for Flight Simulator 2004

USER MANUAL

(Handbook)

Free / Demo version

Scenery features and highlights

Highlights and features

- Every scenery part is modelled as seen on over 350 airport pictures updated to the autumn 2020

- A 10 Km² photoreal background with night lightning and hard winter textures

- Dozen of detailed self made objects and vehicles are placed in the scenery

- ground lights, ground markings and a complete vertical signs system guide your taxiing

- All main airport buildings was repoduced and the most buildings and objects comes with day and night photoreal textures taken from real pictures

- English handbook and set-up procedures are explained step-by-step (very quick installation)

Copyright and warnings

Scenery distribution on the web

The entire 3D part of the scenery is exclusive property of AlbySim Scenery Design but, only in the “demo version”, everyone can share our work on other websites at the follow conditions:

- is forbidden to modify the zip file, the manual, the bgl file or the texture files of this scenery (only “as it is” redistribution is allowed)

- you must write on the download link the full scenery name also “AlbySim Milan Malpensa LIMC”

- the download of this scenery must be for everyone, completely free and without other condition except eventually free registration on the website where you will share the file

Copyrights

This scenery is based on the ground layout designed by ISD Projects (freeware and no more existing developers) in the far 2005. We have try every way to get in contact with the old ISD team to ask permission for including a small part of their work in our project but we can’t got a result (as is also understandable having passed 15 years). Moreover most of the original ISD groundtextures are replaced with photoreal textures by AlbySim and the entire white ground markings, parking slot, pedestrian stripes and bus parking slot was designed from scratch by Albysim too.

So, except for a few ground poly elements and taxisigns (wich are proprety of ISD and are usable for free by everyone) we have made by ourself all other files (all other ground polys, 2D and 3D small objects and all buildings and textures) you’ll find inside the scenery. It was a big, hard and long work therefore is strongly forbidden to modify or use our self-made objects or textures or other scenery file components in other free or payware scenery projects. Every kind of “reverse engeneering” are forbidden and disapproved.

Disclaimer

We have designed and tested this scenery very carefully (and didn’t have any problem during the final version test) but we do not assume any responsibility for eventual direct or indirect damages caused on your computer or other software during the use and/or after the installation of this scenery in your computer or deriving from the use of this scenery. It’s important to full read this handbook before using the scene.

How to install the scenery

Installation of the scenery

We do not supply a self-installer (setup.exe) for our scenery. We choose you'll copy and past by yourself every group of files in the right location so you know which file are copied and where, in order to keep your system clean and efficient.

1) Unzip the file “Albysim_LIMC.zip” and you’ll become as output this handbook (Manual LIMC.htm) and the folder “Milan Malpensa LIMC (Albysim)”.

2) Cut the folder “Milan Malpensa LIMC (Albysim)” and past it into …/Flight Simulator 9/Addon scenery

3) Launch FS2004 (main window), go to “Settings -> scenery library -> “add area” and add the directory “Milan Malpensa LIMC (Albysim)” (located in “…/Flight Simulator 9/Addon scenery”).

Now you can close FS2004, restart it and the new Milan Malpensa scenery will be ready to use in your FS2004 ! Check out the below “First flight” section.

First flight

Once installed the scenery, launch FS2004, go to “Create a flight“- > Selected location -> change -> insert in the field “airport ID” “LIMC” (if you want choose a GATE from the field "start position" at the bottom of the form) - > click on OK

VERY IMPORTANT:

Go to “time and season” -> change -> on the “local time” field set any “o’clock” time (for example 11:00 or 15:00 or every other xx.00 time) -> click on OK then “fly now”.

Demo version and full version (Premium User)

We are only hobby scenery designer but we have spend for the development of this scenery our full free-time of the last 14 months and used some day-off from our “full-time-job” to complete this project.

