Unlike so many addons, Ruud's textures have made a permanent home on my hard disk.
(Andrew Herd - Chief reviewer Flightsim.com)

It kept me off the streets - short FScene history

  • 1982 Flight Simulator 1.0
  • 1983 Flight Simulator 2.0
  • 1988 Flight Simulator 3.0
  • 1989 Flight Simulator 4.0
  • 1993 Flight Simulator 5.0 My interest in Microsoft's Flight Simulator started in the early 1990's. Just for having some fun!
  • 1995 Flight Simulator 5.1

    i didn't like the default terrain textures, so why not change them
    • Aug. 1996: MSFS 6th Generation FSW95 (FS 6.0) the first Windows version.
    A great new Flight Simulator version indeed, but i didn't like the terrain textures when flying over my native country
    Released nothing, just busy flying this new wonder and painting some (300) sample bitmaps for the Netherlands. They never left my PC.
    Aug 1997: MSFS FS98 (FS 6.1): higher resolution (1280x1024, 16 bit color).
    Microsoft used a higher resolution, so had to start it all over again from scratch. Went on painting, got the taste of it and released some free trials.
    Somewhere in 1998 I released my first real flightsim "invention" .
    To build a city, I used at least 4 different styles of bmp's, partly overlapping each other!

    Andrew Herd of Flightsim.com later wrote in one of his reviews: "Long ago, in a far off time when FS was still a cutting edge simulation, a guy called Ruud Faber released a freeware set of Dutch polder textures. The Internet as we know it was young and Flight Simulator was graced with a single set of ground textures which served to cover everywhere from Barbados to Byelorus, the result being ever so slightly monotonous. The package (R_TEXTS.ZIP) was downloaded no less than 287 times, which wasn't bad going in the days when getting connected to the Internet meant a long distance call for most of us."
    Sep 1999: MSFS 7th Generation: FS2000 (FS 7.0) 3D-elevation terrain, better generic textures.
    My invention was not followed by the Microsoft developers, can you believe that! I had to follow their MSFS "engine". Had to start all over again. My experiences as a watercolorist came in handy now, secret: "the shadow makes the picture" and the idea of the artificial "3D ground texture" was born! Released the free Fscene2.0 version during2000/2001. Over 2000 hand made texture files. I never counted the hours it took to make them.

     Andrew wrote: "FScene.02 was typical of how former freeware developers' horizons tended to expand once they had the cash to justify concentrating on development, rather than taking time away from the family for no justifiable reason. The downside of the task Ruud faced was that it was an order of magnitude bigger than it once had been, thanks to the much more sophisticated management of ground textures in the new version of Flight Simulator, but undaunted, he set to work and painted a completely new set."
    Oct 2001: MSFS 8th Generation: FS 2002 (FS 8.0) Improved 3D-elevation (mesh-scenery), AutoGen buildings, trees.
    The Microsoft people changed so much in this version So, i again made a new set and released it as FScene2002 during 2002/2003. This time Payware and exactly that proved to be a breakthrough. More new users than ever before!

     Ian Scott, AVSIM staff reviewer at the time wrote: " ...."Okay I thought, I'll buy one season for Europe. Let's see what it looks like. And the rest (as my old grandpa never said but he could have if he wanted to!) is history! Since I bought Ruud's texture sets, my enjoyment of FS2002 has been immeasurably enhanced. I enjoy looking at the scenery in ways that no previous experience of flight simming has ever given me. "
    July 2003: MSFS 9th Generation: FS 2004 (FS 9.0) - "A Century of Flight". Improved weather, mesh and autogen.
    Released 24 completely revised Season Packs during 2004/2005: FScene2004. Still the base of the present version. This set was perfected during 2005/2006 by several free patches, plus the adjustment of all autogen files. What's more: FScene became popular, I earned some real money!

     Andrew Herd: "Last time I reviewed FScene, I couldn't help wondering why Microsoft didn't just go out and hire Ruud to do the FS2004 textures for them. Now I have the luxury of going back and taking a second look at them, I find I still think that way, so I guess these textures from the flying Dutchman deserve their Armchair Aviator Award. Unlike so many addons, Ruud's textures have made a permanent home on my hard disk."
    October 2006: MSFS 10th Generation: FSX (FS 10.0) - New PC to run it, but great show!
    Indeed! And again a new problem for yours truly. Because of the many changes in flightsimulator X , FScene2004 caused ugly "gaps" in the terrain. Moreover the difference in color between FSX and FScene was showing very prominently.
    That's why I rearranged and added hundreds of textures and at the same time left the many advantages of FSX intact, thus combining the best of two worlds.
    Many patchs have been released since. All products are updated on a regular base.





    FScene4X is still alive and kicking. Thanks to you all and the kind reviewers. Ruud Faber - FScene.com