Official Airport to SDK project: here is a small app to help you (draft)

[Patrick Germain]

Hi folks
Are you tired (like I am) to find your favorite airport incomplete ? (Missing taxi signs, shuffled taxi names, etc , etc).
So I wrote a small app that converts (as much as possible) an official airport to a project that you can use with the SDK to update your favorite airport.
I used it to update the airport where my fly school is based (CYHU) and I was able to correct and fix the taxi signs and taxi names.

Disclaimer: the app is based on the current (incomplete and partial) knowledge I have of the new structure of the FS2020 BGL files regarding airports. I will try to update it as this knowledge evolves. The app DOES NOT modify any file : it just creates a project that you should be able to use as is.


Enjoy !

 

[GaryGB]

Hi Patrick:

Many thanks for making this innovative and helpful resource available to the FSDeveloper Community.

May I propose "ARP2PROJ" as an abbreviation for discussion of your 'Airport2Project' App ?


FYI: I initially tested "ARP2PROJ" on a UK airport that does not exist in FSX, but does exist under its new ICAO in my MS-Store version of MSFS-2020 Premium Deluxe


"ARP2PROJ" did not initially find the MSFS airport by its Geographic coordinates, so after the search by coordinates failed, I directly pointed it at the (FSX legacy ?) airport file in:

[MSFS2020_Packages]\Official\OneStore\fs-base\scenery\0501\APX47120.bgl

...after first having located the airport via:

* FSX / P3D SDK Docs > Terrain Overview > Base File Information > ID: FSX / P3D airport world Area

* TMFViewer > File > Open > [FSX install path]\Scenery\0501\scenery\dem0501.bgl

* TMFViewer > View > QMID-15 Grid

* TMFViewer > Jump to ARP Lat / Lon (...derived from airport ICAO > Wikipedia > GeoHack > Decimal Coordinates)

* TMFViewer > Zoom to QMID-15 Quad

TMFViewer > File > Open > [FSX install path]\Scenery\0501\scenery\CVX47120.bgl

* TMFViewer > Zoom to Airport Boundary CVX vectors within the local QMID-15 Quad

* TMFViewer > Status Bar > File#: 4712


"ARP2PROJ" subsequently located the airport and completed the project folder chain creation process.


I shall test this further and offer feedback either here in this thread, or in another location that is recommended.

GaryGB

 

[GaryGB]

Hi Patrick:

Interestingly,within the PackageDefinitions sub-folder output by ARP2PROJ, "breizh-airport-" was added as a prefix to the intended 4-character ICAO code.

Would I be correct this ensures that file / folder naming is unique to meet the requirement of the MSFS-2020 Virtual Folder System and to avoid naming conflicts with other add-ons ?


BTW: One might wonder if (Geologically, at least, and perhaps also linguistically) the UK is an 'Upper Peninsula' extension of France

Brittany - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

"Brittany (/ˈbrɪtəni/; French: Bretagne [bʁətaɲ] ( listen); Breton: Breizh, pronounced [bʁɛjs] or [bʁɛx];[1] Gallo: Bertaèyn [bəʁtaɛɲ]) is a cultural region in the west of France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period of Roman occupation. It became an independent kingdom and then a duchy before being united with the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province governed as a separate nation under the crown.

Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain (as opposed to Great Britain, with which it shares an etymology).[2] It is bordered by the English Channel to the north, Normandy to the northeast, eastern Pays de la Loire to the southeast, the Bay of Biscay to the south, and the Celtic Sea and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Its land area is 34,023 km2 (13,136 sq mi)."

GaryGB

 

[scruffyduck]

Patrick - there may be a decompile error on TaxiParking Pushback. The XML generated for EDDF is showing some spots failing the schema validation with pushback values of 16 and 32

Also the taxi path type VEHICLE is spelled VEHICULE in your output

 

[rhumbaflappy]

Hi Patrick. I moved the thread to a more appropriate forum and stuck the thread. Very happy to see your contribution... always a pleasure.

 

[Patrick Germain]

Hi Patrick:

Many thanks for making this innovative and helpful resource available to the FSDeveloper Community.

May I propose "ARP2PROJ" as an abbreviation for discussion of your 'Airport2Project' App ?)


