I have downloaded and installed FSX scenery for Madeira Island. When it is installed the airport looks OK with all the buildings and runways. The problem is that there is a file called LPFUAirp.bgl which is the main scenery. When it is installed there are numerous buildings in the water next to the airport. If I delete that file the airport buildings are gone and so is all the buildings in the water. BGL Analyze and all the other disassemblers don't work. I have been told it is an old pre-FS9 type file that was made with SCASM. Can anyone help me to disasemble it so I can delete all the offending scenery items in the water. I have looked at SCIDS but don't understand it. The author, Toni Agramonte, has passed away and I can't contact anyone that uploaded the file. Here's what it looks like. The offending buildings are circled in red. Thanks, best regards, Bob.

Hi Bob:

 

I downloaded this Madeira.zip scenery package by Toni Agramont which is likely the one in question: :Nerd:

 

http://simviation.co...zip&fileId=4744

 

 

 

I was able to decompile the (legacy SCASM coded) LPFUAlrp.bgl file with BGLAnalyze version 3.1:

 

http://library.avsim...02sd&DLID=27375

 

 

I can post some instructions for you to review by some time tomorrow if you'd be interested. :Idea:

 

 

GaryGB

Hi. Yes that's the one. (madeira.zip by Toni Agramonte). I tried using the BGL Analze 3.1 but all I got was the SCASM output which I do not at all understand. Is there any way to decompile the bgl with 3.1 and then change it to an xml file or FS9 or FSX bg lwhich I can work with? I really appreciate your help. I'd really like any help you can give.

 

Did you install it and if so do you get the buildings in the water?

 

Regards, Bob.

Hi. Yes that's the one. (madeira.zip by Toni Agramonte). I tried using the BGL Analze 3.1 but all I got was the SCASM output which I do not at all understand. Is there any way to decompile the bgl with 3.1 and then change it to an xml file or FS9 or FSX bg lwhich I can work with? I really appreciate your help. I'd really like any help you can give.

 

Did you install it and if so do you get the buildings in the water?

 

Regards, Bob.

 

Hi Bob:

 

I'll need to reconfigure a few things in my FSX installation prior to loading / testing this freeware "MadeiraX" package.

 

 

Generally speaking, one will:

 

1.) Identify the offending "objects" based on their placement geographic coordinates (listed in "; sorted list of objects" at the bottom of the decompilation output *.SCA file)

 

2.) Remove the objects by deleting their 'placement' code sections from the decompilation output *.SCA file

 

 

FYI: SCASM placement code sections will be the "Area( B....." -to- "EndA" code for each unwanted object

 

 

3.) Re-compile the edited decompilation output *.SCA file into a *.BGL with the latest version of SCASM.exe

 

 

BTW: IMHO, it will likely be far less involved to simply do the process above, rather than to learn how to convert these (much older) types of legacy SCASM source objects and legacy texture file formats into FSX compatible MDLs via ModelConverterX, and then place them via XML code and BGLComp generated BGLs.

 

 

I will have more info for you tomorrow (Monday). :wink:

 

 

GaryGB

Hi Bob:

 

The first thing I would recommend is to decide if you want to do the considerable work required to modify this freeware airport which, when output as a finished BGL, may be used only on your own computer.

 

If you enjoy flying at this location often, you may prefer to purchase the excellent payware version of this airport:

 

Aerosoft MadeiraX - available at:

 

http://www.aerosoft....gi?showd,,10850

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl1s4U2QwPQ

 

 

BTW: I have no affiliation with Aerosoft

 

< ...I'm simply an admirer of the work the developer apparently did in this package ! >

 

 

 

If you are instead determined to learn some rather obscure aspects of legacy FS scenery building which involves SCASM coding techniques, I can elaborate further on how to proceed. :wink:

 

 

FYI: This process could be much easier if ModelConverterX (aka "MCX") would finally go the full distance and allow for conversion of all 65 objects in the legacy SCASM coded LPFUAlrp.bgl file as identified by both MCX itself ...and BGLAnalyze version 3.1.

