GCFV Airport Altitude Problem

[Guest SpenceSaab]

Hi there,I've been a huge MSFS fan and have recently found time to start flying again in FSX (in between university commitments lol). To my horror I performed a full 4 hour flight into Fuerteventura Airport (GCFV) and found that all of the island looked correct apart from the airport itself which appears to be situated on top of a 400ft tall plateau, with shear cliff faces all round.Clearly this is not right, and I do not recall this happening before. I tried uninstalling and then reinstalling FSX, and I've also tried installing Sim Giant's payware scenery for Fuerteventura (which looks great btw)Unfortunatly the former didn't work, and the latter simply lowered the runway, taxiways and terminal to the correct hight but left the 400ft tall plateau thus leaving me with a runway sunk 400ft into the ground...not exactly what I expected to find!Has anybody else seen or heard of a problem like this and do you have any ideas, I'm desperate as flying to GCFV in FSX is a major thing for me as this flight is one I make regularly in real life and have done so since I was 2yrs old (it was this which sparked my interest in aircraft).Any help is massively appriciated,thanks in advance,regards,-SpenceSaab-

[Art_P 6]

Hi there,I've been a huge MSFS fan and have recently found time to start flying again in FSX (in between university commitments lol). To my horror I performed a full 4 hour flight into Fuerteventura Airport (GCFV) and found that all of the island looked correct apart from the airport itself which appears to be situated on top of a 400ft tall plateau, with shear cliff faces all round.Clearly this is not right, and I do not recall this happening before. I tried uninstalling and then reinstalling FSX, and I've also tried installing Sim Giant's payware scenery for Fuerteventura (which looks great btw)Unfortunatly the former didn't work, and the latter simply lowered the runway, taxiways and terminal to the correct hight but left the 400ft tall plateau thus leaving me with a runway sunk 400ft into the ground...not exactly what I expected to find!Has anybody else seen or heard of a problem like this and do you have any ideas, I'm desperate as flying to GCFV in FSX is a major thing for me as this flight is one I make regularly in real life and have done so since I was 2yrs old (it was this which sparked my interest in aircraft).Any help is massively appriciated,thanks in advance,regards,-SpenceSaab-

Don't panic. This is easy to fix if you will download the free Airport Design Editor from the AVSIM library (version 1.37). Assuming you want to use Sim Giant's payware scenery (I sure hope it's a lot more accurate layout than the FSX default), what you need to do is exclude the current airport flatten and create a new one. The elevation of the new flatten should be made the same as the scenery's airport elevation. You can get help with details on the forum, if needed.I performed this change on the FSX default airport, setting the elevation at 62 feet. According to Google Earth, the runway slopes a great bit with 62 feet being near average. FSX had the elevation at 462 feet.

[danr 0]

Hello Spence,I have been playing around with GCFV this afternoon using Airport Design Editor. I have changed all of the elevation to 20 meters which visually seems to be a good compromise with FSX default scenery. I will post my files in the AVSIM File Llibrary tonight or sometime tomorrow. Dan Reynolds

[SQUAWKIDENT 3]

Hello Spence,I have been playing around with GCFV this afternoon using Airport Design Editor. I have changed all of the elevation to 20 meters which visually seems to be a good compromise with FSX default scenery. I will post my files in the AVSIM File Llibrary tonight or sometime tomorrow. Dan Reynolds

Hey DanAm interested in trying your files - am also a fan of GCFV - have flown in there on holiday a few times. Could you let us know when you upload them?ThanksAdam

[danr 0]

Hey DanAm interested in trying your files - am also a fan of GCFV - have flown in there on holiday a few times. Could you let us know when you upload them?ThanksAdam

Hello Adam,They are listed on today's home page. Enjoy.Dan

[pscharff 56]

Hello Dan,I've downloaded your airport file for GCFV, but this is the result after installing the file:I'm using the FSX default scenery and the FS Genesis mesh. I think that's a problem with the FSG mesh, or what do you think?Thanks,Patric

[danr 0]

