Flight Simulators/FLIGHTSIM.ISO/fs5/yosemi.zip/YOSEMITE.DOC

Text File | 1991-08-21 | 21KB | 449 lines

______________________________________________________________

      MICROSCENE SCENERY
      YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK & THE SIERRA NEVADA
______________________________________________________________

      Microsoft and MS-DOS are registered trademarks of
      Microsoft Corporation. Flight Simulator is a registered
      trademark of SugLOGIC Corporation. IBM and PC-DOS
      are registered trademarks of International Business
      Machines Corporation. Hercules is a registered trademark
      of Hercules Computer Technology.

______________________________________________________________

------SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS-------------------------------------

     -MS-DOS or PC-DOS operating system version 2.0 or later
     -Personal computer using 80286 or higher processor
      recommended
     -640K memory
     -Hard drive
     -CGA, EGA (EGA requires 256K display memory), MCGA, VGA,
      or Hercules graphics adapter (16 color recommended)
     -Microsoft Flight Simulator version 4.0
     -Microsoft Aircraft and Scenery Designer

______________________________________________________________

------INSTALLATION--------------------------------------------

      This scenery disk requires Microsoft Flight Simulator
      version 4 and Microsoft Aircraft and Scenery Designer.
      These products should be installed on your hard disk
      before installing the scenery.

      1) Insert the scenery disk into your floppy disk drive
         and copy their contents onto your hard disk in the
         Flight Simulator directory.

         COPY A:*.* C:\FLTSIM4

         Replace "A:" and/or "C:" drive letters as required
         by your system.

      2) Start Flight Simulator and select the default startup
         mode. Do not yet select any of the new modes provided
         with this scenery.

      3) Select menu #1 (MODE)

      4) Select option J (SCENERY DESIGN)

      5) Select option 0 (Setup Configuration)

      6) Set the following configuration values:

              A - 56000
              B -  6000
              C -    20

         and press ENTER to save the configuration.

      7) Exit Flight Simulator and restart it. You are now ready to
         select any of the modes within your new scenery and start
         flying.

      8) Whenever you use this scenery be sure that the following
         options on the SCENERY DESIGN Menu are selected "ON".

             AUTO STATIC SCENERY SELECTION
             AUTO DYNAMIC SCENERY SELECTION

         Furthermore, you should set "Ground Texture" to "OFF" on
         the "SIM" menu.


      NOTE: This scenery is designed to properly overlay and enhance
            the default scenery provided with Flight Simulator.
            Proper operation and blending with any other optional
            third party scenery is not assured.

      IF YOU SEE MESSAGES ABOUT MEMORY SHORTAGES

      Flight Simulator version 4 requires a large amount of free
      memory. During installtion you configured Flight Simulator
      to request even more memory than it uses by default in order
      to accomodate these high density scenery files. If there is
      not adequate memory available for all features of Flight
      Simlulator, selected features will be disabled. But your
      new scenery will still function properly. Refer to your
      Aircraft and Scenery Designer manual page 9 for suggestions
      concerning memory usage.



------MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR VISIT TO YOSEMITE---------------

      The scenery in the Yosemite region is quite dense and
      detailed in many areas.

      To best view the scenery stay low and slow. While the
      business jet may be a fast way to journey around,
      it is usually inappropriate for general scenery
      viewing (although you may find it usefull for attaining
      the altitudes needed to reach the mountain summits or
      for climbing out of the canyons).

      The Cessna is a good allround mix of speed, climbing
      ability and manuverability; although in some of the
      tighter canyons you may prefer the slower speed and
      manuverability of the Sopwith.

      Stay below 2500 AGL to view the denser building areas
      in the towns and airport areas.

      There are no NAVAIDS in these scenery files. They are
      intended for VIEWING rather than navigating. Due to
      performance limitations, these dense scenery regions each
      cover fairly small surface areas. At very high altitudes, the
      current scenery region will be BELOW you rather than in
      front of you.

      Furthermore, in order to increase the quantity of colors
      used in the scenery, compromises have been made which may
      cause the scenery to have unrealistic appearances if viewed
      at night. Once again, this scenery is intended for VIEWING.

