More questions on airfields and scenery

[piersyf]

Hi. Struggling along with the airbase.dat files. Have struck another oddity. I'm working on a semi historical campaign for 263 sqn RAF in WW2. They started their war in Norway 1940. I've downloaded and installed a very nice scenery package which includes Lake Lesjaskog, a frozen lake used by 263sqn as a base in their intitial deployment, and yes, it is 'frozen' in the scenery. You can land on it. All requisite entries were made in the various folders including the airbase.dat file, but it doesn't show up in mission builder.
In the game the base shows up as a selectable airbase for freeflight etc.
Why doesn't it show up in mission builder, and how can I access it? Any ideas?

Piers

[stiz]

What are you adding to the airbase.dat? If it doesn't show up then theres an error somewhere  :)

[Hagar]

I found the Norway 1940 scenery & installed it to check it out. Added the included airbases.dat & opareas.dat entries & it works fine for me.

[piersyf]

Went over the files again, all as per instructions. Airbase.dat location is N62 13.90 E8 20.66 alt 2133.57 and heading 285. As I said, the airfield itself shows up fine in the game, but it doesn't show up in mission builder so I can't build missions around it. Oparea goes straight to Norway, but it's a big green and blue blank; no airfields show up at all.

From what I understand, even if I missed the airfield scenery, just entering a take-off point in the airbases.dat should give me a start point. Any ideas why it isn't?

P

[Cody_Coyote]

Just for clarification, you say that you've created an operating area for Norway and the runway coordinates are included within that area but the airbase still won't show up in Mission Builder?

[piersyf]

Yep. Entries are;
CFS-INFO-opareas.dat = Norway N59.55, E10.37, N67.16, E14.20. Cut and pasted from the original .zip files.
(as this box excludes the Lake being at E8 20 I changed the entry in the opareas to E01 to E14. Made no difference either way).

Airbase.dat info as given before.

Scenery files put in a folder called Norway1940 in CFS-SceneryDB and selected in the game.

As I said, the airfields show up in the game. I don't have to use the advanced search button to find or select them. They just don't show up in mission builder.

Cheers

P

[Hagar]

As I said, I copied the information exactly as given.



Make sure you renumbered the new airbases.dat entries correctly. It's also possible there's a limit to the number of new entries you can add. Cody will know more about that than me.

[james007]

It all depends on what Window you are using. With Window 98 there is a limit of aproximate of around 250 airfields. With Window XP the limit is much higher. I do not know what the limit is right now since I have over 500 airbases and counting in one of my installs at this time.

If you are using XP its more likely that are not using the right entry numbers.

Remember to follow the sequent number from the the last Airfield inside the information Folder. Look for the  Airbase file. Open the Airfield file with the notepad by pressing the right side of your mouse. You have to place the new Airfield Id number in the right sequencial number following the last airfield in the Airfield entry list.


Good luck


James007

[piersyf]

The reason I started building a database for my airfields was to avoid the duplication of numbers. The numbering sequence is correct (that is [runway.xxx]). The airfield id numbers don't ship in sequence anyway as the european theatre 9000 block are placed ahead of the pacific theatre 8000 block.

Just to be sure I moved and renumbered that airfield to the end of the sequence and tried again. Still no show.

I'm running windows XP Pro and have 245 airfields so far in the airbases.dat list.

As I said, the field shows up in the game for quick combat, free flight etc. It's only the mission builder that doesn't show it. I even tried extending the oparea for europe to cover norway as well and still only get the european airbases.

I have no doubt the install is working for others, Hagar. I fully expect I have made an error somewhere, that's why I'm asking for help in the first place  ;)

If the numbering sequence was incorrect would I still be able to select and fly from it in free flight?

[Hagar]

If the numbering sequence was incorrect would I still be able to select and fly from it in free flight?

Yes. The AFD entries for the Free Flight/QC airfield selection menu & the database entries for the Mission Builder are unrelated. All I did was to use the next numbers in sequence for each new [runway.xxx] & id= entry in airbases.dat. That's how I've always done it. I'm still not sure if there's a limit to the number of new entries.

[james007]

I"am pretty sure there is a limit to the number of new entries with XP Window, but its a lot higher than with Window 98.

I read some where, I do not remember where. That there is no limit to the number of Airfields entries with XP.
But I doubt that.



James007

[Cody_Coyote]

I run XP Pro and I found long ago that I was limited in the number of entries I could place in the airbases.dat file.  To be more specific, I could make as many entries as I wanted but only the first 241 would show up in Mission Builder.  That number probably varies a little as it is driven by total file size and not the actual number of entries.

If that's the problem it will be easy to check.  Open airbases.dat and jot down the name of the runway number 244 (assuming that #245 is the missing one).  Then open MB and see if that runway shows up.  If not try finding 243 in MB and so on until you find the last runway that will show up.  That would tell you if you have other "missing" runways as well.

Finally, swap your Norway runway with a lower numbered entry and see if it shows.  It it appears in MB with a lower runway number and no other changes then you know you've reached your limit of runways in the airbases file.

To solve the problem for me I've created multiple airbases files for different theaters.  It's a bit of a hassle to swap them out for mission building but it solved my missing runway problem.

[james007]

In my experience I have been able to install more than 500 entries in one my install that I call World war two with no problem so far. I have place all of

[piersyf]

Thanks guys! Shifted the entry up the order (to runway 37) and it shows up in mission builder now. Glad it's a system limitation and not me doing something stupid.  Not sure what the limit is for my system; the last group of entries is for Malta and the med, and none of those show up either (around runway 234+), although no opareas have been allocated yet. Still, I'd have expected them to show on the map anyway, so maybe my limit is less than 241...

Piers

[Hagar]

I think the best way over it is to have a separate install of CFS2 for each operatng area, each with its own database. It's possible to run the Mission Builder for each individual install by creating desktop shortcuts to each one.