Installation

This describes how to convert a copy of X-Plane 10 for Mars flights. You will need about 40 GB of disk space to complete the installation steps described below.

Download

The files to download from http://cdn.isdg.com.au/downloads/mars_v1.1/ are:

• docs.zip Documentation describing the installation, and more (3 MB)
• mars[1-9].zip The base mesh as nine zip archives (each about 1.8 GB)
• bitmaps.zip Mid- and far-distant scenery (680 MB)
• ter.zip Renamed copies of selected terrains (6 kB)
• dds.zip Customized textures (80 MB)
• apts.zip The airport layouts, suitable for editing with WED (220 kB)
• dsf_files A 180×360 bitmap indicating availability of DSF tiles (64 kB)
• apt.dat A consolidated description of all airports (34 kB)
• earth_nav.dat All navigational aids (42 kB)
• sky_colors_mars.png Sky colors (61 kB)
• sun_glow_mars.png Sun colors (76 kB)

Overview of installation operations

Documentation

Put this and other documentation pages anywhere that suits you.

Base DSF mesh

Replace the base mesh, which is located under "Global Scenery/X-Plane 10 Global Scenery/". The downloaded files are named mars[1-9].zip. These are related to another downloaded file, dsf_files.

Custom Scenery

Replace (almost) the entire contents of "Custom Scenery/". The downloaded file, named apts.zip, contains all Martian airports as individual scenery packages.

Global Airports

Replace "Resources/default scenery/default apt dat/Earth nav data"/apt.dat with the one provided.

ATC

Edit "Resources/default scenery/default atc/Earth nav data"/atc.dat, deleting all but first controller.

Navigational aids

Replace "Resources/default data/earth_nav.dat" with the one provided.

Distant terrain

X-Plane has a system for blending nearby scenery with a coarse 'bitmapped' version of the distant scenery. These files in Resources/bitmaps/ need to be replaced with those in the downloaded file bitmaps.zip.

Sky

Replace the Earth-specific sky colors with colors specific to Mars.

Terrains

Replace several rocky terrains with sandy ones.

Textures

Replace several dune and rock textures with ones that are more Mars-like.

Settings

Update the weather and planet properties.

There are a lot of customizations, so I strongly advise you to create a copy of your X-Plane10 folder, and make all Mars-specific customizations to the copy. I put my copy in a folder named M-Plane10.

The copy should resemble the following. Also shown is a summary of all the modifications that are needed to convert X-Plane to M-Plane.

