FTX US 2W3 Swanson Version 1.

0
User Guide March 2012

Orbx FTX 2W3 Swanson Version 1.0 User Guide – March 2012 Page 1
INDEX

TOPIC PAGE

Latest Orbx FTX PNW Patch Required ............................................... 3

Thank You! ............................................... 4

Airport Information ............................................... 5

FTX Pacific Northwest is Required ............................................... 6

Quick Installation Guide ............................................... 7

Manual Scenery Library Configuration ............................................... 8

Scenery Coverage Area ............................................... 9

Other Scenery Features ............................................... 10

The 2W3 Control Panel ............................................... 11

Quick Reference FSX Settings ............................................... 12

Recommended FSX Slider Settings ............................................... 13

The Autogen Density Slider ............................................... 16

Orbx Freeware ............................................... 17

Product Technical Support ............................................... 18

FTX Community Forums ............................................... 19

The 2W3 Team ............................................... 20

End User License Agreement ............................................... 21

Orbx FTX 2W3 Swanson Version 1.0 User Guide – March 2012 Page 2
IMPORTANT FTX PACIFIC NORTHWEST COMPATIBILITY NOTICE
Installing 2W3 Swanson requires you to update your FTX Pacific Northwest region with the PNW.004 (or
higher version) patch. Please visit http://fullterrain.com/support.html#pnw to get the latest PNW patch.

This patch will ensure your airport elevations are correctly set, and all roads and traffic are correctly aligned. It
will also ensure the coastlines and shores are corrected from the default PNW levels.

Note: at the time of release of this airport the current PNW patch level was PNW.004
This version may now be numbered higher, so just install the latest PNW.XXX patch always.

To install the PNW patch

1. Run FTX Central and make sure your region is set to North America
2. Apply the PNW patch

Note: You don't need to apply the patch before installing these airports; it's quite safe to apply the patch after
you've installed them.

Orbx FTX 2W3 Swanson Version 1.0 User Guide – March 2012 Page 3
Thank You!
Orbx would like to thank you for purchasing FTX US 2W3 Swanson (2W3).

2W3 Swanson is the latest North American airport from developers Tim Harris and Alex Goff, whose previous
projects include KHQM Bowerman, WA79 Walter Suttons, WA56 Israel's Farm and W52 Goheen. The scenery
covers a large area including the entire town of Eatonville, Lake Ohop, and the surrounding valley area.

Swanson (IATA: 2W3, ICAO: 2W3, FAA LID: 2W3) is a public airport located one mile (1.5 km) northeast of the
centre of Eatonville and twenty-five miles west of Mount Rainier, in Pierce County, Washington, United States.
The airport is owned by the town of Eatonville. It is situated amid housing developments near the site of the
town's former logging mill.

Facilities and aircraft

Swanson covers an area of 14 acres (5.6 ha) which contains one asphalt paved runway with non-standard
medium intensity lights: 16/34 measuring: 2,990 x 36 ft (911 x 11 m).

For the 12-month period ending May 31, 2011, the airport had 5,980 aircraft operations, an average of 16 per
day: 99% general aviation and <1% military. At that time there were 12 aircraft based at this airport, all single
engine.

A private air taxi service was operated from Swanson Field from 1969 – 1975. Currently Swanson
Field does not host commercial service.

Source: Airnav and the Washington State Dep. of Transportation

Orbx FTX 2W3 Swanson Version 1.0 User Guide – March 2012 Page 4
 Source: http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/aviation/AllStateAirports/Eatonville_SwansonField.htm

Orbx FTX 2W3 Swanson Version 1.0 User Guide – March 2012 Page 5
Orbx FTX Pacific Northwest is required for full functionality
This airport scenery addon is designed to work with Microsoft Flight Simulator X and Orbx FTX Pacific
Northwest (FTX PNW). It will work fine without FTX PNW but please note the limitations below.

Here's what is required to run this airport scenery as Orbx designed it to:

PRODUCT Version(s) Why

Microsoft Flight Simulator X (FSX) The base product required.

