I don't know if anyone knows (or not) but I've heard a rumor that there are 3rd party software(s) out there which add entries to the scenery.cfg file. I'm not talking about the normal entries which are added when you install a new scenery so that flight simulator knows where to find it.

 

I'm looking for information on parameters which are non-standard flight simulator parameters. The standard parameters are in the sdk and would be something like Title or Local or Remote etc. I'd like to see some examples of the 3rd party parameters if anyone would be willing to offer them up.

 

I've been writing some enhancements to rsc v2 and would like to incorporate some 3rd party intelligence into it. That way my syntax engine might be able to avoid reporting errors for known parameters. Any help would be appreciated...

 

Mark

...I've heard a rumor that there are 3rd party software(s) out there which add entries to the scenery.cfg file. I'm not talking about the normal entries...

 

I've never seen any such entries in the 20+ years that I've been using FS nor have I heard of such parameters - the scenery.cfg file is just a text file and you could put anything you like into it and read it back via a program or .dll, but there are far better ways of doing such things.

 

DJ

Ah, interesting. Someone said that there was a navigation program which does add it's own tag/parameter to the file. Flight Simulator does a marvelous job of ignoring lines it doesn't understand in the scenery.cfg file so I didn't think much of the information when I heard it. I just don't remember where I read that rumor.

 

Maybe I'll just code for it in case but would still like to see examples if they exist :)

 

Mark

I don't know if anyone knows (or not) but I've heard a rumor that there are 3rd party software(s) out there which add entries to the scenery.cfg file. I'm not talking about the normal entries which are added when you install a new scenery so that flight simulator knows where to find it.

 

If I'm understanding the above correctly, then yes, I have added a very, very few 3rd party sceneries to FS9 which at least offered to modify my scenery.cfg file for me with the idea of saving me the trouble of, after installing said sceneries, adding them to FS9 via the Scenery Library function. I have also read in this and other FS9 forums that such attempts have occasionally gone wrong. That is why I never avail myself of such offers made by anyone's installer, but instead always add the needed entry to scenery.cfg myself.

Thanks for that Robert but it's not quite what I'm after. Most scenery will have an entry in the scenery.cfg file which consists of 5 parameters and one area section. The parameters for each section are typically Title, Local, Active, Required, and Layer. Sometime ago I read that there are 3rd party navigation tools for flight simulator which add a new parameter to the scenery.cfg file, ones that are not in the Microsoft SDK.

 

I've never seen one myself so I'm trying to get a bead on what they look like, how they're named, or if they even exist. I know that it's completely possible to add your own parameters to the file so the rumor could be true. DJ 's saying that he's never seen one and neither have I.

 

I'm at a juncture where I could easily code rsc v2 to allow 3rd party parameters and track them. The thing of it is our hobby is already so very complex, I'd like to avoid making the software more complicated then it has to be. But if you come across a 3rd party parameter, do post it here...and thanks again

 

 

Mark

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I don't know if anyone knows (or not) but I've heard a rumor that there are 3rd party software(s) out there which add entries to the scenery.cfg file. I'm not talking about the normal entries which are added when you install a new scenery so that flight simulator knows where to find it.

 

 

Mark

 

Does your utility consider the exceptions, exclude property (different from the XML exclusion rectangle in a bgl) or texture ID that can be part of the scenery.cfg.

 

Some 3rd party add the exceptions to remove a certain piece of scenery.

 

Other 3rd party navigation groups added the exclude property for the Comms, VOR's, ILS's and NDB's but these type excludes in the current scenery.cfg do not always work.

 

Other entry's in a particular scenery.cfg layer can remove just a single airport (from a stock bgl where multiple airports reside) using the correct syntax.

 

Most of this type coding is a holdover from FS2000 and 2002. MS kept the coding in place so FS9/ FSX could be backward compatible if it found older type scenery.cfg layers with this type data.

 

The SDK states this type coding should no longer be used in the scenery.cfg and there are better ways to remove certain scenery with the deleteAll= attribute or the current Exclusion Rectangle which has been expanded.

 

However, you will find that developers still used these older type scenery.cfg entry's which in most cases work in both FS9 and FSX.

 

jim

That's interesting Jim and thanks for that. At first, I thought that you might have been replying to another topic on the board but what you're saying does make sense. I've been looking at v2 from the perspective of providing a solid syntax check for the scenery.cfg file from the information I can find.

 

Concerning excludes and in the new version I'm producing, I've been addressing it from the perspective of the number of parameters supplied and if they are in the list of available parameters in the sdk. Off the top of my head I believe that there are four separate styles, one of which encompasses all styles.

 

How an exclude relates to the underlying scenery and how the sim rendering engine interprets the data is beyond the scope of this little utility. However, I might dive in a bit further and produce messages based on inacurately supplied coordinate geometry. North, West, South, and East not being held.

 

But your knowledge of the sim engine is way beyond anything I can glean from the information available to the general public. So I'm forced to find the specs which are available (or) when one of you...Leaming, yourself, or someone else at your level chimes in.

 

Where can I get a copy of the coding spec you've got...

 

Mark

Mark

 

The SDK's has the information. Start with the FS2000 and FS2002 Scenery SDK's. These explain the Property Exclude, Exceptions and Flatten switches with examples in a scenery.cfg layer.

 

Move forward and look at the Terrain SDK's in both FS9 and FSX. These will further define scenery.cfg entry's that are holdovers for backward compatible BGLC (scsam) and forward compatible BGL (xml) compiled files.

 

The FS9/FSX BGL Compiler SDK explains the DeleteAll= and Exclusion Rectangle which is a better way of coding for adding or removing certain types of scenery.

 

jim