Apologies for raising airfield elevation again, but I still find this difficult to understand...

 

The airfield at Skiathos (a Greek island) is pretty much at sea level - Wikipedia says 54ft but it's a sloping runway and the threshold is in the harbour and you look up to the bigger boats...54ft is the other end, to give departing tubeliners a chance to avoid a sea-water bath.

 

I'm using a freeware Skiathos which works fine in FSX but in P3Dv2 the runways etc are way up in the air on cliffs, much more than 54ft.

Other local freeware airports (Athens, Thessaloniki) are fine.

 

Obviously the scenery is designed for FSX - but how can FSX and P3D be so different for a sea-level airport?

Is there a simple way of decompiling the BGL files, just to see why there is a variation?

 

Thanks

Keith

You can use the tools Airport Design Editor or Bgl2xml made by the same developer over at http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/forums/airport-design-editor.95 and http://www.scruffyduck.org/bgl2xml/4584282773.

 

I've seen this issues for many airports and it is usually due to the point you make about the used elevation.

 

But if this is different from FSX to p3D - then it may also be a result of the mesh-resolution and the coastline. It's not always as easy as increasing the mesh resolution in p3d, since it now also depends on the tesselation - and sometimes it is more realistic if you actually lower the resolution (since it then may be a more clean-cut). But you could try that first...

 

I reccomend to look around the forums I linked to. There you'll find a lot of advice and the developer is very supportive. And the tutorials are well written.

 

Good luck

 

*while I'm dreaming about a Greek isle with azure blue sea and an umbrella-drink*

 

C

Thanks...if I did find an issue in the decompiled BGL, is there a simple way to compile a fix or would I need the P3D SDK installed?

 

I note that ESI have posted a simple BGL to fix a similar issue at Guernsey in P3D .... that appears to be just an Airport directive, with a height set.

It would be good if I could make an equivalent for Skiathos...but I doubt its that simple...
Cheers

Keith

(I'll be on that isle and in that azure blue sea this time next week :-)

Lucky you! ...and hope you have a great time in Greece! It's a wonderful place.

 

I'm not quite sure about the SDK. I've read that Airport Design Editor has a compiler built in, but I think the install-program for ADE will advise you (and the SDK is available for download over at FS Developer too). (Edit: Just try to open it in ADE and see, it shouldn't be too complicated)

 

Such elevation fixes as you mention are either made by ADE or Sbuilder. I have tried to make some simple flattens by just drawing the polygon and set elevation. It works and it's a quick fix - but be warned: it's often quite time consuming when you try to get the details right... putting it in the right place in the scenery priority ...ajusting a small point, and then suddently another point gets wrong....

 

I couldn't help myself and took a quick trip down to LGSK to get the feel *s* And even with the default install I see the problem with the sea at each end and a higher point in the middle...

Just thinking out loud; maybe it would be easier to lower the entire airport down to zero-elevation (or close to that) - and then rather try to meet the mesh on the sides in the middle.... But I haven't given it a lot of thought - it's just an idea.

 

And btw: the base data for FSX and P3D are (apart from a very few exceptions) the same. But that also the root of the problem in FS-Greece. It's been a known problem that the projection in most of Greece is based on a wrong projection or an inaccurate source....

:blush: Was all my fault ... when redeploying the scenery from FSX to P3D I hadn't read the instructions and there was an adjustment BGL that I'd failed to copy!

Skiathos is now fine in P3D.

Apologies and thanks for the help.

Cheers

Keith

Wonderful to hear. It is always so much hassle when one tries to adjust the details on other authors sceneries.

 

I should have advised you on that path myself before leading you into the development thread... but then we both have learned a lesson and all other readers may have this in the back of the head when transferring sceneries :-)

 

Have a nice summer!