Flight1 just released AFX, now we can modify airports

[RFields5421 1]

Didn't mention - I've only loaded it on Vista.Didn't expect, didn't have any problems.Now I have UAC turned off and some other tweaks applied.

[jvile 1]

>>sssummer says>>Jim Vile. For some reason when I try and modify >and save your KMIA AFCAD for FSX using AFX, >it crashes the program. Your other AFCAD's >for FSX save fine. Just a heads up.>That is true! Read some of Reggie's (rfields) post in this thread. When I released my first FSX compliant enhanced Airports they were of a hand written simple design. KMIA added complexity that only the FSX compiler understands based on rules of the xsd file. If someone relies on the BGLCOMP SDK for adapting compiler rules they already have a lack of knowledge needed for proper design. The AFX Utility is based on FS2002/FS2004 (I said that correctly) Airport/AI ground handling/arrival zone code. When AFCAD2 was brought up to FS9 Lee added the new XML bgl support leaving fingerprints and other type code that FS9 did not adhere to.If AFX was a completely new 100 percent FSX compliant tool then why did it bring up from FS9 the same problems we have with AFCAD2? You can use a whole new language to write an exsiting program but what happens is you don't have the knowledge required to fix what was broke in the original program so the same problems continue to move upward into FSX.DO NOT and I repeat DO NOT run the Fault Finder in AFX against any of my 1000 percent compatible FSX airports. The rules have changed that AFX is using based on Lee's AFCAD2 program. The decompiler and compiler in AFX does not play by FSX rules. Again none of this was changed from Lee's program including the embedded hex txt faults found in the .exe file.The scanner that Konstantin Kukushkin (the AFCAD2 scanner) used by Lee Swordy for calculating NAVAID distance as seen on the AFX Grid interface is a fingerprint. There are NAVAID codes in AFCAD2 that are computed with complex measuring radius algorithms that no one knows about other then a few who worked on ADD-A-GATE and the original AFCAD program in the early days of FS2002. In order for AFX to display the NAVAIDS you MUST reverse engineer AFCAD2 and use the same technique.I agree that AFX added functionality based on Konstantin Kukushkin utility to duplicate some of AFCAD2's functionality, look and feel and say that all the code is new. Many of us have done this in the past but credit MUST BE GIVEN to the original designer based on his knowledge so plagiarizing is not a issue.My analogy to that is, I can write a Thesis and do all the research on my paper. Someone can come along and rewrite/reword it in a different language without the research knowledge but claim it is their idea and design. If I do not complete the paper or leave fingerprints in it then the person rewriting it has no idea what my entensions were. AFCAD2 was a beta Utility that was never finished when Lee decided to stop the design. Any Utility that uses AFCAD2 code brings forward to FSX those unfinished areas that some of us are all well to familiar with. SDE decompiler, ADE/FSXP did not get authorization to use any of Lee's AFCAD code and decided to start from scratch. Those Freeware programs are also addressing the issues that Lee never finished and are also appling the rules that FSX SP1 is using for both the Ground Traffic and the unseen scenery world of FSX (my KMIA and LOWI).Please do not fault my FSX compatible enhanced airports because someones utility is not playing by the BGLComp Compiler rules for the unseen scenery world of Aircraft behavior.

[scott967 62]

Good points Jim. the thing I always liked about SceneGenX (besides using a background bmp) is that it produces xml code, and if worse comes to worse, you can go through the code. AFCAD2 uses the black box method. I have to admit, though, AFCAD2 does a nice job of showing fillets and taxiline bending in curves/intersections and the night lighting is nice too.scott s..

[Mace 1,896]

"Now we can modify airports"?We could already modify airports in FSX. Been doin' it since last November. ;)RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian

[jvile 1]

RhettI find it odd that someone is now selling a program that we have been doing for free with the AFCAD program in its current form and works in FSX if you know what to do. This does not mean using converters that are availble and at times are also unstable.If people want to be gullible and buy something that AFCAD2 and FSUIPC already do then more power to them.I am more concerned about MS penalizing all of us do to the decompiling process that Lee Swordy introduced in his design for AFCAD/AFCAD2 as a freeware program.Placing a price on a decompiler and compile may say MS is no longer going to look the other way with their protected files and SDK BGLCompiler.Winfried Orthmann who gave us a reversed engineered Freeware decompiler for FS9/FSX bgl's that are written in XML said it correctly. This statement also applies to all the XML type protected bgl's in FS9/FSX.>>Please be aware of the fact that scenery >files from MS or from any other company or >from private designers are copyrighted. So you >should be careful to avoid any infringements >of the copyright of others if you use the >disassembled code for any other purpose than to >study how scenery design has been done. >So never try to make money by stealing the >intellectual property of others!> The SDK does not say we can decompile a AP9/APX bgl even though we do it with freeware but only use the deleteAll='s and handwrite the xml to enhance a airports parking and taxi structure (including all rewrites of approach code).AFX could have ruined it for everyone because the designer don't have a clue of the pandora's box he is opening. A $200.00 price tag for a license per instance for payware? How much of that plus what the User pays for goes to MS.

