I'll start on the assumption you've downloaded the "Thermiek" package and installed it as described in the thermiek.doc file. Where do you start?
Step 1
First we need a map of the area you want to cover - and as the picture above shows the isle of Texel I needed a map of the Netherlands. So I turned to the Google search engine, searched for "maps netherlands", switched to "Images" and watched the results.
The map on the bottom-left looked rather useful: 1008 * 1148 pixels in size showing the whole country and what's most interesting - it has the coordinates printed on it. Here's the map: (click on it to see it's full size)
It proved to be a rather dated CIA map but what the hack - the country didn't move that much lately so it's still useful. Note the coordinate-lines printed on the map: there's longitude 51-52-53 and latitude 4-5-6-7. So it was downloaded and saved. The original filename is "netherlands.jpg" and needs to be converted - "Thermiek" can only read the windows bmp format. So load the map into a drawing program - I use PSP myself but MS Photo Editor will suffice - and save as "netherlands.bmp" into the Thermiek folder.
Open "Thermiek", select "Project | New | Load" and load the "netherlands.bmp" file.
Step 2
Now for the most important part: setting the coordinates. Why is this so important? We want the thermals to know where they are and to show up in the right place don't we? So we fill in the "Setup" window like this:
and click "Check" to verify the input. If it doesn't come out like this you have done something wrong and should perhaps try again...
Here's the trickiest part - activate the top radio-button:
move the cursor on top of the 53 degrees longitude line and click the left mouse button:
and watch the red rectangle change to this...
Activate the bottom radio-button, click on the 51 degrees longitude line; active the left radio-button, click the 4 degrees latitude line; active the right radio button and click the 7 degrees latitude line. You should end up with a rectangle like this:
Once you're satisfied with the results click "OK" and let Thermiek calculate the coordinates for the complete map - move the cursor over the map and watch the coordinates display on the statusbar (bottom-left). Those should be synchronized with the lines on the map - once again - if it doesn't perhaps you did something...
Now is the time to save your project; please do so you won't have to set up the coordinates again and again...
Note: please use a project name without any spaces in it - the scasm compiler doesn't like it.
"Anyname.prj" is ok, "Any_name.prj" is ok too but "Any name.prj" is wrong...
Step 3
We're gonna put in some thermals - correction - you're gonna put in some thermals...
Select "Thermals | Automatic", put the cursor over the map, click the left mouse button and drag the cursor over the map. You should see a red rectangle come up. If you don't like the area - do it again.
Satisfied? Click "Test" and - lo and behold - here they come:
Not happy? Click "Clear", the rectangle will be cleared and you can try again. Want to add more? Click "Add" and create another rectangle full of rising air. Want to remove a single thermal? just click the right mouse button on top of it and it will be removed - don't worry about those thermals above those large areas of water though - they won't show up in fs2002 anyway... Experiment with the settings in the thermals window - it's a beta remember...
Happy? Click "OK" and select "Create" - Thermiek will create the bgl files from the data you entered and save your project once again.
Step 4
Go to the Thermiek folder and take a look - alongside your yourname.prj file should be a yourname.sca file and one or more yourname.bgl files.
Copy (or move) those yourname.bgl files to an active fs2002 scenery folder - fs2002\scenery will do nicely - startup fs and
move to a location inside the area you covered with thermals - happy soaring....
Note: the "Options | Settings | Display | Autogen Density" slider should at least be on Sparse or there won't be any thermals shown at all - our thermals are scenery after all...
There's a lot more to it - like playing around with the manual placing of thermals - experimenting with different kind of thermals - all kind of funny, crazy stuff - but that might be the subject of another tutorial...
To be continued...
Max.