All Orbx products are made for

• Standard Edition
FSX and don't run by
• Deluxe Edition
themselves.
• Acceleration Addon Pack (not a stand-alone product)
• Gold Edition (which includes all three versions above)

If you don't have FSX already, the best version to

purchase would be the Gold Edition, which already
includes all versions and service packs SP1 and SP2.

Orbx FTX Pacific Northwest (Download) The FTX region covering the
airport location
This is a downloadable FTX region pack which you can
purchase from the Orbx fullterrain.com website. It's
designed to work specifically with FSX

Orbx FTX Pacific Northwest (DVD) (Optional)

An alternative way to purchase

For convenient installation, the Orbx FTX USA Canada
FTX PNW on a handy quick to
Pacific Northwest region is also available as a DVD.
install DVD covering the Pacific
Northwest region
This offers a quick and easy installation of the entire FTX
Pacific Northwest region in which 2W3 is located.

WHAT WILL YOU MISS OUT ON IF YOU DON'T HAVE ORBX FTX INSTALLED?

- Blending of the airport photoreal into the surrounding terrain with exactly matching ground textures
- The eastern side of Washington State beautifully represented by Orbx's FTX textures, landclass and mesh
- Moving traffic on all major and minor roads, properly aligned to the photoreal ground terrain
- 3D light poles along roads and in urban/township streets and around the airport
- Orbx's modified autogen houses, custom trees and other objects
- The FTX Central application, which is used to launch all the Orbx tools and also switch FTX off

Please visit www.fullterrain.com to purchase your copy of FTX if you haven't already done so.

Orbx FTX 2W3 Swanson Version 1.0 User Guide – March 2012 Page 6
Quick Installation Guide
Whether you are installing Orbx 2W3 from the downloaded FlightSimStore wrapper installer or the DVD
purchased from an Orbx Reseller, the procedure is very similar.

DOWNLOADED FSS WRAPPER EDITION

STEP INSTRUCTIONS

1 Unzip the FlightSimStore.com (FSS) downloaded ZIP file. You should end up with the FSS
installer application OrbxFTX2W3100.exe

2 Run OrbxFTX2W3100.exe

3 Fill in the Order Number, Date and Key when requested. This information would have been
emailed to you when you purchased the download version of 2W3 from FSS.

4 The wrapper will unwrap the Orbx installer which will then run and present the opening
installation screen. Please acknowledge the EULA page and continue. You cannot choose a
destination folder, since all Orbx products are installed into the ORBX folder in the FSX folder

5 Once the Orbx installer has completed, start FSX and choose 2W3 as your starting location

ORBX RESELLER DVD EDITION

STEP INSTRUCTIONS

1 Insert the 2W3 DVD into your computer's DVD drive. If you have autorun enabled, the
installer will start automatically, or prompt you to run Setup_2W3.exe
If you don't have autorun enabled, please use Windows Explorer to open the DVD contents
then run the Setup_2W3.exe application

2 The Orbx installer which will then run and present the opening installation screen. Please
acknowledge the EULA page and continue. You cannot choose a destination folder, since all
Orbx products are installed into the ORBX folder in the FSX folder

3 Once the Orbx installer has completed, start FSX and choose 2W3 as your starting location

Orbx FTX 2W3 Swanson Version 1.0 User Guide – March 2012 Page 7
Manual Scenery Library Configuration
If you do NOT have Orbx FTX installed you can still use this scenery by manually adding the scenery library
entry from within Flight Simulator X.

Here's the steps required to configure the scenery library.

1. Run Flight Simulator X, then select Settings | Scenery Library

2. Click on the Add Area button

3. A folder browser window will pop up.

4. Navigate to the ORBX \ FTX_NA folder

5. Now select the FTXAA_2W3 folder and click OK

6. You will then see two folders displayed, Scenery and Texture. Now click OK*

*(Note: If you're using Windows 7, click anywhere in the white portion of the folder browser screen that shows
the Scenery and Texture folder, not the OK button - there's a bug with FSX under Windows 7)

7. You will now be taken back to the Scenery Library list of scenery added, and the airport will now be
displayed at the top of the list.

