Airport "skirting" excludes under FS2004 with Ground2K

[Shaka 2]

Hi there,Ok, this is "not" a scasm-related question that I see throughout the forums. My question is on the excluding of airport skirting. "Skirting" refers to the grassy area that surrounds most default airports. Using Ground2K we were able to remove this skirting from default airports in FS2002, since it didn't always match our design needs. Has anyone been able to remove this? My Ground2K rivers and streams are fine, it's just the exclude that I am having problems with.My sceneries are otherwise fine - there's some small details for me to work out due to the fact that some airports have moved a few meteres, but this will be easy to fix. - Martin

[rhumbaflappy 113]

Hi Martin.My home airfield uses layer 7 in FS2004.. so try excluding that layer.I did notice another odd thing. When you exclude the layer, the autogen returns... right on the runway!Before:http://forums.avsim.com/user_files/26936.jpgAfter:http://forums.avsim.com/user_files/26937.jpgAnother thought. As long as we need to exit the sim between scenery tests, why not make it a habit to delete the Scenery.dat file for the scenery folder we're working on... to force the sim to recreate that file. It might save some problems (?)Dick

[Shaka 2]

Isn't it crazy how you can't add scenery while the sim is running? I mean if you want to see how the scenery looked with or without add-on scenery, then you have to restart it each time. Madness. I know that for testing pruposes, this might be better since FS will have to rebuild the .dat file but it is rather inconvenient.I'll give the layer 7 a try.- Martin

[Shaka 2]

>I did notice another odd thing. When you exclude the layer,>the autogen returns... right on the runway!Actually, this happened in FS2002 also, unless you had something else to exclude the autogen (like the runway, usually). Some of my airports don't have runways, only ground texture polygons. I found that I would have to use regular scasm excludes to push the autogen off the airport.- Martin

[arno 1]

>Isn't it crazy how you can't add scenery while the sim is>running? I mean if you want to see how the scenery looked>with or without add-on scenery, then you have to restart it>each time. Madness. I know that for testing pruposes, this>might be better since FS will have to rebuild the .dat file>but it is rather inconvenient.For mesh scenery you already had to restart the sim all the time. Because the mesh BGL was already locked in Fs2002 when the sim was running, so you already had to close the sim before you could replace it.According to MS they have made this change to increase the stability of Fs2004 and I think that is a good reason :).And when I have just closed FS and then restart it, it also loads quite fast.

[rhumbaflappy 113]

Hi Martin.I'm thinking the runways have changed in that they don't automatically exclude autogen, like they did in FS2002.That's a good thing, as scenery designers would now have greater control over autogen exclusion.Was the layer number 7 for the airport background exclusion OK for you?Dick

[Shaka 2]

Hi Dick,I rmember autogen exclusion being a bit of a pain. If you search the forum, you'll find dozens of posts about this. It even forced me to learn a bit of scasm as I had to use a "dummy RotatedCall" to lure the autogen back to my airports. Maybe FS9 won't be quite so harsh on this exclusion.#7 was the one. How did you find that out? Trial and error? I always wondered about the numbering of the laters - 4,8,16,32... and 31? Well, I figured that there was a plan there somewhere, and that maybe the idea was to exclude two layers at once by adding their values together (this sounds familiar for some reason). Well, anyway, do you have any other insight as to which layer does what?- Martin

[rhumbaflappy 113]

Hi Martin.Yes, trial and error ( mostly error ). :)Have a look at the "terrain.cfg" file for more clues to the effects of streams, and added features.//Stream Lines[Texture.1024] // stream lines / unknown / perennialType=1Size=4ExcludeAutogen=1MaskClassMap=3Textures=RiverSU.bmpoffset=-10The offset indicates a 10 meter (?) lowering of the mesh under the stream... might be 10 feet.[Texture.1047] // ocean / urban / surfType=2Size=4ExcludeAutogen=1MaskClassMap=3Textures=o_tanrock_ls.bmp,o_tanrock_ls_hw.bmp,o_tanrock_ls.bmp,o_tanrock_ls.bmp,o_tanrock_ls.bmpEffect=lakewavecontrollerWe have a different wavecontroller for lakes.// 1 Lane - Divided Median[Texture.1134] // concrete / 1 lane / divided medianType=2Size=4ExcludeAutogen=1MaskClassMap=1Textures=hiwaysu.bmp,hiwayhw.bmp,hiwaysu.bmp,hiwaysu.bmp,hiwaysu.bmp,hiwaylm.bmpoffset=flatRoads have a mesh leveler ( flat ) for them// 2 Lanes - Divided Median[Texture.1138] // concrete / 2 lanes / divided medianType=2Size=4ExcludeAutogen=1MaskClassMap=1Textures=hiwaysu.bmp,hiwayhw.bmp,hiwaysu.bmp,hiwaysu.bmp,hiwaysu.bmp,hiwaylm.bmpoffset=flatVectorAutogen=3I believe this is the light poles and utility poles...// Medium road with light poles and telephone poles[Autogen.3.0.0]AutoObject="046f3d6cbh,043734270h,0fb89e9aeh,0a92e4638h"ObjectSize=219ExclusionWidth=3ClipData=1Offset=15Density=95PlaceOnWater=0MinAutogenDensity=20[Autogen.3.1.0]AutoObject="047c97cedh,04e4bc4e6h,010b19f8eh,062ea9e98h"ObjectSize=173ExclusionWidth=3ClipData=1Offset=-15Density=90PlaceOnWater=0MinAutogenDensity=20VectorAutogen=3 should be the above objects.This is an alteration of the ground texture to simulate a utility easement:[Texture.1211] // utilityType=3Size=4ExcludeAutogen=1MaskClassMap=1VectorAutogen=0Textures=utilitymask.bmpRenderToTexture=0Many types of bridges:[Texture.1213] // railroad bridgesType=3Size=4ExcludeAutogen=1MaskClassMap=0VectorAutogen=12//road bridges// 1 Lane - Divided Median[Texture.1214] // concrete / 1 lane / divided medianType=3Size=4ExcludeAutogen=1MaskClassMap=0VectorAutogen=7The bridges need just a start point and and end point ( ? )Ground2K will make the correct line types and the autogen or mesh altering is automatic. Christian will need to add the bridge tyes for FS2004.. I can do it now with adding the bridges ( and FS2004's railroad line ) to the "OwnLines.txt" in G2k's 'Resource' folder ( save a backup copy first!). I numbered the new data as 5210 - 5261...coresponding to the "terrain.cfg" numbers of 1210 - 1261.I attach the "OwnLines.txt" for experimentation only! Christian will most probably have this added using his own numbering system soon.Dick

[Shaka 2]

Wow, this really opens my eyes. I noticed things like utility poles and bridges, and I was curious how they got there. I figured maybe they were "part" of a road - i.e., certain roads would have utility pole running along them, or something. The bridges I assumed were library scenery objects, but your way makes more sense.- Martin

[rhumbaflappy 113]

Hi Martin.Using the altered "OwnLines.txt":http://forums.avsim.com/user_files/27040.jpghttp://forums.avsim.com/user_files/27041.jpgThe line itself was just 2 points in Ground2K. I'm sure Christian can easily add this feature with his own numbering system soon.I suspect the bridges are library files of some type... we just need to find them for curiousity's sake.Dick