St Petersburg airport files

[martinlest2 58]

Has anyone else got the Pulkovo (ULLI) files from here?:http://www.ulll.nm.ru/files.htmlThere are 26 airports in addition to ULLI - and all have trees and buildings covering the runways, aprons, taxiways. I don't get it. I know the files are not compatible with other ULLI sceneries, but even when I add the scenery to a default FS9 scenery.cfg file (i.e. with no other addons included, just FS9 'out of the box') I still get all the clutter at the airports. I can only get rid of it by removing all the files (total of 44) in the Pulkovo/scenery folder with "LS_" in them, but they must be there for a reason.Anyone able to help?Thanks,Martin

[Opa 6]

Has anyone else got the Pulkovo (ULLI) files from here?:http://www.ulll.nm.ru/files.htmlThere are 26 airports in addition to ULLI - and all have trees and buildings covering the runways, aprons, taxiways. I don't get it. I know the files are not compatible with other ULLI sceneries, but even when I add the scenery to a default FS9 scenery.cfg file (i.e. with no other addons included, just FS9 'out of the box') I still get all the clutter at the airports. I can only get rid of it by removing all the files (total of 44) in the Pulkovo/scenery folder with "LS_" in them, but they must be there for a reason.Anyone able to help?Thanks,Martin

I downloaded the package (ProjectULLL_8AD.zip) with the thought of testing it.However as I was reviewing the contents and instructions I saw that they ask you to replace an AP file in your Eure/scenery folder.Even though they provided a backup copy of the AP file in question, I decided not to install the package as the replacement AP file was only 3 KB in size and it is replacing one which is 18 KB.That suggests to me that the many other default airports in the region likely will be "missing". If that is intentional that is one thing, but altering AP files without realizing that many other airfields in the area will be affected is a common mistake.So the bottom line is that I have passed on installing it to see if I had the same issues you do - at least for the time being.

[martinlest2 58]

Hi,The reason that the original file is so much larger than its replacement is that it contains a huge amount of taxiway information for the default Pulkovo airport - the default MSFS file AP956100.bgl contains only ULLI, no other airports. Of course the replacement AP956100.bgl file doesn't need all that taxi way information as it is in the AFCAD file. No problems at all replacing the old file with the new (I backed it up of course) - I decompiled it to a txt file to make 100% sure.Martin

[Opa 6]

Hi,The reason that the original file is so much larger than its replacement is that it contains a huge amount of taxiway information for the default Pulkovo airport - the default MSFS file AP956100.bgl contains only ULLI, no other airports. Of course the replacement AP956100.bgl file doesn't need all that taxi way information as it is in the AFCAD file. No problems at all replacing the old file with the new (I backed it up of course) - I decompiled it to a txt file to make 100% sure.Martin

I found a few minutes to go ahead and install the package - no trees etc. showing up where they should not at Pulkovo for me,I checked a few other airports in the general area and saw nothing out of place either. I put my autogen and density sliders at Very Dense and nothing cropped up.Give me the ICAO code for an airport where you are having problems so I can look there also.

[scott967 62]

I took a quick look, and I don't see the reason for the edited AP9 file. It seems like they killed all the runway approach data.It seems like there are not airport skirting files for the added airports. Maybe the intent was to use object excludes to cover those areas to remove the autogen.scott s..

[John Hinson 22]

I am always very reluctant to replace FS's default files as that often leads to unanticipated issues. I usually find there are other ways to get round the issues that are addressed by such updates. At St Petersburg it seems I am still using the original AP956100.bgl (as it is dated 2003) and I don't remember encountering any problems.Three things that are often dealt with by modifying these files are:

1. Change of airport elevation, which would otherwise cause sunken or floating AI traffic - easily resolved by other methods.
2. Alterations to ILS frequencies etc. If contained in an AF2 (or similar) file, such changes are not properly recognised by FS's ATC. It can result in being given a visual approach when an ILS exists. For me, I can live with that - you can still hook onto the beam.
3. Occasionally a change of co-ordinates for an airport is made this way. It is rarely necessary.

I think in the case of ULLI the reason must be the second, as the altitude does not seem to have changed.John

[Benjamin J 751]

I am always very reluctant to replace FS's default files as that often leads to unanticipated issues. I usually find there are other ways to get round the issues that are addressed by such updates. At St Petersburg it seems I am still using the original AP956100.bgl (as it is dated 2003) and I don't remember encountering any problems.Three things that are often dealt with by modifying these files are:

1. Change of airport elevation, which would otherwise cause sunken or floating AI traffic - easily resolved by other methods.
2. Alterations to ILS frequencies etc. If contained in an AF2 (or similar) file, such changes are not properly recognised by FS's ATC. It can result in being given a visual approach when an ILS exists. For me, I can live with that - you can still hook onto the beam.
3. Occasionally a change of co-ordinates for an airport is made this way. It is rarely necessary.