FYI: I initially tested "ARP2PROJ" on a UK airport that does not exist in FSX, but does exist under its new ICAO in my MS-Store version of MSFS-2020 Premium Deluxe


"ARP2PROJ" did not initially find the MSFS airport by its Geographic coordinates, so after the search by coordinates failed, I directly pointed it at the (FSX legacy ?) airport file in:

[MSFS2020_Packages]\Official\OneStore\fs-base\scenery\0501\APX47120.bgl

...after first having located the airport via:

* FSX / P3D SDK Docs > Terrain Overview > Base File Information > ID: FSX / P3D airport world Area

* TMFViewer > File > Open > [FSX install path]\Scenery\0501\scenery\dem0501.bgl

* TMFViewer > View > QMID-15 Grid

* TMFViewer > Jump to ARP Lat / Lon (...derived from airport ICAO > Wikipedia > GeoHack > Decimal Coordinates)

* TMFViewer > Zoom to QMID-15 Quad

TMFViewer > File > Open > [FSX install path]\Scenery\0501\scenery\CVX47120.bgl

* TMFViewer > Zoom to Airport Boundary CVX vectors within the local QMID-15 Quad

* TMFViewer > Status Bar > File#


"ARP2PROJ" subsequently located the airport and completed the project folder chain creation process.


I shall test this further and offer feedback either here in this thread, or in another location that is recommended.

GaryGB

Hi Patrick:

Many thanks for making this innovative and helpful resource available to the FSDeveloper Community.

May I propose "ARP2PROJ" as an abbreviation for discussion of your 'Airport2Project' App ?)


FYI: I initially tested "ARP2PROJ" on a UK airport that does not exist in FSX, but does exist under its new ICAO in my MS-Store version of MSFS-2020 Premium Deluxe


"ARP2PROJ" did not initially find the MSFS airport by its Geographic coordinates, so after the search by coordinates failed, I directly pointed it at the (FSX legacy ?) airport file in:

[MSFS2020_Packages]\Official\OneStore\fs-base\scenery\0501\APX47120.bgl

...after first having located the airport via:

* FSX / P3D SDK Docs > Terrain Overview > Base File Information > ID: FSX / P3D airport world Area

* TMFViewer > File > Open > [FSX install path]\Scenery\0501\scenery\dem0501.bgl

* TMFViewer > View > QMID-15 Grid

* TMFViewer > Jump to ARP Lat / Lon (...derived from airport ICAO > Wikipedia > GeoHack > Decimal Coordinates)

* TMFViewer > Zoom to QMID-15 Quad

TMFViewer > File > Open > [FSX install path]\Scenery\0501\scenery\CVX47120.bgl

* TMFViewer > Zoom to Airport Boundary CVX vectors within the local QMID-15 Quad

* TMFViewer > Status Bar > File#


"ARP2PROJ" subsequently located the airport and completed the project folder chain creation process.


I shall test this further and offer feedback either here in this thread, or in another location that is recommended.

GaryGB

Hi and thanks for your feedback. Much appreciated
Good idea for the arp2proj name !!

Yes, locating the file based on geo coordinates is a real pain since the new folder hiearchy is a bit complex. Actually I'm trying to locate the wpsystem folder and that may not work on your machine (do you have the Steam version ?)
Nevertheless, I will display an hint about the folder and file (0501 and 47120 in your example) so users should at least what to look for.

And the 'breizh' prefix is a way for me to 'customize' the projects and ensure that there will not be any naming conflict.

 

[Patrick Germain]

Hi Patrick. I moved the thread to a more appropriate forum and stuck the thread. Very happy to see your contribution... always a pleasure.

No sweat. Thanks Dick

 

[Patrick Germain]

Patrick - there may be a decompile error on TaxiParking Pushback. The XML generated for EDDF is showing some spots failing the schema validation with pushback values of 16 and 32

Also the taxi path type VEHICLE is spelled VEHICULE in your output

Lol. I used the french word !
I'll look at the EDDF airport and see what's wrong. The way the TaxiPoint indexes are used is still not 100% clear.

I will try to update the BglFormat wiki in the coming weeks with whatever I was able to find/understand/deduce/guess so far.
If you need help with ADE MSFS2020, don't hesitate.

Cheers

 

[Patrick Germain]

Version 1.0.0.1 of the Airport2Project is available (see original message).
It fixes the VEHICLE typo as well as the errors reported by Jon
It also includes the Jetways now.

Enjoy!

 

[GaryGB]

Hi and thanks for your feedback. Much appreciated
Good idea for the arp2proj name !!

Yes, locating the file based on geo coordinates is a real pain since the new folder hierarchy is a bit complex. Actually I'm trying to locate the wpsystem folder and that may not work on your machine

Hi Patrick:

Here is an excellent fast application that may help; I have used it for years to search NTFS (and now other) file system formatted storage drives on local / networked computers:

Everything (software) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

"Regardless of the file system used on the indexed drives and folders, Everything searches its index for file names matching a user search expression, which may be a fragment of the target file name or a regular expression,[9] displaying intermediate and immediate results as the search term is entered. "

Everything - voidtools

www.voidtools.com

voidtools

www.voidtools.com

(do you have the Steam version ?)

