How can I flatten a 'Default Airport' in P3D v4.5 HF3?

[Dane Watson 38]

I used to fly into airport CYHE Hope when I used FSX many years ago and it was always a pleasure.  Today I wanted to have a look at it in my P3D v4.5 for the first time.  This is a default airport within P3D and to my surprise it needs flattening as the aircraft is in a deep cavern at parking 1 or 2.

It is not an addon airport scenery but I did a few things to try to resolve it.  First I did a repair of P3D Client, Content and Scenery, then I ran the AEC in ORBX VECTOR even though CYHE is not listed in the AEC as it is not an addon.  None of this fixed the issue.

Is there a way to fix this?

 

EDIT - I just uploaded a link of the two parking areas that are sunk into the ground, the rest of the airport is fine.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/XseAFD4fjbxAYeKx5

Edited May 23, 2020 by Dane Watson

[cowpatz 243]

I'm using the P3DV4.5 client but still with the 4.4 content and scenery. Hope appears fine and flat however has no parking spots in the AFCAD.
If this is a problem with 4.5 scenery then you could use a freeware tool like ADE (Airport Design Editor) to create a flatten around the area and even put in the parking spots if not already there.
If I had 4.5 scenery I'd be happy to do it for you but I just don't have the need to update.
Hope airfield is certainly in a scenic and challenging spot.

ADE can be found here: https://www.scruffyducksoftware.com/shop-and-downloads

[Dane Watson 38]

1 hour ago, cowpatz said:

I'm using the P3DV4.5 client but still with the 4.4 content and scenery. Hope appears fine and flat however has no parking spots in the AFCAD.
If this is a problem with 4.5 scenery then you could use a freeware tool like ADE (Airport Design Editor) to create a flatten around the area and even put in the parking spots if not already there.
If I had 4.5 scenery I'd be happy to do it for you but I just don't have the need to update.
Hope airfield is certainly in a scenic and challenging spot.

ADE can be found here: https://www.scruffyducksoftware.com/shop-and-downloads

Thank you, I do have ADE but have not used it as I didn't want to mess anything up.

Actually my P3D is v4.5 is HF3 for Client and Content but my Scenery is still HF2

 

Yep that area is very rugged, the Rockies can be a killer. I just flew from Hope CYHE (I did not spawn on a parking area) to Princeton CYDC and at about 7,000 feet there was overcast with rain with a few up and down drafts thrown in - but I made it.

Edited May 23, 2020 by Dane Watson

[Dave_YVR 968]

 You aren't even close to the Rockies there yet, any chance you have FTX PNW? It seems that it might be a good investment if you frequent the area.

[Dane Watson 38]

7 hours ago, Dave_YVR said:

 You aren't even close to the Rockies there yet, any chance you have FTX PNW? It seems that it might be a good investment if you frequent the area.

You are correct about not being close to the Rockies, my error. I know better as I live in White Rock and my home base airport is Boundary Bay CZBB.

Yes I have PNW, in fact I have everything available from ORBX.

[Dave_YVR 968]

 I'm over on the West side of ZBB myself. I see what you mean though at Hope in FTX PNW. The only way I could fix it was to just remove those parking spots.  Seeing as the whole area is grass, you can then just park where you want.

[Dane Watson 38]

3 minutes ago, Dave_YVR said:

 I'm over on the West side of ZBB myself. I see what you mean though at Hope in FTX PNW. The only way I could fix it was to just remove those parking spots.  Seeing as the whole area is grass, you can then just park where you want.

Yeah, I did choose a different place to park.

The strange thing is when I open up CYHE in Airport Design Editor it does not even show parking spots.  I was going to try to flatten that area using ADE but I have never done that before. Also not sure how I would remove those two parking areas.

[OzWhitey 3,353]

6 minutes ago, Dane Watson said:

Yeah, I did choose a different place to park.

The strange thing is when I open up CYHE in Airport Design Editor it does not even show parking spots.  I was going to try to flatten that area using ADE but I have never done that before. Also not sure how I would remove those two parking areas.

Dane, ADE is the right answer here.

And you do not need to worry about messing anything up - you’ll just be taking the default airport and making it in to a new add-on airport. If anything goes wrong, you just deactivate like any other addon.

