Simviation Forum - FSX - Rewards - Visit Series - Countries

Feb 7^th, 2010 at 8:20pm

basys Offline
Colonel
Today the UK, tomorrow............
. somewhere else
EGNL, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, UK

Posts: 109

Hi Folks

The latest detailed expansion to the worldwide-coverage sets of 'Visit Series' rewards.

Coverage map
************
Indicates which countries currently have multiple rewards, (green).
All other countries have single rewards, (white or yellow).

To view - Click the thumbnail below, (opens in a new tab/window) -

N.B. Date in top-left corner is incorrect, (I'd forgotten to update it).

Explanation of the rewards mechanism, (General) -

Purpose
*******
To reward those of you who already fly extensively,
or for those who don't yet,
to further encourage you to do so. Wink

Overview
********
In "Free-Flight", (aka Sand-Box),
every time you successfully land at any airport,
that airport's ICAO code is recorded in your logbook.

FSX introduced a "Reward" system.
Most flyers being familiar with rewards granted for successfully flying "Missions".

However,
in free-flight there's also a limited set of earnable rewards,
e.g.
granted for landing at specific airports, (8 rewards, 17 airports total).

Visit Series
************
"Visit Series" rewards utilise this free-flight mechanism,
which reads the ICAOs from your logbook's recorded airport landings.

You can potentially earn rewards for landing at airports in your -
- Local area.
- State/Province/Region.
- Country.

Eventual aim being to provide full reward coverage worldwide.

Other reward series will be made available at a future date.

Nota-Bene
*********
Previous Flights
================
All prior airport landings in FSX will already be credited.

Previous FS Versions
====================
If you'd imported your logbook from a previous FS version,
those landings will also already be credited.

Addon Airports
==============
Rewards are based on ICAOs,
they'll work with any default's replacement addon airports.

Previous Reward Packages
========================
Any Visit Series - Country packages issued prior to June 2008,
have been re-released with the new file-naming convention,
and include updated, and additional reward content.

All previous landings & granted rewards will still be credited.
So you won't need to fly any of them again.

Health Warning
==============
Acquiring all rewards should only be considered as a long term goal. Wink

Examples -
Some of the Australia rewards -

Some of the New Zealand rewards -

FSX - Rewards - Visit Series - Countries - COLLECTION - UPDATES
***************************************************************
Released Sunday 7th February, 2010.
3 New reward packs, (all DEFAULT_MASTER).
12 Countries covered.
183 Rewards for country state/province/region.

PACK 9 (20100129)
*****************
Installs 4 country's multi-reward DEFAULT_MASTER files,
comprising 55 earnable Free-Flight landing's rewards for -
- Costa Rica, (6 rewards)
- French Polynesia, (7 rewards)
- Papua New Guinea, (22 rewards)
- Switzerland, (20 rewards)

PACK 10 (20100201)
******************
Installs 4 country's multi-reward DEFAULT_MASTER files,
comprising 57 earnable Free-Flight landing's rewards for -
- Czech Republic, (15 rewards)
- Syria, (11 rewards)
- Tunisia, (13 rewards)
- Ukraine, (18 rewards)

PACK 11 (20100207)
******************
Installs 4 country's multi-reward DEFAULT_MASTER files,
comprising 71 earnable Free-Flight landing's rewards for -
- Ethiopia, (10 rewards)
- Mali, (10 rewards)
- Mexico, (37 rewards)
- Myanmar, (Burma), (14 rewards)

Downloads
*********
Visit Series - Countries - COLLECTION - UPDATES - PACK 11 (20100207)
and all previously released packages,
are exclusively available from FS-Shipyards
Downloads -> Miscellaneous Files -> FS-Rewards
http://www.fs-shipyards.com/index.php?ind=downloads&op=section_view&idev=20

Installing
**********
To ensure all updates/corrections are applied
you must install the packages in the following order -
Visit Series - Countries - COLLECTION - STARTER PACK - PART 1 (20080820)
Visit Series - Countries - COLLECTION - STARTER PACK - PART 2 (20080826)

Next, in numerical order, apply the various -
Visit Series - Countries - COLLECTION - UPDATES - PACK NUMBER (YYYYMMDD)

Then install this package -
Visit Series - Countries - COLLECTION - UPDATES - PACK 11 (20100207)

Once you've completed installing all the packages -
Please ensure you remove any country's superceded DEFAULT_BASIC files.

Feedback
********
Preferably to - FS-Shipyards - FS-Rewards
http://www.fs-shipyards.com/forum/index.php?board=78.0

Have Fun !!!

