Sunken Aircraft

[jgf]

As you can see, my aircraft is not affected.

 

[mrzippy]

Is this happening at one airport and not other?

[JSkorna]

Default mesh or add on mesh?

[defaid]

Hi.

 

Two disparate afd files for that airport would be my guess, with different airport elevations.

 

AI use the first afd they find working from layer 0 upward. Player a/c uses the topmost airport.

 

If that turns out to be the case and you have a reason for keeping both (e. g. 3rd party addon not based on the stock airport), then make a new layer as low as possible and add a copy of the addon afd file to that layer. That will put the addon in a position to supplant the file with the 'wrong' elevation.

 

D

[jgf]

Have a "ScanAFD" utility that finds duplicates, time to put it to work.

 

Mesh for that area is add-on.  More trial-and-error tweaking.

[defaid]

 

Hi.

 

Your screenies show an addon with a field elevation of 634.9 feet less your aircraft's datum. I have JF's British Airports Bristol, whose elevation is 622 feet. I think the stock is also around 622 feet but I've disabled the relevant bgl, AP947130, in my setup because of other conflicts.

 

I don't think ScanAFD will show the stock airports so you'll probably see only the addon in ScanAFD's list. For illustration (and because I know that stock bgl is still enabled), here's my UK2000 Prestwick in ScanAFD. Note the stock EGPK doesn't appear in the list.

 

Find your addon Bristol's afd and put a copy of it in the lowest possible layer. That will cause the AI to use the addon's field elevation instead of the stock.

 

Cheers.

D

 

[jgf]

On 7/10/2023 at 6:08 AM, defaid said:

AI use the first afd they find working from layer 0 upward. Player a/c uses the topmost airport.

 

I wonder whose brilliant idea that was.  Obviously MS work.

 

11 hours ago, defaid said:

put a copy of it in the lowest possible layer

 

So, the base World scenery folder?

 

I probably have afcads scattered all over the place.  Ages ago recommendation was to put them all in "Addon Scenery", seemed odd to me, but what do I know;  then it was recommended to leave them with the corresponding scenery so if you deactivate the scenery the afcad is deactivated also, made sense to me (unless, like some other games, certain files are always read no matter where they are).   It is quite possible I have multiple afcads for the same airport or afcads for removed airports;  I always thought proper layering of scenery would take care of such things. 

[defaid]

13 hours ago, jgf said:

 

I wonder whose brilliant idea that was.  Obviously MS work.

 

 

So, the base World scenery folder?

 

 

MS have always been good at that sort of thing. Probably several teams working on different aspects of development with the odd failure to communicate. It's not uncommon. My employer makes electronic equipment. Some is designed in India, some in China, eastern Europe, UK, USA and we don't always manage to join things up. Finding that a signal name has changed from one circuit schematic to the next or that pin-out numbering has changed orientation between plug & socket makes life more interesting.

 

The base World scenery folder works very well and it is where ADE puts stub afd files if the user makes an airport elevation correction. For myself, I made a new scenery layer for such files because, as you pointed out, I'll know where to look if I ever deactivate a scenery.

 

Bear in mind that ScanAFD will then show both. If you alter the duplicate's filename from say, bristolafcad.bgl to bristolafcad_for_ai.bgl then you'll know it's ok.

 

D

 

[jgf]

7 hours ago, defaid said:

MS have always been good at that sort of thing.

 

"If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization. "

 

7 hours ago, defaid said:

and we don't always manage to join things up

 

As a retired engineer I can well commiserate with that.

 

Looks like I have some afcad shuffling to do.

[johnhinson]

I wouldn't worry too much about duplicate AFD files - as has been suggested the layering system of the scenery library copes with that well . The only time I know of when issues occur are if the airport's co-ordinates differ in the different files. This can confuse the AI generating engine and can cause FS to crash.

 

In fact the whole purpose of using an extra file (or a "stub") is to deceive FS into thinking that is the programmed elevation of an airport so that all modifying actions of other files base themselves on that rather than the figure in the APxxxxx file.

 

John

[hjwalter]

A flatten switch containing the default airport's elevation (in feet) in the scenery.cfg file and which covers the whole airport area, has always been able to solve these kinds of problems for me and for many years. The only remaining step is to then synchronize the afcad (or ADE) file to the same elevation.

 

Hans

[jgf]

Made an "afcads/scenery" folder, copied the Bristol afcad there, layered third from bottom

 

 

Went to Bristol -

 

 

Must not have done it right.

 

 

[defaid]

That's really unexpected. What does ScanAFD show up now?

 

Nice repaint, by the way.

 

D

[jgf]

 

Copy of this is in M:\FSScenery\afcads\scenery, but isn't appearing here, even with "show duplicates" selected.

 

Livery is

"Cessna Skyhawk Pineapple Charlie II
By Don Brynelsen (Victorian_Lord@hotmail.com)
Copyright 2007"

probably from library here.

[defaid]

Everything looks ok so far, except for the no-show.

 

I haven't used SCM2004. I guess it's just a scenery.cfg editor, is that right? If you open scenery.cfg with notepad, does the new entry look correct?

 

Does the new 'afcads' layer show up in FS9's own Scenery Library page?

 

If you move the copy to a different layer, does ScanAFD find it then?

 

D

[jgf]

"SCM2004
=======

(c) 2003 Hans Hartmann

....................

