FSX | FSX-SE Scenery Design Forum - How To

I was new to gmax and didnt know the thing about meters and how flightsim will only use those....Well with this new makemdl and the xml file syou use it only will use meters and my model wont show if I leave it feet and export.but when I export it and its in meters its HUGE...like 300 feet tall lol.how can I fix my model from feet to meters and mot have to rebuild it?airport terminal BTWGary HayesNo im not a "real" pilot, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.P4 3.0ghz w/HT & FSB..GeForce FX 5900 ultra 256MB..1 gig PC3200 DDR RAM..Sound Blaster Audigy w/5.1 THX

Does anyone know of any scenery area of North America where FS2004 actually displays roads using the textures:dirtroad.bmpdirtroadhw.bmpdirtroadsu.bmproadsAsu.bmphiwayAsu.bm;For Test Spotting, I replaced all of the above with well tested textures consisting of plain bright yellow and have not seen any roads show up using any of these texures.anyone know about this?thanx...........frank

I want to build some mounds of snow alongside a swept runway. I can use Novasim to build the mounds but there is no inbuilt function to make the .api macro only appear in winter. I believe the "IfVarRange" parameter in the .api macro needs to be changed to do this. Can anyone tell me the code please?Thanks in anticipation,John

Does anyone know of a flagpole/US flag macro that has been created by ANYONE? I'm re-doing several military bases and have begun experimenting with creating facility macros (OMS, EMS, FMS, AMS, LGS, LGF, etc.), including a Wg Hq building. But can't find a flagpole w/flag to stick in there.Anything from FS2000 forward would be a GREAT help. (Just the macro, either .scm or .api)

Trying to compile after installing the new SDKs. I dont know what to do..i looked for this file, but I cant find it.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/87020.jpgGary HayesNo im not a "real" pilot, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.P4 3.0ghz w/HT & FSB..GeForce FX 5900 ultra 256MB..1 gig PC3200 DDR RAM..Sound Blaster Audigy w/5.1 THX

I've been wanting to be able to both develop scenery as well as "fix" existing scenery for some time... seems like there are tools to do everything, but I don't know where to start.1) One of the first things I would like to do is to add a few large landmarks near my home airports; I am fairly familiar with 3d modeling and am certain I can pick up GMAX pretty quickly - but I can't find any info on how to actually get models built in GMAX into FS and placed accurately.For example, I'd like to build and place the USS Rancocas (in New Jersey) - I can build it... but how the heck to I get it into FS?2) Next, is there an easy (preferably WYSIWYG) way of correcting the positions…

I've written a utility to optimize LWM ASM files created by Autoasm. Looking at the asm source, I noticed that when Autoasm writes a large LWM area, it fills each empty LOD13 square in a water area with a water polygon that takes up the whole square. What this program does is replace the empty water polygons with an AreaFill1x1. Then, it checks if there are four AreaFill1x1s that can be assembled to create an AreaFill2x2. Next, it checks if there are four AreaFill2x2s that can be replaced with an AreaFill4x4, and so on until AreaFill16x16. This should improve scenery load times and refreshes.Some before and after screenshots of a test area in LWMviewer...Before:http…

Just thinking:If FS knows where its clouds are, and there is a way to dump this information, is there a way to tell FS to substitute "shadowed" versions of its ground textures for its "lighted" ones? (At least for clouds that would cast distinct shadows)This way, FS wouldn't have to calculate the light path, it would just offset the individual cloud locations for its shadows according to the time.It's probably obvious that I know nothing about how this works... I also don't know the smallest "size" a ground texture can be, and if it's too big to be useful.Andrew

A new va is in the process of establishing itself in the community. This va is Air Arabia Virtual. Currently we are looking for scenery designers to design scenery for some middle eastern airports. The designers will be provided with all neccessary material to complete the work, (i.e charts and pictures of the airports). If you would be interested in helping in this area pls contact me at [email protected] or leave a post here in this forum.Thank you for your timeArman MotiwallaAir Arabia Vice-CEO

I've created some objects and buildings with transparent textures, but when exporting, MakeMDL refuses to allow the transparent textures to be exported. It would report that textures cannot be assigned to the Opacity channel.Any idea how I can go about it?Richard

I tried using EZ Landclass, but after it creates the scenery bgl file, the textures do not appear correctly. Instead it appears as green blocks. Any idea what I'm doing incorrectly?

Gentlemen,I've been using FSDS 2.24 casually to develop scenery objects for a while now. Recently, I have a problem. I want to place red obstacle lights ontop of buildings. I create the bulb object, color it red and use the light_beacon as object type. All such objects are appearing green in the scenery. I did this without a hitch in another scenery file from several months ago. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Hi there,Is it possible to use variables for looping in XML? I'm building a fence, and rather than build the whole fence, I built a small part as a library object (in GMAX) and I was placing it in sections using the BiasXYZ offset. I am using this method since it allows very accurate placement which permits me to line up the fence without any visible flaws.This is working out well, but calculating the offset gets to be a chore. It would be better to use a For/Next style loop and create variables that could be used in th BiasXYZ section.- Martin

I am using FSDS2 to design a tube. In order to reduce processing time, I am willing to accept a tube that is less than perfect. However, which takes less processing power?1. Using a higher resolution tube? (i.e. more polygons)2. Using polygon smoothing.I assume that the former involves more time spent computing, drawing and shading the polygon, while the latter involves some kind of averaging of adjacent screen colors.Thanks,Phil

