Hello All --- well I am trying to make my first island, and cannot even get to first base with SBuilderX. I understand the work flow needed to make an island, fundamentally. But, I cannot even get an exclusion rectangle to clear sea water in order to get started.I have read a number of writeups by people who have done this, but even following what they did, I can't get to even view seabottom.Here is what I have tried: (all my locations are set correctly).1. Select some specific ocean location (lat + long)2. Select QMID11 polygon and fill the quad using the polygon tool.3. Set type to "Exclude_All_Water_Polygons".4. Expand poly to fill the QMID11 tile space.5. Save and compile the polygon. (no errors)6. Go to location in FSX and NOTHING! No water excluded.OK, from what I have read this should be a very simple part of the picture. What am I not doing correctly here? Any and all help and comments appreciated --- Thanks!!! Bob ===

Hello Bob,Have you looked at the bgl in TMFViewer? Simply load the file, right click on it to get its properties, and check to see that it does exclude water. Also, make sure that it is in the right place.Best regards.Luis

Hello Luis -- and thanks for the reply!! Yes, I looked at the exclusion area in TMFViewer. The exclusion polygon shows in a light blue (cyan) color and right clicking on it shows a label of....Vector Objects.... Exclusion ....... Texture ........... Texture (UID#)The location is correct: I am at 22.0000 N, 159.0000 W (minus sign in front of longitude) which puts this area just off the East Coast of Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands.I chose this so it would be an easy spot to find. Just out of PHLI.See anything wrong??? Thanks --- Bob

Hello Luis -- and thanks for the reply!! Yes, I looked at the exclusion area in TMFViewer. The exclusion polygon shows in a light blue (cyan) color and right clicking on it shows a label of....Vector Objects.... Exclusion ....... Texture ........... Texture (UID#)The location is correct: I am at 22.0000 N, 159.0000 W (minus sign in front of longitude) which puts this area just off the East Coast of Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands.I chose this so it would be an easy spot to find. Just out of PHLI.See anything wrong??? Thanks --- Bob

*LUIS* -- also, if it matters, I am running REX textures. But I would think any compatible textures would be fine as long as they work with FSX. Help !!!! :(

Where did you place the BGL file and are you sure you have no other scenery that might apply for the area?I did a quick work up yesterday, but the attachment ability for the forums wasn't (isn't?) working. I was in the neighborhood, as it was off the coast of The Big Island, Hilo side.

Where did you place the BGL file and are you sure you have no other scenery that might apply for the area?I did a quick work up yesterday, but the attachment ability for the forums wasn't (isn't?) working. I was in the neighborhood, as it was off the coast of The Big Island, Hilo side.

Hello Meshman -- and thanks !!!! Well, to start, my BGL files (any I creat for FSX) go into my "World" folder. I have my FSX install on a separate disk of its own from my system disk to isolate FSX from the protections of the "programs" files on the Win 7 system disk. Thus, my BGLs, including the output of SBuilderX, go into: D:\FSX\scenery\world\scenery.Also, my scenery priority string, has the World directory in the #1 position with the "Default Scenery" in the #2 priority slot.This has been a real exercise with not much more than bits and pieces of information scattered everywhere I work heavily in Airport Design Editor, but this is my first effort in island building requiring the use of SBuilderX.Any hints or comments appreciated for sure. I am going to keep at it until I solve whatever problem is holding me back here.....

Hello Bob,Please put your scenery in the Addon Scenery folder instead, and please report back on the results.Best regards.Luis

Hello Bob,Please put your scenery in the Addon Scenery folder instead, and please report back on the results.Best regards.Luis

Good Morning Luis !!!!Well, that did the trick. The polygon to remove the water worked. Now I have to begin the design of the island upon which I am going to build an airport and terrain with altitude. Thus the island must be "landable" and "buildable". From what I have read, the technique of making the hole in replaced sea water seems to be the best for what I want to do. Let me know what your thoughts are on the best technique.Thanks for your ongoing help ---- Regards, Bob

* HELLO LUIS! *I proceeded with all the info I could find and actually got an island built following the instructions and results of others who have posted on the subject.Except for one problem. When I added a polygon for "airport" on top of the island, as some have noted, I cannot get the surface to "harden".... it is still behaving like water and the plane floats on it. Note that the points of this surface polygon have altitude (75) and sit inside the island polygon. And the surface is still in the water.What could I be overlooking here?? All else is working well.Thanks --- Bob ---