- Backup
Lets SCM2004 create a backup of your current scenery.cfg (called scenery.scm) before
writing any changes to it. It is highly recommended to check this option

- Set Path
Path where area sets are stored by SCM. For more about sets, see below

FEATURES
- Add and/or duplicate scenery layers
- Drag and drop layer arrangement (even with multiple layers)
- Cut and paste layer arrangement (even with multiple layers)
- Delete unneeded layers
- Export and import of groups of layers ('area sets') allows you the quickly add and
  remove scenery you normally don't need. No more problems with the 332 layer limitation.
- Automatic layer renumbering"

 

 

I also use "https://www.flightsim.com/files/file/152160-fs2004-fsx-sceneryconfigeditor/", a newer program which does the same things.

 

From cfg file:

 

[General]
Title=FS9 World Scenery
Description=FS9 Scenery Data
Clean_on_Exit=FALSE

[Area.001]
Title=Default Terrain
Texture_ID=1
Layer=1
Active=TRUE
Required=TRUE
Local=Scenery\World
Remote=

[Area.002]
Title=Default Scenery
Layer=2
Active=TRUE
Required=TRUE
Local=Scenery\BASE
Remote=

[Area.003]
Title=afcads
Layer=3
Active=TRUE
Required=FALSE
Local=M:\FS_Scenery\afcad\scenery
Remote=

 

In sim:

 

 

[darrenvox]

I only ever had trouble with one airport and that one is Burbank...every plane was sunken except mine...never thought to ask but now i see that it might have a fix!!

 

except now I cant access a computer that has 2004 because they are both wrecked. But that's another thing all together

[PhrogPhlyer]

12 minutes ago, darrenvox said:

Burbank

No surprise, with Burbank's $35 - $75 ramp/handing fees.

Makes you feel like you're sunk into the asphalt. 

 

[SCM0616]

1 hour ago, darrenvox said:

I only ever had trouble with one airport and that one is Burbank...every plane was sunken except mine...never thought to ask but now i see that it might have a fix!!

 

except now I cant access a computer that has 2004 because they are both wrecked. But that's another thing all together

If you are using the KBUR2005 scenery by Shez Ansari, it states in the installation to:

 

Open the folder \AI alt and move the file AP916190.bgl contained in the folder to your "FS2004"\Scenery\Namw\Scenery folder. This adjusts the AI altitude in the scenery so that it does not sink.

 

So you might check to see if that was done.

 

Steve
 

[jgf]

On 7/16/2023 at 7:22 AM, hjwalter said:

A flatten switch containing the default airport's elevation (in feet) in the scenery.cfg file and which covers the whole airport area, has always been able to solve these kinds of problems for me and for many years. The only remaining step is to then synchronize the afcad (or ADE) file to the same elevation.

 

Hans

 

That's a consideration.  I'm using a third party mesh (the fourth or fifth I've tried), none have noticeably affected default airports, though a set of RAF Airbases are all in pits of varying depth with any of the meshes I've tried.  But taking off from Bristol today I went to spot view and noticed it is on a slight plateau -

[defaid]

Your cfg file and layering both look ok too but ScanAFD is not finding the copy you put into M:\FS_Scenery\afcad\scenery, which suggests FS9 will also fail to find it. Can you move the copy into \World\Secenery instead and see if ScanAFD finds it then?

 

I have had trouble with FS9 accessing two hard drives in the past, though other people have never had an issue.

 

D

[hjwalter]

Hey Guys,

 

I took another good look at my own addon UK Bristol (EGGD) airport but saw no elevation problems a.i. sunken aircraft or anything else of that nature. I have no separate mesh for the area, nor a flatten switch in my scenery.cfg file.

The whole airport area looks technically correct but when slewing around outside it's perimeter I also noticed that it was situated on top of a very low plateau but without any distinct positive or negative embankments around it. Therefore, there is no single large area flatten file involved.

 

My own addon Bristol scenery folder does however contain a flatten.bgl file and which came with the original download very long ago. However, when disassembling this SCASM based file I found that it flattens many small detailed airport areas, all at 622 feet.

 

Therefore, no problems at my end but have you tried de-activating your own mesh and/or LC scenery yet, just to see what happens ?

 

Good luck and regards,

 

Hans

 

P.S. What is the name of your downloaded EGGD file(s) and where did you download it/them from ?

 

 

[Airbasil_1]

I highly suggest, taking into considderation to buy the UK2000 Bristol Extreme Version, which is worth every cent of it! 
And your Issues will be gone in a second... as I don't have any Issues what so ever with that Scenery.... 

works just perfectly... 

You can get it via the Simmarket: https://secure.simmarket.com/uk2000-scenery-bristol-xtreme-v3-(de_5095).phtml 

[jgf]

On 7/11/2023 at 5:46 AM, defaid said:

I don't think ScanAFD will show the stock airports

 

I'm fairly certain this is the default Bristol, file dated 2003.  I've added a lot to the UK but primarily mesh, LC, UTE, RAF airbases, two sets of "farmstrips", and some landmark sets.

 

Added a copy of the file to Scenery\World\scenery" and that made no difference either.  Now have three copies, ScanAFD still only showing the one in AddOn Scenery.

[defaid]

Two things come to mind, both of which may open a more complex wormcan. Bear in mind that I'm at work so trying to do my thinking from memory and without an installation to refer to...

 

1. The default Bristol is in AP946130.BGL or something like that, which implies that your discrete AF2_EGGD.bgl file must be something else. As ScanAFD doesn't see the bgl that you just put into ../Scenery/World/Scenery then there's a good chance it's either corrupt or -- rather less likely -- simply not an afd file.

 

(1.5. or you have a third forgotten Bristol afd lurking somewhere. Also unlikely as ScanAFD hasn't found it.)

 

2. I need someone else's help with this... Assuming that you only have (copies of) stock Bristol then the player a/c should taxi at the same elevation as the AI. What else can cause player a/c to sit on the surface while still allowing AI to sit at the airport elevation?

 

In case things get messy, this may be a good time to remove those ineffective copies.

 

D