Adding to default scenery

[xmit]

Hello Hagar, It's me again.............I've been doing pretty good except when it came time to use some of the exclusion boxes.  They took care of the one 3D object in the way but the default taxiways were still there. They're on-top of my new tarmac textures and they look like crappola. I can only use the exclusion boxes because my new scenery is intermingled with default scenery that I want to keep. Any suggestions?..........................

[Hagar]

Hi Doug. I'm no expert at updating default airports as I usually create new ones from scratch. Is it possible to use one or two large Exclusion boxes to cover both the runway & taxyways? If so you could replace them with your own new ones. I might be able to suggest something if you post a shot showing the problem.

[xmit]

Hello Hagar, With a little guidance from Arno in the FSSC forum I tried excluding the taxiways again without any luck, I only excluded part of the default terminal. I think I'll have to do the whole airport but here's my idea. I'll use the existing default airport scenery to help me locate my new buildings, runways, taxiways etc. and then when I'm all done I'll use the exclusion "visual scenery" in the scenery export wizard when I do the final install. So technicnally I'll have a new airport scenery with the exisitng FS2002 airport info. That's my theory, what do you think?

[Hagar]

Hi Doug. The guys in the FSSC forum know far more than me so that would be the best way to go. It would involve much more work replacing the whole airport but this might in fact be easier in the long run. I thought of suggesting it myself but as this is your first attempt at scenery design I was trying to save you time. It seems I complicated things for you which wasn't my intention. So much would depend on the layout & orientation of the particular airport you're updating.

[xmit]

Hagar, I really appreciate all the help you've given me. with some trial & error everything has worked for me except those darn taxiways. What I was thinking was replacing all the 2D & 3D objects as exact to their original locations as the default one but I would use the default objects before getting rid of them as a guide for the replacement ones. After I was done putting in the new objects I would use the exclusion for the entire project area when I do the final install. but before I do that, I'm planning a new add-on to another default airport (there's no taxiways in the way).............

[RollerBall]

Hi xmit

Excluding objects is an interesting exercise. Remember you don't need to place huge exclusion areas over objects - you only need to exclude their ref points.

So you can exclude large objects with VERY small exclusion areas - the trick is to find the ref point for each one. For example, in Kai Tak, I've excluded the WHOLE default runway with an exclusion area of just 20m x 20m.

A ref point is usually at an object's 'centre'. As it happens, the ref point was not quite in the rwy centre and I had to develop my own system to 'home' in by placing a 'large' exclusion area over the expected ref point position (something like 200m x 200m), moving
it around until the object (plus others around it) disappeared, actually drawing it's position on my monitor in dry marker, reducing the exclusion area to say a third of the original size, moving that one around within the boundary on my monitor in a grid pattern until the object disappeared (but not the surrounding objects) and repeating the process until I was happy.


With a building finding a ref point is pretty easy but with objects like taxiways it's harder. Even so, by trial and error using my system I found a ref point somewhere near the centre of the airport where a relatively small exclusion area took out the taxiways and most of the concrete apron. Again, by reducing its size I was able to take out taxiways and leave in apron. That left me with a flattening problem even with an A16N flatten in place but that's another story.

Dick 'rhumbaflappy' Ludowise told me about ref points and it's proven to be very useful information. I think you could use it here.

Arno of the Netherlands Scenery Design Group is one of the top designers as well as being one of the most helpful as you know from the FSSC and other design forums. I tried for quite a while to make my Kai Tak apron lights turn on and off at dusk/dawn without success. He gave me a fix within a few minutes of my posting the problem.

What would we do without these guys?

Roger

[xmit]

Thanks for your response Rollerball, I misunderstood what Arno said. I tried a couple smaller exclusion boxes on the taxiway by the center point of the airport. Boy did I hit the jackpot, all the taxiways & aprons are gone (runways & 3D objects remained). initailly I didn't want to do that but I've been having a ball replacing them. I'm using the runway & 3D objects and a screenshot of the default airport as references to place the new ones as close to the defaults as I can. After I'm all done I know I'll have to tweak the AFCAD but what else can I expect? The entire area appears to have remained flattened.........

[RollerBall]

So there ya go xmit.

Dick's advice has been useful all over again.


You'll find that when you redo the taxiways you are able to correct errors that M$ left in - their taxiways are never as good as the ones you do yourself. They always have little concrete bits hanging out at corners and stuff like that. Bet yours'll be better!!

Roger

[Hagar]

Thanks for bailing me out Roger. I should visit the FSSC forum more often.  ;)

[xmit]

Appreciate the help from both of you, I'll  keep you advised...................Thanks again

[RollerBall]

[quote]I should visit the FSSC forum more often.

[Powell]

Ive been wanting to add scenery to a couple of airports in my region.  With the support you guys give new designers, I might consider doing so myself.  Not sure if i want to totally redo the airports (not sure if i can handle all the new tasks).  I have messed with FSSC some and I found out postioning things and creating macros are the hardest to learn for me.  Can any downloadable macro work with FSSC? Hopefully I can create my virtual company I always wanted.
Thanks!!!

SimLover and Aviation Fanatic

[Hagar]

Can any downloadable macro work with FSSC? Hopefully I can create my virtual company I always wanted.

Hi Jeff. FSSC will import macros in the API (Airport) format & includes a good selection to get you started. The Airport 2.6 scenery design program also has a good selection of API macros so it's worth installing even if you don't intend using the actual program. Some 3rd party macros work better than others depending on which sim they're used in. The only way to find out for certain is to try them. The FSSC Building feature has many options to create your own custom buldings. Right-click the screen & select "New 3D Object/Building". You can also use default buildings in your new scenery (Library Objects from the "New 3D Object/Macro" option).

All this takes time to learn so don't expect instant results. It wouldn't be worth doing if it was that simple. IMHO

[Powell]

Hey,
Was about to go to bed and saw that you replied.  Ive been doing ok so far in the tutorial but I think i installed it the upgrade wrong and now it wont let me access the macros. "Subscript out of range at 423 in fssc.bas"
I also seem to not have the correct paths for the bgl directory and the scenery compiler directory to export my files.  Thanks for the help, Many questions soon to come lol :

[Hagar]

Hi Jeff. Glad I caught you. It might be best to uninstall FSSC & get the complete latest version (Full Install). http://fssc.avsim.net/downloads.html Then you can start from scratch without bothering with updates. Once it's installed use the Tools/Preferences option to set the paths to the locations of your own files. Add paths to Macro locations as you wish.