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FSX My Object is Not Working in MCX

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Hi Gary,
Yes, I checked that box and I also checked the one that says Library Objects. I've mentioned this several times but I still have not heard anything regarding where to place the bgl exclusion file. I also want to know that when I drag the exclusion triangle over the object, am I supposed to select it so that it turns green?

Ken.
 
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http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/my-object-is-not-working-in-mcx.439679/page-2#post-769999

That file needs to be placed into a higher scenery layer than the objects you want to exclude are located in.

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/my-object-is-not-working-in-mcx.439679/page-2#post-770067

Hi Tom,

Explain what you mean by scenery layers. Are you referring to the Scenery Library in FSX, and to place the exclusion above the others? It does not work that way and I've already tried placing the bgl in the addon scenery folder. When FSX Is first launched, it creates a new database at that time. But the buildings still remain. Another thing is that the manual does not even tell you where to place the bgl exclusion when you copy, place, or move the file, and where it should be loaded. By the way, I figured out that these buildings are Generic Object, not Library Objects

Ken.

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/my-object-is-not-working-in-mcx.439679/page-3#post-770127

I've mentioned this several times but I still have not heard anything regarding where to place the bgl exclusion file.

Ken.


http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/my-object-is-not-working-in-mcx.439679/page-3#post-770127

Hi Gary,
Yes, I checked that box and I also checked the one that says Library Objects.

Ken.

Hi Ken:

Place the Exclusion Rectangle BGL compiled by BGLComp into a \Scenery sub-folder nested under a top-folder at- or near to- ...the top of the FSX GUI Scenery Library stack of "Area" layers, as it must load later than the BGLs below (which have 'placed' the un-wanted object, and as any or all of which BGLs have been loaded earlier by default FS Area layers closer to the Bottom of the FS Scenery Library GUI stack of Area layers).

This means you must add a new "Area" layer, and link to the folder chain for your exclusion rectangle in the FSX GUI Scenery Library stack of "Area" layers; save that change.

The FS flight scenario should then be re-rendered without the excluded object (...and without having to re-start FS).


By doing this you are telling the FS scenery rendering engine to exclude the specified objects inside your rectangle from actually being rendered at that location in FS at run time. ;)

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/my-object-is-not-working-in-mcx.439679/page-3#post-770127

I also want to know that when I drag the exclusion triangle over the object, am I supposed to select it so that it turns green?

Ken.

Yes; SBuilderX must have something "selected" within its work-space, in order to proceed towards a BGL compilation. :)



PS
: I would encourage you to use IS3 to do this type of placement and exclusion work, as it can be performed interactively within a live FS flight session.


FYI: There is a free demo of IS3 that can be used within the vicinity of KSEA to see how it works:

http://flight1.100megabyte.com/instant_scenery3_7_demo.exe

http://www.flight1.com/products.asp?product=iscen3


Instant Scenery 3 Manual - Page 24 of 39

"Adding exclusion rectangles

Instant Scenery allows placing exclusion rectangles in addition to objects. An exclusion rectangle tells Flight Simulator to remove objects from other sceneries inside the rectangle. Only objects defined in lower-priority scenery areas will be affected. To see a list of scenery areas and their priorities, use the scenery library dialog box in Flight Simulator.
Exclusion rectangles defined in Instant Scenery will exclude library objects, generic buildings and optionally autogen scenery.

To edit exclusion rectangles, select Exclusion rectangles… in the Instant Scenery context
menu. Instant scenery will switch into the Exclusion rectangles mode, indicated by a changed mouse cursor. Any exclusion rectangles defined in the current scenery file will become visible.


Instant Scenery 3 Manual - Page 25 of 39

To add an exclusion rectangle, point to one of its corners, right-click with the mouse and select Add exclusion rectangle from the context menu. After that, move the mouse cursor to the opposite corner, and use the context menu to add the exclusion rectangle to the scenery file.