Paul Donnelly
(BASys)
February 2010

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Reply #1 - Feb 8^th, 2010 at 2:46pm

Frequent Flyer Offline
Colonel
It's SuperCaliFragilIstic
EspiAliDocious!
Lucy's Sky with Diamonds

Posts: 1569

So, is this a reward system giving "postcards" for every airport I land in?

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Reply #2 - Feb 8^th, 2010 at 6:32pm

basys Offline
Colonel
Today the UK, tomorrow............
. somewhere else
EGNL, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, UK

Posts: 109

Hi Folks

Frequent Flyer wrote on Feb 8^th, 2010 at 2:46pm:

So, is this a reward system giving "postcards" for every airport I land in?

No.

That'd be 24,490 postcards.

I didn't explain that very well.

Basic -
Land at EVERY airport in a country, get a reward.
Has worldwide coverage, (229 countries in FSX).

Master -
Land at every airport in a state/province/region, get a reward.
Plus
Land at EVERY airport in a country, get a reward.
Green on map above, (68 countries so far).

e.g. USA
1 country reward
50 state rewards
1 capitals reward (50 states & DC)

HTH
ATB
Paul

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Reply #3 - Feb 8^th, 2010 at 7:46pm

Formula_1 Offline
Colonel
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
Clearwater, Florida

Gender:
Posts: 309

Wow.
If I was 12, I would try it. I am 47 and doubt I will live long enough to complete much of all that.
That could take years and years, even if all one was to do was to select an airport, use the map to airstart and then make a quick landing. Heck, it would be months to do that just for one state, much less the whole USA.

My hat is off to anyone that gets them all Wink

Explore Everything, Then Decide

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Reply #4 - Feb 9^th, 2010 at 12:31pm

basys Offline
Colonel
Today the UK, tomorrow............
. somewhere else
EGNL, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, UK

Posts: 109

Hi Folks

Formula_1 wrote on Feb 8^th, 2010 at 7:46pm:

Heck,
it would be months to do that just for one state,
much less the whole USA.

Nah...

11 landings for Rhode Island.
35 landings for Delaware.
40 landings for Hawaii.

Texas at 1,475,
is something else entirely. Grin

Of course not everyone wishes to visit those,
and the USA is not the world.

Get out and Explore Everything, Then Decide Wink

Quick-hit listing

of really easy
to acquire 'Visit Series - Countries' rewards.
73 potential country rewards.
1 to 5 landings per country, (group listed).

Formula_1 wrote on Feb 8^th, 2010 at 7:46pm:

My hat is off to anyone that gets them all Wink

Unlikely anyone will ever get them all, worldwide.

Though some are having a damned good try.

Lots have completed multiple countries.

IIRC
One person has earned > 500 rewards, (mainly 'Visit Series').

> 1200 "Visit Series" rewards are available at 07/02/2010.

HTH
ATB
Paul

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Reply #5 - Feb 10^th, 2010 at 2:47am

Formula_1 Offline
Colonel
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
Clearwater, Florida

Gender:
Posts: 309

Hi again

Is this automatic, or do I have to select it from 'Missions' or something like that to enable it?
If it is automatic and counts even during Free Flight, I would put it in.
A lot of times, I will simply load Free Flight and then just type in a random ID for the airport and see what comes up. If it counts for those type flights, I'll give it go

Explore Everything, Then Decide

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Reply #6 - Feb 10^th, 2010 at 7:01am

basys Offline
Colonel
Today the UK, tomorrow............
. somewhere else
EGNL, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, UK

Posts: 109

Hi Folks

Formula_1 -
Quote:

Overview
********
In "Free-Flight", (aka Sand-Box),
every time you successfully land at any airport,
that airport's ICAO code is recorded in your logbook.

FSX introduced a "Reward" system.
Most flyers being familiar with rewards granted for successfully flying "Missions".

However,
in free-flight there's also a limited set of earnable rewards,
e.g.
granted for landing at specific airports, (8 rewards, 17 airports total).

Visit Series
************
"Visit Series" rewards utilise this free-flight mechanism,
which reads the ICAOs from your logbook's recorded airport landings.

Totally automatic.
Works for all flights.

Suits your useage perfectly.
That quick-hit listing takes you to some interesting places. Wink

Give it a go.
Have fun.

HTH
ATB
Paul

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Reply #7 - Feb 10^th, 2010 at 11:28am

Formula_1 Offline
Colonel
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
Clearwater, Florida

Gender:
Posts: 309

Doh, hehe
Thanks. Okay I am going to use it. It will be kinda fun to be able to look back at rewards later on and see them for the different places I have been to.
I mean heck, I always consider a flight from parking to parking, so having these little rewards for that is pretty cool Wink

I probably won't get them all, but I may be surprised by how many I actually do wind up with, after some time.

