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Guest Hagar

scenery editing

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Guest richpress

Just having a dabble at scenery editing. Is there a scenery "howto" file for the default Fly2 scenery editor available in the Avsim library? Havn't been able to find it. Also is Peter Jacobson's taxiways editor available for download?. I have downloaded Alen Kriesman"s file.

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You should already have them - Fly! II has docs with it that describe some of the operations of the scenery editor. Also, the Taxiway editor is included with Fly! II in the taxiway folder.One of the things that the editor doc doesn't describe is placing of scenery objects (after opening that portion of the editor with Ctrl+E). I can post Rich's original explanation on this after I'm home and can access my files.


Randall Rocke

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Guest Hagar

There is another excellent document: Norm C`s Scenery Fly!.pdf. It was written for Fly!, but almost all the stuff in there is in common with Fly2 procedures. This document describes everything from 3D modeling to using the Editor to place the finished model, how to use sattelite images and much more, with lots of pictures, really professional made. Guess that`s why the file size is 28MB :)Unfortunately I can`t remember if it is somewhere in the library...Oh btw Randall, I haven`t found any good airport for your tutorial instead of ENHD, there are not many Flyers to speak to where I live, I can count them on two hands x(

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Here's Rich Harvey's original post on using the built-in editor for model placement. After that, I have a post from Jim Kanold that may be helpful on how to avoid losing scenery items. This is all good stuff to know, but I think you'll find TerraModels the best way to make scenery that is "low-impact" on frame-rates. If you make custom models in the future, they can be added with the editor or TM.===========================Here is a basic How-To for the Fly! II scenery editor. To enter (and exit) the editor, simply press Ctrl+E at any time during flight. You will be put into "edit" mode on the ground directly under your present location. (A quick bug note: if you enter the editor while the mouse cursor was hidden, it will not be visible in the editor. To correct, simply Ctrl+E to exit the editor, move your mouse to make the cursor visible, then press Ctrl+E to re-enter the editor. This bug has already been fixed for the upcoming first patch).You will initially see two windows opened on the right side of the screen. The top right window is the "tools" window, and is used toplace, edit, delete, and save changes to your scenery. The bottom right window is the "location" window, and it shows your presentlat/lon location, globe tile location, and the number of visible objects in the scene.Some quick motion/camera controls. To move around in the editor, use the slew keys. Press Numpad-8 to move forward, Numpad-2 tomove backward, Numpad-4 to move left, and Numpad-6 to move right. The longer you hold down the key, the faster you will move inthat direction. To cancel all movement, press Numpad-5. For the camera, press Ctrl+LeftArrow to rotate left, Ctrl+RightArrow to rotate right, Ctrl+UpArrow to rotate up, and Ctrl+DownArrow to rotate down. Press Ctrl+Equal to zoom in, and Ctrl-Minus to zoom out (you can also use Shift+Equal and Shift-Minus to zoom faster).The mouse is used to select and move objects in the environment. To select an object, click it once and it will begin blinking. You cannow modify the object properties or delete the object. To move a selected object, click and hold the mouse button over the object anddrag the mouse to move the object to a new location. Click anywhere on the ground to deselect the current selection. Remember, youcan't click and drag an unselected object -- the first click will "select" it, the second click/drag will move it. We did this to prevent unintended model movement when you are simply trying to select it.The first row of icons on the tools window are the available actions. They are (from left to right): Place Model (house icon), Place Vehicle (car icon), Place Windsock (windsock icon), Place Beacon (beacon icon), and Place Tower (tower icon).=======================Placing a Model=======================To place a model, move to the location where you want the model located. Press the Place Model icon (house icon) and a window willappear in the upper left corner. This window has a list of models on the left side, and a spinning 3D view of the model on the right side.You can scroll through the list to find the model you want to place. You can filter the list by object type by using the Filter popup menuat the bottom of the window. Once you identify the model you want, click it's name in the list to select it, then press the 'Place' button. The model will appear in the world, and should be blinking since it is now the "selected" model. You can now click and drag the model with your mouse to fine-tune placement, or use the slew keys to move the model. The second row of icons on the tools window is used to modify an object. The icons (from left to right) are: Properties (question markicon), Rotate Left (Left arrow icon), Rotate Right (right arrow icon), and Delete object (trash can icon). These icons are only enabled when you have a selected object. Click the Properties icon to modify traits such as the name of the object ("Transamerica Building"), and various other properties such as whether the object casts a shadow, auto-snaps to the ground, etc. There is one particular property that you might want to considernamed "Distance Hiding". If this is selected for the object, the object will automatically hide itself when the user is more than about 2 miles away. This is very useful for models such as trees, fences, or other fine detail models that are essentially useless from a distance. Fly! will automatically set these flags as appropriate for factory models.Click the Rotate Left icon to rotate the model to the left, or Rotate Right to rotate the model to the right. You can also use the End and Page Down keys for the same effect. Click the Trash Can icon to delete the selected model from the scene.To place a model ABOVE ground level, select the model and use the Properties window to turn off "Auto-Snap to Ground", then use the"Q" and "A" slew keys to move the object up and down vertically.One note: you cannot edit or delete the factory scenery unless you unpod the factory scenery files from the "cities.pod" file. You can,however, add and extend the scenery anywhere you wish, including in factory scenery areas.