Reload for Object Placement Tool

[ThunderBit 0]

I am using the "Making_scenery_with_Object_Placement_Tool" description / manual published on AvSim. Great stuff, and it works. But ...I am saving my sceneries as a blabla.xlm, and do the .bgl-compilation. Activiating, okay. So far so good, flying is no problem. To change the sceneries again, I reload the blabla.xlm and I see my objects. But here comes my trouble:I see the objects, but they have now a larger frame around (much larger than while I placed them for the first time), and I cannot move them anymore. Selecting the objects (in the list), the frame will become green (as it should), but I cannot grap the object or move it with the mouse.Could somebody help me through this?Thank you.ThunderBit

[arno 1]

Hi,This is a known bug and I have not heard of a solution for it yet.Actually the objects are not reloaded correctly. The objects you are seeing are the ones from the BGL file you compiled. If you remove the BGL file and then try to reload the XML file you will only see the bounding boxes without any object.So it seems the problem is that the objects are not reloaded correctly. That is also why the bounding box has the wrong size, the tool does not know how big the objects are.For the moment I don't know a solution for this. Hopefully it can be fixed in the future.

[ThunderBit 0]

Hi Arno,Thank you for this information. Bad thing - without a correct reloading, this function is almost useless (at least for me, I cannot do a scenery in one go). Let's hope for a fix from MS, someday.c u ThunderBit

[Guest cwright]

There was a discussion of this problem in an earlier thread. As you say, this makes it almost impossible to develop a reasonably large scenery project. Fortunately by its nature it gives a good impression of how it will look in FS, so for small scenery projects (e.g. for a typical mission) it can be achieved in a single session with some degree of success.As Arno says, this is a known issue. As it is a very serious error I would certainly hope that Microsoft will fix it. Maybe the upcoming FSX service pack will include fixes for the SDK tools including this.Best regards, Chris

[ThunderBit 0]

Is there an alternative tool for scenery-making around? I would prefer something for free (freeware), but if it's payware and not to expensive I might give it a second thought.Any suggestions?

[arno 1]

For FsX I haven't seen many object placement tools yet. For Fs2004 there are quite a few of them (Rwy12, EZ-Scenery, ObPlacer XML), but as far as I know these can't work with the new FsX BGLComp yet. For ObPlacer XML I am sure about that, as I made that tool myself. I have not had the time to update it to FsX.So I think for FsX the best alternative now is to write the XML code yourself or maybe use one of the Fs2004 tools and tweak the XML code afterwards (but I am not sure if that would save you much time).

[ThunderBit 0]

Yes, I've already tried the Runway12-stuff. With some tweaking (see their homepage) it is possible to bring it "alive" with FSX, but very cumbersome. I did it - but it is not my style, sorry. However, the whole concept of Rwy12 is very sound, and maybe the solution for all our needs - one day.I guess I will have to wait for some useful tools yet to come. I wish you luck and success with your ObPlacer (I do not know it yet). Final note: The idea of a drag and drop as in the SDK Object Placement Tool is very nice, and maybe their fix will do it. If (and when) it works, all I would need is a object's database with "pictures / previews".

[Guest nearlucid]

Hello, I have had this problem and found a very easy workaround.Problem:When you try to left click on an item it deselects and you cannot reselect it without clicking on the object name in the properties dialog.Solution:To grab an item in FSX object placement tool.Hold either SHIFT or CTRL key while left clickingNote* Right clicking (rotate) seems not to experience the same bug.I found this out while playing around, Frustrated with the above mentioned problem.Hope this helps. Pass it on.Dave

[ThunderBit 0]

Hello DaveWell, the "very easy workaround" did not work fully as it should. Strange thing - it worked for some objects, but not for all of them. I noticed (see my first post), that some objects retain their original, close frame around, while other objects get a much larger frame. Guess what? The close frames work with your hint, the others (big ones) do not work.Any other idea? Or just wait for the patch from MS?c u ThunderBit