 

Presently MCX only converts 27 objects out of the entire 65 objects (...as identified in that LPFUAlrp.bgl file by both MCX and BGLAnalyze version 3.1).

 

 

No doubt we have gained many other valuable capabilities with the current MCX feature set that make many aspects of scenery development possible which would have been impossible or impractical to do (...and for this we should, IMHO, be very grateful). :blush:

 

The trade-off, IMHO, has been that there is an apparent ongoing 'refusal' by MCX for some years now, to process certain types of SCASM object code, which in many cases could otherwise be successfully converted into FS9 or FSX MDLs (...and which continues to be a source of frustration for those trying to troubleshoot such legacy coded scenery objects using MCX). :Whistle:

 

 

 

So, if we were to simplify manual troubleshooting of the legacy SCASM coded LPFUAlrp.bgl file, we could:

 

1.) Identify the location of all airport buildings we wish to keep intact by starting a flight in FSX, then slewing over the center of each object and writing down its geographic coordinates.

 

2.) Identify the "Object #" sections for those airport buildings we wish to keep intact within the LPFUAlrp.SCA file de-compiled from the LPFUAlrp.bgl file, and be sure to NOT delete them.

 

3.) Identify the "Object #" sections for the remaining unwanted objects within the LPFUAlrp.SCA file de-compiled from the LPFUAlrp.bgl file, and be sure to DELETE them.

 

NOTE: SCASM placement code sections will be the "Area( ....." -to- "EndA" code for each unwanted object; for example:

 