=======================Placing a Vehicle=======================Click the Place Vehicle icon (car icon) to place a vehicle. For now, the two choices are Fuel Truck and Fire Truck. You can move andplace the vehicles as normal objects, or you can create a moving path for the vehicle.To create a path, use one of two menu functions. The first is "Path Plotter" from the Windows menu. With the Path Plotter, you can usethe mouse to click and define a path on the ground. Each segment can be assigned it's own speed. You can also choose whether thepath loops, reverses, or simply stops when completed. Once the path is defined, you can save the Path to a path file (.pth). This is donethrough the File menu on the Path Plotter window. YOU MUST SAVE ALL PATHS TO A FOLDER NAMED "PATHS" IN THE FLY! FOLDER. Once a path is defined, use the Path Recorder window to assign it to an object.The Path Recorder window essentially gives you control over the "black box" recorder for a vehicle. Any actions you perform (i.e. driving) will be recorded and stored as a path. Optionally, you can import a path file saved with the Path Plotter from this window (using Import Path...) to auto-define the recording. If you have imported a path file, simply press the Play icon (>) to begin playback and watch your vehicle driving on the path. If you want to "drive" and record the path, press the Record button (o) and use the throttle and steering keys (or joystick) to drive the path and record it.=======================Placing a Windsock=======================To place a windsock, simply click the Windsock icon and one will be placed as your present location.=======================Placing a Beacon=======================To place a beacon, simply click the Beacon icon and one will be placed at your present location. The beacon will automatically assignitself the color sequence of the airport it is nearest to. You can also use the Properties icon to change the beacon color.=======================Placing a Tower=======================To place a tower, simply click the Tower icon and choose a Pole or Tower style tower, light colors, light count, and speed.=======================Saving your scenery=======================To save your scenery, you MUST click the "Save Changes" button on the tools window. You must do this in one of two situations: beforeyou move to a new airport or location (outside of about 30 miles from your present location), or before you exit the editor.=======================Sharing your scenery=======================Scenery changes are saved to small scenery files located in the DATA folder. Which folder they are saved to is dependent on yourlocation on the Earth. Before leaving the editor, look at the Location window and note the Globe (X,Z) location shown. For example, if the (X,Z) shown is 168,156, then the scenery file was saved to the DATAD168156 folder.Inside the appropriate data folder, you will see a file named "SCENERY?.S??", usually something like "SCENERYA.S01". Fly! will first try to save to a file named "SCENERYA.*", and will then move to "SCENERYB.*", "SCENERYC.*", if files already exist. An important point to know is that it is only the extension name that matters; Fly! does not care what the file is named otherwise. For this reason, I would suggest after creating a scenery area you name it uniquely in case you share it with a user who already has a "SCENERYA" file defined for the same location. So, if your file was named "SCENERYA.S01", you might want to name it "TRIRICH.S01" for example.To "install" scenery from another user, you simply need to have their scenery file and the name of the appropriate folder to put it in. If the folder came from D168156, then the user you give the scenery to simply needs to create a DATAD168156 folder and drop your file into it. Viola! The scenery changes are installed (the user could even further edit the scenery from there.)=======================Adding new models=======================The "Place Model" window builds a list of models by looking at a file named "factory.mlf" inside the DATA folder. Actually, it parses any and ALL files ending with *.mlf. So, if you create new models for Fly! that you want to share with users and have them become "built in" selections in the editor, simply create a new *.mlf file in the same layout as factory.mlf, and provide the file and models to users. You can view the factory.mlf file with Notepad/Wordpad, and the beginning of the file is self documenting.Well, that's my first shot at a basic how-to. Hopefully this will be enough to get everyone started with the editor.Richard HarveyTerminal Reality==========================Some helpful hints from Jim Kanold:"A trick for all of you." When placing scenery, make sure you teleport to the area you are doing from the Scenery Editor not from a flight planner etc. Your airport choice where your plane is, should be half a continent away.Once you are completely done your scenery, and are happy with the postions of all the models, "save it". Get out of Fly! II. Do NOT run FLY yet!!!!!!!!!!Go to the appropriate Dxxxxxx folder and set the "read-only" attribute flag of the appropriate scenerya.Sxx file. Fly! II CAN NOT make changes to it now. Also, POD it this way.If you want to add anymore models, remember to set the "read-write" flag first.Hope this helps.This is particularily good when doing things like antennas and winsocks. You can do parts at a time. eg. windsocks.SxxSet the read-only flag so they don't move, then do whatever.Sxx, and so on.Jim Kanold================================I hope these ideas will help you get started with scenery-editing. Again, TerraModels is a great way to go.