      Microsoft recommends an 80286 or above processor for use
      with Aircraft and Scenery Designer. This is because of the
      lower performance considerations of the earlier CPUs.
      Although these scenery regions will operate on slower
      hardware; we also recommend an 80286 or above processor.

      If you encounter slow aircraft response you should try the
      following:

        -Turn OFF ground texture. There is no need for ground
         texture in these regions anyway.
        -Set Crash to DETECT or OFF rather than DETECT AND ANALYZE.
         DETECT AND ANALYZE needs to constantly record flight
         statistics.
        -Select a lower image complexity setting (COMPLEX, MEDIUM,
         SPARSE) on menu 2 - display control. This setting affects
         the distance over which scenery will be displayed. In certain
         areas and altitudes you may wish to experiment with this
         setting. For example, at high altitudes over a city, you will
         probably wish to use a COMPLEX setting. But while flying down
         a street, SPARSE may be perfectly adequate and will improve
         response.
        -Fly LOW and SLOW. The slower plane initiates less severe
         scenery changes. Flying low also limits the amount of scenery
         which must be updated.
        -Switch dynamic weather OFF. Flight Simulator will have
         less work to accomplish between screen updates.
        -Switch dynamic scenery OFF. There is no dynamic scenery
         in these regions.
        -As a last resort, consider upgrading to an 80386
         processor or a VGA video system. Flight Simulator will
         perform best in those hardware environments.

      We believe that you will enjoy the Yosemite scenery region
      regardless of your system or previous experience with
      Flight Simulator. We have taken great care to assure the
      accuracy of this scenery. Positioning, color, shape and
      overall appearance of details as small as buildings, roads,
      city streets and streams have been designed to the maximum
      possible accuracy. This scenery has been designed using
      USGS 15 minute topographic maps and NOAA aeronautical
      charts. Mountain summits, valleys and such are positioned
      within just a few hundred feet of their actual location.

      Care has been taken in many ways to assure that your
      flight around Yosemite will be as close as possible to
      the real thing without actually having to travel there.

      Enjoy and explore beautiful Yosemite National Park.

______________________________________________________________

      NAVIGATING IN YOSEMITE
______________________________________________________________

      Yosemite has been positioned at its correct latitude and
      longitude in the real world. It is entirely posible to fly
      from anywhere in Flight Simulator's world to or from Yosemite.

      Several startup modes are provided that place you at
      airports and mid-air locations.

      The scenery consists of 7 individual overlaping scenery
      regions; each of which is centered about one USGS 15 minute
      quadrangle. These overlap such that each region
      actually contains scenery that extends half way into each
      neighboring quadrangle. As you cross quadrangle boundaries,
      the scenery will automatically update to the current quadrangle.

      Since you have Aircraft & Scenery Designer, you can,
      of course, modify any of this scenery yourself, if you
      so desire. We highly recommend that you not modify scenery
      region boundaries in any way. Great care has been taken
      to assure the smoothest possible overlap of scenery regions.
      Overlapping regions are perfectly synchronized and dimensions
      and centers of regions are highly tuned for maximum
      consistency. If you add or modify the scenery, be aware that
      in many instances, any individual scenery item may actually
      exist in several different scenery regions.

______________________________________________________________

      ALTITUDE FIXES
______________________________________________________________

      This scenery contains several large flat-land areas that
      vary significantly in altitude. For example, the floor of
      Yosemite Valley is at 4000 feet but nearby Tuolumne
      Meadows is at 8000 feet. The altitudes of these flat-land
      (dark green) meadows and valleys are established through
      altitude fixes.

      When you fly from one altitude flat-land area to another,
      Flight Simulator will make a forced ajustment to your
      altitude for you. You will see this happening when you
      come within range of an altitude fix, which is different
      than the prior altitude fix that you passed near. This will
      be both a visual and instrument adjustment.

      For example, if you pass over a 5000 foot altitude fix at
      an altitude of 6000 feet (1000 AGL) and then fly level
      to a 4000 foot altitude fix; Flight Simulator will,
      all by itself, gradually reduce your altitude to 5000 feet
      (1000 AGL again) as you approach the 4000 foot fix.

      This works quite well and causes little confusion when
      flying "downhill" (from a higher altitude fix to a lower).
      However, when flying "uphill" (from a lower fix toward
      a higher), some confusion can occur.