I think in the case of ULLI the reason must be the second, as the altitude does not seem to have changed.John

Very interesting. Especially option 2 you mention. It clarifies why ATC assigns me a Visual 19L approach at ESSA while it has ILS... I have seen that there is a way to update FS9 with the frequencies and such from your scenery files, but I am a bit reluctant if it's really safe to do. Here's what I'm talking about: http://hsors.pagesperso-orange.fr/navaids.html

[martinlest2 58]

That's really odd David - as I say, I installed the ULLI files into a 'clean' fs9 setup - must be something in the scenery/world/scenery folder then. I may troubleshoot this further, when I have time, to see if restoring the default scenery/world/scenery folder fixes the issue. Part of the problem now is that after so many years with FS9 I have so many scenery addons installed (over 1200 entries in the scenery.cfg file) that there are bound to be conflicts sometimes. I usually manage to resolve them, or at least find a work-around. In this case, removing the 44 files I mentioned earlier - though that may mean I am losing other stuff as well as trees and buildings.If I replace a bgl file in the scenery/world/scenery folder, I always back up the original and make a note of which scenery installed the file (that's one reason I never use exe files that automatically install files to FS, I like to know where stuff is going. If in doubt, I also have a dummy FS9 folder - all the folders, but empty, no files at all in them: if I install there it's easy to find what has been added). I sometimes even decompile the bgl file to a text file so I can see what it contains. I also run a batch script I wrote at least once a week to back up changes to my FS9 & FSX folders - I could never get FS back as it is now by installing everything from scratch.M.

[John Hinson 22]

Very interesting. Especially option 2 you mention. It clarifies why ATC assigns me a Visual 19L approach at ESSA while it has ILS... I have seen that there is a way to update FS9 with the frequencies and such from your scenery files, but I am a bit reluctant if it's really safe to do. Here's what I'm talking about: http://hsors.pagesperso-orange.fr/navaids.html

Yes, that would appear to be the reason at ESSA because the default airport would not seem to have a Runway 19L.I'm not sure that add-on would solve this problem. I think it is basically a Magnetic Variation update. Bringing the Magnetic Variation up to date will actually knock all the ILSs in the world out of line (if what I have read elsewhere on the subject is correct). The other accessory would seem to correct the VORs and NDBs but it isn't clear if it would correct the ILSs. Even if it does, I see no indication there that it will correct anything other than the default beacons so I don't think this would help you.It may be that ADE9 has a trick up its sleeve to deal with added ILSs. Although I use the programme occasionally, I haven't got into it as deeply as I might and perhaps others on here that know more might comment on that.John

[John Hinson 22]

That's really odd David - as I say, I installed the ULLI files into a 'clean' fs9 setup - must be something in the scenery/world/scenery folder then. I may troubleshoot this further, when I have time, to see if restoring the default scenery/world/scenery folder fixes the issue. Part of the problem now is that after so many years with FS9 I have so many scenery addons installed (over 1200 entries in the scenery.cfg file) that there are bound to be conflicts sometimes. I usually manage to resolve them, or at least find a work-around. In this case, removing the 44 files I mentioned earlier - though that may mean I am losing other stuff as well as trees and buildings.If I replace a bgl file in the scenery/world/scenery folder, I always back up the original and make a note of which scenery installed the file (that's one reason I never use exe files that automatically install files to FS, I like to know where stuff is going. If in doubt, I also have a dummy FS9 folder - all the folders, but empty, no files at all in them: if I install there it's easy to find what has been added).

Some sound ideas there.Going back to your original issue, I have checked and have no tree problems. I think I did at one time but perhaps that was an earlier version. If I had to doctor this one, there would be evidence of my home-brewed exclusions and I see none.The file I am on is called: ProjectULLL_8AD.zip. I'm not sure where it came from, though, possibly here: http://ulll.avsim.su/download.html (thank you Mr Google!).Another thought is to check the relative position of your Landclass files. Disregarding the way MS displays them in the Scenery library (which I'm sure you don't use with 1200 sceneries!) I have them in the actual scenery.cfg in this order:[Area.750]Title=ULLI St Petersburg LCActive=TRUELayer=750Local=Addon Scenery\ASIA\ULLI St Petersburg LC[Area.751]Title=ULLI St PetersburgActive=TRUELayer=751Local=Addon Scenery\ASIA\ULLI St PetersburgBeyond that, I can only offer some ideas as to the function of those mysterious LS files. A true scenery designer will know for sure, but I think:

• LWM = Land Water Mask
• VTP? files are Polygons
• OB? files are, I'm guessing, Objects

Hope this helps,John

[martinlest2 58]

Well, I finally found what is causing this (why didn't I think of it before??): Ultimate Terrain, Eastern Europe. If I disable this then Pulkovo is clear of trees and buildings. When I said I'd installed ULLI into a 'clean' FS9 setup, that obviously wasn't true, because I forgot about UT in the FS9/scenery folder.As UT Eastern Europe covers so many areas other than western Russia, it is clearly better to disable files within the ProjectULLL_8AD download (yes, that's the same file John) - so I have removed all bgl files containing '_OB0' and '_OB1' (those are indeed the object files it turns out, ten of them: the other 34 are fine where they are) and now all is OK.BTW, whenever I mentioned the scenery/world/scenery folder in my earlier posts, I should have said the FS9/scenery folder itself.Thanks for the replies,Martin