Looking For Scenery Mentor

[Jayskits 0]

I'm a scenery novice and need the help of you scenery experts.Recently installed FS9 on a ned machine and added the FS Genesis mesh (didn't have it on my old machine).Now, the grass strip field near my house dispalys in a 225 foot hole with trees on the runway.The field is in New York, 4NY1, Orange Poultry Farm. (Its just a mile down the road from my house)In my default FS setup (without FS Genesis) it displayed fine as shown here. http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/8576/defaultfs9.jpgIn the new installation with FSG, I have the problems as shown in these images.http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/324...fsgenesis1.jpghttp://img82.imageshack.us/img82/627...fsgenesis2.jpghttp://img82.imageshack.us/img82/774...fsgenesis3.jpgI'm told that the field elevation is wrong and it is misplaced. A more experienced person than me looked at it and said that the runway should be atlat 41.346346476long -74.312656172heading 35.3alt 166 metersand suggested the following things that need to be done:a. Move the field to proper location and elevationb. Create a flatten and airport background at the new locationc. Exclude the old airport backgroundd. Remove the old flattene. Create an "alt adjust" file for the airportAs a novice, I don't know where to begin, so I'm looking for someone to teach me (sort of like a correspondence course).Any volunteers?ThanksJohn

[n4gix 4,947]

Why not do a favor for everyone, and simply ask Justin Tyme to look into it and fix the problem......if it is something incorrect in his mesh? That way everyone would benefit from a "fix..."

[Jayskits 0]

Its such a non-important field - would Justin take the time to do it? I guess he could fix the elevation problem. But the field is still in the wrong place, and that would need a different fix.

Why not do a favor for everyone, and simply ask Justin Tyme to look into it and fix the problem......if it is something incorrect in his mesh? That way everyone would benefit from a "fix..."

[WarpD 824]

What info I found for the airport is identical to what's in FS.Orange Poultry Farm Airport Location Latitude: 41-19-40.3380N (41.32787) Longitude: 074-19-28.5470W (-74.32460) Elevation: 420 feet MSL (Estimated) Magnetic Variation: 13W (1985) I suspect the elevation issue is in FSGenesis... simply report it to FSGenesis and he'll deal with it in a future update.

[scott967 62]

It has nothing to do with the mesh. The field is mislocated (check in Google Earth).Here is a tutorial I did on using SBuilder for this sort of thing:http://library.avsim.net/download.php?DLID=83202To modify the terrain you need to remove the existing flatten and airport background, and create new ones. You do this by appending the default flatten into SBuilder.To find the file, open AFCAD2 load 4ny1 and get the file name from the airport properties:E:\Flight Simulator 9\Scenery\NAME\scenery\AP928170.BGLwhat's important is the numeric portion. Append the LWM FLatten file from the same folder with the same numeric portion: FL928170.BGL. The file covers a large area, so you will have to move and zoom to find the flatten for 4ny1, which will be a rectangle made up of a couple different polys. You could delete these polys, and recompile the file and use it to replace the default FL one (back it up first!). Or, instead you could adjust the poly elevations to the surrounding area (get the elevations by looking at 4ny1 in LWMViewer2 or use TCalc2004 while slewing in FS9). You can adjust the shape of the flatten polys, but they must cover the original area or the default one will "show through". Now load a background image of the correct area. You can take a screenshot of GE or try this:http://www.ptsim.com/sbuilder/gmaps.htmUsing the background trace out the area for your airport. Set the type to LWM flatten and all points elevation to 166m. Now make a copy of this polygon and paste a copy nearby. Set this poly to VTP layer 7 and select a texture ("Cool grass"). Then drag this copy so it is on top of your flatten. Lastly, you need to exclude the old airport background, so draw a poly around the olde flatten, set it to Excl and set the layer to 7. Now select your polys and compile.The terrain is done now to fix the airport. Open 4ny1 in AFCAD2 and move the runway, change the heading and elevation to 166m. then move the stats, and change their headings and elevation as well. Move the tower viewpoint near your runway. Finally, change the airport properties elevation to 166m as well (when you are done you changes the elevation in 4 places). Save the airport twice. Once in your AFCAD (or better, a new scenery area) folder and second in the same folder as the default files (scenery\NAME\scenery) . Change the default name AFCAD2 gives this second one to zAF2_4NY1.BGL.Finally move the terrain file you created in SBuilder to the same place as your first AF2 AFCAD file.Many small airports are mislocated. Often you can see them when you install UT terrain and enhanced mesh. All you can do is use Google Earth to see if you can figure out where they should really be. If you want to go nuts doing this, try fixing the strips around PANC and Wasilla.scott s..

