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Introduction:

Welcome to the mighty Columbia River, and my first publicly released scenery for Flight Simulator (FSX). As a native of Southwest Washington, I traveled many times along the Columbia, mostly from Portland to Astoria, and the salmon fishing port of Ilwaco. I've long since moved away due to military service, but my memories of the river are simply not complete without the image of large freighters, and small fishing boats occupying the vistas along it's course. That's what inspired this little project, and I'm pleased to share it with you. 

Columbia River Ships is an enhancement for the superb Orbx/FTX Pacific Northwest Scenery, including the FTX KPDX Portland Cityscape. It uses only the default FSX objects, so does not require any additional libraries. Although, due to the use of FSX default libraries, it is not an entirely accurate depiction of the region's actual structures and geometry. Rather this is intended as an 'atmospheric' enhancement to add some life to the Columbia River.

Despite the limitations of the default libraries, satellite imagery was used as a reference whenever practical, to assist with the location of certain features such as light houses, ports, and marinas. The location of the Columbia River light ship and adjacent museum in Astoria, Oregon, is a good example of this; even though the light ship is actually a default fishing trawler, the color and size are similar, so at a distance it's a good representation of the real thing. Please note that all ships are stationary; although they look right at home, even when viewed away from the docks and navigating the river. 

Included in the 'Documentation' folder are screenshots dipicting 'before and after' views of the affected scenery. There are also schematics showing the placement of additional objects.

I hope everyone will enjoy this little enhancement; especially those who are familiar with the region and may have been missing a few things.

Happy Flights! ~ Rudi


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Installation
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This FSX scenery enhancement was designed to be used with Orbx's FTX NA Blue Pacific Northwest (PNW) and Portland Cityscape.

To install the scenery:

1.Unzip FSX_Columbia_River_Ships.zip, and add the Columbia_Ships folder (ONLY), into your Addon Scenery folder.

2. Start FSX, and add the Columbia_Ships folder, through your FSX Scenery Libray Menu and ensure it is listed above all the Orbx PNW entries (very importantant).

The zip archive also includes a Documentation folder containing 'before and after' screenshots, plus charts of object placement locations. 

Note: Be sure to check the scenery library menu if you de-activate/re-activate the PNW scenery, to ensure proper placement. You can also establish an 'insertion point' for the Orbx/FTX scenery per their instructions (recommended).

This scenery was designed using a mesh resolution of 10 m.

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Scenic Flights
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For a nice tour in a small aircraft, start from Ilwaco (7W1), Washington, and fly west past the harbor, and turning south along the coastline for a view of the light houses. Then proceed up the Columbia to view scenery additions to Astoria, Longview, and Kalama; finally landing at any of the airfields surrounding KPDX in Portland. Of course you can also replicate the 'Lewis and Clark experience' by travelling down the river from Portland to the coast. Portland International (KPDX) and Astoria Regional (KAST) are good choices if you are flying a larger aircraft such as a Lear or CRJ.

If you're pressed for time; Southwest Washington Regional (KKLS) in Kelso, Washington, is centrally located along the Columbia between Portland and the coast. It's an excellent choice for short trips, either up or down stream; with the added benefit of being close to Mt St Helens, should you desire to tour the volcano. I climbed and fished there many times in my youth, before she blew her top of course. Orbx/FTX really did a fine job on the area, and it's one of my favorite places to fly, especially from Ed Carlson Memorial Field (KTDO) near Toledo, Washington.

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Support
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This is a fairly straight-forward addon, but if you need any help or just want to comment, you can contact me at www.axis-and-allies-paintworks.com ...I may not have all the answers, but I'll do my best.

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Acknowledgments
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Thanks to the entire Orbx/FTX Team for producing their spectacular Pacific Northwest Scenery, for which this add-on is dedicated. Please show your support for their efforts, by purchasing additional Orbx/FTX products as they become available.

I compiled this scenery using the excellent Whisplacer object placement program (freeware).

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Disclaimer
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Okay, there's absolutely nothing I'm aware of that's hazardous about this scenery; so if you break something, please don't blame it on me.

User accepts all risk associated with this scenery file. NEITHER AUTHOR, NOR HOSTING SITE, WILL NOT BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO USER SYSTEM HARDWARE, OR SOFTWARE.

Also, this is not a Orbx/FTX, or Microsoft sanctioned product. Neither of these parties are obligated to support this product in any way. This product is merely designed to work in conjunction with Orbx/FTX PNW, and FSX sceneries using only the default FSX and FSX Acceleration object libraries. No Orbx/FTX objects were used in the making of this scenery. This product is functional with current Orbx/FTX sceneries as of July, 2011. I cannot guarantee compatibility with installation of future Orbx/FTX addons, patches, updates, or enhancements which may alter the scenery upon which this product was based. If this should occur, please remove the bgl file for the particular area affected (note the filenames, and included object layout screens).

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Copyrights
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This scenery is released as freeware; copyrights retained by the author, Rudi Jaeger.

- Please do not alter nor redistribute this product in whole or in part. 

- Please do not use this product for profit or monetary gain.

Thank You, and enjoy the scenery! ~ Rudi