; ----------------------------------------
; Object # 65, offset: 0x3B012 size: 1570 bytes (0x0622)
;; Lat: 000376FABh Lon: 0F4115BA2h
; ----------------------------------------
Area( 5 N32:41:30.77 W016:46:46.74 22 ) ; <========== First Line to be "Deleted" (delete everything through the last line at the bottom)
IfVarRange( : 0346 0 4 )
PerspectiveCall( :L03B034 )
ShadowCall( :L03B036 )
Jump( : )
:L03B034
Perspective
:L03B036
RefPoint( rel :L03B062 1.00 N32:41:30.78 W016:46:46.74
V1= 30000 V2= 250 )
RotatedCall( :L03B064 0 0 224 )
Return
:L03B062
Return
:L03B064
Call32( :L03B082 )
TransformCall( :L03B376 18 0 -7
0 0000 0 0000 0 0000 )
Return
:L03B082
Points( 0
 -9 0 -17 ; 0
 -9 0 17 ; 1
 9 0 17 ; 2
 9 0 -17 ; 3
 -9 6 -17 ; 4
 -9 6 17 ; 5
 9 6 17 ; 6
 9 6 -17 ; 7
 0 8 -17 ; 8
 0 8 17 ; 9
)
Specular( 0 ) ; in FS2000 reserved?
LoadBitmap( 0 L6 EF 128 128 128
nova014.bmp )
TexPoly( m 0 0 -32767 17
 0 203 66 ; 0
 4 204 110 ; 1
 7 248 108 ; 2
)
TexPoly( m 0 0 -32767 17
 0 203 66 ; 0
 7 248 108 ; 1
 3 250 63 ; 2
)
Specular( 0 ) ; in FS2000 reserved?
LoadBitmap( 0 L6 EF 128 128 128
nova017.bmp )
TexPoly( m -32767 0 0 9
 1 1 205 ; 0
 5 1 252 ; 1
 4 222 252 ; 2
)
TexPoly( m -32767 0 0 9
 1 1 205 ; 0
 4 222 252 ; 1
 0 222 205 ; 2
)
Specular( 0 ) ; in FS2000 reserved?
LoadBitmap( 0 L6 EF 128 128 128
nova014.bmp )
TexPoly( m 0 0 32767 17
 2 203 66 ; 0
 6 204 110 ; 1
 5 248 108 ; 2
)
TexPoly( m 0 0 32767 17
 2 203 66 ; 0
 5 248 108 ; 1
 1 250 63 ; 2
)
Specular( 0 ) ; in FS2000 reserved?
LoadBitmap( 0 L6 EF 128 128 128
nova017.bmp )
TexPoly( m 32767 0 0 9
 3 1 205 ; 0
 7 1 252 ; 1
 6 222 252 ; 2
)
TexPoly( m 32767 0 0 9
 3 1 205 ; 0
 6 222 252 ; 1
 2 222 205 ; 2
)
Specular( 0 ) ; in FS2000 reserved?
LoadBitmap( 0 L6 EF 128 128 128
nova014.bmp )
TexPoly( m 0 0 -32767 17
 4 201 69 ; 0
 8 222 109 ; 1
 7 246 65 ; 2
)
Specular( 0 ) ; in FS2000 reserved?
LoadBitmap( 0 L6 EF 128 128 128
fs9_01.bmp )
TexPoly( m -7108 31986 0 8
 4 226 132 ; 0
 5 229 155 ; 1
 9 255 155 ; 2
)
TexPoly( m -7108 31986 0 8
 4 226 132 ; 0
 9 255 155 ; 1
 8 252 132 ; 2
)
Specular( 0 ) ; in FS2000 reserved?
LoadBitmap( 0 L6 EF 128 128 128
nova014.bmp )
TexPoly( m 0 0 32767 17
 6 205 68 ; 0
 9 228 107 ; 1
 5 248 66 ; 2
)
Specular( 0 ) ; in FS2000 reserved?
LoadBitmap( 0 L6 EF 128 128 128
fs9_01.bmp )
TexPoly( m 7108 31986 0 8
 8 226 132 ; 0
 9 229 155 ; 1
 6 255 155 ; 2
)
TexPoly( m 7108 31986 0 8
 8 226 132 ; 0
 6 255 155 ; 1
 7 252 132 ; 2
)
Return
:L03B376
Points( 0
 -9 0 -10 ; 0
 -9 0 11 ; 1
 9 0 11 ; 2
 9 0 -10 ; 3
 -9 6 -10 ; 4
 -9 6 11 ; 5
 9 6 11 ; 6
 9 6 -10 ; 7
 0 8 -10 ; 8
 0 8 11 ; 9
 9 8 11 ; 10
)
Specular( 0 ) ; in FS2000 reserved?
LoadBitmap( 0 L6 EF 128 128 128
nova014.bmp )
TexPoly( m 0 0 -32767 10
 0 203 66 ; 0
 4 204 110 ; 1
 7 248 108 ; 2
)
TexPoly( m 0 0 -32767 10
 0 203 66 ; 0
 7 248 108 ; 1
 3 250 63 ; 2
)
Specular( 0 ) ; in FS2000 reserved?
LoadBitmap( 0 L6 EF 128 128 128
nova017.bmp )
TexPoly( m -32767 0 0 9
 1 1 205 ; 0
 5 1 252 ; 1
 4 222 252 ; 2
)
TexPoly( m -32767 0 0 9
 1 1 205 ; 0
 4 222 252 ; 1
 0 222 205 ; 2
)
Specular( 0 ) ; in FS2000 reserved?
LoadBitmap( 0 L6 EF 128 128 128
nova014.bmp )
TexPoly( m 0 0 32767 11
 2 203 66 ; 0
 6 204 110 ; 1
 5 248 108 ; 2
)
TexPoly( m 0 0 32767 11
 2 203 66 ; 0
 5 248 108 ; 1
 1 250 63 ; 2
)
TexPoly( m 32767 0 0 9
 3 203 66 ; 0
 7 204 110 ; 1
 6 248 108 ; 2
)
TexPoly( m 32767 0 0 9
 3 203 66 ; 0
 6 248 108 ; 1
 2 250 63 ; 2
)
TexPoly( m 0 0 -32767 10
 4 201 69 ; 0
 8 222 109 ; 1
 7 246 65 ; 2
)
Specular( 0 ) ; in FS2000 reserved?
LoadBitmap( 0 L6 EF 128 128 128
fs9_01.bmp )
TexPoly( m -7108 31986 0 8
 4 227 137 ; 0
 5 230 155 ; 1
 9 250 154 ; 2
)
TexPoly( m -7108 31986 0 8
 4 227 137 ; 0
 9 250 154 ; 1
 8 246 133 ; 2
)
Specular( 0 ) ; in FS2000 reserved?
LoadBitmap( 0 L6 EF 128 128 128
nova014.bmp )
TexPoly( m 0 0 32767 11
 6 205 68 ; 0
 9 228 107 ; 1
 5 248 66 ; 2
)
Specular( 0 ) ; in FS2000 reserved?
LoadBitmap( 0 L6 EF 128 128 128
fs9_01.bmp )
TexPoly( m 7108 31986 0 8
 8 227 137 ; 0
 9 230 155 ; 1
 6 250 154 ; 2
)
TexPoly( m 7108 31986 0 8
 8 227 137 ; 0
 6 250 154 ; 1
 7 246 133 ; 2
)
Return
EndA ; <========== Last Line to be "Deleted"