I downloaded MSFS-2020 via MS Store with a Amazon proof of purchase voucher number, so AFAIK, I may have file / folder paths different from that of a MSFS Steam purchase.

GaryGB

 

[GaryGB]

Hi Patrick:


FYI: I just tested "ARP2PROJ" on a UK airport that does not exist in FSX, nor does it exist in my MS-Store version of MSFS-2020 Premium Deluxe.


"ARP2PROJ" would thus not find that custom MSFS airport by its Geographic coordinates, so I directly pointed it at my (FSX legacy format) custom airport BGL file in:

[FSX install path]\Addon Scenery\[custom airport name]\scenery\[custom airport name].bgl

"ARP2PROJ" subsequently imported / processed the FSX Acceleration (SP2 legacy format) custom airport BGL, and completed the MSFS-2020 project folder chain creation process.

NOTE: "ARP2PROJ" output was in the new MSFS-2020 SDK project format.


IIUC, "ARP2PROJ" is also able to "convert" custom FSX legacy format airports to MSFS-2020 format; this will prove very helpful to FS Developers !


Again, I shall test this further and offer feedback either here in this thread, or in another location that is recommended.

GaryGB

 

[mottoth]

This tool looks really great, just decompiled my first stock airport with it. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Jay Bloomfield]

Thanks Patrick. It works great and I haven't seen any errors with stock MSFS airports yet.

IIUC, "ARP2PROJ" is also able to "convert" custom FSX legacy format airports to MSFS-2020 format; this will prove very helpful to FS Developers !

Gary,

I tried ARP2PROG on a few stock airports from FSX APX files and all I got was XML for an empty airport with only the Airport ICAO line and the Delete lines. No other items (aprons, taxi points, etc.) were converted to XML. This really isn't the purpose of this tool, so it's not an issue in my view. The tool may only work by coincidence when importing an FSX single airport BGL file.

Jay

 

[GaryGB]

Thanks Patrick. It works great and I haven't seen any errors with stock MSFS airports yet.

Gary,

I tried ARP2PROG on a few stock airports from FSX APX files and all I got was XML for an empty airport with only the Airport ICAO line and the Delete lines. No other items (aprons, taxi points, etc.) were converted to XML. This really isn't the purpose of this tool, so it's not an issue in my view. The tool may only work by coincidence when importing an FSX single airport BGL file.

Jay

Hi Jay:

Indeed, in my latter test scenario, the current feature set of "ARP2PROJ" appeared limited to import and conversion of only certain FSX SDK BGLComp Airport XML elements to output a MSFS Project XML data format.

Hopefully future builds of "ARP2PROJ" may import / convert more 'legacy' FSX / P3D SDK BGLComp format XML airport elements.


PS: I'm not so sure I'd be willing to assert that "ARP2PROJ" 'may only work by coincidence when importing an FSX single airport BGL file'.

Rather, I'm inclined to assume that Patrick has a comprehensive knowledge of how his coding is intended to work.

GaryGB

 

[scruffyduck]

The file formats for MSFS are different than FSX, The airport record is one. The MSFS one is longer. My guess is that you might get an FSX airport it is is first on the file.

 

[GaryGB]

The file formats for MSFS are different than FSX, The airport record is one. The MSFS one is longer. My guess is that you might get an FSX airport it is is first on the file.

Good Morning, Jon.

I'd welcome a clarification of what you intended to convey above with regard to an 'FSX airport' when you get a chance.

GaryGB

 

[Rafael]

This is great, thanks for the tool. It apparently worked fine for me, but after testing it with the standard SSBN airfield (located in APX34420.bgl), MSFS's built-in editor produces an error stating that there it an Airport entity with an Airport child. Oddly, the XML seems fine. I will try to edit it manually a bit to see what is wrong.

My fault. The XML was correct, the error is that there are taxi paths shorter than 10cm, which cause validation errors within the editor.

 

[rhumbaflappy]

If you hold the fs-base file location in an INI file, then steam users could enter a location for that, then the lat-long search would work for them as well.

 

[RomanDesign]

This is great, Just what I needed! There is no reason to delete and re-create the entire airport taxiways and signs just to correct one or two... I will test it, I hope it works OK.

 

[Kenny Chen]

Is it possible to extract instrument procedure data from this app? An initial tryout seems only surface data are exported.