FSX | FSX-SE Scenery Design Forum - How To

I've downloaded and installed the FSGenesis freeware terrain. So far, it looks pretty good to me. But I read in another post that these files are different from the files you can purchase from FSGenesis, and that they are not as good. Is this true? What is the difference?I am considering purchasing FSGenesis Landclass data. Is it worth purchasing for NE USA? I fly mostly in the Boston - Maine area. Does it redo where lakes are and so on? If it does it and does it accurately this would definately make me buy it.Is there better landclass for this area than FSGenesis from somebody else?Thank you,Thomas

I have been working on KASH in Nashua, NH, and now my work is spreading to slightly outside of my airport. So far I have been using AFCAD and SGX. I'd like to edit some bodies of water and roads. I bought USA Roads, but a road around the airport isn't quite right, and I'd like to fix it. Plus there are a couple of bodies of water that aren't quite right. What would you suggest for setting up landclass in the Nashua, NH area? Has anybody done any work in that area? I've tried to sit down with Ground2k4 a couple of times, but, even going through their directions, I don't quite get how to use it.How do you exclude Autogen?Finally, I'd like to understand how to use a pho…

Hello everyone, I've been reading through some of the posts here, trying to decide on the best way to proceed with a project I want to work on. The scenery around my local area (Corpus Christi, Texas) needs a serious facelift, especially around the airport. If I wanted to rework the default landclasses around the city and airport, what would be the best way to begin learning this project?I already have the terrain SDK, Ground2k4, USAPhotomaps, the ECW stuff, and various other utilites and graphics editors.I'm having a hard time trying to figure out just where the Corpus terrain files are and how to locate them. I'm sure I need some lat/long coordinates first, but not su…

I am trying to take a scenery object from a BGL file and get it into a DXF or 3DS format. The reason is that I want to use an unfolding program called Pepakura to create a paper model of it.I am not sure of the best way to do this. This is what I have tried:The BGL I am trying to use comes from an FS2002 add-on.I converted it to MDL using BGL2MDL 1.0. I tried to use MDL2DXF4 on that MDL and I get a Windows Error that closes the program (I have Windows 2000). Then I tried the earlier version called MDL2DXF32 and it did the conversion with no problem. Now I have a DXF file but when I try to open it in any DXF viewer it gives no error but the model does not appear. If I try …

I have created an area of scenery that covers Montery Bay, California, about 700 square miles (35m NS 20miles EW). I made the scenery in sections, each section of coastline has some G2K4 files, some FSSC files (for the 3D objects and airfields) and in most cases some Landclass files. Every thing works fine but I have ended up with about 20 different folders each with a Scenery and a Texture folder and then some extra _LC folders in addition.The question is, now that I have everything looking good would I be better to create one folder called Monterey Bay with all the files in it? Is there any performance hit with multiple folders? Is there a limit to number od scenery…

Hi Fellas- I've heard that one can limit the distance objects can be seen, in the FS field of view, in order to improve frame rates. I've used EOD and FSSC to construct most of the buildings at my airport. I'm currently learning how to use GMAX for the more detailed objects. I would like to be able to limit the distances that objects appear in the field of view so that I can keep my frame rates up.I notice that EOD[under options has a heading "Visibility"] which I assume is for that purpose but I can't get it to activate. Do any of you know how to limit the view of objects using EOD, FSSC OR GMAX? thanks Ken

Hi all,I've just put up a page of FAQs for Slartibartfast. If you have any suggestions for it, let me know.http://www.jimkeir.co.uk/FlightSim/AutoGen/index.htmlI'll (probably :) ) be uploading it to the file library on Monday with a couple of bugfixes, mainly to do with the BLN and SBX exporting.Thanks for the interest in this! I've spent a long time writing it, and it's very good to see people using it. I know of several freeware projects already, and even a couple of commercial ones in the pipeline. If you're working on something and would like me to add a link to my website, drop me a line and I'll be happy to add it.Regards,Jim Keir

Hi all.As of 9-26-04, a new version of FGis is available... for freeware GIS manipulation.http://www.digitalgrove.net/fgis.htmDick

