraft" FlightSim shows

    for FSX 581 files
    for FS9 1'227 files.


    But what makes vintage flying really so special is the whole environment, i.e. the older sceneries. And as said by Jorge, its by far more easier to backdate FS9 default world. Flying Barnstormers over ultra-modern skyscrapers isn't really ecxiting. It doesn't mean that FSX doesn't have its advantages, like flying in arctic areas just as an example.

    Generally speaking I particularly regret is the dwindling interested in vintage flying. With the disappearance of the Old Hangar forum, the whole dynamic has sadly gone.

    Bernard

  10. #10

    My Personal Opinion Only

    I didn't get into building buildings and scenery until after 10 years of FSX and personally I wouldn't go back to FS9 which 10 years ago I swore would never do FSX. My Windows 7 system runs it perfectly after I upgraded my RAM to 8GB from 4GB as large as it will get. I know that FSX only uses 4GB BUT it does not max it out that way. The one advantage of FS9 over FSX I found is that it will use a lot of FS2002 gauges in older models that FSX will not even though they will load, you have to replace all the gauges with a program like FS Panel Studio or the like. Falcon 409 has created a lot of beautiful small GA airports and with 581 vintage aircraft in FSX how many do you need? I have created a number of 1940's USN airfields for FSX/P3D authentically including custom buildings you can find here at SOH and also flew my Southern Airways DC3 to a lot of CalClassic airports like vintage Memphis and others on their route Tupelo in Mississippi (Elvis' birthplace) a few years ago when I got qualified on the DC3 at DC3-Airways online. A lot of fun in FSX. Not hard to follow Tom's instructions on conversion from FS9 to FSX. Likewise is true of MAIW airports that can be converted. I know others who have gone back to FS9 but I have created too much now for FSX personally to go back especially learning how to use the Autogen Annotator in FSX SDK.

  11. #11
    Reading your posts I'm not shure whether I understand the things right. In the OT it was question of Golden Wings. IMO this describes the Roaring Thirties, Bill Lyons and all others involved in "the Old Hangar" adventure implemented their creations in this particluar era. Everything which depicts a further period might be rather "retro" or "classic" era. So CalClassic is definitely not vintage based.

    Bernard

  12. #12
    So that would be Silver Wings instead, a half-way house between stock modern FS9 and vintage Golden wings.

  13. #13

    CalClassic

    Quote Originally Posted by leuen View Post
    Reading your posts I'm not shure whether I understand the things right. In the OT it was question of Golden Wings. IMO this describes the Roaring Thirties, Bill Lyons and all others involved in "the Old Hangar" adventure implemented their creations in this particluar era. Everything which depicts a further period might be rather "retro" or "classic" era. So CalClassic is definitely not vintage based.

    Bernard
    You are correct about CalClassic, its 1959-1969 or something like that depending on what part of the world you choose but it IS retro not modern. Too, if you are not flying the DC3 or Ford Trimotor you can fly all the biplanes like GAS or freeware at AVSIM, Flightsim etc. at any default grass strips or even Eagle Field you can download here that came with Dave Eckhardt's Stearman both FS9 and FSX. Here is the link to FSX:

    https://library.avsim.net/download.php?DLID=215991

  14. #14

    FSX as Retro?

    I've been lurking around my hard drive since this came up and I may have some stuff to contribute to this.

    I slapped together a sort of "how-to" guide that someone can try and emulate to backdate FSX. Mine is based on FSX-SE, but I believe it should work for all versions. I'm just not sure where exactly to post it since it's a fairly long guide with lots of instructions on things to do. Not to mention the fact it's also the first time I post anything "instructions" wise, so it may need some looking over. I'd feel really stupid if someone's install went sideways inadvertently.

    If it's okay to post it here as a forum post I'd be more than happy to do so, otherwise let me know if one of the other forums would be better since it has to do with design.

