What is the really simplest way to flatten an airfield?

There seems to be innumerable tools, all more complicated than I want and more sophisticated than I need - any advice on the most appropriate?

I just want to flatten the ground down to the level of the runways and buildings, which are currently all in trenches :-)

Thanks

Keith

I had the same problem and bit the bullet and bought FSPilot's utility - it's easy enough to use and does the job of flattening airports ok. It's a bit of a pain getting hold of it though - there's no download option, it comes on a DVD (which is what, 8GB, far bigger stuff is now hosted for download) and shipping isn't exactly quick.

I had the same problem and bit the bullet and bought FSPilot's utility - it's easy enough to use and does the job of flattening airports ok. It's a bit of a pain getting hold of it though - there's no download option, it comes on a DVD (which is what, 8GB, far bigger stuff is now hosted for download) and shipping isn't exactly quick.

 

This is something that I need to understand... does the tool effectively simply lift or drop the airport to a correct elevation, which would be wrong, as it would mess up ILS approaches and such stuff (as I understand things), or does it literally change the surrounding terrain so it adjusts to the airport scenery?

This is something that I need to understand... does the tool effectively simply lift or drop the airport to a correct elevation, which would be wrong, as it would mess up ILS approaches and such stuff (as I understand things), or does it literally change the surrounding terrain so it adjusts to the airport scenery?

 

I honestly don't know on that one - certainly for the airports that I was using it for (LFPG & LSGG off of the top of my head) it seems creates a flat area around the airport for the airport to sit on, but then that was to correct mesh errors within the airport, where you see runways up on causeway-like bits of land. But the tool also claims to cure the plateau airports as well, and I don't know how it does that.

Try using Scruffyduck's freeware ADE to create airport flattens. You can quickly draw any shape 'polygon' to mark the edges of the flatten area, and even create 'sloped' areas to better blend the terrain and mask the edges of the 'flattened area.'

 

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/resources/airport-design-editor.116/

Try using Scruffyduck's freeware ADE to create airport flattens. You can quickly draw any shape 'polygon' to mark the edges of the flatten area, and even create 'sloped' areas to better blend the terrain and mask the edges of the 'flattened area.'

 

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/resources/airport-design-editor.116/

 

Hi Bill, sure, but you must need some degree of expertise in scenery design, yes?

Honestly, not really. The UI and instructions are really very well written. For something this easy to accomplish it shouldn't be too difficult at all. <_<

If the airport is sunken into the ground, you could also raise the elevation of the airport. ADE can do that too, check the manual for the section called "Change Airport Altitude".

Honestly, not really. The UI and instructions are really very well written. For something this easy to accomplish it shouldn't be too difficult at all. <_<

 

Hh, well, that sounds very promisiog as I have a couple of airports that I have plateau's around, cheers Bill

 

 

If the airport is sunken into the ground, you could also raise the elevation of the airport. ADE can do that too, check the manual for the section called "Change Airport Altitude".

 

Thanks Barry...

Sorry to bring up a slightly old post, but what if I don't have FSX Deluxe for the SDK? Am I basically a goner?

 

 

Sorry to bring up a slightly old post, but what if I don't have FSX Deluxe for the SDK? Am I basically a goner?

 

I don't know for sure, but you might be able to use the P3D v1.4 SDK? It's here: http://www.prepar3d.com/support/sdk/

 

Has anyone used the P3D SDK for FSX development?

All of the files are the same as are in the FSX/A SDK, but the pathname might be a problem. The person to ask would be Jon (aka: Scruffyduck) at the FS Developer forums, who is the principle coder for ADE.

Tried it, it works, thanks.  B)

What is the really simplest way to flatten an airfield?

There seems to be innumerable tools, all more complicated than I want and more sophisticated than I need - any advice on the most appropriate?

I just want to flatten the ground down to the level of the runways and buildings, which are currently all in trenches :-)

All the above responses regarind ADE and SbuilderX are correct, HOWEVER -- before you do that, first go look for an elevation adjustment file in your scenery/world/scenery folder. Usually it will contain the ICAO code in the name and you can just search for files containing that. For instance, if you have trances at ENVA Trondheim, then you should go run a search for 'ENVA' in your scenery/world/scenery folder first. If you find something like CVX_EVNA or AEC_EVNA then try removing it (don't delete it, just place it somewhere else). Often times that solves the problem where simply creating yet another flatten or elevation adjustment file will only get in the way.