You can now load up a flight at the airport using the "Free Flight" menu.

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Scenery Coverage Area

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Additional Scenery Features
As a bonus addition to further your enjoyment of the 2W3 Swanson scenery, the airport features the premier
of SnowFlow. The airport buildings will reflect the changes in season and weather with a layer of snow that
appears in the winter months.

Here's two screenshots showing SnowFlow:

Summer Winter

Orbx FTX 2W3 Swanson Version 1.0 User Guide – March 2012 Page 10
The 2W3 Control Panel
After 2W3 is installed, a Control Panel icon is placed onto your Windows desktop. You can also use FTX
Central to access the 2W3 Control Panel from the main FTX Central interface.

The Control Panel will enable you to disable or enable certain scenery features of the airport to allow it to
perform in accordance with the PC hardware you have. By default, all scenery options are enabled by the
installer. If you have a high end PC, enable all the CP options. You can also disable the NatureFlow Animations
here.

To disable or enable any feature, simply select it from the list for a brief description of what it is. To disable an
item, simply click the tickbox. Any changes are made instantly and there is no ‘Apply’ button required.

You may click on each item’s description in the list to see the explanation, and this does not trigger the on/off
switchbox. This will allow you to consider which items to disable.

Orbx FTX 2W3 Swanson Version 1.0 User Guide – March 2012 Page 11
Quick Reference FSX Settings
The table below lists in a handy reference the minimum recommended settings required in FSX to enjoy 2W3
the way Orbx designed it. These settings run well on most PCs and take particular advantage of the custom
mesh and photoreal imagery used in the scenery area.

If you use the settings below you will enjoy a high fidelity experience and good performance.

Setting Value Why?

Level of detail radius Large Reduces blurring of textures

Global Texture Resolution Max Best displays photoreal textures

Mesh Complexity 100 Better terrain definition

Mesh Resolution 5m 5m is required for this airport scenery

Texture Resolution 15cm You may set to 7cm if you want the sharpest road textures, but
set this to 15cm if you experience micro stutters

Scenery Complexity Extremely How Orbx designed 2W3

Dense

Autogen Density Normal- Best FPS versus detail More discussion on this on page 16
Dense regarding setting this slider according to your PC specs

Aircraft AI Traffic 16% + Recommend for the GA AI traffic coded at 2W3

Road Vehicles 16% No need to set higher for 2W3

Leisure Boats 1-16% Keep leisure boats below 50% to avoid micro-stutters

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Recommended FSX Slider Settings
Firstly, like default FSX, dragging all your sliders to the right even with today’s modern hardware, will for most
people result in very poor visuals and performance. We suggest that you begin your exploration of 2W3 using
the slider settings shown below, and then if you find performance to be acceptable, you can move certain
sliders to the right, although we recommend you only move one slider at a time to gauge the effect.

The most critical slider in FSX is the Autogen Density slider. With the way 2W3 has been designed, it has the
single most critical performance effect in the simulator. We'll discuss the best settings for this slider later.

So before you begin your first flight, please change your FSX sliders to what is shown on the following pages.
You may think the settings are too low at first, but we're calling these the 2W3 BASE SETTINGS which is the
recommended settings for medium spec PCs.

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 * Please refer to the Autogen Density Table further in this user guide for specific information about this slider

Orbx FTX 2W3 Swanson Version 1.0 User Guide – March 2012 Page 14
Orbx FTX 2W3 Swanson Version 1.0 User Guide – March 2012 Page 15
 The Autogen Density Slider
Because FTX uses much denser, more accurately placed autogen objects in its annotation, having it set to
Extemely Dense in large cities like Vancouver, Seattle or Portland will bring even the most powerful PC to its
knees. We won't mince our words - FTX is not designed to give you a 60FPS experience with all sliders maxed.