I am constructing some custom scenery to use with FS2002. I have some aerial photos that are 2m resolution. I have read that the textures in FS are 4.75m resolution. Should I consider using the higher resolution images?I have als read that I need a image size of 2560x2560 to support a 5x5 PTG with 512x512 pixel textures. Is this only for FS2004 or for both FS2002 and FS2004?Does this mean I need to resize all of my images?. I have some images that were sized to work with Terrabuilder Pro (i.e. 4096x4096) Will these images work if I resize them to 5120x5120?Any help would be greatly appreciated.Dave

Hi guysI made a few triangles in Gmax and I give a "Light_nav" material name following the wellknown procedure and I export them.Then I compiled them through Fsregen in order to create an API... I placed the BGL in my scenery's folder and I opened FSSC...I placed my "Macro" and then I add this piece of code "IfVarRange( :ROT 28C 2 4 )" in order to have my object visible during "Dawn-Dusk-Night" but not "Day"...Although I had the wished result, a strange phenomenon appeared...Firstly, my object's view in FSSC is unusual enormous,although the scale is "0.5"... and the real strange thing is its appearance during day time not in the placed position but some 500 m NE and some …

Hello all,I downloaded a static aircraft collection for Gmax and modified the source file to include only the aircraft I wanted(B1900), I then centered the plane (where the two black lines cross on the grid) and exported the MDL file. When I fired up FS to check it out, the plane was gigantic!(see attached screenshot) I did get a message before exporting the MDL saying that my object was in a measurement other than meters. How can I reduce the scale in either Gmax or the XML file? Thanks for your help, I'm still learning this Gmax stuff ;-)Brandon

Hello folks,I wondering if somebody could help me out here. I have a FS2000 B1900 that I converted to API and I'm getting a scasm error message when I try to compile. Error in line 42 -> -> missing "enda" instructionScasm compilation status: error(s) 1So I added "EndA" to the bottom...Error in line 130 -> EndA -> unresolved label :extend in line 89Scasm compilation status: error(s) 1Huh. Shows how bright I am... I was hoping sombody could help me out here.Thanks for your help,Brandon; ------------------------------------------------------------------------; XXXXX.API SCASM macro for Flight Simulator v6.x/7.x; & Airport 2.60; Generated by MDLtoBGL Cop…

I posted this question in the AFW forum but wanted to run it here as well.I have come to the conclusion that if you set up a photoreal tile in SCASM, you cannot then place on top either an XML taxiway through SGX or an AFCAD created taxiway. If anyone can achieve this then let me know. AFW is the only solution.If this is the conclusion then what would be the best way to place PR tiles and then place SGX or AFCAD taxiways on top?Thanks Shez

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but can I use the AutoAsm auto bridge function when I have separate bitmaps for LWM and VTP lines of the same geographical area? I presume that it only works on bitmaps contaning both lines but I thought I'd check.Victor

In an attempt to make an adjustment to an incorrect default chunk of shoreline, I got a copy of SBuilder, read a couple of tutorials, and after some initial failure(s), eventually completed my project. One troublesome aspect remains however....when isn't there? I have gaps at either end of my section of beach where they butt against the default. If I try to end exactly on the start of the adjacent default strip, it is 'erased'; thus I have to stop just short and a gap is the result.I read about editing the *.asm file prior to compiling to *.bgl wherein the final "1" is changed to "0" within the "VTPLayer" entry. In my case, that value is already at "0".Can anyone suggest …

I have recently downloaded Airport Environment Upgrade 6 (by Chris Arrington). Magnificent textures! Thanks to Chris. So my question is: how can I change texture assignment to the certain airports in FS9? Example: texture "runway12.bmp" is ideal for airport Szczecin EPSC(the closest airport to me) but FS9 uses texture "runway10.bmp". Where that information is included in FS9? I know my language may be ridiculous for experienced scenery creator, sorry for that. And finally last question: what is the best (and easy) program to create scenery for FS? And how can I get it? Thanks in advance. brgds marcin

I am having trouble with old BGL files, the format created by FS Design Studio or SCASM. When I have a lot of objects in a folder sometimes they objects don't show up in FS until I mess with the filenames.Is there any known dependency on filenames when using BGL files in an old format (pre FS 7 BGLs) ?Or is there a limit on how many similar files can be in a BGL folder ?Thanks,Matthias

Hi,I would like to know how I can add a "flatten switch" in the Scenery.cfg file in FS2004.The scenery I would like to flatten is the default runway at LIPR (Rimini) in Italy, since it is far from flat. (very bumpy ride for the aircraft):-)Where in the Scenery.cfg file do I add the "flatten switch"? And how should it be written?Fly safe, Staffan AhlbergSweden/Stockholm/ESSAMD-11 Panel Team - Beta testerMy specs are:Dell Dimension 4600 P4/3.0 Ghz512 Mb DDR333 Dual channel memory128 Mb ATI Radeon 9800 ProCatalyst 3.9DirectX 9.0E171FPb Flat panel monitor 17"240Gb (2x120) 7200rpm HD

OK, I already know that it is not possible to exclude the default stream flattens without editing the terrain.cfg and making the change global. What I want to know is, can I create add-on streams without the ditch, without affecting the default streams? I've tried adding another [Texture.####] entry in my terrain.cfg, like this:[Texture.1262] // stream lines / unknown / non-perennial / no channelType=1Size=4ExcludeAutogen=1MaskClassMap=3Textures=RiverSU.bmpoffset=0But FS just crashes while loading terrain. Any ideas?Dan