Re: Macro problem With FSDS

[bp010]

I am having a problem with the range at which my macros are showing up in the
sim. I have created the macros with FSDS and have played around with the
properties for the Macro in ASD and in the file itself. The macros will not
show up until I am right up next to them. I have changed the range RefPoint
Visibility and the macros are still not showing up until I am about 250 meters
away from them.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Brian

What program are you using to design the scenery?

If you have set your macro to a scale less than 1, the distance from which it
can be seen gets reduced.

[luissa]

I am having a problem with the range at which my macros are showing up in the
sim. I have created the macros with FSDS and have played around with the
properties for the Macro in ASD and in the file itself. The macros will not
show up until I am right up next to them. I have changed the range RefPoint
Visibility and the macros are still not showing up until I am about 250 meters
away from them.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Brian

Hi Brian,

One way is fool FS by inserting a RefPoint before the one it uses to detremine
the scale and position of the object. The first one (manually inserted) with a
large scale (and so with a long visibility range). This RefPoint will be
followed with the normal one with the exact scale of your project. Here is an
example of a FSDS code. I just got it from one of my projects. May be your is
different and may be you have only one RefPoint to start with (I have 2!):

...
mif( %8 )
RefPoint( 2 :Skip [%4 * 0.0078] %1 %2 E= %8 v1= %6 V2= 16285 )
melse
RefPoint( 7 :Skip [%4 * 0.0078] %1 %2 v1= %6 v2= 16285 )
mifend
...

and the edited part. I change scale to 1. So the V1 visibility parameter will
be in meters (%6 in meters)
...
mif( %8 )
RefPoint( 2 :Skip 1 %1 %2 E= %8 v1= %6 V2= 16285 )
RefPoint( 2 :Skip [%4 * 0.0078] %1 %2 E= %8 v1= %6 V2= 16285 )
melse
RefPoint( 7 :Skip 1 %1 %2 v1= %6 v2= 16285 )
RefPoint( 7 :Skip [%4 * 0.0078] %1 %2 v1= %6 v2= 16285 )
mifend
...

Regards,
Luis

[capcc]

I am having a problem with the range at which my macros are showing up in the
sim. I have created the macros with FSDS and have played around with the
properties for the Macro in ASD and in the file itself. The macros will not
show up until I am right up next to them. I have changed the range RefPoint
Visibility and the macros are still not showing up until I am about 250 meters
away from them.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Brian

Hi Brian,

One way is fool FS by inserting a RefPoint before the one it uses to detremine
the scale and position of the object. The first one (manually inserted) with a
large scale (and so with a long visibility range). This RefPoint will be
followed with the normal one with the exact scale of your project. Here is an
example of a FSDS code. I just got it from one of my projects. May be your is
different and may be you have only one RefPoint to start with (I have 2!):

...
mif( %8 )
RefPoint( 2 :Skip [%4 * 0.0078] %1 %2 E= %8 v1= %6 V2= 16285 )
melse
RefPoint( 7 :Skip [%4 * 0.0078] %1 %2 v1= %6 v2= 16285 )
mifend
...

and the edited part. I change scale to 1. So the V1 visibility parameter will
be in meters (%6 in meters)
...
mif( %8 )
RefPoint( 2 :Skip 1 %1 %2 E= %8 v1= %6 V2= 16285 )
RefPoint( 2 :Skip [%4 * 0.0078] %1 %2 E= %8 v1= %6 V2= 16285 )
melse
RefPoint( 7 :Skip 1 %1 %2 v1= %6 v2= 16285 )
RefPoint( 7 :Skip [%4 * 0.0078] %1 %2 v1= %6 v2= 16285 )
mifend
...

Regards,
Luis

Well I just tried that and my macros are still not showing up until I am right
on top of them, here is some of the code maybe you can tell what is going on:

mif( %8 )
RefPoint( 2 :Skip 1 %1 %2 E= %8 v1= %6 V2= 20000 )
RefPoint( 2 :Skip [%4 * 0.0200] %1 %2 E= %8 v1= %6 V2= 20000 )
melse
RefPoint( 7 :Skip 1 %1 %2 E= %8 v1= %6 V2= 20000 )
RefPoint( 7 :Skip [%4 * 0.0200] %1 %2 v1= %6 v2= 20000 )
mifend

The 2nd and 5th lines are what I manually added after reading your post. I am
using ASD 2.1 if that matters, are there any settings in FSDS that might be
casuing the problem? Is there a good source on the net anywhere discussing
these macros and how they are organized. Thanks for any help this is becoming
frustrating. :/

Brian

[arnogerretsen]

I don't know with version of FS you are using? In Fs2002 the problems seems to
be dissapeared, but in Fs2000 you can not see objects with a small scale from
great distances. If you only see it from 250 meters you must have used a very
small scale :-).
A solution is to use RefPoint type 3 (you can select this in the project
properties of FSDS).

Arno

I am having a problem with the range at which my macros are showing up in the
sim. I have created the macros with FSDS and have played around with the
properties for the Macro in ASD and in the file itself. The macros will not
show up until I am right up next to them. I have changed the range RefPoint
Visibility and the macros are still not showing up until I am about 250 meters
away from them.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Brian

Hi Brian,

One way is fool FS by inserting a RefPoint before the one it uses to detremine
the scale and position of the object. The first one (manually inserted) with a
large scale (and so with a long visibility range). This RefPoint will be
followed with the normal one with the exact scale of your project. Here is an
example of a FSDS code. I just got it from one of my projects. May be your is
different and may be you have only one RefPoint to start with (I have 2!):

...
mif( %8 )
RefPoint( 2 :Skip [%4 * 0.0078] %1 %2 E= %8 v1= %6 V2= 16285 )
melse
RefPoint( 7 :Skip [%4 * 0.0078] %1 %2 v1= %6 v2= 16285 )
mifend
...

and the edited part. I change scale to 1. So the V1 visibility parameter will
be in meters (%6 in meters)
...
mif( %8 )
RefPoint( 2 :Skip 1 %1 %2 E= %8 v1= %6 V2= 16285 )
RefPoint( 2 :Skip [%4 * 0.0078] %1 %2 E= %8 v1= %6 V2= 16285 )
melse
RefPoint( 7 :Skip 1 %1 %2 v1= %6 v2= 16285 )
RefPoint( 7 :Skip [%4 * 0.0078] %1 %2 v1= %6 v2= 16285 )
mifend
...

