(EDITED JULY 11, 2003: This post containts old info - scroll down to July 11, 2003 post date for new release info of Microsim)
One last thing, there is a great Landclass Scenery add-on for FS2002 of Florida and a little bit of Alabama. Really adds to the scenery.
Really nice review, screen shots, etc here:
http://www.flightsim.com/cgi/kds?$=main/review/flland.htm
Before (Default Scenery):
With Florida Landclass loaded:
Can be used in conjunction with the Navy's addon scenery posted in the link above.
http://www.bbbrown.com/bbbrown/fltsim/landclassproj.htm
File Description:
Moon over Miami. Fly the Sunshine State under a full moon or in the bright sunshine and you will see a vast improvement in the default scenery if you use the Joe Watson, Bob Brown, Florida Landclass Scenery Files. Created from the U.S. Geological Survey National Landcover Database and hand edited by Joe and Bob this is the most accurate scenery available for the State of Florida. Six individual bgls transform the default scenery into a recognizable landscape as you fly from the Keys, up the East Coast over Miami, and Fort Lauderdale then out over the Everglades on your way past Tampa to the Panhandle all the way to just east of New Orleans near Slidell and Bogalusa. (CW)
Filename: flscenes.zip
License: Check within download
Added: 4th November 2002
Downloads: 3072
Author: Bob Brown and Joe Watson
Size: 159kb
The small download is easy to install. Just unzip into your FS2002Scenery folder. It won't overwrite anything.
Picture of area of coverage below.
http://www.bbbrown.com/bbbrown/fltsim/Florida_tiles.jpg
You can see what the differences are in these jpgs.
1. Default MS FS2002 Scenery
http://www.asherons.net/~elder/fs/aa.jpg
2. Default MS FS2002 Scenery w/ Navy Addon
http://www.asherons.net/~elder/fs/bb.jpg
3. New Flordia Landclass Scenery only
http://www.asherons.net/~elder/fs/cc.jpg
4. New Flordia Landclass Scenery w/ Navy Addon
http://www.asherons.net/~elder/fs/dd.jpg
Problem with Navy addon, is it was made for FS2000. Sometimes I get elevation issues when landing. Nothing major. Just the wheels go below the surface of the runway. There is a method to "flatten" all layers in one area to same elevation, just involves editing a text file. See "Getting More From Flight Simulator 2002" PDF file on the FS2002 CD-ROM.
Another issue with the Navy Addon Scenery is the runways are at slightly different heading than MSFS2002... and I "think" MSFS2002's are more accurate... if you can believe that.
But, in spite of the Navy addon having the added hangars, water towers, etc, I pretty much am only using the Landclass file for FS2002 without the Navy addon.
If you look at the CC and DD pictures, you can see what happens when you addon the Navy stuff on top of the Landclass - takes a lot of detail away.
I may tinker with adding scenery that would go with just the Florida Landclass file, or perhaps modify the Navy's addon so it works correctly with FS2002, since Whiting isn't the only field they worked over.
Something to remember is that the Navy Addon Scenery was originally designed for FS98, then upgraded to FS2000, since I guess that is what they use in the learning center. It may have been needed before as FS98 and FS2000 may not have had all the needed airfields. FS2002 has darn near every airport in the world. And FS2004 is around the corner.
The Navy Addon aircraft are just fine as is, I'm assuming.
Although, someone did up a new T-45 Goshawk United States Navy for FS2000/FS2002. Last modifed November 9, 2002 and is a good 4.2MB Download - heftier than the Navy's addon. The plane can be downloaded here:
http://www.simviation.com/files/1military/T45.zip
Anyway, hope this helps.