    Just keep in mind I'm strictly FS9 now. I had performance issues with FSX because of my old computer, which is why I went back to FS9 in the first place. I can't believe 2010 was that long ago, but that's how old it is!

    I made a PDF that comes out to 9 pages. If it's better to just upload it as a zip for you guys, please let me know. Support from me would be fairly limited, but at least it would get the ball rolling on an FSX retro, right? Not to mention that many things for FSX are originally from FS9, so there may be some cross-over with what I'm doing now. Don't know.

    Regards,

    Jorge

  15. #15
    Yes, Eagle Field is indeed a nice scenery.



    Bernard

  16. #16
    Thank you all for your replies. I very much like the Golden Wings mod for FS2004 and fly that a lot. I was hoping for something similar for FSX with that said, I would like to try out the "how-to" guide that Jorge wrote about and give that a try. I'm also going to check out "Platinum Wings" and Eagle field. In addition I'm going to checkout ORBX and Vector that Huub suggested. I've been downloading a lot of classic planes and thunder100 shared some planes with me.

    I am grateful for all of the help and advise. I think this community is great and am glad that I came back.

    Thanks,

    Rob

  17. #17
    I'm hoping that enough members show enough interest in your pdf for you to upload it here. I for one would like to read and review your work. Thank you in advance sir.

  18. #18
    So not to hijack, I'll make another thread with the "how-to" in text format. I'll upload the PDF later today after work.

    "Platinum Wings" is just a name I came up with for the mods, or the process of making the mods to get the "retro" look in FS9 as well as FSX. It's really not a program or anything. I just didn't want to say "Golden Wings 4.0" since the whole GW thing was something the Lynns did.

    Like everything else, the process is still evolving.

    Regards,

    Jorge

  19. #19

    ORBX is nice

    Quote Originally Posted by SgtT View Post
    Thank you all for your replies. I very much like the Golden Wings mod for FS2004 and fly that a lot. I was hoping for something similar for FSX with that said, I would like to try out the "how-to" guide that Jorge wrote about and give that a try. I'm also going to check out "Platinum Wings" and Eagle field. In addition I'm going to checkout ORBX and Vector that Huub suggested. I've been downloading a lot of classic planes and thunder100 shared some planes with me.

    I am grateful for all of the help and advise. I think this community is great and am glad that I came back.

    Thanks,

    Rob
    ORBX is up to date scenery NOT any retro stuff, just for the record. It contains airports, too. They also offer "free stuff" that is very nice.

    BTW, where in the world is Mascoutah, Illinois? I'm from Chicago. LOL!

  20. #20
    We live about 30 miles from St. Louis MO on the IL side. I'm about 5min from Scott AFB IL. We are about 4 hours from Chicago.

    Rob

  21. #21

    OK

    Quote Originally Posted by SgtT View Post
    We live about 30 miles from St. Louis MO on the IL side. I'm about 5min from Scott AFB IL. We are about 4 hours from Chicago.

    Rob
    When my wife's grandmother was alive and we were a lot younger we used to take a trip in the summer either down HWY 57 or Hwy 55 depending on which route we took to Jackson Mississippi to spend a week with her. Really nice ol' southern lady. When we first started going down she still did not have air conditioning and we slept in front of box fans to stay cool. Probably drove on past.

  22. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by leuen View Post
    Yes, Eagle Field is indeed a nice scenery.



    Bernard
    looks like some fine Golden Age Simulations Stearman biplanes in the shot. Nice

  23. #23

    Over At Avsim

    For those of us with GAS biplanes, Ed Akridge with permission from Dave Eckert converted the Stearman package including the Eagle Field scenery as shown above by Spad45 for FSX and P3D. With Dave's permission I used his Stearman at my Hawthorne Field converted to AI with multiple textures that I repainted. You can find the original thread here in the FSX forum by searching "Hawthorne". It appears that the Dropbox link no longer is valid so if you want a copy, PM me and I will put it into Mediafire where I am registered and it won't be deleted. NAAF Corrie Field is the vintage field for Navy pre-war training which was done in the N3N as well at NAS Glenview from 1935 until 1941 when they started training carrier pilots in Wildcats on the Sable and Wolverine. My father worked at the Naval Aviation Cadet Testing Center in Chicago from 1942-1943 before being assigned to a seaplane tender patrolling the Panama Canal from U-boats.