 

4.) Re-compile the edited decompilation output LPFUAlrp.SCA file into a LPFUAlrp.bgl with the latest version of SCASM.exe

 

Hope this helps you to decide on which course of action to take in regards to your choice of FSX scenery at this airport. :smile:

 

GaryGB

Hi Gary. Thanks for all your help. I have been trying to get this to work for a friend. If it was for me I'd buy the Aerosoft one. He has limited finances. It is way above me to use the above as there are hundreds of buildings in the water. I would not know where to start as I'm not at all familiar with all these tools. I do appreciate the hlp a lot!

 

Have you ever installed it? If so do you get all the buildings in the water?

 

Happy New Year, best regards, Bob.

Toni's work is based on default FSX and from the looks of your picture, Bob, you are not using default FSX.

 

In default FSX the buildings are all on land.

 

In FS9 I have had success creating exclude rectangles and placing them in a higher priority scenery area to eliminate Scasm-based scenery.

 

This was done with ADE9 and I would guess it to work in FSX also, though I have yet to try it.

 

You could test this in far less time than it will take to wade through all that Scasm code and pick out what stays and what goes.

 

regards,

Joe

 

[edit]

A quick test shows that this method, while not exactly elegant, does work in FSX. The key being the exclude cannot be in the Madeira scenery folder, it has to have a higher priority in the Scenery Library.

[/edit]

Hi Joe:

 

Thanks for offering that additional and practical option to the proposed solutions under discussion.

 

Could you please tell us if the ADE9 "Exclude" test BGL you made was generated via BGLComp, or via SHP2VEC (when the output file was compiled by ADE9) ?

 

If you are by any chance not certain, could you post it here as an attachment so we can all look at it ?

 

Thanks ! B)

 

GaryGB

Hi Gary.

 

Have you ever installed it? If so do you get all the buildings in the water?

 

I do show the buildings in the area which 'should' be water ...if this freeware scenery add-on package had been built in the shape and location it would have in the real world.

 

 

But I think this scenery was originally built for FS9 and earlier, and simply "ported" for use in FSX without correction as to geo-location, which means it was aligned to the pre-FSX default scenery, and was therefore not as accurate to the real world as what we now have in FSX.

 

 

FYI: In older versions of FS, locations of shorelines, water bodies etc. may be off as much as 1/2 Kilometer in any given direction (...and not shaped correctly as well). :rolleyes:

 

GaryGB

Toni's work is based on default FSX and from the looks of your picture, Bob, you are not using default FSX.