It was a very big, hard and long work so we decide to release this scenery in two packages: the “free/demo version” (the one which you have just downloaded) and the “full version” (with full features and more enanchement). This is the difference between the two packages:

	Free / Demo version	Donationware full version (Premium User)
Complete airport photoreal background (with night lighting and hard winter textures), apron textures and full gate markings	Full working	Full working
Complete 2D runway and approach lighting	Full working	Full working
Complete vegetation (with seasonal variations) around the entire airport boundary and the main streets	Full working	Full working
Passenger Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 building (airside and lanside detailed structures), airport fire fighter building, service buildings, refuelling station (All buldings come with semi-photoreal day and night textures)	Time limited (only 2 minutes)	Full working
Complete cargo area (“Cargo City” Terminal, New Cargo Terminal South, Old Cargo Terminal North)	Time limited (only 2 minutes)	Full working
Control tower, de-icing and logistic buildings, animated radar antennas, airport hotels, apron lights pylons	Time limited (only 2 minutes)	Full working
Detailed ground fleet vehicles (catering trucks, fuel trucks, baggage carts, stairs, paletten transporter, ramp agent vehicles, etc) and objects (cargo carts, GPU, cargo pallets, jetblast, cargo container, etc ) placed on the apron	Only few and time limited (only 2 minutes)	Full working (over 500 objects and custom complexity settings)
Animated ground service fleet, objects, and animated scenery parts (they really bring the airport to life)	Only 4 animations and time limited (only 2 minutes)	Full working (17 animations)
Complete AES repaint package for all ground fleet vehicles (day and night mode, 46 textures) and AES service activation	Not available	Yes, included
Emergency vehicles and winter service vehicles (de-icing trucks and snow remover trucks)	Not available	Yes, included
A lot of other object, details and possibility to adapt the scenery to the taste of the user and to the computer performance capability	Not available	Yes, included
All eventually future patch and updates send for free direct to your e-mail box	Not available	Yes, all new files
Quick and extendet user assistance (help desk) by e-mail	Not available	Yes

“Time limited” means the feature is working but the scenery is visible only 2 minutes every hour from xx:00 to xx:01). After and before this time range, this part of the scenery is not visible.

We think 2 minutes are enough for a short use of the scenery and for a product evaluation. You can of course reset infinite times the sim time back to every xx.00 time without limitations and check the various areas and features of the scenery in repeated moments.

For a better game-experience, read the chapter “Scenery fine tuning and use of AES” later below.

Upgrade to the full version – no limitations (Premium User)

Albysim provide to send the „full version scenery“ to every user which make an

Euro 19,00 (or more) donation to our project

First of all connect to the Internet, go to our status page* and check if the upgrade service is available

=> click here to do this check

If the upgrade service is available, choose your donation system as listed below.

If you need to create a PayPal account (free and easy):

=> see our section "PayPal Tutorial" later below.

If you want to use your credit card without creating any account

=> see the section “Other payment systems” later below

If you already have a PayPal account

1) Login in you PayPal account, clic on “send a payment” and insert as recipient of the donation albysimsd@gmail.com

2) Write “Malpensa scenery” in the messagebox which will appear in the 2^nd page of the PayPal donation process.

We will send the „full version scenery“ to the e-mail address used with the PayPal account. If you want to receive the files on another e-mail box, write us an e-mail at albysimsd@gmail.com

3) we will check your donation and send you the full scenery package with install information (the zip is file send to the e-mail address of the paypal account used for your donation). This process is not automatic but is handmade; please allow us 12 to max 36 hours after your donation for sending you the zip file.

WARNING:

Before you upgrade to the "full version" check if all scenery elements are displayed correctly on your computer. The upgrade package doesn’t contain errors patch but only additional/extendet features. If you notice some problems in the free version, it will happen in the full version too. After donation, refund is not possible.

If you have troubles or question with the donation process, contact us on albysimsd@gmail.com: we are happy to help you !

If you want to become the update in a shorter time, after making your donation send us please your “PayPal payment report” on albysimsd@gmail.com so we can send you the zip file in a shorter time.

*remark: our site is currently (January 2021) hosted on a free webspace provider.. Maybe in the future we’ll move to another provider. If in the future the current link doesn’t work please search on Google “Albysim scenery Design” and join us on our new webspace.

Other payment systems

Starting from 2021 we have introduced a new option to send us your donation using a credit/ debit card without the need of having any account. It’s hosted on the platform Ko-Fi.com so you can clic directly to this link:

https://ko-fi.com/albysimsd and clic on the “SHOP” page

We are always looking for new ways to receive your donations so, in case in the future the Ko-fi.com platform is no longer available or you don't want to use PayPal, write us an email at albysimsd@gmail.com and we will tell you if, in the meantime, we have also introduced other ways to collect your donations.