The key thing to remember is that 2W3 is designed to be used both today and in the future, meaning that we
did not cripple the product on release to cater for a broad range of PCs, but rather created a standard which
will be enjoyed by most people as hardware catches up.

Here's a simple table which should be used as a guide for the Autogen Density slider. This has been indexed
to PCs as at January 2011, which means this table will become dated rather quickly. We expect the 'Extreme'
spec PC to be the Entry Level by mid 2012, so of course as FSX gets older, your PCs are likely to get faster.

That said, if you adhere to these slider settings in 2W3 you will get a good balance between visuals and
performance.

PC Specifications (Circa Jan 2010) Seattle City / Urban Areas 2W3 and Rural Areas

Entry Level
Core2 Duo <= 2.5Ghz | < 512MB GPU

Mid Range
Core2 Duo >= 2.8Ghz | 512MB+ GPU

High End
Intel i7 9xx < 4Ghz (not OC) | 1GB GPU

Extreme
Intel i7 9xx >= 4Ghz (OC) | 1-2GB GPU

Intel i7 2XXX Sandy Bridge @ 4-6Ghz |

1-2GB GPU

Orbx FTX 2W3 Swanson Version 1.0 User Guide – March 2012 Page 16
Construction is ongoing around the airport

Swanson is a pilot's dream, live just feet from the runway with your aircraft parked in the garage

Orbx Freeware
Orbx continually releases quality freeware addons including many GA airports, all similar in quality to our
payware airports. Please check the FTX website at http://fullterrain.com/freeware.html to see what
releases are coming.

Orbx FTX 2W3 Swanson Version 1.0 User Guide – March 2012 Page 17
Product Technical Support

Orbx has a very simple support policy: “No question unanswered”. That means, should you have any questions
about 2W3 or its use, please feel free to register on the forums at fullterrain.com and then log a support
question in the FTX Payware Support Forum section. Orbx FTX experts will be available to review your support
questions and you will usually get a reply on the forums within 12 hours, often much sooner than that.

To visit the our support forums, click on the button shown above from the fullterrain.com front page
or click on Help | Orbx FTX Support Forums from FTX Central

Please do NOT email support requests

Orbx provides world-class support on our forums, and it's the only way in which you can receive support for
2W3. Provided you adhere to the forum terms of use and have a legitimate copy of 2W3, you will always be
offered our support at no cost as we work toward a problem resolution each time.

However, if you email Orbx asking for support, you will most likely not receive an answer at all, since our
policy is that all support is provided through our forums only.

Use the forum ‘Search’ function

Before you post a question, please try searching for the answer first, using the forum’s built-in search function
located on the forum menu bar.

What to Include in Your Support Forum Requests

If at all possible, this is what we’d like to see provided for each request you log:

• A separate post on the FTX support forums for each issue (don't tag new issue reports onto others)
• Include your ORDER NUMBER from your 2W3 purchase in your post or forum signature section
• A screenshot to highlight what you are talking about
• A descriptive post title which clearly states what the issue is
• Detailed comments in your post about what you are reporting on

The Orbx support team is always on standby to assist you with any problems you may have, or will comment
on your issue reports. Please remember, our priority is fixing any urgent issues first, and addressing bug
reports second. Clearly though, any “show stopper” bugs will be given top priority though.

Orbx FTX 2W3 Swanson Version 1.0 User Guide – March 2012 Page 18
FTX Community Forums

FTX already has quite a thriving and active user community on the forums, with over 16,000 members as of
March 2012.

You don’t need a user account just to view preview and user community screenshots and selected information
posted by Orbx staff, but if you’d like to join in on the discussion there and view tips, guides and in-depth
support questions and answers, simply create your own account. It’s instant and no validation email is
required. We like to keep things simple. ☺

We hope to see you there soon!

Thanks for reading!

You’ve stuck with us through all these pages of information, and we appreciate your taking the time to read
the user guide. We hope it gave you some tips and insights. We know you’ll have a fantastic experience bush
flying and exploring these airfields. See you on the forums!

