RTMM is pleased to announce the availability of the RTMM Enhanced Season Switcher! Featuring a brand new point and click colorful user interface, the RTMM Enhanced Season Switcher (RTMM eSwitcher) brings a new level of automation and precision in season switching to RTMM that the old RTMM Season Switcher was not able to provide.
Here is a sample of the main RTMM eSwitcher screen:
It may come as a surprise to some of our users that Orbx autogen and land class for FSX and P3D does not change seasonal looks based on traditional season boundaries. For example, the last day of winter and the first day of spring look just the same in default Orbx SAK as well as default FSX/P3D. The reason is that FSX/P3D and Orbx change their seasonal looks on month boundaries. In addition, that seasonal look can vary by location depending on the latitude, elevation, moderating influences of large water bodies etc.
Unfortunately, the old RTMM Season Switcher is only able to change the seasonal sceneries globally based on season boundaries. When a RTMM user decides they want to fly on December 23rd, for example, and sets the old RTMM Season Switcher to "Winter", it is quite likely that they may have chosen the wrong season for the local area they are planning to fly in and consequently may see winter trees depicted amongst default Orbx fall foliage and land class.
This disconnect between the simulator's seasonal changes by month and location versus the old RTMM Season Switcher’s changes by one of four seasons can cause a number of visual clashes: green trees of a seasonal scenery might be surrounded by sim-generated snow covered trees on a blanket of snow or a forest of sim-generated summer greenery might run into a stand of brightly covered fall foliage created by one of our talented scenery developers even though it is not yet Fall in that particular location. Clearly, another level of refinement is needed and this is what the RTMM eSwitcher provides.
In addition to allowing the old switching by Season (if the user so chooses), the RTMM eSwitcher supports switching by flight date. When the RTMM eSwitcher switches seasonal scenery by flight date, it automatically modifies the seasonal switching based on the correct season for that date's month as well as adjusting for local influences using the new RTMM Season Maps.
Today, each seasonal scenery listed in the RTMM Scenery Library has a Season Map in the upper left corner that is comprised of a table of months that colorfully depicts how FSX/P3D/Orbx displays their seasons for that location. See sample below:
For a given scenery, the Season Map gives the user the information needed to set the correct season:
• White = set season to Winter for this month.
• Light Green = set season to Spring for this month.
• Dark Green = set season to Summer for this month.
• Orange = set season to Fall for this month.
The Season Map files may be different for each seasonal scenery. To save the user from having to do this manually, digital versions of these maps are now included in the RTMM seasonal scenery folders. This allows the new RTMM eSwitcher to provide local variations by month thus matching how FSX and P3D generate their default Orbx seasonal looks. In other words, when using the RTMM eSwitcher, two different seasonal scenery folders can automatically be set to two different seasons based on each scenery's Season Map, something the old RTMM Season Switcher is unable to do. This extended season switching functionality combined with much better error checking and correcting of seasonal files, makes the RTMM eSwitcher a "must have" for the best enjoyment of the 142+ seasonal sceneries that RTMM now offers.
The RTMM eSwitcher is a completely new application that has been developed by Rob White (robw on the forum), one of our RTMM users who is also a professional software developer. It is based on the old RTMM Season Switcher and uses the existing RTMM seasonal BGLs found in all of RTMM's seasonal scenery. After some initial installed scenery folder preparation by our users, the RTMM eSwitcher can be up and running quickly.
We at RTMM are sure you will really appreciate the flexibility and convenience the RTMM eSwitcher offers and that you will soon find you can’t fly without it!
Click on link below to go to the RTMM Installation Instructions, "Step Table #6 - Season Switcher Addition" section which now includes the new RTMM eSwitcher and supporting download button under Option A:
http://return.mistymoorings.com/getting_started/index.php#6Rod