Hello Dan,I've downloaded your airport file for GCFV, but this is the result after installing the file:I'm using the FSX default scenery and the FS Genesis mesh. I think that's a problem with the FSG mesh, or what do you think?Thanks,Patric

Hello Patric,I tried the GCFV files with FSG mesh and they work ok so I do not think it is the mesh. I can think of two possible problems. (1) make sure that the two bgl files (GCFV_ADE_DKR.BGL and GCFV_ADE_DKR_CVX.bgl) are in the Addon Scenery>Scenery folder or (2) if this does not work, possibly one or both of the bgl files are corrupt. I suggest that you download the files again.I hope you get it working.Dan

[pscharff 56]

Hello Dan,thanks for your answer. I've copied the two files into the correct folder and I've allready tried to download the files again, but the same problem occured.It's really a strange problem...Patric

[Art_P 6]

Hello Patric,I tried the GCFV files with FSG mesh and they work ok so I do not think it is the mesh. I can think of two possible problems. (1) make sure that the two bgl files (GCFV_ADE_DKR.BGL and GCFV_ADE_DKR_CVX.bgl) are in the Addon Scenery>Scenery folder or (2) if this does not work, possibly one or both of the bgl files are corrupt. I suggest that you download the files again.I hope you get it working.Dan

When you made the changes in ADE, did you change the airport elevation as well as create a new new airport background? The GCFV_ADE_DKR.BGL file (1) should include the new airport elevation and the GCFV_ADE_DKR_CVX.BGL file (2) includes the new airport background. From the picture, it appears that file (1) does not exist or does not contain the necessary change. If anyone wants to try another version of this, they can email me from within AVSIM and I will attach it to a reply.

[danr 0]

When you made the changes in ADE, did you change the airport elevation as well as create a new new airport background? The GCFV_ADE_DKR.BGL file (1) should include the new airport elevation and the GCFV_ADE_DKR_CVX.BGL file (2) includes the new airport background. From the picture, it appears that file (1) does not exist or does not contain the necessary change. If anyone wants to try another version of this, they can email me from within AVSIM and I will attach it to a reply.

Hello Art,I created the files in three steps, (1) Changed the Airport Altitude to 20 meters, (2) Excluded the existing Airport Background and (3) Added a new Airport Background at 20 meters. It works ok on my computer by either putting the files in the Addon Scenery>Scenery folder which is towards the middle of my FSX Scenery Library or in a seperate folder which is at the top on my library. So far, of the 260+ downloads, I have only heard from Patric. I hope you may have some ideas that will help him.Danp.s. I also downloaded my files from AVSIM and they work fine on my computer.

[Emile 28]

hello,This what I see after installing the airport files.Elevation?

[pscharff 56]

Hello Dan,let's start another try. How does your GCFV airport look without your file?This is a screenshot of my default GCFV:@Emile:Is it possible that you have installed another scenery, because I can see more streets and buildings at your screenshots? Patric

[meshman 109]

The download package is incomplete and that's the reason for the visual problems.When an airport's elevation is changed within ADE there is a seperate, small elevation file that is created and automatically placed into the \Scenery\World\scenery folder. This should have been included with the other files. Without it, the default elevation gets read and no airport file can adjust it.The package should be resubmitted to the library, along with a note to the library managers to pull the old file.

[danr 0]

The download package is incomplete and that's the reason for the visual problems.When an airport's elevation is changed within ADE there is a seperate, small elevation file that is created and automatically placed into the \Scenery\World\scenery folder. This should have been included with the other files. Without it, the default elevation gets read and no airport file can adjust it.The package should be resubmitted to the library, along with a note to the library managers to pull the old file.

Thanks MeshMan! This is the first time that I have submitted an airport with an elevation change. I'll resubmit the package today with the altitude file. My apologies to all who have downloaded.Dan

[Art_P 6]

I also failed to notice where the altitude change was stored in FSX, even though the superb instructions issued with ADE included a statement preceded with "IMPORTANT". Thanks for the heads-up.