Hello Bob,Just for your information, a quick explanation on what went wrong at first.FS loads and executes the bgl files in a specific order, as indicated by the Scenery Library.First, the World and Base folders that contain large-scale scenery elements covering extensive areas.Then, the numbered folders that have terrain, airport, and object elements, as well as nav aids, for the specific quad areas.Then, everything else in the order of the Library.If you place your scenery in the World folder, it is executed first, then the default scenery is loaded and displayed over it. So, you were trying to exclude first (although FS had not yet drawn any water that could be excluded), then FS was drawing water after your exclude.Moral of the story: do not put anything in the default folders without understanding the load logic. As for your scenery, you can use the Addon folder or make your own folders that are placed in the correct location in the Scenery Library, that is, so that they load after the default scenery.Concerning your present problem, please provide more details. Screenshots (not too large, please!) of your SBuilderX workspace, as well as greater information as to what you have done will help to diagnose the problem. Also, please indicate if you are trying to change the altitude of the airport that already exists.Best regards.Luis

Hello Again Luis --- and thanks for your reply. I had just figured out the scenery load sequence issue when you sent that but that did the trick and now what I am working on is showing up. Since I am close to a solution for a new island on which to build a new airport, etc. please see the item #26 in this post.http://www.fsdevelop...ead.php?t=18328This is the fundamental sequence I have been trying to follow and learn from. What may be causing a problem is interpretation of terminology used about either a specific polygon or "land class". I follow all the steps here, and I end up with a raised island (yes, I am elevating the island) that looks like it should by displaying the land class tiles that I apply to the island. Everything seems straight forward but for the fact that the "land class" in the polygon on the island top is behaving like a "water class" even though I am compiling landclass tiles to the polygon. I am also adding the final polygon as this example does using what I am interpreting as an " airport background polygon" -- but is that a special poly like "LC_Airfield1" or just any land class??? As I note, all seems well up to this point where it appears I am not getting a true HARD land class on the island top, even though the tiles have compiled and appear OK in-sim.Logically, it would seem that the base world mesh should be raised to the top of the island upon which to put land class texture, your airport and other objects.If you see anything in my comments, please comment, otherwise I won't bother you anymore. You have been very patient. I will keep hunting for a clue that permits finalizing the island structure. All I need is to firm-up the island top to "hard ground" then I can get on with my final island design. It seems many users have this same problem....the answer must be here somewhere Thanks --- Bob

I'm NOT Luis... he's better looking, I here! :( As you have noticed, terminology can be precise at times. So when you say "land class tiles" that to me means something other than land class for a polygon. Land class tiles are made in 1.2km grid layout, meant to cover large areas for the most part. Applying land class to a polygon is something totally different.You have your parent polygon that brings the water back into FSX, along with a hole polygon that cuts out an area from the water. Highlight your hole polygon to where all the vertices turn green and then hit Edit|Copy on the menu, then hit Edit|Paste on the menu. Somewhere away from the hole polygon click the mouse and you will get a copy of the hole polygon. Click only once, as each click will make a copy. Press the Escape key to get out of pasting. Highlight the COPY of the polygon hole that you just made and right-click to Properties. Select a land class from the list and apply to the copy polygon. Now very carefully, slide the just applied land class polygon back on top of the hole polygon, zooming in as much as possible to be as precise as possible. Save, compile and check the work in FSX.

I'm NOT Lance - he's smarter than me. :( So, I think he is on to something there.Best regards.Luis

Hello Meshman and Luis --- thanks for the added inputs. I will try them tomorrow and see what happens.Meshman, you did not say anything about ALTITUDE of the island and the appropriate time/place to apply that data? Anyway, wish me luck -- I will keep you posted on results.Cheers/Regards --- Bob :(

Bob,Small steps as you go along, don't overthink things. Altitude? If and it's a big IF, there is any elevation data that was previously covered by the water polygon it would be exposed with your hole polygon. But if you're out in the middle of nowhere, there may well be no data. Should that be the case, then sloping flatten polygons could be used or... if you really went hard-core, you could "create or borrow" some mesh data and apply that to the area. But that falls into a more advanced area than what you might be at now.The copied land class polygon gets placed on top of the hole and gets any elevation that is in place. I don't know what you refer to with time/place? The land class polygon will adjust it's seasonal textures based upon other underlying data in FSX.