[Jayskits 0]

Scott,Thanks for the in-depth analysis. From the screenshot, it looks like you have already corrected this on your system. Looks pretty good. The only thing missing is the long hangar building where the taildraggers and crop dusters stay. The lake in the background would be Glenmere Lake. What textures are those - Ultimate Terrain? (I haven't gotten UT yet)I've just downloaded SBuilder and AFCAD2, and will start the learning process. One other question: Do those programs that create flatten bgls only flateen things down? Or can they raise terrain up?Thanks for the help.John

It has nothing to do with the mesh. The field is mislocated (check in Google Earth).Here is a tutorial I did on using SBuilder for this sort of thing:http://library.avsim.net/download.php?DLID=83202To modify the terrain you need to remove the existing flatten and airport background, and create new ones. You do this by appending the default flatten into SBuilder.To find the file, open AFCAD2 load 4ny1 and get the file name from the airport properties:E:\Flight Simulator 9\Scenery\NAME\scenery\AP928170.BGLwhat's important is the numeric portion. Append the LWM FLatten file from the same folder with the same numeric portion: FL928170.BGL. The file covers a large area, so you will have to move and zoom to find the flatten for 4ny1, which will be a rectangle made up of a couple different polys. You could delete these polys, and recompile the file and use it to replace the default FL one (back it up first!). Or, instead you could adjust the poly elevations to the surrounding area (get the elevations by looking at 4ny1 in LWMViewer2 or use TCalc2004 while slewing in FS9). You can adjust the shape of the flatten polys, but they must cover the original area or the default one will "show through". Now load a background image of the correct area. You can take a screenshot of GE or try this:http://www.ptsim.com/sbuilder/gmaps.htmUsing the background trace out the area for your airport. Set the type to LWM flatten and all points elevation to 166m. Now make a copy of this polygon and paste a copy nearby. Set this poly to VTP layer 7 and select a texture ("Cool grass"). Then drag this copy so it is on top of your flatten. Lastly, you need to exclude the old airport background, so draw a poly around the olde flatten, set it to Excl and set the layer to 7. Now select your polys and compile.The terrain is done now to fix the airport. Open 4ny1 in AFCAD2 and move the runway, change the heading and elevation to 166m. then move the stats, and change their headings and elevation as well. Move the tower viewpoint near your runway. Finally, change the airport properties elevation to 166m as well (when you are done you changes the elevation in 4 places). Save the airport twice. Once in your AFCAD (or better, a new scenery area) folder and second in the same folder as the default files (scenery\NAME\scenery) . Change the default name AFCAD2 gives this second one to zAF2_4NY1.BGL.Finally move the terrain file you created in SBuilder to the same place as your first AF2 AFCAD file.Many small airports are mislocated. Often you can see them when you install UT terrain and enhanced mesh. All you can do is use Google Earth to see if you can figure out where they should really be. If you want to go nuts doing this, try fixing the strips around PANC and Wasilla.scott s..

[scott967 62]

I have UT USA which provides the accurate terrain features, and GE Pro which provides replacement texture bitmaps. Flattens are polygons which can set the mesh elevation to any level desired. You can also do it with a land or water mask, but in that case you also change the texture and characteristic to land or water. All 3 varieties are commonly referred to as "LWM" in FS9 design tools. It is also possible to create a sloped polygon, as well as flat. If you do that it's best to work with triangles, as a triangle will always sit as a plane surface regardless of the elevation you set for the 3 vertices.SBuilder or another object placing program such as Rwy12 can be used to place buildings around your airport.scott s..

[Jayskits 0]

Scott,What do you mean "append" to SBuilder? When I run SBuilder, I don't see how that is done. Trying to 'open' the FL file is not valid. Can you explain how to 'append'?Any particular revision of SBuilder 2.05, or will any one do?Thanks,John

I have UT USA which provides the accurate terrain features, and GE Pro which provides replacement texture bitmaps. Flattens are polygons which can set the mesh elevation to any level desired. You can also do it with a land or water mask, but in that case you also change the texture and characteristic to land or water. All 3 varieties are commonly referred to as "LWM" in FS9 design tools. It is also possible to create a sloped polygon, as well as flat. If you do that it's best to work with triangles, as a triangle will always sit as a plane surface regardless of the elevation you set for the 3 vertices.SBuilder or another object placing program such as Rwy12 can be used to place buildings around your airport.scott s..

[Jayskits 0]

Answered my own question. I hadn't started a new project yet. Once I did, it all became clear. Sorry for the distraction.John

Scott,What do you mean "append" to SBuilder? When I run SBuilder, I don't see how that is done. Trying to 'open' the FL file is not valid. Can you explain how to 'append'?Any particular revision of SBuilder 2.05, or will any one do?Thanks,John