Ground

[Guest Merv0728]

In the pre-XML days AFW (I think it was) you could create an Island which was useful for testing things but this no longer seems to be the case. Can someone tell me what software I need to do this please?Alan:-hmmm

[scruffyduck 4]

You should still be able to do it in AFW if you want to create an island somewhere. An Alternative which might be better though is SBuilder which is available at www.ptsim.com. Check in the Scenery Forum there

[Guest Merv0728]

Hi Jon,Thanks for the reply but I'm trying to use only the new format & I believe that SBuilder uses SCASM.I've tried a couple of other progs., Landclass Assistant & EZ-Landclass but up to now I've not been able to get anything to show in FS9 but I haven't given up.ThanksAlan

[Guest Bell206freak]

Unfortunately, you won't find any LWM/VTP default or custom BGL file in the new XML format.. Currently, it'snot possible in Flight Simulator 2004. FS2004 still uses the older SCASM-based formats for the terrain vector polygons, water masks/flattens, and roads/utilities/streamsm, etc.SBuilder is a #### good program for doing what you are trying to do. I'd say that with assurance! :)

[rhumbaflappy 113]

Hi Alan.SCASM has indeed been updated to handle LWM and VTP2 terrain. So there is no need to be afraid of using SBuilder. ( It doesn't matter if code is produced by SCASM or BGLC... the end code is the same. )Making an island means making an LWM landmask, and making sure it has an underlying landclass generously laid under it.Dick

[scruffyduck 4]

OK the guys have answered the question very well. FS9 is not all xml! and it is quite possible the FSX will not be either (although I have absolutely no inside knowledge of this).If you want to find out what is based on xml then check out the FS2004 BGLCOMP SDK. This covers many things but does not include anything related to the mesh, landclass, LWM, or CTP polys and lines. This is still handled by BGLC which uses MASM based code. SCASM is just another way of achieving the same thing

[arno 1]

I guess the point has been made very well already. Not everything made with SCASM is "bad". SCASM has been updated to make the mesh elements according to the latest techniques. Unfortunately it has not (yet) been updated to make 3D objects in the latest MDL format, so that makes that for 3D objects SCASM is now often called "bad". But that does not make anything that comes out of it "bad", in the end the BGL file is just a collections of bits and bytes and it does not really matter which compiler made it, as long as the latest commands and structures are used.

[Guest Merv0728]

Hi Arno & Co., I don't know where the word "bad" crept in from,I certainly didn't use it, I've use SCASM many times in the past & worked excellently.In the BGLCOMP SDK it states :-" A new, XML-based, scenery format has been created and is required for creating new scenery. Scenery should no longer be created with BGL opcodes or the BGLC compiler from previous versions of Flight Simulator. The older BGL opcodes are supported for backward compatibility, however, we cannot guarantee their support in future releases"So I thought I would trying using only the new format, & thats the only reason.ThanksAlan :-halo

[arno 1]

Hi Alan,Yes, but there is still part of the scenery (like the mesh) that can be mode correctly with BGLC or SCASM. So it is not correct to say that we should not use SCASM or BGLC anymore (which is a sound you hear often on forums). Any VTP scenery created with SCASM uses the latest techniques for the mesh scenery and it is thus fine. Only for the part where the XML came in, it is of course better to use the new XML standard.Funny detail is that the MDL objects used in the XML format still need to be generated with BGLC as well :). Although they use some different opcodes than the old Fs2002 scenery did.

[Guest Merv0728]

Hi All, well I have given SBuilder a go for 3 or 4 days but for the life of me I can't get a shaped island. I can get a square island but the shore line is inside that square, even the surf shows, but the water mask seems to have no effect. I've even got a sort of coral reef with a lagoon inside but no shaped island.I've been following the "Creating an Island with SBuilder" but as that is for Version 1.06 a lot of it is not applicable, also have "Working with SBuilder 2.05".Alan:-hmmm :-hmmm

[scruffyduck 4]

Start of by selecting the Water Tool then pick a water class from the dialog. Click around the area you want the pond to get a few squares of water class. Select the poly tool and then draw a poly the shape of the pond or lake you want. Set it's type to LWM and in the LWM tab select Water Mask.Compile it and go take a look

[Guest Merv0728]

Hi, I think you may have got the wrong impression from my message.I'm not trying to make a lake or pond, I've done that ok although the island in the middle of the lake had a deep valley or ravine running along the middle of it,where that came from I don't know.I'm trying to make an island off the south coast of Ireland.Alan

[scruffyduck 4]

Sorry Alan - not reading stuff properly again :-)

[Guest Merv0728]

No Problem, I've done the same & I expect many others as well.Alan:-violin

[Guest Merv0728]

Hi all, I think I have found the solution.Don't use the "Water" button to make the Water Mask, use the "Area Fill" button & Hey Presto, a shaped Island.Alan:-bigangel :-beerchug