Can you insert a light effect with a scenery BGL/XML?

[Guest lionheart777]

Hey guys,I was wondering, and have been experimenting with trying to put in FX lighting into FS scenery. It hasnt worked so far.The XML I am using is the same as in the Effects SDK from FS2004 for the forest fire, but with the forest fire FX traded for various lighting, which dont seem to work.Is there a way to make lights and insert them into FS?Kind regards,BillLHC

[scruffyduck 4]

Yes and you can do it by hand or there are several tools which can place effects for you - shielding you from the xml code. For example Object Placer XML by Arno Gerretsen can place effects, also my Scenery Maker can do it as can SBuilder.Some lighting is effects based and some isn't I think. I think you can produce lights using GMax but I am not an expert in that area. I use light effects which are located in the effects folder and they should work the same way as the forest fire.

[arno 1]

Hi Bill,It seems some light effects have been designed for aircraft and do not work properly in scenery. So if you code XML code works fine with other effects, it is probably the effect file that causes you the trouble.

[Guest lionheart777]

Thanks Arno and Jon,Yes, I was thinking that last night Arno. I had tried a few of the FX lights and none seemed to work, so that must be that they were designed for planes primarily.Do you recommend a particular white light or yellowish light for scenery that I can download that works good?Many thanks,BillLHC

[scruffyduck 4]

Dunno if this helps Bill but I have used fx_obslight.fx and some of the others successfully. It may not do what you want but certainly I have been able to add strobe effects etc using the effects which are in the Effects Folder.

[jvile 1]

>>Is there a way to make lights and insert them into FS?I write all my XML scenery by hand. The following example places the White NAV Light taken from the default B737 and locates it anywhere in the FS9 world at any altitude. Several precautionsIf the light effect is embedded as part of the complete XML scenery code and a airport header is also listed in the XML, the effect xml data must be located above the airport header prior to compiling.I use altitudeIsAgl = "FALSE" which allows me to place the light effect at any altitude. This is useful if the light must sit on top of something else.I am not sure if this is what your objective is but like others have said, yes you can make or place some default effect lights anywhere in FS9.

[Guest lionheart777]

Hey Jim,Many thanks. I was trying to put the lights on buildings and they were not showing up at altitude, so the False entry should have been used.Just a question, I have done alot of scenery but never seen the XML written out like that. I usually copy/paste the layout and fill in the details as like the following;<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>Do you have to restack or compile the verbage back into the stock way that MakeMDL produces the XML language structure? ...or can you write the XML exactly as you have it? (I find that very intereasting and was under the belief that XML can only be written 'one' way or it just wont function.Kind regards and thanks,BillLHC

[scruffyduck 4]

That xml is fine, white space is generally not significant unless it is inside quotes. The important thing is that the elements and attributes are there in the correct number and order that the Schema is expecting.

[jvile 1]

Bill You can stack the xml data the way I listed it and it will compile properly. I adopted this method because it follows FS9s' true to form way of designing buildings.exampleIf I write XML Code for a specific Object that needs I make notes in my XML and use various methods of listing the data so it is easy for me to find if I need to correct something. Unlike many scenery designers I usually make just one BGL and list all the scenery that is not airport specific above the airport header. All the approach/ILS XML code that I write has to be under the airport header. This again follows MS recommendations as per the SDK when combining everything into one bgl.I use the freeware Cooktop 2.200 to write all my XML which color codes element data. This aids in seeing errors before you send the XML to the compiler. Once everything is in one bgl there is no need for a new activated library scenery folder listed in the scenery.cfg.I instruct in my readme to install the single scenery bgl into the Genericscenery folder as per the SDK. Because most of my scenery bgl's have a airport header embedded this eliminates the problems when utilities look for duplicate airport's based on headers.

[Guest lionheart777]

Many thanks Jim,That is good to know. Going to copy/paste that into my XML notes.I didnt know there was an XML editor around to pre-check work. That would really take some time out of trying to find problems in XML. I would think it could be used with gauge design as well, since its XML language.Thanks again,Bill