  24. #24
    Jorge: I am interested in changing my FSX to a previous era - actually WW2. One thing I noted was that the database for Habitation - cities, towns etc. was based on 2008 data when the population of the world had increased over 3 to 4 times. The masks for these populated need to be shrunk considerably.

    Is there a way to do that?
    PSULLYKEYS

    The only thing necessary for evil to win is for good men to do nothing.

  25. #25
    Short answer is yes, there is. Long answer is the way you do it. You basically have to redo the Land Classification for the area. There are various ways on doing that, but I'm not sure what would be the best way for FSX.

    I managed to get the Landclass Map function to work for me in SBuilder9, but I'm not sure if the same method will work for SBuilderX. Here's how I do mine, so you might be able to do the same for FSX.

    Sorry for the length ahead of time, but here goes.

    1. First get a map. I've been using the ones from here for the United States:

    https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/topoview/

    The ones there are good since they're already geo-referenced. Click on "Get Maps" to go to the selection area.

    2. Once there, I'll use St Louis as an example since that area for Scott AFB was brought up already. Just zoom into the area of St Louis in the central US.

    3. Once you're fairly close in click on the top right where there is a circle with the number "250K" in it. These are 1:250,000 scale maps (1 inch = 250,000 inches). These are the same scale as Terminal Area Charts (FAA) or Joint Operational Graphics (JOG = DoD). The screen color should change. Now click on the area that says "Bellville" and you should have another color change.

    4. Zoom out now until you can see the lines that separate the different charts. Your selected one should be red or something similar.

    5. On the right you should see the location as well as different years in the dialog. The big number is the year for the series, while the smaller one in the parenthesis is the year of publication. Sometimes you'll see one for 1950 with 1965 in parenthesis. For our exercise we'll take the lowest one on the list which is 1962 (and the oldest one at this scale.) Click on the circle and then on the square map. This will open a window that will let you preview the map before downloading.

    6. When you want to download, close the preview and then click on the "kmz" option. This should give you the option of downloading a file called:

    "IL_Belleville_310148_1962_250000_geo_kmz.zip" Save it where ever you want since you're going to extract the kmz file from it.

    7. Once extracted, you are going to change the extention from "kmz" to "zip". You'll get a warning, but that's fine. Once done, extract the "doc" file and the "jpg" file within it. You can now delete the kmz/zip file you changed and place the zip file you downloaded somewhere safe just in case.

    8. Okay, now the fun part. First, let's name the jpg file to something useful. I put mine as "belleville_lc_map.jpg" This lets you know it's the map for the landclass work.

    Next, create a simple text file and NAME IT THE SAME as the map image. This is essential to getting the map calibrated in SBuilder9, but it SHOULD be the same for SBuilderX. I don't know.

    9. Open the text file and add the following:

    [GEOGRAPHIC]
    North=
    South=
    West=
    East=

    ... then save. For now you're done with that.

    10. Next open the "doc.kml" file with Notepad or whatever you used for the txt file. Notepad is fine. Inside you'll see a bunch of info. The only section we're concerned with is this one:

    <LatLonAltBox>
    <north>39.00004601527837900</north>
    <south>38.00004564666505000</south>
    <east>-88.00003051222194000</east>
    <west>-90.00011058277550500</west>
    </LatLonAltBox>

    These are the coordinates you're going to copy over to the txt file you just created with the [GEOGRAPHIC] tag. Once done it should look like this:

    [GEOGRAPHIC]
    North=39.00004601527837900
    South=38.00004564666505000
    West=-90.00011058277550500 <<====Note these are FLIPPED/SWAPPED in the txt file.
    East=-88.00003051222194000 <<====Note these are FLIPPED/SWAPPED in the txt file.