Regards,
Luis

Well I just tried that and my macros are still not showing up until I am right
on top of them, here is some of the code maybe you can tell what is going on:

mif( %8 )
RefPoint( 2 :Skip 1 %1 %2 E= %8 v1= %6 V2= 20000 )
RefPoint( 2 :Skip [%4 * 0.0200] %1 %2 E= %8 v1= %6 V2= 20000 )
melse
RefPoint( 7 :Skip 1 %1 %2 E= %8 v1= %6 V2= 20000 )
RefPoint( 7 :Skip [%4 * 0.0200] %1 %2 v1= %6 v2= 20000 )
mifend

The 2nd and 5th lines are what I manually added after reading your post. I am
using ASD 2.1 if that matters, are there any settings in FSDS that might be
casuing the problem? Is there a good source on the net anywhere discussing
these macros and how they are organized. Thanks for any help this is becoming
frustrating. :/

Brian

[rundio]

I am having a problem with the range at which my macros are showing up in the
sim. I have created the macros with FSDS and have played around with the
properties for the Macro in ASD and in the file itself. The macros will not
show up until I am right up next to them. I have changed the range RefPoint
Visibility and the macros are still not showing up until I am about 250 meters
away from them.

Use the 'RefPoint 3' option in the FSDS Project/Properties dialog.
When you add the macro to ASD, you'll have to specifiy the proper
elevation for the object above sea level, or it will revert to a
'RefPoint 7' object. RefPoint7 objects' visibility is scaled by
the scale factor. RefPoint3 objects are not affected this way.

[capcc]

Use the 'RefPoint 3' option in the FSDS Project/Properties dialog.
When you add the macro to ASD, you'll have to specifiy the proper
elevation for the object above sea level, or it will revert to a
'RefPoint 7' object. RefPoint7 objects' visibility is scaled by
the scale factor. RefPoint3 objects are not affected this way.

Thanks, yeah I played with the project properties in FSDS and noticed my scale
was set really low, that was the problem. Thanks for the help anyway

Brian

[luissa]

Well I just tried that and my macros are still not showing up until I am right
on top of them, here is some of the code maybe you can tell what is going on:

mif( %8 )
RefPoint( 2 :Skip 1 %1 %2 E= %8 v1= %6 V2= 20000 )
RefPoint( 2 :Skip [%4 * 0.0200] %1 %2 E= %8 v1= %6 V2= 20000 )
melse
RefPoint( 7 :Skip 1 %1 %2 E= %8 v1= %6 V2= 20000 )
RefPoint( 7 :Skip [%4 * 0.0200] %1 %2 v1= %6 v2= 20000 )
mifend

The 2nd and 5th lines are what I manually added after reading your post. I am
using ASD 2.1 if that matters, are there any settings in FSDS that might be
casuing the problem? Is there a good source on the net anywhere discussing
these macros and how they are organized. Thanks for any help this is becoming
frustrating. :/

Brian

Brian,

I am sorry. I think I gave you a bad tip. I know that you have already solved
the problem but I will correct what I said before. May be this could be useful
to you, another time.

Following is a bit of code that I edited from a FSDS generated file:

:scall
mif( %6 )
RefPoint( 2 :ret 1 %1 %2 e= %6 v1= %5 V2= 200 )
melse
RefPoint( 7 :ret 1 %1 %2 v1= %5 v2= 200 )
mifend
SetScaleX( :ret 0 0 9 )
RotatedCall( :start 0 0 %3 )

Note that I do not use the scale as a parameter. More on this later. Inside
FSDS I chose a scale of 1/128 (so that I could use 9 in SetScaleX). This allows
for resolutions of a little less than 1 cm. It is also important to note that
it also allows for objects that have a "radius" of 32,767 / 128 meters, that is
to say about 300 meters. That is what I use for aircrafts. If I chose a scale
of 1/64 (note the power of 2) the scale (resolution) is now less than 2cm but
on the other hand I can have objects with twice the radius. For a scale of 1/64
the last parameter in SetScaleX is 10. For 1/32 is 11 and so on.

With the above code the RefPoint scale is 1. When FS finds a RefPoint it makes
a test on v1. If your distance to the center of the object (lat/lon in
RefPoint) is greater than v1, FS jumps to the label that appears in the
RefPoint. v1 will be understood by FS as meters if the scale is 1. If the scale
was, say 0.1, the visibility would be decimeters. Because the maximum integer
number that v1 can hold is 32,766, the maximum visibility that you can get with
a scale of 0,1 is about 3.2 Km. With a scale of 0,01 the maximum visibility is
about 320 meters.

Following the RefPoint commnad you see a SetScaleX. This command resets the
scale to the correct value, for the drawing instructions that follow.

You can use a selectable scale (%4 normally in FSDS) and use SetScale in
instead of SetScaleX (which sets a "binary" scale thought to be faster).

Also you can use RefPoint 3 as explained by others in this forum.

Regards,
Luis