Randall Rocke

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Andrew,Thanks for remembering me and taking the time to check out the possibilities. I'm so busy with the Ohio Project and other items right now that it will be a while before I restart the DB tutorial - I'll find some airport in the world that makes a good subject or use multiple airports so that people pick up on the procedures.


Randall Rocke

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Guest Hagar

Randall,Thanks for posting this, I have been looking for it. I have only one comment regarding cities.pod: In this you only find the scenery.Sxxfiles. The models themselves are packed in the Generic.pod in the same directory. (Fly2Shared). Btw do you know an easy way to search and find everything posted by Rich? I tried but had a lousy result...

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Guest richpress

Many thanks for the info. I'll have a go at this first then look at terramodels by Alan Kriesman.

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Guest richpress

You may be able to clear up something. Can the loading of Terramodels conflict with using the the scenery editor. I seem to recall reading somewhere that a 'file' should be removed before using the scenery editor.At the moment everytime I wish to to use the models key the system crashes. I have since reinstalled Fly2.and are holding off on reinstalling terramodels.Regards Richard

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I recall someone recently posting about some such conflict and a fairly easy way to resolve it, but I can't recall the procedure. This is just a guess, but you may have to remove the TM textures file from the shared scenery area while working with the built-in editor. Though I have used TM for creating airport underlays (absolutely marvelous), I've been to busy to get deep into TM because of a number of TerraScene projects.Andrew (Hagar) nay be a good source for the info you are seeking. :-)


Randall Rocke

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Guest Hagar

Yes he may be a source here :)It was me that posted it. Two things. One is that sometimes the Editor crashes when you try to use it while having Terramodels installed. Solution: Move the TM2.mlf file from Fly2Data to a temporary dirctory. The other thing is if you want to fine-adjust TM scenery with the editor, it can crash, it can delete your scenery.Sxx files or just put a lot of gibberish into them. So when I for example adjust my fences, I leave ONLY the file with the fences in Fly2Data.I also saw a tip using "read-only" properties on the files you don`t want to be touched, but I feel safest moving them to a temp. directory. Check my scenery tips at Johnny`s Fly! Zone:http://www.avsim.com/hangar/fly/josve/

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