      For example, if you pass over a 4000 foot altitude fix
      at an altitude of 5000 feet (1000 AGL) and then fly
      level to a 6000 foot altitude fix; as you approach the
      6000 foot fix, Flight Simulator will gradually increase
      your altitude to 7000 feet (1000 AGL again). However,
      there may not be enough time to reach 7000 feet before
      you pass over the 6000 foot fix. The result is that,
      for a time you could find yourself much closer to the
      ground (even on the ground) than you expected; while
      Flight Simulator makes the adjustment for you. You can,
      of course, control the altitude yourself, and simply
      climb to retain the same AGL.

      For this reason, many altitude fixes have been established
      in these regions. They are located at key points that are
      expected to be highly traveled paths and are shown on the
      chart for your convenience. The general rule of thumb that
      you should follow is that if you are flying "uphill", be sure
      that your MSL altitude (as shown on the altimeter) is
      greater than the altitude of the fix that you are approaching
      when you come within about a mile (in a Cessna - more for
      the business jet) of that altitude fix. Otherwise, you may
      find yourself on the ground for a short while. If you do
      end up on the ground, Flight Simulator will not consider
      this to be a crash situation.

______________________________________________________________

      MOUNTAIN AND CANYON FLYING
______________________________________________________________

      These regions have countless canyons and mountain peaks.
      The altitude changes required can be quite large over
      sometimes very short lateral distances. For this reason
      you may find the business jet usefull. It has the power
      to make the fast climbs out of the canyons and over the
      ridges that is lacking in the Cessna and the Sopwith.

      However, many of the canyons are quite narrow and very
      difficult to negotiate in the business jet. The Cessna
      is generally quite good at negotiating the tight turns
      deep inside the canyons.

      This is the basic challenge of canyon flying - keeping
      your speed low enough to make the turns, while still
      having the power to climb out if you need to.

      Several of the major canyons are shown on the chart.
      There are many others almost everywhere you look.
      Some are fairly easy straight canyons with gradual
      slopes at their ends. Others are tight, narrow,
      twisting roller-coasters with vertical cliffs around
      you on all sides.

      Begin with the easiest. These include Yosemite Valley
      itself and Tenaya Canyon heading up toward Tuolumne
      Meadows. Then see if you can progess through the more
      difficult such as Hetch Hetchy Valley, Rush Creek
      Canyon and the June Lakes Loop Road area. Finally, if
      you have the nerve, you might try flying the upper
      Merced Canyon from Washburn Lake past Merced Lake
      through the Little Yosemite Valley and down to
      Yosemite. It is torturous. We actually have managed
      to fly it, only a few feet off the ground, in a
      Sopwith. But anything faster has thus far proven
      hopeless.

______________________________________________________________

      THINGS TO SEE IN YOSEMITE
______________________________________________________________

------YOSEMITE VALLEY-----------------------------------------

      "The valley", as it is locally known, is the highlite
      of any trip to Yosemite Park. There is considerable
      detail along the rims; particularly along the south
      rim. Fly the Cessna or Sopwith just along the edge
      of the rims. You will find many spires and rocks that
      can be flown behind and around along the south rim.

      Fly leftward at the end of the valley to follow
      Tenaya Canyon up toward Tuolumne Meadows. Or, turn
      right and prepare to climb rapidly to pass over
      Vernal and Nevada Falls and into the Little Yosemite
      Valley and on up to the upper Merced River area.


------HETCH HETCHY VALLEY & THE GRAND CANYON OF THE TUOLUMNE--

      The Hetch-Hetchy is Yosemite Valley's drowned companion.
      John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club and pioneer
      environmentalist, once wrote that if "Yosemite did not
      exist, people from all over the world would come to see
      the Hetch-Hetchy". Nevertheless, today Hetch-Hetchy serves
      as a reservoir for San Francisco.

      Fly east toward the Pate Valley. At the head of the Pate
      Valley you may see a small spot of white water coming out
      of the Muir Gorge. Climb to 7200 feet, turn right and fly
      over the gorge (its too narrow to fly through) and drop
      left through the notch into the upper Tuolumne Canyon area.

      There are also several isolated valleys north of the Hetch-
      Hetchy.