Note that exclusion rectangles are always aligned in the north-south direction and it is not
possible to rotate them to an arbitrary angle. Exclusion rectangles will only take effect after you restart Flight Simulator (FS9).

To delete an exclusion rectangle, point to it, right-click with the mouse and select Delete
exclusion rectangle.

To set the type of objects excluded by the rectangle, right-click on it with the mouse and use the Set type sub-menu.

Note that Instant Scenery does not allow defining all exclusion types defined in the Flight Simulator SDK.

To move or resize an exclusion rectangle, simply delete the old one and create a new rectangle at the desired location.

To leave the Exclusion rectangles mode, select Cancel in the context menu.
If exclusion rectangles are present in the current scenery file, they will appear in the object list along with objects.
"


GaryGB
 
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tgibson

Resource contributor
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As Gary says, I am talking about the Scenery Library. The exclude BGL should be located in a scenery layer listed higher than the objects you are trying to exclude. As long as the Addon Scenery layer is listed higher than where those objects are located AND the Addon Scenery layer is present AND checked as Active it should work OK. That is usually assuming that those buildings are from the default scenery and not from an addon scenery for Birmingham that is listed higher up in the scenery library. As Gary says, one way to test that is to create and activate a new scenery layer right at the top of the list and use that.
 
Messages
946
Place the Exclusion Rectangle BGL compiled by BGLComp into a \Scenery sub-folder nested under a top-folder at- or near to- ...the top of the FSX GUI Scenery Library stack of "Area" layers, as it must load later than the BGLs below (which have placed the un-wanted object, any or all of which load earlier).

Hi Gary, regarding what you said, the only thing I can think of is when you add a scenery to the Scenery Library. I can't understand how it's possible to simply place a bgl file, from SBuildingX directly to the flight simulator's Scenery Library. First, you must install the bgl in either the Addon Scenery folder or the Addon Scenery/scenery folder. Then you launch FS and then add the scenery. This is the only way I know it's possible to add a senery, but you simply cannot just copy and paste the bgl into the Scenery Library in FSX. If that's how it's done, I need more information because that's a new one for me.

Anyway, I finally have the default buildings removed, and this is how I did it, but tell me if I did it correctly. If I recall, the output for the bgl in SBuilderX is C:\My Programs\SBuilderX314\lib objects. After creating the exclusion bgl, I copied pasted the bgl in the Addon Scenery/scenery folder. So, my question "where do I place the bgl file," meant where to I install it? And that should be some place where FSX is installed, either the Addon Scenery folder, Addon Scenery/scenery folder, or some place where FSX is installed. When I launch FSX, it built a new database right then. I did not have to go to the Scenery Library to add any scenery.

Ken.
 
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Hi Ken:

While I am glad the current location of your exclude BGL in:

[FSX install path]Addon Scenery\Scenery

...sub-folder works for you in this particular situation, and I believe we all owe an debt of gratitude to Tom for his many helpful insights shared in this and other FS web forums, I have respectfully expressed a somewhat differing perspective from Tom and other developers here, on the importance of keeping 'most' custom or 3rd party BGLs OUT of the above Addon Scenery\Scenery sub-folder for a number of, IMHO, valid reasons:

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/roads.438098/


What I referred to in my post above within this thread:
Hi Ken:
http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/my-object-is-not-working-in-mcx.439679/page-3#post-770168

Place the Exclusion Rectangle BGL compiled by BGLComp into a \Scenery sub-folder nested under a top-folder at- or near to- ...the top of the FSX GUI Scenery Library stack of "Area" layers, as it must load later than the BGLs below (which have placed the un-wanted object, any or all of which load earlier).

This means you must add a new "Area" layer, and link to the folder chain for your exclusion rectangle in the FSX GUI Scenery Library stack of "Area" layers; save that change.

The FS flight scenario should then be re-rendered without the excluded object (...and without having to re-start FS).