M-Plane10/
|-- Aircraft/
|-- Airfoils/
|-- Custom Data/
|-- Custom Scenery/
|   |-- KSEA Demo Area/                  Keep this Earth scenery pack
|   |-- KSEA Demo Terrain/               Keep this Earth scenery pack
|   |-- Global Airports/                 Delete this, and all other scenery packs
|   |-- Global Scenery/                  Delete this
|   :       :                            Insert Martian airports
|   `-- scenery_packs.ini                Delete this
|-- Extra Aircraft/
|-- Global Scenery/
|   |-- Bug Fixes/                       Delete this directory
|   |-- Recuts 1030/                     Delete this directory
|   |-- X-Plane 10 Global Scenery/       New base mesh goes here
|   |   `-- Earth nav data/
|   |       `-- ±n0±nn0/
|   |           `-- ±nn±nnn.dsf
|   `-- README.txt
|-- Instructions/
|-- Output/
|-- Resources/
|   |-- bitmaps/
|   |   |-- skycolors/
|   |   |   |-- sun_glow_*.png           Modify these
|   |   |   `-- sky_colors_*.png         Modify these
|   |   |-- Earth Orbit Textures/
|   |   |   |-- ±n0±nn0.dds              Replace these files
|   |   |   `-- ±n0±nn0-nrm.png          Replace these files
|   |   |-- earth{1,2}.dds               Replace these files
|   |   `-- earth{1,2}-nrm.png           Replace these files
|   |-- default data/
|   |   `-- earth_nav.dat                Replace this file      
|   |-- default scenery/
|   |   |-- default apt dat/
|   |   |   `-- Earth nav data/
|   |   |      `-- apt.dat               Replace this file  
|   |   |-- default atc/
|   |   |   `-- Earth nav data/
|   |   |      `-- atc.dat               Modify this file  
|   |   `-- 1000 world terrain/
|   |       |-- terrain10/
|   |       |   |-- spr_*_dry_fl.ter         Replace these files
|   |       |   |-- spr_*_dry_sflat.ter      Replace these files
|   |       |   |-- red_spr_*_dry_fl.ter     Replace these files
|   |       |   |-- red_spr_*_dry_sflat.ter  Replace these files
|   |       |   `-- apt_tmp_dry.ter          Replace this file
|   |       `-- textures10/
|   |           |-- apt/
|   |           |   |-- apt_cld_dry.dds  Replace this file
|   |           `-- soil/
|   |               |-- red_rock_*.dds   Replace these files
|   |               `-- sand_*.dds       Replace these files
|   |-- dlls/
|   |-- fonts/
|   |-- GNS430/
|   |-- menus/
|   |-- plugins/
|   |-- shaders/
|   |-- sounds/
|   |-- text/
|   |-- dsf_files                        Replace this file
|   `-- settings.txt
|-- tools/
|   `-- WED               Suggestion, in case you want to modify airports
|-- Weapons/
|-- Airfoil-Maker-i386
|-- Airfoil-Maker-x86_64
|-- Plane-Maker-i386
|-- Plane-Maker-x86_64
|-- XPlane10DVDInstallerLinux
|-- X-Plane 10 Installer Linux
|-- X-Plane 10 Installer Linux 32-bit
|-- X-Plane-i386
`-- X-Plane-x86_64

Since X-Plane 10 no longer has a built-in way of switching between Earth and Mars, the general strategy adopted here is to fool X-Plane into thinking it is still on Earth. This means providing it with directories and files that have Earth-like names, but the content of those directories and files is Martian.

It should already be obvious that I am a Linux user, and so you may have to translate my instructions. E.g. 'directory' → 'folder', and '/' → '\', etc. But if you are willing to hack X-Plane's configuration files, then I am sure you can cope!

Documentation

You can put the documentation anywhere. For example, put docs.zip into M-Plane10/ and unzip. Then point your browser at M-Plane10/docs/index.html

Base DSF mesh

Change to M-Plane10/Global Scenery/. The new Mars base mesh will be put in the subdirectory./X-Plane 10 Global Scenery/, however you should first delete all other subdirectories: ./Bug Fixes/, ./Recuts 1030/, and any others that may contain Earth-related data.

Assuming you have downloaded the nine zip files mars[1-9].zip, move these nine files to M-Plane10/Global Scenery/X-Plane 10 Global Scenery/, and unzip. This will overwrite/create subdirectories ./Earth nav data/±n0±nn0/, and install all 63360 base mesh tiles.

Finally, move the downloaded file dsf_files into the directory M-Plane10/Resources/.

cd M-Plane10/'Global Scenery'
Delete patches
rm -rf 'Bug Fixes'
rm -rf 'Recuts 1030'
Unzip base mesh
cd 'X-Plane 10 Global Scenery'
rm -rf *                   Optional
mv <wherever>/mars[1-9].zip .               About 2 minutes
for f in mars?.zip; do unzip $f; done       About 5 minutes
Deal with dsf_files
cd ../..                   cd to M-Plane10
mv <wherever>/dsf_files ./Resources/

Custom scenery

For some reason we need to preserve the default scenery pack for KSEA, i.e. M-Plane10/Custom Scenery/KSEA Demo Area/ and M-Plane10/Custom Scenery/KSEA Demo Terrain/. But – other than these two directories – the entire contents of M-Plane10/Custom Scenery/ should be deleted, including Global Airports/ and scenery_pack.ini.