Why can i trust Albysim ? 3 good reasons !

1) Because our users are happy with our service as well as you can see from the posts they writed on various FS forums and from the e-mails we received (here only a few but yo can find a lot more on our webpage):

2) The “big” know us: several magazines and prestigious FS websites reviewed our past sceneries (here some examples but yo can find other reviews and articles on our webpage):

3) We design and develop sceneries since 2009 and we are well know in the sim-community (check it by yourself by doing a Google search)

PayPal Tutorial

What is PayPal ?

PayPal is a hi-secure Internet payment service that allows you to make online transactions in a simple, fast and - above all - secure way without having to reveal your bank account details or credit card number to anyone. For this reason, it is one of the methods that gives the greatest guarantees of protection and is used every day by millions of people around the world.

Is it mandatory to have a PayPal account to make a donation to your team and receive the full version of the scenery ?

Yes, it is mandatory. However, contrary to what you might think, opening and using a PayPal account is very easy for everyone, even for the less technological. Signing up for PayPal is free and only takes a few minutes. Read the chapter below if you need some help.

What do i need and how I do to create a PayPal account?

You will only need an email address and a credit or debit card (like Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Postepay or so on…).To create your account, connect to the PayPal website and click on the "Register" button.

On the next page, choose to open a personal account (a typical choice for a person who does not own a company). Then follow the simple step-by-step instructions that will guide you in creating your new account.

Is safe to use a credit/debit card on PayPal ?

Yes, this is the safest solution, as at any time you can either disconnect the card eliminating any risk, or keep the card with zero credit (with no money available), so as not to allow any charges.

Can you explain me the donation process ?

For sure ! After you have clic on the link to our PayPal form (see the previous section “Upgrade to the full version” shortly above in this handbook), you have to insert the donation ammount and clic on “donate”. After this you have to fill out the requested few fields, clic again on “donate” and -in the following message box- type in “Malpensa scenery”. If you want to become the update in a shorter time, after making your donation send us please your “PayPal payment report” on albysimsd@gmail.com so we can send you the zip file in a shorter time.

Scenery fine tuning and AES compatibility

AFCAD file to choose (“World of AI" or "Sky AI” AI traffic)

An AFCAD (called “AFX_Albysim_WOAI.bgl”), which has been optimized and tested with “World of AI” AI traffic, was provided with our scenery. For users who instead use the AI traffic “Sky AI”, a second AFCAD has been created (called “AFX_Albysim_SkyAI.OFF”) which is disabled by default.

If you want to use this second file, go to the Milan Malpensa LIMC (Albysim)/scenery folder and just rename the “AFX_Albysim_WOAI.bgl” file to “AFX_Albysim_WOAI.OFF” and rename the “AFX_Albysim_SkyAI.OFF” file to “AFX_Albysim_SkyAI.bgl”. It is important that at least one of the two files is called xx.bgl and the other is called xx.OFF otherwise the scenery crashes.

Using our scenery with Aerosoft's Airport Enanchement Service (AES)

This scenery was built using the reference positions of the old Malpensa scenery created by ISD in 2005 and which Aerosoft had made compatible with AES. So, even in our new scenery, 90% of the gates (excluding those of the new satellite of Terminal 1 and a few others) have a fully functional ground enanchement service.

Beside at Terminal 2 (Easyjet) the AES service places some fingers that currently no longer exist. However, these fingers are hard encoded inside the Aerosfot file, so we are not able to remove them.

The procedure for the activation of the AES service in our Malpensa scenery is reserved to the user which upgrade to the full version (Premium User) of the scenery.

“Work in progress” on the taxiways BW and H (closed taxiways)

The taxiways "BW" (in the north) and "H" (in the south) did not exist when Aerosoft programmed AES so we included them in the scenery but they are not supported by AES (it means the "follow me car" is not able to cover them and drive along this taxiways). For this reason we have closed the taxiways by simulating asphalting works (therefore there are no horizontal signs too).

If you want to use these taxiways anyway and remove both "work in progress" sites, you can do this but this feature is reserved to the user which upgrade to the full version (Premium User) of the scenery.

New cargo Terminal South (missing gate markings)

During the autumn 2020 (update date of our scenery) the buildings of the new cargo terminal were completed but the gate markings on the apron not yet done. For this reason also our scenery does not include the gate markings on this apron (they will be done with a future update) and the AES Service is not available on this area of the airport.