By doing this you are telling the FS scenery rendering engine to exclude the specified objects inside your rectangle from actually being rendered at that location in FS at run time. ;)

...was, in Windows Explorer, creating your own new top-folder named ex: "KBHM_Excludes", with a new nested sub-folder under that named "Scenery", then locating your exclude BGL inside that latter sub-folder.

After that folder chain is created, it would be added as an 'active' source for BGL files in the FS Scenery Library GUI using the "Add Area" button.

If / when I get some time free later today, I will describe the steps involved in greater detail. :pushpin:

GaryGB
 
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tgibson

Resource contributor
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As I state in that thread you linked Gary, I do agree with you. But since Jon has made the Addon Scenery/scenery folder the default for ADE compiles and thus I assume the majority of ADE users are placing them into that folder, the only advice I can give those people is to keep that folder at the top of the Scenery Library listing so their ADE edits will have priority over any default or other 3rd party airport files lurking below.
 
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Indeed, Tom I appreciate your good intentions with that; and I must acknowledge as well that numerous other FS utilities including Instant Scenery use:

[FSX install path]Addon Scenery\Scenery


...as their default file output sub-folder path (until- and unless- the user manually changes that path in which they opt to save their output files). ;)


IMHO, in this particular case, Ken is "lucky" that the unwanted Generic Building objects and their placement BGLs which he is excluding, are sourced from FS default (sub-)folder chains which are AFAIK, purposely, and by design, located by ACES' installer at Area layers within the Scenery.Cfg file that may be designated as as 'lower-priority' layers only by virtue of their being located below the Area layer position of the Addon Scenery\Scenery folder chain.

Thus, with the Addon Scenery\Scenery sub-folder also being located by ACES' installer at an Area layer within the Scenery.Cfg file as a 'higher-priority' layer which is AFAIK, purposely, and by design, 'above' those default FS default folder chains that are the source for the objects and their placement BGLs that Ken is excluding, he is experiencing success.


I do still believe that when one considers the amount of inevitable "gotcha" scenarios that scenery developers will likely encounter 'eventually', the use of:

[FSX install path]Addon Scenery\Scenery

...as a "catch-all" folder for BGLs should be deprecated, as it is more likely to become a cause of trouble-shooting problems for novice developers.:duck:

GaryGB
 
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If / when I get some time free later today, I will describe the steps involved in greater detail.

Hi Gary, if you will, also include detailed steps creating the exclude in SbuilderX so I'll be sure I'm doing that correctly.

Ken.
 
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Hi Ken:

In a FS flight session:

1.) Set user aircraft camera view mode to "Top-Down"

2.) Hold down <Ctrl> key, then tap the <Spacebar> key (to point aircraft to North)

3.) Slew your user aircraft into position over the center of the rooftop of a FS default "Building" you wish to exclude in downtown Birmingham AL

4.) Create a "saved flight" (aka "*.FLT" file)


To save a flight
:

FSX Menu > Flights > Save...

Fill in flight Title and Description fields, then click {OK} button

You should now have a saved flight in:

C:\Users\[user name]\Documents\Flight Simulator Files\


5.) Repeat for each such building you wish to exclude, so each has a separate *.FLT file in:

C:\Users\[user name]\Documents\Flight Simulator Files\


Attach a ZIP file of (only) those *.FLT files to a reply in this thread, so I can better accommodate your request. :pushpin:

GaryGB
 
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Hi Gary,
I cannot upload those saved flights where I position the airplane over the building that I want to exclude because I've already excluded all of them. I went ahead and excluded all of them at the same time. I knew how to do that part of it. It's was the SbuilderX that I was having problems understanding because the manual is not well written and leaves out a lot of detail information that needed to have been written, such as the fact that you have to select the exclude to make it work, but it did not explain that until several pages later. I just so happened to figured it out. You can still post those detailed instructions you said you would post, for SbuilderX and the instructions about the FSX Scenery Library. You said you were referring to the Windows Explorer, and that was my understanding of how to do it. But I wasn't doing it quite right.

