FSX "SEARCH ADD-ON SCENERY" missing all scenery

[RearGuard]

On a new Windows 10 PC I have loaded FSX plus Accelerator and several aircraft, airport and scenery DVDs. I can fly around without a problem except the scenery is default. I know I successfully loaded scenery as when I go to Scenery Library I see 156 areas listed (the default plus the add-ons). One installed in the default C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\Addon Scenery and the others elsewhere - all are visible in the library and can be edited.

But when I go back to the main screen and initiate a free flight then push the Current Location Change... button I am shown just the default scenery. There is a radio button "Search add-on scenery" but when selected I get nothing shown - just empty panes. How can I enable the loaded scenery please ?

I have installed two planes and they are selectable, but my airport and scenery are hiding. I just don't know how to proceed to track down the cause of them being shown in one part of the program but not in another.

[pete]

Hi and welcome.
Why did the other scenery addons install elsewhere? Did you not allow them to install into the default location (C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games.... etc) ?

[RearGuard]

Hi and welcome.
Why did the other scenery addons install elsewhere? Did you not allow them to install into the default location (C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games.... etc) ?

Thanks for the comment. I allowed them to chose their default locations thinking that there was less chance of a problem. One did get it 'right' but that too has the same issue so I don't think the the location is necessarily the problem.
I have removed on then added it back in and the same issue exists.
Sad.

[Hagar]

The "Search addon-on scenery" feature in your shot is a left-over from earlier versions of MSFS. It's only used on a few older 3rd party scenery addons. I have a considerable amount of 3rd party scenery installed to FSX & nothing is listed in that window.

It would help if you give examples of scenery you're having problems with. From your description it's mostly payware which would usually be installed & activated automatically from the auto-installer. Airport menu entries will depend on which type of scenery it is. Updates to default airports will most likely still use the original default menu entries. If it's correctly installed & activated the updated airport should display when selected from the Airport menu in the usual way.

[RearGuard]

Oh, I did not consider that as a possibility. How can I tell if the add-ons are in use rather than default scenery ? If quality of image is the only way then I've been ripped off. The items I would like to be used are:

• Aerosoft's Zurich megairport 2012
• Playsims VFR Photographic Scenery Generation X vol 4 Scotland: The Western Isles
• Playsims VFR Photographic Scenery Generation X vol 1 version 3 Southern England & South Wales on four DVDs
• Flylogic Scenery. Switzerland Professional for FSX and FS2004 four DVDs bought in 2010
• Orbz Wales Terrain Pack v1 2013

The graphics card on my Windows 10 PC is NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 and the CPU is a 3.40 gigahertz Intel Core i7-6700 so I was hoping for better quality than I am seeing.

[Hagar]

Oh, I did not consider that as a possibility. How can I tell if the add-ons are in use rather than default scenery ? If quality of image is the only way then I've been ripped off. The items I would like to be used are:

• Aerosoft's Zurich megairport 2012
• Playsims VFR Photographic Scenery Generation X vol 4 Scotland: The Western Isles
• Playsims VFR Photographic Scenery Generation X vol 1 version 3 Southern England & South Wales on four DVDs
• Flylogic Scenery. Switzerland Professional for FSX and FS2004 four DVDs bought in 2010
• Orbz Wales Terrain Pack v1 2013

I can't give a personal opinion on the above as I have no experience with payware scenery, although I have tried some of the Orbx freeware airfields which are all excellent quality.

I checked them out online to confirm exactly what they consist of.

Aerosoft's Zurich megairport 2012 is an update of the default Zurich Airport. I presume it can be selected from the default listing on the Select Airport menu.
There is a V2 of this addon which you can check out here complete with video. http://en.shop.aerosoft.com/eshop.php?action=article_detail&s_supplier_aid=13630&s_design=default&shopfilter_category=flight%20simulation&s_language=english

The Generation X titles are Terrain mesh with photographic textures. This update is purely visual & will include no new airports. https://www.flightstore.co.uk/dvds-flight-sims-c346/flight-sim-software-c499/microsoft-fsx-add-ons-c814/scenery-fsx-c543/uk-scenery-for-fsx-c547/vfr-photo-x-4-scotland-western-isles-p2763

Switzerland Professional. Photographic Terrain mesh (as above). http://en.shop.aerosoft.com/eshop.php?action=article_detail&s_supplier_aid=10157&s_design=DEFAULT&shopfilter_category=Flight%20Simulation

Orbx Wales is Terrain mesh & landclass with other improvements. (As above but it does include an updated EGFF Cardiff airport.)
https://orbxdirect.com/product/wls

I hope this is some help.

[RearGuard]

Is there any way of disabling some elements of the default scenery ? If I did that and could still see things I would know I am using the payware. I feel sure I remember seeing better quality of scenery on other folks' sims but perhaps my memory is

[Hagar]

Is there any way of disabling some elements of the default scenery ? If I did that and could still see things I would know I am using the payware. I feel sure I remember seeing better quality of scenery on other folks' sims but perhaps my memory is

No but if the addons are activated in the FSX Scenery Library you could temporarily disable them from the in-flight menu bar to check the difference.
World > Scenery Library.
A lot might depend on your display settings.

[RearGuard]

Well that's informative - thanks. I disabled and the quality was even worse ! So I guess there must be some settings needing to be tweaked; all I can find are set to high quality and the performance is still good. So I suppose I have to get used to less quality scenery than I had expected - it's a long way short of photo realistic.

[Shadowcaster]

Well that's informative - thanks. I disabled and the quality was even worse ! So I guess there must be some settings needing to be tweaked; all I can find are set to high quality and the performance is still good. So I suppose I have to get used to less quality scenery than I had expected - it's a long way short of photo realistic.

With the Playsims VFR scenery you need to be at least around 2000ft, under that height and it's quite blurry. Also there is no autogen so every where looks very flat which was I mostly stopped using Photo Real scenery, although I do have Megascenery Hawaii.

Cheers
Rich