FSGV Track

[Katahu]

I'm giving it a shot to try out scenery development. For the time being, I'm stuck with using AFCAD untill I figure out how to use Gmax to make scenery objects with drivable surfaces.

FSGV Track

[SkyNoz]

The only way I thought of making drivable, arched surfaces is by scenery mesh. Don't know anything on how it's done other then you plot points and change elevation properties and that sort.

[Katahu]

Ok, I just reached a dead end here. I was using Gmax to make a scenery model using the intructions provided by the Gmax Gamepack SDK. I also installed the BGL Compile SDK to the bglcomp utility.

I follow everything to the letter [note: I am modeling a house as instructed by the manual for testing] and I was very careful to install the MSXML 4.0 SP2 [it's all that M$ had available]. Ok, I reach the part where I export the house out of Gmax and into two seperate files [FSGV_Home.xml and FSGV_Home.mdl].

I then go to Start > Run > typed in CMD for the MS-DOS prompt > typed in: cd "E:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Flight Simulator 9\Addon Scenery\Scenery" [quotation marks included].

Everything was good until I got to this part. I type the following command: bglcomp FSGV_Home.XML and then I hit "enter". NOTHING HAPPENS except that I get this message saying that bglcomp is not recognized.

Any clues? I really like to create a *.bgl file without having to go through all the export-from-gmax-to-FSSC-then-library-objects-whatever process.

[Firestriker]

Where did you put bglcomp.exe and bglcomp.xsd?

They must be either in the directory where you are trying to compile which means you may end up with copies of the same utility all over the place OR in a directory that is in your environment PATH statement.

To see what directories are in your PATH, open a command prompt and type PATH. Each directory that is in your search PATH will be listed separated by ";" semi-colons.  Usually, C:\Windows or C:\WINNT are good bets for placing command line utilities and allows you to call them from anywhere and not have to have copies of the utility scattered all over your hard drive.

Next, besure you editied the *.xml file and have removed the necessary comments and modified the latitude and longitude to where you want the *.mdl scene placed in the sim.

Lou

[Katahu]

Thank you a ton! I finally got the dang thing to work.



My very first scenery object. Directly from Gmax to FS9. Sweet! Now I'm going to learn how to make a drivable surface using the attach tool.

Again, thanks.

[Katahu]

I pear through the crystal ball and I see a full-blown track in the near future.



I finally created the first banked track using the attach tool and the lofting technique.

As for the purple color, well... let's just say it's because.

PS: This is a ramp that elevates and banks.

[Jakemaster]

WOAH! COOL!  I didnt know you could make drivable surfaces like this.  I wont ever try (GMAX is beyond me), but you could use this to make curved runways!

[Katahu]

Well, it turns out that the tracks would have to be really smoothed out in order to avoid the bouncy effects of the surface. The more rough the surface, the more bouncy the effect.

[Katahu]

Now that project nissan is finished, I can finally focus on the FSGV track and improve it more.