Hi All,I yearn for an "Airport for Windows" for FS2004 ... is there ever going to be one?Anyway, I have a very simple, single-runway airport designed for FS2002 using AFW. It consists of a rectangular turf field with a grass landing strip in the center of it. I also placed a flattening polygon around the whole thing.Moving it to FS2004, I had to add an exclude rectangle to eliminate some buildings and autogen trees. Removed the Rwy, too.Then recreated the Rwy with AFCAD2 but the AFCAD2 Rwy doesn't show up on my screen.Anything pop in your collective minds that I might have done wrong?Is there a freeware program for doing simple FS2004 airport design that includes Exclude …

All right --After taking a few months break from flight simulator scenery design, I've gotten back to school and decided to get back into it. However - due to time constraints, really need some help. What I am doing is working on a set of Northwest Airports, which I believe are underdesigned in the freeware FS2004 world. Currently, I have new AFCADs that are correct in runways, taxiways, and parking areas for both KHIO and KPDX. I do need help in designing some new GMAX objects and placing them however. I would like to make models of the Portland terminal and control tower / parking garages, as well as the large canopy between the terminal and garages.If you are intereste…

I am trying to move De Vere field to it's proper place. I went into AFCAD and moved the reference points and the runway to the correct co-ordinates. When I started it I was where the airport is now but the old grassy surrounding is still back at the old place. So my question is. How do I move the surrounding grass area where the airport used to be and then position it at the right place, and to omit the autogen in that area and return the old place to normal?

Back again, I am building a small fuel pump for my airfield in Gmax. Most of it I have worked out, however I have not got a clue as to the best way to build the fuel line or one of the pipes and make it 'bend'.Thats my question, how do you make something bound and retain its shape.Thanks for the helpcheersPaul

I have about a gig of DEMs, DLGs, and LULCs on my haird drive from my days of using TerraScene for the Fly! series and I'm looking at possibly putting this to use in MSFS, but I'm not sure where to begin. With all the files I have, I can do all of Washington state, and the northern edge of Oregon and into western Montana with accurate terrain, land classes, rivers, lakes, roads, railroads, and powerlines. Is there a utility to convert these into files MSFS would understand?----------------------------------------------------------------John S. MorganReal World: KGEG, UND Aerospace Spokane Satillite, Private 130+ hrs.Virtual: MSFS 2004"There is a feeling about an airport t…

Hello,Flying around in the mountains, sometimes I see a gap or crack between textures.So I did a poly over the mountains with only one texture, to see myself the effect easier.I tried a lot of sliders in FS9, but can not see an other result.I think, it has something to do with the level of detail, which I should see.Anyone here, you can give a small answer, or a link, were it was discussed?Always the closer gaps are gone, and the next come up.ThanksHorst(I hope you see the shots)http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/92298.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/92299.jpg

Hello all -This is a question to pose to all of you with photoreal experience. Having just discovered that USAPhotoMaps can access the "Urban" aerial photo library from terraserver, I am salivating at the possibilities of working on my local area in photoreal.The first hiccup I am getting to, however, is nighttime! How does one effectively create nighttime textures when using photoreal? I presume darkening the source image and overlaying some sort of light effects on top would be ideal, but does anyone have any great tips for doing that?(Will MSFS's night textures come into play, or will all the other textures be nullified when I start using photoreal in an area?)I've suc…

Is it possible to make a transparent phototexture such that I can use the autogen annotater to place trees and buildings to appear over the default ground textures?I want to add to small towns and vegitation around my scenery without changing landclass or fussing with seasonal phototextures.All of my scenery is created with gmax and exported directly.Thanks, Rellek

I'm hoping someone can help me. I've been trying to experiment with the above named file to cure some of the water tiling effects that are a problem with some of the addon water textures.Here's the deal: I have Photoshop 5.5, Corel Photopaint9, and DXTbmp for working with graphics.The original FS version of this file shows to be 8-bit, indexed color,uncompressed, at 512x512.. The file size is 342kb.When I try to save any of my reworks with my graphic editors, my file size is saved at 257kb. When I try to run FS9 with water effects on high, the sim crashes when textures are loaded. Works fine with the default FS version.I'm beginning to believe that this BMP has alpha …