Explore Everything, Then Decide

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Reply #8 - Feb 11^th, 2010 at 1:05pm

basys Offline
Colonel
Today the UK, tomorrow............
. somewhere else
EGNL, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, UK

Posts: 109

Hi Folks

Formula_1 wrote on Feb 10^th, 2010 at 11:28am:

I may be surprised
by how many I actually do wind up with, after some time.

Formula_1 -
Good to hear.
You might have already earned some.
Let us know how you get on.

ATB
Paul

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Reply #9 - Feb 12^th, 2010 at 2:47pm

Formula_1 Offline
Colonel
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
Clearwater, Florida

Gender:
Posts: 309

I installed it, but something went very wrong.
I got terrible frame rates after putting it in. Went from 26 (locked) to around 1/2 that. Over unpopulated areas it was only about 13-14. Over cites 6-8
Normally I hold 26 except over large airports where it does drop as low as into the mid teens. But never ever anything like it did after installing this mod.

I just ran the installer from;
Visit Series - Countries - COLLECTION - STARTER PACK - PART 1 (20080820)
Visit Series - Countries - COLLECTION - STARTER PACK - PART 2 (20080826)
I did NOT add the Updates, as I just wanted to try it first to see what it was like.
Are the UPDATES required for it to run correctly, or are they simply more area coverage?
I don't know what happened, I didn't change or add anything else.
Has anyone reported this happening?
I don't run a heavily modded game. A few planes and GA-Traffic for FSX is pretty much it. So I don't think there may have been some conflict with one.

I tried removing it and messed with the game for a while but I simply could not get the performance back. I finally did a fresh install of FSX Deluxe-SP1/SP2.
It is back to normal now. I tested the game last night on the first five missions and they all ran flawlessly at near steady 26fps again like always.

I do not understand this:
"Once you've completed installing all the packages -
Please ensure you remove any country's superceded
DEFAULT_BASIC
files."
Where are those files and how do I remove them, please?

Currently I have a properly running FSX/SP2 install, with 6 FSX planes. GA-Traffic hasn't been reinstalled, yet. So if I made a mistake installing the Visit Series that caused the problem, I will try again. I think it might have been the ? Or that I didn't use the updates?

In the meantime I will get all the updates downloaded. I'll await the answer to my DEFAULT_BASIC files question.

Oh yeah, another thing that was also really a problem. For some reason, after installing the mod, when the flight ended (I landed and hit esc to end flight), the window would be half way off the screen to the lower right. I could not move it, Alt+enter didn't change it and I was unable to see the X button to close the game (it was off screen).
I run with three monitors at 4320x900 resoultion. I have to use a configuration file that Matrox software makes, or the game is vert-.
Here is that config file.
--------------------------
;KEYWORDS:
; #MATROXH (Replaced with User selected Resolution Height)
; #MATROXW (Replaced with User selected Resolution Width)
; #RESDEPENDENT._ (Replaced by a value based on the selected resolution)

[GAMEINFO]
GAMELOC=HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{
9527A496-5DF9-412A-ADC7-168BA5379CA6}\InstallLocation
GAMEEXE=fsx.exe
LATESTPATCHREQ=
MSG1=
REGKEYMUSTEXIST=
ShortCutICON=
SHORTCUTNAME=Microsoft Flight Simulator X
SHORTCUTPARAMETERS=
USERLOC=D:\Flight_Simulators\Flight_Simulator_X\fsx.exe

[GAMERES]
RES=4320x900

[GAMERESOLUTIONS]
Min=
Max=

;Registry modifications must be in the following format:
;Registry KeyPath, Registry Name, Registry Data, Registry Type (Ex: REG_SZ, REG_DWORD, REG_BINARY)
;Usable KEYWORDS- #MATROXH, #MATROXW, #RESDEPENDENT.1, #RESDEPENDENT.2 ...
[Registry]

;Config Name To Be Reference (Ex: CFG.1) = Cfg path (Ex: GameConfigFolder\GameCfgFile.cfg)
;Usable KEYWORDS- See creating a recipe documentation.
[CFG]
CFG.1=%USERAPPLICATIONDATA%\Microsoft\FSX\fsx.cfg

;Usable KEYWORDS- #MATROXH, #MATROXW, #RESDEPENDENT.1, #RESDEPENDENT.2 ...
[CFG.1]
*,Mode=#MATROXWx#MATROXHx32
DISPLAY,WideViewAspect=True

[HOWTO]
MSG=

[RESDEPENDENT.1]
1920x480=
2400x600=
3072x576=
3072x768=
3840x720=
3840x768=
3840x960=
3840x1024=
----------------------------

Something that Visit Series puts in does conflict with something the Matrox software does so the game runs it's menus in the right place (center screen) and this config also fixes the FOV when in triscreen. It is a must have, so I can't use VS, if it is conflicting.