The Orbx Team

Orbx FTX 2W3 Swanson Version 1.0 User Guide – March 2012 Page 19
The 2W3 Team
Lead Developers

Alex Goff Photoreal ground textures, 3D modelling, object placement

Tim Harris 3D modelling, autogen, object placement

Orbx Developers

Graham Eccleston AI Traffic

Orbx Team Library objects used at 2W3
Holger Sandmann Roads/traffic adjustments, flattens

Location photography Phil Manhart, Scott Swanberg, Mike Nowak

Beta Testers

Ed Correia, Friedhelm Gulder, Jeff Gilmour, Craig Hanley, Wolter Van Der Spoel, Aaron Myers, Jorge Amengol,
Iain Emms, John Venema, Edward Boyte, Heiko Glatthorn, Phil Manhart, Ken Hall, Holger Sandmann, Eberhard
Haberkorn, Patrick Scharnowski, Ryan Mason

Orbx FTX 2W3 Swanson Version 1.0 User Guide – March 2012 Page 20
END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT (EULA)

END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR Orbx Simulation Systems Full Terrain Experience (FTX) Scenery Addon For Microsoft Flight
Simulator X

IMPORTANT — PLEASE READ CAREFULLY: This End-User License Agreement (“EULA”) is a legal agreement between you (either an
individual or a single entity) and Orbx Simulation Systems Pty. Ltd. ("ORBX") for the ORBX software product identified above, which
includes computer software and includes associated media and “online” or electronic documentation (“SOFTWARE PRODUCT”). The
SOFTWARE PRODUCT also includes any updates and supplements to the original SOFTWARE PRODUCT which may be provided to you by
ORBX. By accessing or otherwise using the SOFTWARE PRODUCT, you agree to be bound by the terms of this EULA. If you do not agree
to the terms of this EULA, do not use the SOFTWARE PRODUCT.

SOFTWARE PRODUCT LICENSE

The SOFTWARE PRODUCT is protected by copyright laws and international copyright treaties, as well as other intellectual property laws and treaties. The
SOFTWARE PRODUCT is sold as a single user license and no ownership is transferred, only the right to use the license software. The SOFTWARE PRODUCT
may not be re-distributed, sold for non-profit or profit or subscription fees, repackaged, delivered on CD or DVD media or any other form of electronic media
by any other persons or party, website, organisation or entity, other than the official e-commerce seller website(s) as contracted or authorised by ORBX.

1. GRANT OF LICENSE. This EULA grants you the following rights:

a. You may install, access, and run a SINGLE copy of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT on a SINGLE personal computer for your personal, non-commercial, non-profit
use. Any party or organisation seeking to use the SOFTWARE PRODUCT under license for commercial use should contact ORBX at www.orbxsystems.com

b. This SOFTWARE PRODUCT is for personal entertainment purposes only and may not be used for flight training purposes. This SOFTWARE PRODUCT is not
part of an approved training program under the standards of any aviation regulatory agency or body worldwide, whether private or government.

c. Separation of Components. The SOFTWARE PRODUCT is licensed as a single product. Its original component parts created by ORBX may not be separated
for use for other software or projects.

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e. Rental. You may not rent, lease, or lend the SOFTWARE PRODUCT. You may not charge admission or fees for any simulator, entertainment or training
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f. Support Services. This SOFTWARE PRODUCT is provided "as is", however ORBX will provide provision of support services in relation to the operation,
installation or remedy of issues arising to the use of the SOFTWARE at its official support website at www.orbxsystems.com, however Orbx reserves the right
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such event, you must destroy all copies of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT and all of its component parts.

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any copies of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT are owned by ORBX or its suppliers. All title and intellectual property rights in and to additional third party libraries
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4. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL ORBX BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL,
INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS,
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SUCH DAMAGES.

COPYRIGHTS

Microsoft Flight Simulator X is a © Copyrighted trademark of Microsoft Corporation

FTX and Full Terrain Experience are brands of Orbx Simulation Systems Pty. Ltd.

Orbx FTX 2W3 Swanson Version 1.0 User Guide – March 2012 Page 21