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FS2004 Airport Background

P

PW4000

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italy
Hi guys,
I'd like to create an airport scenery with a photoreal background (later i will use photoreal images also for taxiways and runways) but I really don't know what applications do I need and how to use them, I'm very very new in scenery design.

Is there somebody who wants to help me step by step or with some links or tutorials?

Many thanks
Alessandro
 
There are other programs available that will work as well I'm sure, but I use SBuilderX for all the photo scenery I've been doing. The learning curve is what you make it really. I tried several times to teach myself and each time I dropped it because it seemed too difficult. Now that I am accustomed to using it, I wonder what all the fuss was about.

I have found that the toughest part of the process is getting a server that will render a decent hi-res image. For my part, it has been feast or famine. Some of it may just be that some areas don't have anything hi-res and you're never going to get anything to work with. I can go for a few weeks working one particular area of the US and get consistently hi quality images. I can move a hundred miles north, east, south or west and get nothing usable. It can be frustrating.

Here is a quick synopsis of how it's done:
Open FSX and locate your aircraft at the airport you want to work on.
Open SBuilderX_open a "New Project", naming it anything you like.
In the "View" dropdown click on "View Background" and a basic satellite image will appear
Again in the "View" dropdown click "View Aircraft" and you'll get a red X on the screen. This is your aircraft location in the sim.
Now using the mouse scroll wheel, zoom in until the image is centered and large enough to see clearly. (there's much more to this but too much to get into here).
Now go to the "File" dropdown, click "Add Map" then "from background". This opens another box with the image shown smaller and resolutions indicated to the right. Select the resolution, draw a box around the area you want and click ok. The server will download the tiles and then present you with another box. . .click ok again and if everything works as advertised you get a final hi-res image showing in the main workspace. Close FSX.

Beyond that you must select the image, run compile, move the resulting bgl to the addon scenery\scenery folder. . .then open FSX and go to the airport and see your handy work.

That is the very basic of explanations for how it's done via SBuilderX. There is a lot more to it. None of it very difficult once you have the steps down and the results have been exceptional (when it works).

I'm sure there are tutorials out there and someone else might post those I'm sure. You can get a lot of help here but don't expect an immediate answer. Be patient as there isn't someone constantly online here waiting for your question. Someone will answer it though eventually.

Good luck!
 
I think this is for FS2004? If so then you would need to use SBuilder and not SBuilderX
 
Exactly, I'm using FS2004 at the moment, but will be nice if I could create also an FSX compatible version of the airport I'm working on.

So, if I understood everything, there is no difference in the procedure between getting a photo in FSX or FS2004, changes only the software I use (SBuilderX or SBuilder).

Thanks for the help, I'll be back soon with the results (I Hope...)

Bye
Alessandro
 
The first of a long series of problems? I hope no.... :mad: :rolleyes: :(

immagineqvv.jpg


What happens? I click on "New" and this message appears, then, I click OK and the application closes.
I tried to download again the software, but nothing changed....
 
You might do a Google search for the missing component and install it to your computer
 
Ok, now works, I downloaded the missing component.
The problem is that SBX seems to be very different from SB for FS9 and I can't find all the things that falcon409 wrote down.

I can see the cross that represents my aircraft and my position in the simulator, I can see a grid, but I can't see the map and I don't have a voice like the one I should find in "file".... :(
 
Luis (the developer of SBuilder) does take part in this forum however you could check out the forum on his site at http://www.ptsim.com and perhaps get a quicker answer to any queries.
 
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