    Once you've made sure to place EAST and WEST in their appropriate slots in the txt file (trust me, you WILL mess this up every now and then) go ahead and save it. You can now delete the kml file.

    11. Now you almost have everything set. Now you need to take the jpg file and open it in your image editor. I use gimp, but even windows paint is fine. All you are going to do now is save it as a bmp file WITH THE SAME NAME. When done you should have two image files (one bmp and one jpg) and the txt file). You can delete the jpg if you want since - for the landclass at least - you won't need it. If you were using this for ADE to do airport skirting, for example, you would be better off to use the jpg file with the geographic info since it's smaller and just leave the bmp for the landclass.

    12. Almost there. Now you're going to need an imaging program that can deal with layers to make life easier. If not, you can still use paint with the understanding that you won't be able to have layers. What you're going to do now is look at the areas in the map that are urban and compare them with the areas that are not. Urban areas are generally yellow. Using the pencil or paintbrush, go ahead and paint over those areas that are urban. Generally I use red for urban, orange for medium, and yellow for small urban areas.

    13. Once that is done you should have a bunch of colored areas where the urban areas are. This will be used in SBuilder9 to tell the program where the towns, cities, etc are.

    14. The next step is to color the rest of the map in colors that represent the vegitation. Generally I don't go too crazy on this. I just use a single shade of green, sometimes two. It just depends.

    15. Once done, save your work. In order to continue you need to have a copy of Imagetool from the SDK. This is because you now MUST convert the image to 32-bit format in order for SBuilder9 to read it as a Lanclass Map. It won't work in any other format, and it MUST be the one that can be read by FS for some reason. When I saved a 32-bit straight from GIMP it just didn't work at all. Even the 24-bit wasn't recognized.

    16. Once your map is saved as a 32-bit image you're basically done with the preparation. Now for the SBuilder9 setup and use.

    17. Once you start SBuilder9 click on "New" at the top. This will bring up the dialogue for your new project. I'm calling mine the same as the map ("belleville_lc_map") just to keep it simple.

    18. Next click on the "Class Scenery" tab on the top. With this map I'm just going to use the halfway point on the coordinates which comes out to 38.5 and -89.0 for the coordinate window. Just to the right there is an option to restrict the view to the area centered on the coordinates you just provided. Go ahead and click on that to make sure it's selected if it's not. Now click "Okay" and you are now in the project window.

    19. Now is a good time to save the thing. Click on the top "File" then "Save As" and save it where you think would be best for the project. I'm putting mine in the same folder as the bmp image with the same name for simplicity, but you can save it where ever you wish.

    20. Once saved you can begin. First, hit "F3" on your keyboard. You'll now have a red grid (default settings) depicting the LOD13 boxes that will represent the landclass areas. Alternatively, you can go to the "View" then "Display Grid" on the dropdown and do it that way.

    21. Now click on the "Map" button on the top. You're cursur will now have the word "map" to let you know you're in map mode. Now click anywhere on the screen and you should get a popup asking you for the map. Navigate to the place where you have the bmp file you saved and then converted to 32-bit. Click on the bmp file and then "Open".

    22. There should be a popup now with a message telling you that you need to calibrate the image. Guess what? You did that already when you created the txt file with the geographic data a the beginning! Just hit "OK" and you now have a dialogue with a bunch of info. If everything in the txt file is correct, you should have the information you placed in there already filled in. As a bonus, you will also have the cell dimension information at the bottom left. You can now copy that somewhere if you plan on using resample for whatever reason since that's the info that would go into the "inf" files. The column and row information are the pixels for the image. In our case it should be 5300x5300. Since you don't have to do anything here, just click "OK" and you're done.

