Making AFCAD2 Airports

[holdenman]

Hi everyone i have a question about AFCAD2. I am trying to create all the airports for New Zealand that MS left out of FS2004, and i am having a little diffulcty with altitude. Is it possible to specify different heights for different runway ends? if not i understand there are a few ways to get around the problem of the airports appearing underground (ie using flatten or exclude). Which method is the best way around this problem?

Any help would be muchly appreciated.

Timbo

[Boeing_777]

I dont think runway ends can be specified with different heights. Infact I am sure they cant. I always use flatten for the underground problem works fine. No problems at all.

How to use the flattening switch
The Flatten switch flattens a given four-sided area to a single specified elevation. This solves the problems that might occur with backward-compatible scenery due to the fact that Flight Simulator 2000 uses a digital elevation mesh terrain system instead of the flat "seed" system from prior versions.
The Flatten switch syntax is as follows:
Flatten.X=Elevation,Latitude1,Longitude1,Latitude2,Longitude2,Latitude3,
Longitude3,Latitude4,Longitude4
X is equal to a number between 0 and 9, but you must start with Flatten.0, then Flatten.1, and so on, up to Flatten.9. You are allowed a maximum of 10 Flatten switches per Scenery Area (thus the numbers 0-9).
The Elevation is in feet above or below mean sea level (msl) and can be any number between -2000 and 99999.
The Latitude and Longitude of points 1, 2, 3, and 4 must be entered in a clockwise or counter clockwise fashion about the four sided area such as:

and must be in the form of degrees and minutes. You do not need to add the * or ' symbols to indicate degrees and minutes, and the shape does not have to be a rectangle. Any four-sided shape will work.
The maximum size of a flattened area is 90 degrees of longitude and 45 degrees of latitude.
EXAMPLE: This example flattens two separate but adjacent regions inside the scenery area to an elevation of 1000' MSL.
[Area.100]
Group=Your Area
ID=Your Area
Title=Your Area
Active=TRUE
Layer=100
Local=C:\Your Area
Flatten.0=1000,N45 30,W120,N45 30,W119 30,N45,W119 30,N45,W120
Flatten.1=1000,N45,W120,N45,W119 30, N44 30,W119 30,N44 30,W120

GOOD LUCK

[tgibson]

Hi,

Use the flatten switch to level the ground. Use the exclude switch if there are autogen trees/buildings, etc. on your airport.

Hope this helps,

[holdenman]

Ok can i add more than 10 flatten switches to a area or not?

Cheers for your help

Timbo

[tgibson]

Yes you can. Details here:

http://www.microsoft.com/games/flightsimulator/fs2000_articles_sceneryobjects.asp

Hope this helps,

[bc_holger]

Hi all:

there's a much more elegant option for making flatten switches (outside of FSSC) of any shape and as many as you want; they can be nested too (one on top of the other, e.g. to make a steep slope at the aiport's edge less dramatic). Moreover, you draw the outline on screen, in top-down view, and then compile with the click of a button. The .bgl file is stand-alone, that is, no one has to manually add flatten switches to their scenery.cfg.

It's the new version of FSTFlatten by Steve Greenwood, available her: http://www.fs-traveler.com/flatten.shtml

Cheers, Holger

[bc_holger]

me again,

just came across a new tool that might do something similar for excludes:

"
ExcBuilder - is a small program that helps you to create different types of exclude files. With this tool you can delete default taxiway signs, generic buildings, windsocks and many other objects through user-friendly interface without knowing anything about programming. Since it uses the new XML-based language it's compatible with FS2004 ONLY!
Features:

· Create fast'n'easy exclusion areas
· Import coordinates from FS trough FSConnect.dll
· Simple and user-friendly interface

From Paavo Pihelgas
"

Found it here - http://www.scenery.org/design_utilities_b.htm - anyone tried it yet?

Cheers, Holger

[holdenman]

sweet as i have downloaded these 2 programs now i just gotta actually do the work! cheers for youy help il say cheers to u guys in the readme file!!!

Timbo