Any advantage to api macros vs gmax placed objects?

[Guest Gator40019]

Hi All,I am creating an airport terminal building replacement(kewr) with jetways. As it stands now, I have created and placed many jetways through gmax. The framerate is still ok but I'd like to tweak it a little.Is there any advantage to placing jetway api's through fssc or airport? Or will the hit on frames still be the same? There will be around 100 gates. Placing the gates through gmax was easy... macros look time consuming. I'm a novice at this so let me know if you need more info.Thanks in advance for the advice.

[arno 1]

Hi,Placing as macros should not really influence your framerate, as you are still placing the same object with the same code.I think placing objects with macros is much easier as placing them from GMax. It's really a lot of work to have to export them every time to a new position, while placing a macro only takes a few mouse clicks.

[Guest Gator40019]

Arno,Thanks for the quick response.I am not exporting them individually into the scenery but including them as objects(terminology???)see screen shot. I've tried to keep polys down on the jetways. It's a pretty generic scenery so as to keep frames up. The size of the files gets larger obviously with the jetways attached. More than just framerates, which i know is used as a benchmark, and may be the same as what i'm asking, is cpu time and power, memory, and video so lower end systems could handle them. OK,OK that sounded like total confusion... only 1 cup of coffee so far... hehe.*:-* Thanks again. I have been reading your posts for a while, and visited your site for hints tips and tricks. I'm glad you have been bit by this obsession and share as much as you do.

[arno 1]

Ok, now I understand what you are doing :).If you compare that method with using API's it is indeed easier to place them as you do now. But from performance point of view it can be interesting to use macros. If you place your objects like you do now they all have one RefPoint and also one range for the visibility thus. If you place each jetway separate you can give them all there own range. So it would then be possible to show only the terminal building while you are still miles away and when you get closer also show the jetways.I think for big airports this is the best approach as every frame counts there. For small and medium size airports your approach is probably easiest as it saves you some time and the performance won't be that bad.

[Guest Gator40019]

Arno,I was beginning to think along those lines... although I was going to do the lazy man's way by deleting the buildings and saving and exporting the jetways as a seperate jetway.bgl with a shorter visual range. I was going to do this because of the ai framerate hit I get on approach. Gotta make it real... It's funny how one thing leads to another here. At this rate I'll never be satisfied with the scenery. Started it a while back and keep adding things as I learn. When I just made some shapes and textures I was happy....now....hehe.Thanks again for the info.

[arno 1]

Hehe, I know what you mean. When I look back at the first scenery I made (for Fs5) I was happy that I had some boxes with almost the correct colors on it :). And now we are expecting a lot more.You approach of deleting the buildings might work, but still all the gate would have the same RefPoint (the 0,0 coordinate of GMax). So they are all visible at the same moment. If you are working on a big airport (like me with EHAM) then I think that is still not the best approach. It is then better to give each gate (or pier) it's own RefPoint. That would mean that only the gates closest to you are visible and not the ones at the other end of the airport. But for a smaller airport this difference will not be there I guess.

[Guest Gator40019]

Arno,I think your right. Taxi frame rates count too. I'll play with it and see what works. Any hints on placement of macros in either airport or fssc? I have tried to get an fs screenshot placed correctly, but when I looked at the results, the passengers would have been really ticked. hehe. Saw a hint about using a runway maybe i'll try that. Solutions look obvious when presented don't they...Thanks again.