Then move the downloaded file apts.zip into M-Plane10/Custom Scenery/. Unzipping this file will create all Martian scenery packs. The packs are named by their codes — MAAB, MACL, etc — and each pack comprises just two files:

1. "Custom Scenery/MA??/earth.wed.xml" which is used by WED
2. "Custom Scenery/MA??/Earth nav data/apt.dat" which is used by X-Plane

Adding these scenery packs is optional, since the following step adds all airport layouts via a single consolidated apt.dat. But if you plan to elaborate the airports using WED, then you should install all scenery packs.

X-Plane10 will generate a new version of scenery_pack.ini, which simply lists all scenery packs alphabetically. This ordering is fine, since all packs are independent.

cd M-Plane10/'Custom Scenery'
Delete all scenery packs, other than KSEA
find . -maxdepth 1 -path ./'KSEA*' -prune -o -exec /bin/rm -rf {} \;
Optionally unzip downloaded scenery packs
mv <wherever>/apts.zip .
unzip apts.zip

Global airports

The consolidated airport layout file apt.dat should be copied to M-Plane10/Resources/default scenery/default apt dat/Earth nav data/. This ensures that basic airport layouts will always be present, whatever you do to the custom scenery.

cd M-Plane10
mv <wherever>/apt.dat  Resources/'default scenery/default apt dat/Earth nav data'/

ATC

The air traffic control configuration file M-Plane10/Resources/default scenery/default atc/Earth nav data/atc.dat contains dependencies on particular Earth airports. This can be fixed by opening the file in a text editor, and deleting all but the first 18 lines. This means there will be just one generic controller for the entire planet.

Navigational aids

Replace Resources/default data/earth_nav.dat with the one provided. This file contains NDB and ILS nav aid data for all airports.

The other two navigation files, earth_fix.dat and earth_awy.dat, are not correct for Mars — but they are harmless.

cd M-Plane10
mv <wherever>/earth_nav.dat  Resources/'default data'/

Distant terrain

Apart from the base mesh and overlay DSFs there are two other representations of the planet's basic topography. These have lower resolution, and are used to render scenery in the middle distance (latitude resolution ~0.01°) and scenery in the far distance (latitude resolution ~0.2°). The data for each tile is contained in pairs of files, xxxx.dds and xxxx-nrm.png, which work in tandem.

The downloaded file bitmaps.zip comprises:

Contents of bitmaps.zip
|-- Earth Orbit Textures/
|   |-- +00+000.dds
|   |-- +00-010.dds
|   |       :
|   |-- -90+170.dds
|   |-- -90-180.dss
|   |-- +00+000-nrm.png
|   |-- +00-010-nrm.png
|   :       :
|   |-- -90+170-nrm.png
|   `-- -90-180-nrm.png
|-- earth1.dds
|-- earth2.dds
|-- earth1-nrm.png
`-- earth2-nrm.png

To install, move bitmaps.zip into M-Plane10/Resources/bitmaps/ and unzip. This will overwrite all Earth-related scenery files, but not affect other bitmap files.

cd M-Plane10
unzip <wherever>/bitmaps.zip -d Resources/bitmaps

Be aware that these secondary scenery files are fundamentally limited to elevations of only -429 to 8848 m, whereas Mars has much of its surface outside this range. Consequently there will be visual artifacts of varying annoyance. One trick (which may or may not help) is that you can uncheck the option Draw hires planet textures from orbit in the menu Settings → Rendering options. Then X-Plane renders scenery using only the base mesh and the four far-distant scenery files.

Sky

The directory M-Plane10/Resources/bitmaps/skycolors/ contains 10 files sun_glow_*.png and 10 files sky_colors_*.png. They are specific to Earth, and the 10 versions refer to different atmospheric conditions.