I have spent most of the past 3 1/2 years designing things above the default terrain. I am using SceneGenX to redo Orlando Executive (KORL) to replicate the actual airport for FS2004. Most of the changes are taxiways, aprons, and buildings since the runways are correctly located. The biggest issue for me is the Autogen placed on the Southeast area of the airport with the Control Tower buried in the middle of the Autogen. This area is actually fairly barren and the control tower in certainly not surrounded by buildings.The airport skirting allows for the autogen to fill in this area. I used LWMViewer to looked at and decompile the source of the associated ABxxxxx.bgl …

Hello All,After downloading a batch of map sections and using BigJpeg, when I try to create the JPG and JGW files I invariably get the message that a file(s) is missing. It or them are always in the upper and/or lower horizontal rows of map sections. I think they are the first and last map section files. So far I've been able to obtain a JPG by setting the BigJpeg boundaries to eliminate the upper and/or the lower rows of map sections. Has anyone else experienced this "problem"?Wil

Im trying to delete all Taxisigns at KLAX (dont ask why :)) by using ExcBuilderV2 and I follwoed the Instruction but when I test it in FS the taxisigns are still there :( I dont know what Im gonna do :-hmmmPlease help me...http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/91753.jpg

Hello,I'm wondering that there hasn't been any discussion about sloped runways for FS2004 yet. Altough some important things have changed from FS2002 to FS2004.In FS2002 there was one really useful approach to create sloped runways using the TexRelief-Command of SCASM. Unfortunately that command doesn't work anymore in FS2004.The second approach, that still works fine, is to create a remesh (for example with Ground2k)... if there's no flatten in the designated area.Grass-Runways can be done easily using a VTP2 polygon or line in Ground2k.But has someone an idea how to create asphalt or concrete runways? These runways require a much higher resolution than grass runways bec…

just bought scenery enhancer but it`s limited to aircraft, trees ect............. what`s the best program too use thanks guy`s inadvance PaulStay Above The Clouds

Hi All,If this has been discussed earlier then please forgive. What I would like to achieve is to insert a static aircraft of the same type that I fly for a Cargo VA.To explain further, the VA uses two addon hangers at an airfield and I have placed some cargo and vehicles around the spot where I taxi in and out of. I would like to place another aircraft in front of the second hanger. I have tried using MDLtoBGL but it keeps crashing out.I wondered how some of the designers make and place the statics that come with their addon airports.Hope this makes some sense. Any and all ideas appreciated.Thanks

Hi all.I think I may have discovered a problem with the VTPChildPoint line structure.It seems the newest TMFViewer will show an error with a VTPChildPoint line, unless the line has at least 4 points:You need to use the latest TMFViewer's "Draw Wide Lines as Polygons" view option.For example: VTPPolyMethod2 3, _IsLine_, 0; Cell 25 x 11, offset 150,217 VTPWidePoint 10605, _UseWidth_, 7102, 2 VTPWidePointWidth 8 VTPChildPoint 0, 0, -1, 0 VTPChildPoint 0, 0, 1, 0 is apparently illegal, while: VTPPolyMethod2 4, _IsLine_, 0; Cell 25 x 11, offset 150,217 VTPWidePoint 10605, _UseWidth_, 7102, 3 VTPWidePointWidth 8 VTPChildPoint 0, 0, -1, 0 VTPChildPoint 0, 0, 1, 0 VTP…

I just "discovered" the FSGenesis DEM files. In the installation it just says to put the files in the fs9/scenery/world/scenery directory. It doesn't say anything about removing any files.Should I be removing some files from the default situation? Isn't the world/scenery directory at the bottom of the list? Should I put the files in the Addon Scenery/Scenery directory instead to make sure they are the primary files?Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I haven't found anybody asking these questions.Thank you,Thomas