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Assigning Taxi Designators

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But here is another question for you Jon.
How do I assign a taxiway designator.

All mine only allow a blank.
I have looked at stock airports and they allow a range of letters.

Richard.

PS should this be another topic?
 

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Post is moved.

If you wish to use a different designator then you first need to add some. By default they are all blank. There are a couple of ways you can add designators.

The first way on the main screen. On the top row to the right of the buttons used to create taxiways is a blank drop down box. To the right of that is a small button with '+' on it. Click that and you will get a dialog that letts you add a designator. Keep them short - the max allowed is 8 letters but one or two is all you want. These designators are only used by ATC to direct you around the airport so if you have no ATC then you don't really need them. Anyway Add a letter, say A to that box next to Name and click Add. If you click on the drop down box now you will see Blank, then your new one and possible a runway number or two (these are only used by runway links so you won't use them directly).

The other way to add designators is to select Lists and then Taxi Designators. This shows you a list of the designators you have and how many links are assigned to them. Use the Add Button to get the same dialog as above and add another Designator. Be warned that you can have many of the same letter so you could add another A. FSX can handle segmentation of the taxi network even where the letters are the same and there are plenty of examples of large airports where this is true. Save the list by closing it.

To add give a taxi link a designator select it an open the properties dialog. In the drop down next to Designator you can change the name to a new one that you created and save it.

ADE lets you see what links are assigned to what designators. Select one from the drop down on the main window (or in the list view) and it will be highlighted in Red. You can use the 'T' key to cycle down the list of desigators highlighting them in turn and Shift-T to go back up the list.

Bear in mind that setting up taxiway segmentation is an advanced topic at large airports but for a small one it should be easy and you may only want to assign one or two names for the links. You the highligher described above to make sure that a taxiway with a single name is joined up as you want and there is no unexpected gap in the run.

Hope that helps
 
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scruffyduck

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It should be described in the manual. Probably not in enough detail though. Bob Keeshan on our behalf is writing a series of tutorials to extend the manual. You might help us focus those by letting us know where the manual falls short.

That would be much appreciated.
 
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OK, I have downloaded tutorial no.1 and am having a look at it.
I will be looking to see if I can understand the way it is written and will it be understandable to a beginner.
I have to say that a lot of tutorials are laced with jargon and language which may not be immediately recognisabale to a beginner. They are based on the assumption that a beginner [in this case scenery design] has a good working knowledge of a] the subject and b], How their own PC works, c] FSX etc etc.
As is only too apperant that is not the case taking me as an example. { and I bet theres more than one of me around]

One thing I do know and that is there is nothing better than examples.
So I will certainly be looking for an example of each and every operation be it assigning taxi designators to how to ensure that a taxiway is correctly linked to a parking spot to
using and interpreting the fault finder.
Likewise for editing an existing airport. There is nothing like seeing an example and being taken through it step by step.

Perhaps I'm being a bit unrealistic in my expectations of a tutorial but I have learnt more from this forum from you guys than I ever would from reading a lesson. But then of course we all learn in different ways.
I never was much good in the classroom.

Jon, I'm not so sure that an open forum is the best way to discuss this, what do you think?

Richard
 
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Richard,

A couple of notes:

1. Typically, the taxiway network will have a parallel taxiway to the runway. These are usually identified by letters, A, B, C, etc.

2. Then you will have taxiways that run from the parallel taxiway to aprons, entering and exiting runways, etc. These can be by the letter of the parallel taxiway with a number following, so that a series of entry/exit paths to the runway from taxiway A would be A1, A2, etc.

3. A simple plan is to simpy work from north to south or west to east...just start at one side and work your way across, first parallel to the west becomes A, next one becomes B, etc.

4. Then you go back and hit the smaller paths that connect them with A1, B1, etc.

5. There is not a set rule on this. Sometimes you just make a judgement call.

The designators are used by ATC in the game to give you directions when asking for taxi clearance.

Derrick
 
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One other thing, The jargon is all part of the game and perhaps the steepest part of the learning curve. Google is your friend, here where airport terminology is concerned and there are several excellent articles on Wikipedia that a search will lead you to.

All of us have had to pull ourselves up the learning curve by our "bootstraps", spending more time reading than designing at first.

But you are doing it the right way. Take one task or design element at a time and figure it out.

Derrick
 
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You are more than welcome, Richard. I have walked down the same road.

After being here for a few weeks I can tell you there seem to be two different types of designers, those who want full blown functionality of major airports complete with sophisticated AI traffic...

And guys like me who spend most of his time VFR in flightsim and will fly over an area and think, hey, wouldn't it be cool to land down there!

I draw the line at AI. I don't know anything about it. I am not into modelling real world airports. I just have fun making places to land my plane. I can help up to that point.

Derrick
 

scruffyduck

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Jon, I'm not so sure that an open forum is the best way to discuss this, what do you think?

Richard

Email works for me - I get too many PM's and my pm box is always filling up :)

jon AT scruffyduck DOT co DOT uk is the best mail for me
 
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Yes Derrick I am very much like yourself.
I too am enjoying the creation of fictious airports.
I started out on this scenery business purely to be able to create some events for the vfr club I belong to,but just could not help myself from expanding what I could do. The club members are on the whole what I call "rivet counters" and will not appreciate my fictious airports, but I don't have a problem with that.
I shall use my new found knowledge to create stuff that is acceptable but continue in my own fantasy world.

Richard.
 
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Rivet counters! That's too funny!

With me it was back-country airfields. That's how I knew about those dirt/grass textures. Spent hours on that one! Ugh.

Derrick
 
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The club members are on the whole what I call "rivet counters"

It should be pointed out that I can't count, and don't know what a rivet is... ;)

As long as it has a bar (even if it's just a few bottles in a fridge in a caravan in a corner of the field), I appreciate any airfield I can get my Citabria into... !

dsc0268ak1.jpg

The farm strip I landed at on Saturday has a bar -- of sorts. And they thoughtfully nailed my avatar to the top, so I could find it!:laughing:
 

scruffyduck

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Presumably the outside seating and parasols are not in sight due to the season of the year? :)
 
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Although it was warm for the time of year (around 14 degrees in the sun), the ground was rather squelchy. Actually, we had trouble getting the aeroplane moving again -- even under full power, and eventually had to stop the engine, get out, and push! This is Defford, btw, just to the west of Evesham.

BTW, any passing MS texture/landclass artists should note how "brown" the ground isn't in our "green and pleasant land"... :rolleyes:
 
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