 

In default FSX the buildings are all on land.

 

In FS9 I have had success creating exclude rectangles and placing them in a higher priority scenery area to eliminate Scasm-based scenery.

 

This was done with ADE9 and I would guess it to work in FSX also, though I have yet to try it.

 

You could test this in far less time than it will take to wade through all that Scasm code and pick out what stays and what goes.

 

regards,

Joe

 

[edit]

A quick test shows that this method, while not exactly elegant, does work in FSX. The key being the exclude cannot be in the Madeira scenery folder, it has to have a higher priority in the Scenery Library.

[/edit]

 

Hi Joe. I am using the default scenery for the runway and some of the buildings. The other items in the water are as a result of loading Toni's scenery for Madeira which adds lights and some buildings at the airport and on the island plus adding the pillars to support the runway which has been extended. I can't believe with all the downloads of his scenery that someone else did not notice the buildings in the water.I did try an exclude bgl but placed it in the Madeira folder. It did not work. Happy New Year, best regards, Bob.

 

I do show the buildings in the area which 'should' be water ...if this freeware scenery add-on package had been built in the shape and location it would have in the real world.

 

 

But I think this scenery was originally built for FS9 and earlier, and simply "ported" for use in FSX without correction as to geo-location, which means it was aligned to the pre-FSX default scenery, was therefore not as accurate to the real world as what we now have in FSX.

 

 

FYI: In older versions of FS, locations of shorelines, water bodies etc. may be off as much as 1/2 Kilometer in any given direction (...and not shaped correctly as well). :rolleyes:

 

GaryGB

 

Hi again Gary. You are most likely right. It was a portover from FS9. That's why all those buildings are displaced from where they should be. I am going to tell my friend that he can use the scenery as is. The runways and all buildings are OK on the airport. The parking spots are also slightly messed up but I can fix that with AFX or ADE. I even added an ILS. Thanks for all your help. Best regards, Happy New Year, Bob.

All due respect Bob, but there is no way that you are not using some kind of terrain addon for Madeira, above and beyond Toni's file.

 

To the best of my knowledge Toni has never worked with anything but default FS. He also did not usually use anything but the default AFD data, which might explain your parking issues.

 

I know for a fact that this is default FSX with Toni's files added...

 

 

There are no pillars or arches under this runway.

 

As for the exclude, they only work on layers with lower priority than their own, so the exclude cannot be in the same Scenery Library Area as Madeira, they have to be in a Scenery Area above Madeira in the Scenery Library.

 

Gary, knowing that Toni had used the default AFD data I opened the default airport in ADEX (not ADE9) and added the exclusion rectangles (not polygons), then compiled the airport to a folder with higher priority in the Scenery Library than the Madeira addon. As there where no terrain polygons in the file, only exclusion rectangles (and all the other stock data) I would guess the file was compile with BGLComp.

 

BTW, it will take several exclusion rectangles to get rid of all those buildings due to the North-South orientation of the exclusion rectangles.

 

Unfortunately I cannot give you that file, it's long gone already.

 

regards,

Joe

Hi. Thanks. I did not have any mesh installed. I am using this file called Madeira.zip from Simviation:

 

"FSX Madeira Archipielago, Spain. (Category: FSX > Scenery)

Zip file preview

15.07Mb (3522 downloads)

FSX Madeira Archipielago, Spain. The archipelago of Madeira this located in the middle of Atlantic in the 32º 38N and 16º 50 W. belongs together to 978 kilometers of Lisbon address SW. To 545 kms to the W of the end Djouchi in Morocco and to 443 kms to the north of Tenerife in the Canary Islands. This archipelago is part of the Macaronesia Ensemble of islands that the Açores, The Canary islands of Cape Verde and the own Madeira; Funchal and I Porto Santo. By Toni Agramont. 14.4MB"

 

You are right. I cleaned out my old Madeira installation and reloaded just the Madeira file and I still had the buildings in the water. I found a file in my HD that added the pillars but must have added the extra building in the water. I removed that file and now I have Toni's scenery but without the pillars. It was hidden to me as it was called FSX Scenery Models which I did not realize was for Madeira LPMA.