[Dave_YVR 968]

15 minutes ago, Dane Watson said:

The strange thing is when I open up CYHE in Airport Design Editor it does not even show parking spots. 

 Just be sure that you are opening the correct Hope, it's not default but the one included in FTX PNW in the FTX_NA\FTX_NA_PNW05_SCENERY folder.

[Dane Watson 38]

9 minutes ago, Dave_YVR said:

 Just be sure that you are opening the correct Hope, it's not default but the one included in FTX PNW in the FTX_NA\FTX_NA_PNW05_SCENERY folder.

WOW - thank you so much for that, that accounts for my issues.

[Dane Watson 38]

18 minutes ago, OzWhitey said:

Dane, ADE is the right answer here.

And you do not need to worry about messing anything up - you’ll just be taking the default airport and making it in to a new add-on airport. If anything goes wrong, you just deactivate like any other addon.

Thank you Rob - that is a relief to know.

[cowpatz 243]

Yes all you need to do is open up ADE and choose File - Open airport from BGL,  and then navigate to the scenery folder where The AFCAD is located for Hope (FTX_NA_PNW05_SCENERY folder). Look for a file with the airport ICAO name included )I don't have that scenery so cant help). ADE will tell you if the BGL file you tried to open doesn't contain the airport so move onto to so move onto another until it does open. When it opens it should show the parking areas.
This should help with how to add the flatten: https://scruffyduck.screenstepslive.com/s/help_docs/m/20268/l/199763-how-do-i-add-a-background-polygon-to-an-airport

When finished go to File - Compile and this will create a new BGL file. Place this in the same FTX_NA_PNW05_SCENERY folder and just rename the original to say .BAK instead of .BGL.
That way you can always undo it if for any reason there is a problem.

If you have any problems....or don't feel confident using ADE then send me a PM.
Cheers

[Dane Watson 38]

1 hour ago, cowpatz said:

Yes all you need to do is open up ADE and choose File - Open airport from BGL,  and then navigate to the scenery folder where The AFCAD is located for Hope (FTX_NA_PNW05_SCENERY folder). Look for a file with the airport ICAO name included )I don't have that scenery so cant help). ADE will tell you if the BGL file you tried to open doesn't contain the airport so move onto to so move onto another until it does open. When it opens it should show the parking areas.
This should help with how to add the flatten: https://scruffyduck.screenstepslive.com/s/help_docs/m/20268/l/199763-how-do-i-add-a-background-polygon-to-an-airport

When finished go to File - Compile and this will create a new BGL file. Place this in the same FTX_NA_PNW05_SCENERY folder and just rename the original to say .BAK instead of .BGL.
That way you can always undo it if for any reason there is a problem.

If you have any problems....or don't feel confident using ADE then send me a PM.
Cheers

Thank you so very much. I will try this, if I run into issues I will PM you.

Regards,

Dane

[Dane Watson 38]

7 hours ago, cowpatz said:

Yes all you need to do is open up ADE and choose File - Open airport from BGL,  and then navigate to the scenery folder where The AFCAD is located for Hope (FTX_NA_PNW05_SCENERY folder). Look for a file with the airport ICAO name included )I don't have that scenery so cant help). ADE will tell you if the BGL file you tried to open doesn't contain the airport so move onto to so move onto another until it does open. When it opens it should show the parking areas.
This should help with how to add the flatten: https://scruffyduck.screenstepslive.com/s/help_docs/m/20268/l/199763-how-do-i-add-a-background-polygon-to-an-airport

When finished go to File - Compile and this will create a new BGL file. Place this in the same FTX_NA_PNW05_SCENERY folder and just rename the original to say .BAK instead of .BGL.
That way you can always undo it if for any reason there is a problem.

If you have any problems....or don't feel confident using ADE then send me a PM.
Cheers

Thanks again Steve - your instructions were very clear and I had no issues going through the motions including the section of ADE - it all went smoothly.

However, after doing all of this it did not make a difference with that ORBX FTX scenery in question.  So I have now taken my issue up with ORBX directly to see what they will (or will not) do about it.

 

Regards,

Dane

[Dave_YVR 968]

You can always just remove the 2 parking spots and those elevation issues will go away.