Explore Everything, Then Decide

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Reply #10 - Feb 12^th, 2010 at 3:59pm

basys Offline
Colonel
Today the UK, tomorrow............
. somewhere else
EGNL, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, UK

Posts: 109

Hi Folks

Formula_1 wrote on Feb 12^th, 2010 at 2:47pm:

I installed it, but something went very wrong.
I got terrible frame rates after putting it in.

Formula_1 -
Sorry to hear of your problem.

Your FPS issue is entirely coincidental
and totally unrelated to Rewards.

Rewards have no effect whatsoever on in-game performance.

They are not resident in memory whilst flying.

They're only read on FSX Start-Up,
and when you access the FSX GUI "Pilot Records" section.

FSX performance is totally dependent on the state of your PC whilst running.

Various factors can substantially impede performance,
particularly your available resources -
e.g.
Applications - Currently running, e.g. web-browser, email client, anti-virus, windows update, etc.
Fragmentation of RAM - Applications not cleaning up on closure, or clipboard containing lots of data.
Fragmentation of disk - By any of the following - dynamic pagefile, browser cache, Google Earth cache, windows update, (big patch series released Tuesday).

FSX FPS performance will substantially vary with location, and settings.
i.e. If near or pointing towards a AI busy, high-detail airport.

Formula_1 wrote on Feb 12^th, 2010 at 2:47pm:

Are the UPDATES required for it to run correctly,
or are they simply more area coverage?

The updates only add detailed coverage to the original files.
*_COUNTYNAME_DEFAULT_
BASIC
- Most contain only 1 reward for the entire country.
*_COUNTYNAME_DEFAULT_
MASTER
- Contain multiple rewards per country.

e.g. for Austria
*_Austria_DEFAULT_BASIC == 1 reward
*_Austria_DEFAULT_MASTER == 13 rewards

Formula_1 wrote on Feb 12^th, 2010 at 2:47pm:

So I don't think there may have been some conflict with one.

There's nothing to conflict,
as they're not concurrently loaded.

Formula_1 wrote on Feb 12^th, 2010 at 2:47pm:

I finally did a fresh install of FSX Deluxe-SP1/SP2.

For future ref -
There's no need to reinstall FSX.

Your first action should always be checking the above factors.
Followed by a reboot.
If issue persists.
Disable recent addon-sceneries or simobjects.

Formula_1 wrote on Feb 12^th, 2010 at 2:47pm:

I do not understand this:
"Once you've completed installing all the packages -
Please ensure you remove any country's superceded
DEFAULT_BASIC
files."
Where are those files and how do I remove them, please?

As you've only installed the STARTER PACKs so far,
then you won't yet have any COUNTYNAME duplicates.

Once you've installed all the updates
go to
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\Rewards\Visit_Series\

You'll find some countries now have both -
*_COUNTYNAME_DEFAULT_BASIC.RWD
*_COUNTYNAME_DEFAULT_MASTER.RWD

Where this occurs,
delete the *_COUNTYNAME_DEFAULT_BASIC file.

e.g.
IIRC the first of these would be Austria.

You'll find 2 RWD files for Austria -
Visit_Series_Countries_Austria_DEFAULT_BASIC.RWD
Visit_Series_Countries_Austria_DEFAULT_MASTER.RWD

Delete the -
Visit_Series_Countries_Austria_DEFAULT_BASIC.RWD

EDIT -

Your update/edit was posted while I was composing original reply.

Sounds like your video driver has probably been updated,
and possibly no longer matches that ref'd in your fsx.CFG.
Or contains refs to both drivers.

Try renaming your fsx.CFG to fsx.TODAYSDATECFG
On launching FSX
it will rebuild a corrected fsx.CFG.

Again
Sorry to hear of your problem,
but it's totally unrelated to Rewards.

HTH
ATB
Paul

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Reply #11 - Feb 12^th, 2010 at 10:05pm

Formula_1 Offline
Colonel
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
Clearwater, Florida

Gender:
Posts: 309

Thanks.
That explain everything perfectly.
I will give it go again tomorrow, using full install of all updates. I understand what to look for in regards to the default file(s).

No worries about the reinstall. It was due anyway. I have a lot of planes that I never fly so cleaning it out would have taken just as long, lol.

Thanks again for the help

Explore Everything, Then Decide

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Reply #12 - Feb 13^th, 2010 at 5:57am

basys Offline
Colonel
Today the UK, tomorrow............
. somewhere else
EGNL, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, UK

Posts: 109

Hi Folks

Formula_1 -
No worries.
Glad its all sorted.

Let us know how you get on with the rewards.

ATB
Paul

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