Sloping Runways

I've been impressed with the sloping runways in ORBX, so I finally decided to experiment with slopes in ADE. It turns out to be easier than I expected, once I figured it out, though that took a while. But since I suspect there are others out there who mess around with ADE a bit for some of their own airports but who, like me, aren't full blown developers (they've probably known this for a while), I thought I'd post a note about it here.

Lay out an airport background flatten polygon for the desired runway and shoulder area (whatever you want to have that slope), then in the properties dialog box check Edit Individual Points. Once you've done this, edit the individual points to set the desired elevation for each. Now you have the terrain sloping.

Now draw another terrain polygon, this time land class, in the shape of the runway you want there. Select the land class type for the surface you want (dirt, cement, sand, grass, whatever), probably not crops or forests. Now you have that runway.

Of course you can't actually get a pavement effect, even with cement chosen, so your wheels will still kick up dirt and your aircraft will still bounce as it would off the runway, but it's usable and looks decent.

Hope this helps someone.

Interesting note Larry! I don't mess with scenery but one day I may get daring!

:)

Vic

Sound like 2009, all over again. That's when I released a mesh product with some "X-ports". Stuck back in the woods, with some significant slope made them one way approaches.

Still have thoughts floating around about a global "non-flat" airports package, subject to certain conditions. But that's still on the proverbial Back Burner.

Edit: Depending upon the local and the slope, you might find a road vector line of asphalt works OK for a runway...

I've been impressed with the sloping runways in ORBX, so I finally decided to experiment with slopes in ADE. It turns out to be easier than I expected, once I figured it out, though that took a while. But since I suspect there are others out there who mess around with ADE a bit for some of their own airports but who, like me, aren't full blown developers (they've probably known this for a while), I thought I'd post a note about it here.

 

Lay out an airport background flatten polygon for the desired runway and shoulder area (whatever you want to have that slope), then in the properties dialog box check Edit Individual Points. Once you've done this, edit the individual points to set the desired elevation for each. Now you have the terrain sloping.

 

Now draw another terrain polygon, this time land class, in the shape of the runway you want there. Select the land class type for the surface you want (dirt, cement, sand, grass, whatever), probably not crops or forests. Now you have that runway.

 

Of course you can't actually get a pavement effect, even with cement chosen, so your wheels will still kick up dirt and your aircraft will still bounce as it would off the runway, but it's usable and looks decent.

 

Hope this helps someone.

I think this works for your own aircraft, but I don't think any AI aircraft will land there.

I think this works for your own aircraft, but I don't think any AI aircraft will land there.

I don't much worry about AI aircraft, but you can set up invisible runway paths for them if you so desire. The runway surface itself doesn't do that for AI aircraft.