    23. Now zoom out and you should see your map in the rectangular shape it should be covering the area that you are going to work on.

    24. For the next step make sure you are still in the "map" button on top. Certain actions require you to be in the "mode" that you're going to be working in. Right click on the map itself and select the "properties" option at the bottom. In the dialogue that opens up click on the "class map" option. In the window that comes up click on the "add" option at the bottom right. This is where you tell SBuilder9 what landclass the colors will correspond to. The instructions are self-explanitory, but I will point out that the numbers they are referring to are those used in the SDK. Grass, for example is 128. One urban one is 103, etc. The distribution is 60%, 25%, and 15% for the three. If all you want is grass, for example, then you would write "128, 128, 128" and you're going to get grass 100% fo the time. If you want 50-50, the best you can do is "103, 128, 128" and you're going to have city for 60% of the time and grass the rest. How you break it up is up to you. My only recommendation is that you give it a name that makes sense to you after the numbers. Once done, click okay.

    25. You'll now see what you wrote in a yellow box up top. This is the default. Since you want the color to be from the map, you follow the instructions above the colored box and double left click on the yellow default color. The box will now go away and you are free to click on the map ON THE COLOR YOU WANT TO ASSIGN. If you used red for urban, for example, then click on the red color. The background for the box should now be red when it pops up again. Go ahead and repeat again for the different areas you have, making sure you have the three numbers and a name. Remember, even if you just want one landclass instead of a mix, you MUST have three numbers.

    26. Once you're happy with what you have selected, you can save it and then proceed to make the scenery files.

    27. Before we make this, let me clarify something. In SBuilder9 you pan by holding down the "P" key and zoom in and out with the scroll on the mouse. I should have said that before. Sorry about that. Anyway, go ahead and click on the "land" button up top. This should bring up a window for landlcass editing. One of the options you'll see is within a lined box called "land use map". One of the buttons is "make". Go ahead and click on this. It will use the informatoin you entered in the prior dialogue we did and create a bunch of landclass tiles all over the screen - to the best of it's ability - at all the areas with the colors you specified in the percentages you specified (again, within the limitations programed such as 60-25-15 percent).

    28. If everything went well, you should have a screen full of landclass files. You can now create scenery.

    29. Switch to "point" mode first. Then make sure you are able to view everything. Go to the "view" dropdown and select "view all". If everything disappears don't worry. Just click on that one again in the dropdown and everything will come back up. Next, in the "select" dropdown "select all". Everything should be highlighted now. Click on save, then the "bgl" button on the right. Everything will go to the folder that's specified in the preferences. For simplicity's sake, I always keep the default "Work" folder - or something like that - where everything goes to inside the SBuilder9 folder. You can then copy the bgl files and everything else over to the project folder, and then copy the bgl files once again to flight sim, activate, and enjoy the new scenery!

    30. I'm not sure how SBuilderX works, but it should be something similar since it's a follow-on to SBuilder9. If not, maybe landclass files from FS9 work in FSX?

    31. By the way, the bmp/map editing stuff above works with any bmp file as long as it's 32-bit and you have the calibration txt file with the same name. I've used maps of 1:24000 from the USGS website for airports before - mainly for the outline of the skirting. I also used the maps in ADE by entering the corner coordinates from the txt file manually using the corner option when you add a map. That way everything is the same in the sim. For FSX you can generate the terrain in ADE since it does the CVX files, so you can just use the coordinate info from the doc.kml file to calibrate the map in ADE using the corners. That may be easier for smaller areas, but for something large the map seems to be the better option.

    32. There is a program called LWMViewer with a tutorial at CalClassics by Tom that can be used as well for areas. It works from within the sim and I believe - I'm not certain - that it can be used for FSX as well.

    Sorry for taking so much time, but it's my day off today and didn't want to leave you guessing how I was making some of the work I've been doing for the PW expansion. At least the scenery, anyway.

    Regards,

    Jorge
    Miami, FL

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