Graded Runways?

[Guest statto]

Hey,I'm creating photorealistic scenery of the Tucson area (approx. 1,000 sq miles). However, the Tucson airport has an elevation change of over 100 feet from north to south, according to the charts... because of this, there is a big cliff at the end of the runway, and a depression at the other end as FS smooths it out to be nice and flat. Same with Davis-Monthan AFB. The other airport in the area is similarly affected, though not nearly as badly.Question is: is there any way to get FS to not do this? Has anyone tried? Or will I have to purchase X-Plane/wait for FS10?ThanksJohn Holden

[arno 1]

Hi John,Runways are always flat in FS, you can not make them sloped. So because of that the area of your airport in general has to be flat as well. Maybe you could try to make the flat area slightly bigger so that the effect is less visible?

[Guest statto]

Thanks for the response,Would there any way to GMax a runway, then use AFCAD accordingly? I know the runways are not automatically flattened from experience, but FS automatically makes the taxiways flat, probably for AI.

[Guest artmartin]

If you can't get the slope in the airport, why not just do multiples flattens of the area on both sides of the airport to minimize the rises and dropoffs. For example, if the high end of your airport is at 300m and the ground around it is at 250, raise the immediate area outside the airport to 290, do another rectangle just outside that one down to 280, etc. It's not perfect but it will minimize the major dropoffs.Art

[Guest statto]

I may have to try that. Thanks.

[Guest christian]

I had that idea and still have to try (busy with other things needing to be finished). There are 2 problems to be sorted out:1) matching terrain and gmax models to avoid z-buffer fighting (flickering)2) I've been told (haven't tried myself) that the AI AFCAD flattens things which would make a gmaxed ground impossible.I'd really like to see this working since I created a 20 m mesh and those flattens really stand out with a detailed terrain like that.Cheers,Christian

[Guest falko]

Instead of using multiple flattens you could use some LWM3-Polys. Opposit to the flat LWM2-Polys the LWM3-Polys contain the hight for eatch point so they can be sloped. falko