NEWBIE: Airport Design Questions

[Bina 59]

Hi all,I am a newbie to scenery design. I'm trying to create from scratch both AFCADs and possibly sceneries for my native airfields in Azerbaijan which are poorly represented in FS9. I would be gratiful if someone could answer a couple of questions on airport design:1. How can I change ICAO codes of any default airport so that I DON'T modify the default *.bgl files in "scenery/world/asia/scenery" folder. Is this possible to give an override command to FS engine like that given thru AF2-XXXX.bgl files? Eg.: ICAO code for my native airfield Nakhichevan Intl. (Nakhichevan, Azerbaijan) is UBBN while the FS2004-assigned code is UB0F (0 - zero).2. AFCAD Manager (the only one from Lee :) asks for Lat and Lon coordinates of runway centerlines. I find it very difficult to assign proper coordinates using AFCAD Manager only. Is there any tool or recommendation to easily calculate/identify the RWY centerline coords? As a workaround, I usually use AFCAD Manager's marker guidelines plus a Lat/Lon-Distance conversion tool and then move (by hand) the runway centerline as close to the ARP as possible to get approximate coordinates for the rwy centerline. But I understand this method may seem very primitive to AFCAD professionals and thus am seeking for your advice.3. The airport reference point (ARP) indicated on the relative chart for Nakhichevan Intl. airport is 39 11 19.70N 045 27 30.39E (exactly as shown here!). Which type (format) of coordinates should I use in AFCAD Manager's Options dialogue to match those indicated in published official charts? Because neither of Lee's formats does match the published coordinates. 4. How can I view the contents of APXXXXXX.bgl files? Recently, after putting my new AF2-UB0F.bgl file into Addon/scenery folder I have deleted the corresponding APXXXXXX.bgl file from "scenery/world/asia/scenery" folder thinking that this way I can get rid of the default airport layout. However, lately I have discovered that the same AP*.bgl file consisted of more than 1 airport including UB0F. Btw, is there a need to know the contents of AP*.bgl's if AF2 replaces them after FS initialization?5. Can I use FS Scenery Creator to replace/delete trees and other facilities from the runway and aprons/taxiways, etc.? Any other tools, recommendations?Thank you very much.Regards,Rustam

[arno 1]

Hi Rustam,>1. How can I change ICAO codes of any default airport so that>I DON'T modify the default *.bgl files in>"scenery/world/asia/scenery" folder. Is this possible to give>an override command to FS engine like that given thru>AF2-XXXX.bgl files? Eg.: ICAO code for my native airfield>Nakhichevan Intl. (Nakhichevan, Azerbaijan) is UBBN while the>FS2004-assigned code is UB0F (0 - zero).You don't have to change the ICAO code to prevent changing default files. In the XML code you can tell FS to remove the default airport and use the code your are defining there, so that way you can overwrite the default scenery (this is also how AFCAD does it).But it seems you also want to change the ICAO code of an airport? That is harder to do. I don't think you can fully remove the ICAO code without hacking default files (so that is not really nice). Of course you could make your new airport with the correct code, but that would not remove the old one completely.>3. The airport reference point (ARP) indicated on the relative>chart for Nakhichevan Intl. airport is 39 11 19.70N 045 27>30.39E (exactly as shown here!). Which type (format) of>coordinates should I use in AFCAD Manager's Options dialogue>to match those indicated in published official charts? Because>neither of Lee's formats does match the published coordinates.By default AFCAD uses DD:MM.mmmm format, while you have it in DD:MM:SS.ss format. So that indeed means you have to convert them to the other format.N39:11:19.70 = N39:11.32833 = N39.18880555556E45:27:30.39 = E45:27.5065 = E45.45.45844167To get from DD:MM:SS.ssss to DD:MM.mmmm you do this:MM.mmmm = MM + (SS.ssss/60)>4. How can I view the contents of APXXXXXX.bgl files?>Recently, after putting my new AF2-UB0F.bgl file into>Addon/scenery folder I have deleted the corresponding>APXXXXXX.bgl file from "scenery/world/asia/scenery" folder>thinking that this way I can get rid of the default airport>layout. However, lately I have discovered that the same>AP*.bgl file consisted of more than 1 airport including UB0F.>Btw, is there a need to know the contents of AP*.bgl's if AF2>replaces them after FS initialization?As you say in your last sentence. There is no real need to know what is in the AP* file. AFCAD will delete the airport from there, once you load the new AF2 file. So the airport layout that you see in the FS should be determined in that AFCAD file.>5. Can I use FS Scenery Creator to replace/delete trees and>other facilities from the runway and aprons/taxiways, etc.?>Any other tools, recommendations?Yes you can. But for Fs2004 it is more adviced to use the BGLComp/XML code to place objects. Tools you can use for that are object placers like Rwy12, ObPlacer XML or EZ-Scenery. Or more complete tools like SceneGenX as well.

[mgh 89]

>>1. How can I change ICAO codes of any default airport so that>I DON'T modify the default *.bgl files in>"scenery/world/asia/scenery" folder. I don't think you can. I tried this when, in the real world, the code of one airport was allocated to another when the first closed. As far as I could discover FS9 uses the ICAO code as the unique reference for the airport as long as it is still in the default .bgl files. Also, I posted here seeking advice but the consensus seemed to be that it isn't possible without changing the default files.

[Bina 59]

Hi Arno,Thanks for your prompt reply! Your advice on coordinate conversions did the trick, as I was totally confused and embarassed with data provided in official AIP charts and was just about to kill the guy who produced such erroneous data file. But... as always happens I had to evaluate the situation well before doing that and here comes the support of sim community :)Thanks again!P.S.: Btw, I've just downloaded your Object Placer. It is fun and cool to use it although I am learning yet. :)Regards,Rustam