Version 10.36 only. Fortunately there are also two Mars-specific files in the same directory. The plan is to replace all Earth-specific files with copies of the two Mars-specific files. One (BASH-specific) way to do this is:

cd M-Plane10
pushd Resources/bitmaps/skycolors/
for type in clean foggy hazy hialt mount ocast orbit snowy socked stratus; do
    ln -sf sky_colors_mars.png sky_colors_${type}.png
    ln -sf sun_glow_mars.png   sun_glow_${type}.png
done
popd

Version 10.41+. There are no Mars files supplied in newer versions of X-Plane, but we can re-use the files from earlier versions. Both sky_colors_mars.png and sun_glow_mars.png are provided as part of the downloaded package. One (BASH-specific) way to create the twenty required files is:

cd M-Plane10
mv <wherever>/sky_colors_mars.png  Resources/bitmaps/skycolors/
mv <wherever>/sun_glow_mars.png    Resources/bitmaps/skycolors/
pushd Resources/bitmaps/skycolors/
for type in clean foggy hazy hialt mount ocast orbit snowy socked stratus; do
    ln -sf sky_colors_mars.png sky_colors_${type}.png
    ln -sf sun_glow_mars.png   sun_glow_${type}.png
done
popd

Finally: However you go about it, you want to end up with

1. ten files (named sky_colors_clean.png, sky_colors_foggy.png, etc), which are all copies of sky_colors_mars.png,
2. ten files (named sun_glow_clean.png, sun_glow_foggy.png, etc), which are all copies of sun_glow_mars.png.

Terrains

The directory M-Plane10/Resources/default scenery/1000 world terrain/terrain10/ contains short text files (named '*.ter'), which provide parameters to the renderer. Fifteen of these need to be replaced with copies of 15 others.

One way to do this is to unzip the contents of the downloaded file ter.zip in the directory Resources/default scenery/1000 world terrain/terrain10/

cd M-Plane10/
unzip <wherever>/ter.zip -d Resources/'default scenery'/'1000 world terrain'/terrain10/

Another way is make links. This is more complex, since it makes no use of the downloaded file ter.zip. However it is more robust to any future changes in how Laminar represents terrains, since it manipulates your own .ter files.

cd M-Plane10/
tex=Resources/'default scenery'/'1000 world terrain'/terrain10
   Dry flat 'spr' terrains → sand
for zone in pol vcld cld; do
    ln -sf sand_${zone}_dry_fl.ter    "${tex}"/spr_${zone}_dry_fl.ter
    ln -sf sand_${zone}_dry_sflat.ter "${tex}"/spr_${zone}_dry_sflat.ter
done
for zone in tmp wrm hot vhot; do
    ln -sf red_sand_${zone}_dry_fl.ter    "${tex}"/red_spr_${zone}_dry_fl.ter
    ln -sf red_sand_${zone}_dry_sflat.ter "${tex}"/red_spr_${zone}_dry_sflat.ter
done

   Temperate airports → warm
ln -sf apt_wrm_dry.ter "${tex}"/apt_tmp_dry.ter

Either way the effect is that each file in the left column is modified to behave like the corresponding one in the right column:

Textures

The directory M-Plane10/Resources/default scenery/1000 world terrain/textures10/soil/ contains image files for all basic terrains. Amongst them are 15 files, sand_*.dds, which contain sand-dune textures that will be used to approximate the dust dunes of Mars; and four files containing rock textures. These files are referenced by the .dsf tiles in the present distribution. I transformed the color of these images to make them more Mars-like.

As well, I took the opportunity to redden the texture used at high-latitude airports.

To install the modified textures, unzip the contents of the downloaded file dds.zip in the directory Resources/default scenery/1000 world terrain/textures10/

    unzip <wherever>/dds.zip -d Resources/'default scenery'/'1000 world terrain'/textures10/

This will overwrite four files soil/red_rock_*.dds, 15 files soil/sand_*.dds, and one file apt/apt_cld_dry.dds.