Ken.
 
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Hi Ken:

Please attach a ZIP file containing (only) the Exclude rectangle BGL that you made in SBuilderX, to a reply in this thread, so I can better accommodate your request. :pushpin:

GaryGB
 
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Gary,
These are the only files I can find that I created in Sbuilder. But I don't remember if it's the last one I made, which worked, or the one of the first ones that did not work.

Ken.
 

Attachments

  • 000_Daniel_Building.zip
    1.5 MB · Views: 172
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Hi Ken:

I'll take a look and see which will work best for my forthcoming "worked example" of how to create a BGLComp-type XML exclude rectangle for Generic Buildings using SBuilderX. ;)

GaryGB
 
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Hi Ken:

I will be traveling today, so I have attached a BGL to use for exclusion of the FS default scenery Generic Building substituted for the "Daniel Building" in downtown Birmingham, which I made for you (...within about 5 seconds ! :p) in a live FS session using IS3.

The BGLComp XML source code is included as well. :pushpin:

While this does work for exclusion of a FS default scenery Generic Building if located within:

[FSX install path]\Addon Scenery\Scenery

...my recommendation will still be that it is a "best practice" to instead use Windows Explorer (aka "My Computer" or "Computer") to create a 'new' folder chain consisting of a top folder with a single nested \Scenery sub-folder, put this BGL inside that \Scenery sub-folder, then add that as a new Area at- or near the "top" of- the stack within the FS Scenery Library GUI stack of 'Area layers'.

I shall reply in further detail on this process later upon my return (...pending your reported results with testing that process). :)

GaryGB
 

Attachments

  • KBHM_IS3_Daniel_Generic_Building_Exclude_BGL+XML.zip
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Hi all, I was just wondering if I should download and install the latest Sketchup 2017. I have Sketchup 2016. What's the difference between the two?

Ken.
 
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946
Hi Gary,
Since I've created my airport "KBHM New Terminal" in Sketchup 2016, and I have saved that file, will it still work in Sketchup 2017? I know there have been times when I opened an older Sketchup file, a message would come up and say something to the effect that it will not work in another version, but I'm not sure if that means older versions or later versions. Also, would it be better to un-install the 2016 version before installing the 2017? I usually prefer to make a fresh install.

Ken.
 
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Hi Ken:

Sketchup Versions since 2014 allow one to 'Save As' a specific version of SKP file.

Alternatively, one can export to a Google Earth KMZ which is not version specific, and can be imported by all Sketchup versions (and by MCX).

Thus far, all Sketchup versions can be installed without interfering with each other.


BTW: Most "new" tools and/or enhancements of functionality in Sketchup 2017 have also been available in one form or another, for all prior versions back to Sketchup-8 via free Ruby plugin scripts, so I have not seen anything compelling me to get the 2017 version yet. ;)

GaryGB
 
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Hi Gary,
I put up a post about a month or so ago regarding my KBHM airport scenery file, but I went to the wrong forum. I posted it at Sketchup Community, and that was why I hadn't heard from you. I don't know why I couldn't remember where I had been posting, but it was here. Anyway, I did get my Birmingham Downtown buildings installed and working. But I wanted to ask you about my work regarding the KBHM terminal and it's detail. I'm not satisfied with the details of the edges, and they just seem to blend together without any detail whatsoever, especially around the edges. Here are a couple of screenshots and maybe you can see what I'm referring to:


KBHM Terminal No Detail Around Edgese.png


In the upper photo, you can't tell where the corner edges are. It all seems to run together with no detail of corner edges




KBHM Terminal No Detail Around Edgese 1.png


In this photo, you cannot tell the difference between the roof and the edges of the skylight, and it all blends in together. Why is this happening, and what can I do to correct this so that is looks at good as other sceneries I've seen?

Ken.
 
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