“Hard winter” airport photoreal background

In the scenery, a "hard winter" version of the airport photoreal is also included. The textures covered with snow - as settled by the FS9 core engine - are shown approximately from december 22th to february 14th. However, since in Milan the snowfalls are not very frequent and not very intense, we have drawn a very soft hard winter enviroment, without snowdrifts and without snow on the aprons and taxiways. This is close to the reality as all runways and taxiways, at latest 24 hours after the end of every snowfall, are clean again. So the remaining thickness of snow is very light and all asphalt and concrete surfaces are cleaned very quickly, as depicted in our scenery.

Note about the gate markings

The ground polys (which also contain the gate marking lines) can not be modified as they are a closed file owned by ISD. Furthermore, by changing the position of the gates, compatibility with the AES service, which is now guaranteed, would be lost. Due to this, in our scenery the gate configuration is not fully updated to 2020. We had to adjust to this limit and look for the best compromise for each situation. In general, however, almost all gates correspond to current reality.

User support and scenery updates

Trough our e-mail box we try to give our user the better “customer care service” as possible but we'll do this on our free time after work, so we can't reply in real time to your questions.

Before asking us trough e-mail about your problem, please check

- the Milan Malpensa F.A.Q. section on our website (here)*

- the update/fix section at the bottom of the Malpensa download scenery page on our website (here)*

- the www.volovirtuale.com forum (Italian language) or the AVSIM FS9 forum. Maybe other people asked for your same questions and we already answered on the forum

- after this, if you still got some problems, you can write us at our e-mail box albysimSD@gmail.com

For information about our future and released projects check our site*, our facebook page and our youtube chanel.

*remark: our site is currently (January 2020) hosted on a free webspace provider so - it can be - in the future we move to another provider. If in the future the current link don’t work please search on Google “Albysim scenery Design” and join us on our new webspace.

Position and facts about Milan and Malpensa airport

Position and facts

Located in Europe, Milan is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million while its metropolitan city has 3.26 million inhabitants.

Milan is considered a leading alpha global city, with strengths in the fields of art, commerce, design, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, services, research and tourism. Its business district hosts Italy's stock exchange and the headquarters of national and international banks and companies. In terms of GDP, it has the second-largest economy among EU cities after Paris.

About the LIMC Milan Malpensa airport

Milan Malpensa Airport (IATA: MXP, ICAO: LIMC) is the largest international airport in the Milan metropolitan area in northern Italy and the second-busiest Italian airport in terms of passengers. It serves around 17 million inhabitants in Lombardy, Piedmont and Liguria, as well as those living in the Swiss Canton of Ticino. The airport is located 49 kilometres (30 mi) northwest of central Milan. The airport has two terminals (Terminal 1 and Terminal 2) and two runways as well as two dedicated cargo terminals.

In 2019, Malpensa Airport handled 28,846,299 passengers and was the 20th busiest airport in Europe in terms of passengers. Malpensa Airport remains the busiest Italian airport for freight and cargo, handling over 500,000 tons of international freight annually. The operator on the airport are over 90 passengers airlines and over 20 cargo airlines (both flying to Milan from all over the word)

(some info credit to en.wikipedia.org)

The LIMC unofficial (but useful) airport charts can be find easly with a simply search on Google or on the ENAV site (ATC Company for air traffic control in Italy) using a free registration account.

Thanks to

A special thank to Simone "Beat air": he helped me a lot during the final testing of this scenery and moreover he collaborated to re-arrange the AFCAD file and to create some parts of this scenery with a lot of patience, love for details and big enthusiasm. So thank you again.

Many thanks also to Greg Putzt who, with great availability and spirit of collaboration, took care of the seasonal photoreal tweaking of the scenery.

And another big thank to YOU, all FS9 users which – in the current MFS2020/FSX/P3D/Xplane world – believe like me in our old but wonderful FS2004 ! Thank you for still supporting me in the development of FS9 sceneries in a sim-world where the most simmers think we are crazy and wast our time working on this simulator.

Alby

Other “Albysim Scenery Design” sceneries

In the past years we have release our free/donationware scenery

“Santorini Big Scenery LGSR” - Greece