Settings

Run the customized copy of X-Plane found the directory M-Plane10/.

Make sure you go to Settings → Rendering Options, and enable 'Extended DSF Scenery'. It helps a lot.

Some of the problems with rendering distant scenery can be side-stepped by enabling 'atmospheric scattering'. However clear air is more realistic, and enabling 'atmospheric scattering' causes a bad artifact (an Earth-sized halo) when viewing Mars from orbit.

To make the sky cloud-free, select Environment → Weather and set uniformly clear skies. You can also set atmospheric pressure to something realistic (e.g. 0.3 mbar on Mount Olympus; 6.1 mbar at 'sea level', 11.5 mbar in Hellas Planitia). [However I don't recommend it if you are flying with conventional aircraft!]

For further realism there are selections that can be make under Special → Set Environment Properties:

You need to restart X-Plane after changing the planetary radius. Otherwise the plane and scenery components will have artifactual horizontal offsets – as much as hundreds of metres.

The above changes will be persisted in files contained in M-Plane10/Output/preferences/. This means that your original Earth-based version of X-Plane will not be affected.

Where to start?

Hard question, but some ideas are as follows:

MAOM Olympus Mons

Starting low on the flanks of Olympus Mons, it is an interesting challenge to fly west towards the peak. You will need to maintain an angle climb of about 3° all the way to the top. From the top you can see stars, even during the day.

MAPD Parvonis Crater Dome

This is another classic shield volcano. The perfectly formed caldera is 50 km in diameter.

MASB Svarlbard

Visit this site, on the edge of the northern polar icecap. At an elevation of -10,000 feet, and latitude 81N, this really is the Deep North.

MACL Coprates Chasma Cliff

Coprates Chasma is huge. From this clifftop, at an elevation of 10,000 feet, you can peer down to the chasm floor, 25,000 feet below; and you can just see the escarpment on the opposite side.

MAAC Aurorae Chaos

Futher down the Coprates Chasma you reach a 'chaos' — an area littered with the detritus of some huge outflow.

Those are just a few ideas. However that is just a start: there is 145 million km² — the same as Earth's land surface area — waiting to be explored!

And what craft to fly? A Fly-in was held 2017-03-05, which was an opportunity to test some options. The is a forum thread covering the 636th fly-in. The craft that seemed to work with X-Plane 10 include:

• MarsRecon, a supersonic VTOL aircraft by vezePilot
• Q-100, Martian observation aircraft by altair43
• Millennium Falcon by Mid7night
• Sandstorm-marki a GA craft by marstrek

Problems?

If you have problems with installation, or if the instructions are ambiguous, feel free to contact me.

If you spot less critical problems, then take a look at the concluding section of the Tool chain page. It contains my own notes about such problems, and what (if anything) can be done about them.

X-Plane 10 Updates

If you are on an earlier version of X-Plane10 you will see a dialog box pop up, inviting you to update to 10.51. If you proceed with the update from within M-Plane, then all Mars customizations will be overwritten by about 1 GB of downloaded data. So don't!

Just for completeness: The only way to update M-Plane to 10.51 is to update your original version of X-Plane10 as normal, and then create a fresh version of M-Plane by re-cloning X-Plane and following the instructions above. Obviously there are short-cuts: above all, just copy the Mars base mesh from your old version (everything under M-Plane10/Global Scenery/), rather than repeating the 18 GB download.

M-Plane Updates

There will be no more updates to this package. In particular, there will be no version for X-Plane 11. It was just possible to hack X-Plane 10 — but X-Plane 11 is completely purged of everything Mars-related. Admittedly, installing the Mars base mesh is still possible. But most crucially, for me, the planetary radius is now fixed, which has the effect of doubling all horizontal distances — much reducing the impact of Mars' spectacular topography. Equally crippling is that fact that X-Plane 11 limits atmospheric pressures to Earth-like values.