Wrote this on several forums without getting an answer.ADE is at the moment too complicated for me so I use the Afcad programme from Lee.When I edit (change gate sizes or add airline codes) I often get the default buildings.Then hopefully someone has made an "exclude"file.My question is after installing the exclude file can I continue using 2.21 to alter things without getting further issues which may involve de- and re- installing the airport.I am sure I am not the only one with this question.

What scenery are you talking about?

Hi.If I understand you correctly it seems like you are losing the 'exclude' part of your scenery when you edit and save with Afcad221. That may be a limitation of the utility, and is why so many people recommend using ADE...It's worth learning to use it. It really isn't very difficult and is only daunting when it's new and unfamiliar.I suppose by the way you wrote your first post that you have a copy of ADE. Just try opening, saving and compiling the suspect airport using ADE (use a temporary folder on your desktop so you know where everything is) and see if it generates any error messages.Also, as above, telling us which airport and which package would be helpful.Cheers,D

Thanks for your replies.Have FS9 & FSX.Airports like FSDT KLAX & Dreambeam KSFO amongst others which have not been created with Afcad 2.21.Not installed ADE, info got by reading the tutorials.looked very complicated and I do not want to do something wrong which might need installing the FS SIMS again.I believe that SKD SP2 needed for FSX, but I am only interested in using the ADE for FS9 at the moment.

As long as the exclude file is separate from the AFCAD file you are editing, all will be fine. We do it all the time.Hope this helps,

Wrote this on several forums without getting an answer.ADE is at the moment too complicated for me so I use the Afcad programme from Lee.When I edit (change gate sizes or add airline codes) I often get the default buildings.Then hopefully someone has made an "exclude"file.My question is after installing the exclude file can I continue using 2.21 to alter things without getting further issues which may involve de- and re- installing the airport.I am sure I am not the only one with this question.

Have you considered using AFX? This is easy to transition to from AFCAD and will not "break" files in the way AFCAD does. It allows you t0 add and edit excludes.John

Not installed ADE, info got by reading the tutorials.looked very complicated and I do not want to do something wrong which might need installing the FS SIMS again.

Be assured there is nothing you can do with ADE that would require you to re-install the sim.ADE does not edit the default files and deleting any ADE-created files will return your sim to it's previous state.regards,Joe

ADE will keep excludes that a designer places in the afd (AF2_, AFX_, xxADExx) or other .bgl files. AFCAD will not. You can use ADE just like AFCAD using a two step procedure.In ADE choose Open Airport from .bgl. Make you changes. You may have to select hide excludes to modify areas within excluded areas. When your changes are complete, do a Save Airport As to save first a project file that you can go back to for further editing if necessary. Then in the second step you compile the airport to a .bgl file and if it compiles with just a warning, try it. If it has a fatal error it will not produce a .bgl. Hovering over the items in the warning and error list will tell you what the problem is. It also has a fault finder like AFCAD.I like that ADE for object properties gives you lists for object types such as runways. You then highlight the item in the table and it brings up a dialog for the items in that object.The latest versions offer to compile buildings and other objects into a separate .bgl. Both .bgl files will then replace the AF2_ file in your scenery folder.Another advantage of ADE is that you can add a LOC/ILS and it will create the navaid and a default approach (that you can edit) in an approach layer that AI will use in IMC and it will also show in the default GPS. LOC/ILS navaids added in AFCAD will not affect ai nor show in the default GPS.At the very least use ADE to view a file you are going to edit to see if there are exclude areas in it that will be lost by editing with AFCAD. Be sure in the view options menu you check all items you want to check. I have seen the excludes in an AFX_ type file.It is free and the latest version is a single installer for both FS9 and FSX. It is now at version 1.50.18 and if you have a 1.47 version install the latest as a new installation. Be sure to register it so you get notices of updates.