[virtualstuff 750]

>"Now we can modify airports"?>>We could already modify airports in FSX. Been doin' it since>last November. ;)>>>Rhett>>AMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS>A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150>gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb>5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster PraetorianYep lol same here with FSX ;-)Andr

[Guest radivil]

>and handwrite the xml I've been working on an airport for about ten days now and I'm really surprised at how much handwritten XML I've actually done. But that just might be a symptom of how I decided to do everything.

[Manny 1,293]

The only reason I have used AFCAD in FS9 was. when I have more than 1 file for the same airport. I get to search and find out the one that I really need by looking at it. Then I get to rename the ones I don;t need as .bakIs there an alternate simple AFCAD that would give me that functionality of just display?Manny

[Mace 1,896]

>>Is there an alternate simple AFCAD that would give me that>functionality of just display?>Not sure what you are asking but either ADE or FSXPlanner will load in an airport for display, if that's what you are looking for.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian

[hanstatdg 0]

>>Lee Swordy is not connected to this project.>>He should sue for breach of copyright of his GUI. It is a>direct copy!>I contacted Lee Swordy long ago to ask if he intended to develop an AFCAD program for FSX. This was his reply:"I will not be producing any more releases of AFCAD or TTools for several reasons, the main one being that I have other commitments now that leave me with almost no spare time to work on them. Anyone else who wants to produce similar tools for FSX need not be concerned about competing with me".DavidGH

[Guest armchairpilot]

I think you can just use the AFX free demo for that. It will not allow you saving files, but for viewing, it's perfectly fine.You can also use SDE, although it takes forever to build the airport list. FSXPlanner cannot find add-on airport files, which is probably what you are looking for.

[Guest armchairpilot]

FYI, they have released an update to AFX with background image support and some other new features. They now also have a free demo available for download.

[Manny 1,293]

Then AFX Free Demo is sufficient for me. Let me check out that.ThanksManny

[Guest SIDDickDastardly]

Hi,I'm a complete noob when it comes to editing airports, but there are a few things I'd like to be able to do and I'd be very grateful if someone who's used this proggy could let me know if it's the appropriate tool for me.I have several photoscenery/terrain packages which are marred by the fact that the default FSX airports are frequently very poorly aligned with their real world position. Many airports sit on raised plateaus or are sunk in holes and often the runways etc are also laterally displaced from the corresponding photoscenery too.Would this tool enable me to quickly change the elevation of an airport? (I'd like to be able to just drag a slider or type in a new elevation figure and have all the AI, ILS, ATC etc automatically adjusted to the new elevation).Similarly, if I just want to drag the entire airport a few metres laterally or rotate it a little to match the photoscenery better will everything else update automatically to match the new position?Finally, if I want to edit the shape of the airport's flattened boundary, is this just a matter of dragging a few vertices and resaving?Many thanks,DD

[meshman 109]

>Hi,>I'm a complete noob when it comes to editing airports, but>there are a few things I'd like to be able to do and I'd be>very grateful if someone who's used this proggy could let me>know if it's the appropriate tool for me.>>I have several photoscenery/terrain packages which are marred>by the fact that the default FSX airports are frequently very>poorly aligned with their real world position. Many airports>sit on raised plateaus or are sunk in holes and often the>runways etc are also laterally displaced from the>corresponding photoscenery too.***This is almost always due to higher resolution mesh affecting the surrounding areas, which makes the airport look strange.>>Would this tool enable me to quickly change the elevation of>an airport? (I'd like to be able to just drag a slider or type>in a new elevation figure and have all the AI, ILS, ATC etc>automatically adjusted to the new elevation).***It would, but that opens new problems. Elevation data is read from the default files, even when there is a replacement airport file. There is a method to have elevation data read prior to the default files, but AFX does not address that issue. Yet???>>Similarly, if I just want to drag the entire airport a few>metres laterally or rotate it a little to match the>photoscenery better will everything else update automatically>to match the new position?***I don't recall if AFX will do this. Other programs will allow you to move the airport. As far as rotating, there's much more work and related problems with that type of action.>>Finally, if I want to edit the shape of the airport's>flattened boundary, is this just a matter of dragging a few>vertices and resaving?***Not within AFX. There are other programs to handle a function like this.>Many thanks,>DD