All World Editor generated scenery packs crash X-Plane

[markj 0]

X-Plane World Editor Scenery Packs always produce this error (which returns zero search results in Google as of June 2013):

BE ADVISED
illegal DSF polygon type
make sure your extension is .fac, .for or .bch
(io_dsf.cpp line 553)

steps to reproduce:
1. Open WED (I have used 1.1 and 1.2).
2. Click "NEW SCENERY PACKAGE".
3. Rename "Untitled 1" to "31qz" (Xplane returns no results for this code, so it shouldn't interfere with anything).
4. Click "OPEN SCENERY PACKAGE".
5. Select "Airport > Create Airport".
6. Change name from "unnamed entity" to "atlanticapt" and ICAO ID to "31qz".
7. Select runway tool, draw runway (for this test, I drew it over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Georgia so I know the exact elevation above sea level and know that there is currently no scenery or airport there).
8. Change Latitude, Longitude of the center to 32N, -80W, length to 2000ft, heading to 0, width to 150.
9. Draw taxiway next to runway.
10. Draw boundary around runway and taxiway.
11. Save, export apt.dat (creating new folder, "Earth Nav Data" inside "31qz").
12. Open X-plane (9.67), verify that runway and taxiway exist.
13. Close X-Plane. In WED, select forest. Inside airport boundary, draw rectangle.
14. Save, and select "export scenery pack". A dsf file is created in "31qz\Earth Nav Data\+30-080".
15. Open X-Plane. X-Plane throws the above error and crashes.

To date, I have not found any combination of objects in World Editor that will produce a scenery pack that does not cause this error.

[greggerm 312]

 

 

13. Close X-Plane. In WED, select forest. Inside airport boundary, draw rectangle.

 

Are you selecting a forest resource definition (aka: a forest type) after selecting the forest tool? I just opened one of my WED airports and clicked immediately on the forest tool - it does NOT select a forest resource by default, so this could be what's behind the "make sure your extension is .fac, .for, or .bch" part of the error.

 

Use the filtering capability of the WED object tree to look for .for resources. 

 

With nothing selected, there's no extension to find! It's akin to defining a texture polygon for the ground without actually selecting a texture to use.

 

-Greg

[markj 0]

Thank you for your prompt response.

By "object tree" do you mean the sub-window labeled "Library" on the left side of the window? I can't find any *.for files in it, and don't know how to filter or search the tree. There are *.for files in X-plane, in the "X-Plane 9\Resources\default scenery\900 forests" directory, but the "Libraries" sub-window doesn't match the X-Plane directory structure, so I can't navigate there.

I tried manually entering the full path and filename for a few of the .for files. Now X-Plane can load without crashing, but attempting to select that airport results in the following error followed by X-Plane crashing:

BE ADVISED
Could not locate facade/forest/beach
[path and .for filename selected]
(io_dsf.cpp line 560)

Also, I haven't seen anything in any of the things pretending to be manuals that mentioned a "texture polygon for the ground". How do you make one of those?

[greggerm 312]

Yes, I believe that is the one... I get my terms messed up, so here's a screenshot of where to look for the forest files, taken in WED 1.2rc3.

 

 

 

You can search/filter for forest files by simply typing  ".for" (dot "for") in the filter field - that will cull the list down quite a bit and make it easier to find what you're looking for...

 

 

 

I believe the "G10" forests are for X-Plane 10, and the "G8" forests are (I assume) for X-Plane 8 and 9... I only use and design for 10, so I can't say exactly what your library of objects will look like if you're using XP9.

 

Also, I haven't seen anything in any of the things pretending to be manuals that mentioned a "texture polygon for the ground". How do you make one of those?

 

Use the "Polygon" tool - 2nd from the bottom on the right hand column of command buttons... on WED 1.2rc3. The button is juuust cut off at the bottom edge of the top screenshot. You'd select a texture in the same way as you would a forest resource. I use that tool infrequently, so I can't speak to what extension you'll want to look for.

[markj 0]

Okay, now I can build something that doesn't crash X-Plane. The ground textures, building facades and some objects are even visible. Most objects and forests are not. I left the density at one forest as 1.0, and turned another up to 10000, with no noticable effect. This is probably good enough for what I need, but I am still curious about why some things remain invisible.