 

I now have both Toni's scenery and the addon which adds the pillars. I made an exclude file as you stated. I have removed all but 6 of the buildings in the water. I can't remove the last 6 for some reason. When I go to ADE with FS connected and I slew to where the 6 offending buildings in the water are it shows that the location is within my exclude rectangles. I am going tp leave it like that. Thanks for your help and to all the others that have answered my question. Bob.

Hi Bob:

 

Just as a followup on this intriguing scenario, after my FSX installation was fully reconfigured to ONLY the FSX default scenery with Toni Agramont's version of "MadeiraX" loaded at the top of the FSX scenery library:

 

* At Madeira airport (LPMA), I can confirm what Joe sees: there are no buildings which are located in the water.

 

 

Indeed it would seem that you did (or still do) have more than 1 scenery add-on loaded which is affecting the display of that area.

 

 

Excluding (or deleting) objects placed by SCASM bgls may be entirely un-necessary if one sorts out the FSX configuration so that one is loading ONLY the FSX default scenery with Toni Agramont's version of "MadeiraX" at the top of the FSX scenery library.

 

 

As for the "file in my HD that added the pillars but must have added the extra building(s) in the water", if you would please identify which file that is and where it can be downloaded, perhaps then we could examine whether and how it might be utilized to tweak up a customized "freeware" version of Madera airport for your friend to use.

 

Hope this helps ! :smile:

 

GaryGB

Hi Gary. Thanks. There are the two top files at Simviation:

 

http://simviation.com/1/search?submit=1&keywords=madeira&x=11&y=15

 

They add the pillars but also add the extra buildings in the water if combined with Toni's scenery and the default LPMA. Regards, Bob.

Hi Joe:

 

I appreciate your suggesting the perhaps even "simpler" option of using XML-based, BGLComp-generated exclude rectangles for use with SCASM scenery objects, as some users might save both time and effort when troubleshooting by creating "test" exclude rectangles to see if unwanted objects 'might' be properly excluded. :Thinking:

 

 

FYI: Since there are various SCASM generated files dating from 1999 through 2007 in Toni Agramont's version of "MadeiraX", it is apparent that these objects were ported for use in FSX from older existing sceneries.

 

Based on the file creation dates and examination of the somewhat "custom" coding techniques seen in more than 1 of those SCASM *.BGL files, they may be based on several different 'revisions' of SCASM coding, and also contain a mix of different object types ...which may produce unpredictable results when 'excluded' rather than when selectively 'deleted' as I had proposed above.

 

But to be sure, it would not hurt to at least "test" a few excludes in a legacy scenery troubleshooting scenario to see what the results will be with "standard" SCASM scenery object types.

 

 

BTW: As is often seen when conditional display code is included within a SCASM scenery object placement BGL, FPS may begin to drop (even into the single-digits !) over time as the FSX rendering engine fails to deal properly with such legacy BGLs.

 

Thus, IMHO, a better long term solution for porting legacy sceneries will be use of ModelConverterX when it finally has improved the comprehensiveness of its SCASM object processing feature set to:

 

* Convert SCASM objects into FS9 format MDLs with conditional display parameters intact

 

...And/or:

 

* Convert SCASM objects into FSX format MDLs without (or with only minimal FSX-supported) conditional display parameters

 

Thanks again for sharing your experience with use of Toni Agramont's recent scenery releases intended for use in FSX; it was interesting seeing some of the custom SCASM coding in this package which, IIUC, may have allowed older 'ported' scenery files to work somewhat more compatibly with the FSX rendering engine. :Nerd:

 

 

Hope to see you flying the friendly skies around Emma Field in a multi-player flight again some time in the future ! B)

 

GaryGB