------THE UPPER MERCED RIVER AREA-----------------------------

      The Upper Merced Canyon is one of the most difficult to
      negotiate. It can be very deceiving. The area around Lake
      Washburn (the upstream lake) is fairly simple. The short
      section between Lake Washburn and Merced Lake gives you a
      taste of what's to come. West of Merced Lake, on the way
      toward the Little Yosemite Valley, the river snakes through
      the increasingly difficult Echo Valley, Bunnell Cascades and
      Little Lost Valley.

      The Merced River headwater area south of Lake Washburn and
      the peaks and passes of the Clark Range offer numerous
      other challanges.

      Just about any of the canyons branching off of the Merced
      offer interesting flights. Fletcher Creek Canyon (turn north
      just east of Merced Lake and then stay to the left) offers
      a challanging route up to Tuolumne Meadows across Tuolumne
      Pass (10000').


------TUOLUMNE MEADOWS & THE HIGH COUNTRY---------------------

      "The Meadows" is one of the most beautiful areas of the
      park; with its spectacular mix of brilliant green meadows
      and stark gray glacially polished granite.

      The actual Tuolumne Meadows campground and services area
      is at the junction of the Tioga road and the Tuolumne
      River. Southward, the Cathedral Range dominates.

      Any of the canyons and crests in this area make great
      flights. Of particular note are Unicorn Peak immediately
      south of the meadows, Cathedral Peak with its two spires
      east of there, the spires of the Echo Peaks just south
      of Cathedral Peak, the jagged knife edged Matthes Crest
      just south of the Echo Peaks and Mammoth Peak and the
      Kuna Crest southeast of the meadows on the east side of
      the river. The granite domes around Lake Tenaya on the
      way down to Yosemite are also well worth the trip.

      From the meadows you can fly northwest into the Tuolumne
      Canyon and down to the Hetch-Hetchy. You can follow the
      Tioga Road southwest to Lake Tenaya and then fly down
      Tenaya Canyon to the Yosemite. Yosemite and the Merced
      River can also be reached by crossing the Cathedral Range
      and following the valleys down toward Lake Merced or by
      following the Lyell Fork of the Tuolumne southeast from
      the meadows (along which there are several side canyons).
      Near the head of the Lyell Fork Canyon either cross
      west into the Merced River area or continue straight
      ahead over Donohue Pass into the upper San Joaquin River
      area and the Ritter Range.

      The main crest of the Sierra is just east of the meadows.
      The Tioga road crosses at Tioga Pass and drops down into
      Lee Vining Canyon. There are several other passes south
      of Tioga Pass that will lead you down toward highway 395.


------THE MINARET WILDERNESS----------------------------------

      The Minaret Wilderness area includes the Ritter Range
      (dominated by the side-by-side summits of Mt. Ritter
      and Banner Pk.) and the Upper San Joaquin River Canyon.
      Look for the large lakes Garnet and Thousand Island just
      east of Mt. Ritter. South of Mt. Ritter is a series of
      jagged spires known as the Minarets.

      Devil's Postpile National Monument is an unusual lava
      formation about half way down the canyon on the east side.
      Look for a small black formation along the east side of
      canyon floor.

      North of the head of the San Joaquin Canyon you will find
      the June Lakes resort area along the June Lakes loop road.
      Rush Creek Canyon (heading up toward the crest west of
      June Lake) makes an interesting and difficult approach or
      exit from the June Lakes area.

------THE MAMMOTH LAKES AREA----------------------------------

      The town of Mammoth Lakes is a few miles west of the
      Mammoth Lakes airport. Follow the road south from the
      town into the Mammoth Lakes Valley. Escape from that
      valley either over Duck Pass at its south end or
      Mammoth Pass to the west. You will need some climbing
      power for either exit.

      If you follow the road north from the Mammoth Lakes
      town you will pass by the base lodge area of the Mammoth
      Mtn. ski area and then over Minaret Pass into the
      San Joaquin Canyon.

      There are several other short but difficult canyons
      heading up toward the Sierra crest south of the Mammoth
      airport. The most difficult takes you over Convict Lake
      and up Convict Creek Canyon between Mt. Morrison (on the
      east) and the Sevehah cliff (on the west). There are
      several peaks all around 12500' to 13000' up in this
      area with passes and canyons between them.