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MSFS20 Correct scenery folder structure

N

norman99`

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hongkong
I’ve looked through a number of SDK samples, as well as some tutorials/guides, and I’m still a little confused about the correct folder structure.

I’ve see all of the following used:
\scenery
\scenery\global\scenery
\scenery\world\scenery

What are the differences between these, and when would/should I use each?

Also, I’ve seen some with “/“ and some with “\”. Again, what is the significance of this?

There are some examples burried in the SDK docs but I haven’t been able to find enough to get it clear in my head.
 
Hi Norman,

I asked about the / \ before and it seems that they are interchangeable. Personally, I've stuck with the Windows notation, which is the \

As for the folder structure for the exported package, thats not where you work from and should be left as per the SDK (otherwise you end up making life difficult for yourself.

The green area is the project folder. Before you compile (build) anything, it contains "PackageDefinitions" and "PackageSources". PackageDefinitions (in Blue) once set up, you can just leave.

PackageSources (in Red) is the important area. The sub folders will depend on what components you add to your package. I the example below I have a CGL folder (because I've added aerial imagery), ModelLib (this contains a sub folder for each model I've added and a texture folder which contains all of the textures for all of my models) and finally the "scene" folder. This will contain the airport and scenery files which are used to build the project.

Once built, the built project will appear in the packages folder. You can then copy this to your community directory and you're good to go.

There will also be a temporary working area for the build process created in a folder called _PackageInt. The is the working folder for the build process. I say its temporary, but it isn't automatically deleted at the end of a build, but you can delete it safely in between builds.


1599142211114.png
 
That helps a lot, thanks.

So far, I have a scenery source, and an aerial image source. The output of the image is rather straight forward “\CGL“

But I’m confused with the SDK explanation of the scenery (bgl files) output folder
”scenery\<folder>\scenery”. What should I input as “folder”? Given this will be placed in a package, what is the purpose of having two extra levels to the file structure, rather than just “\scenery”
 
The word <folder> will be (in most cases for a full package) both Global and World.

.\scenery\global\scenery\ will contain a texture folder for your textures, and a modellib.bgl, the latter file will include all the models in your project wrapped up in a single file.

.\scenery\world\scenery\ will contain a BGL for your airport and another BGL for your poly's
 
xr219 said:
The word <folder> will be (in most cases for a full package) both Global and World.

.\scenery\global\scenery\ will contain a texture folder for your textures, and a modellib.bgl, the latter file will include all the models in your project wrapped up in a single file.

.\scenery\world\scenery\ will contain a BGL for your airport and another BGL for your poly's
Click to expand...
Could I ask another question about the folder structure and how the airport files are set up? I´m stuck at the point where I added my custom objects to an exisiting airport, clicked on "Save Scenery" and I was able to save the exclude polygons as a .shp file like in your screenshot and I got an additional xml file for my scenery objects that I named objects.xml. But what do I have to do now to get my airport to show up in the normal simulator mode (not dev mode). I copied the contents of the packages folder in the community folder but the airport doesn´t show. I also noticed that I don´t get any other bgl files besides the modelLib.bgl in the scenery\global\scenery folder; while the ORBX airports I installed also have bgl files in the scenery\world\scenery folder, but they don´t have any .xml or .shp files anymore. Do I have to compile the shp and xml files somehow to get another bgl file to put in the scenery\world\scenery folder?

Thanks, Fabian
 
fabs79 said:
Could I ask another question about the folder structure and how the airport files are set up? I´m stuck at the point where I added my custom objects to an exisiting airport, clicked on "Save Scenery" and I was able to save the exclude polygons as a .shp file like in your screenshot and I got an additional xml file for my scenery objects that I named objects.xml. But what do I have to do now to get my airport to show up in the normal simulator mode (not dev mode). I copied the contents of the packages folder in the community folder but the airport doesn´t show. I also noticed that I don´t get any other bgl files besides the modelLib.bgl in the scenery\global\scenery folder; while the ORBX airports I installed also have bgl files in the scenery\world\scenery folder, but they don´t have any .xml or .shp files anymore. Do I have to compile the shp and xml files somehow to get another bgl file to put in the scenery\world\scenery folder?

Thanks, Fabian
Click to expand...

Hi Fabian,

The folder structure in PackageSources is only used to compile the project. This is the source information that the compiler (Build Button) uses to build an output for the sim. You do not put this data into the comunity folder, it is the source.

You should see something similar to the folder structure below. The folder in green is the one that needs to be copied to the community folder. This contains the compiled output from the build process. (you may not have the CGL folder.) In the example below, you would copy the "dozerbug-egvw" folder to the community folder. Hope that makes sense.

1599261488896.png
 
xr219 said:
Hi Fabian,

The folder structure in PackageSources is only used to compile the project. This is the source information that the compiler (Build Button) uses to build an output for the sim. You do not put this data into the comunity folder, it is the source.

You should see something similar to the folder structure below. The folder in green is the one that needs to be copied to the community folder. This contains the compiled output from the build process. (you may not have the CGL folder.) In the example below, you would copy the "dozerbug-egvw" folder to the community folder. Hope that makes sense.

View attachment 61558
Click to expand...
Yes but no how do I compile the objects and shape files into a bgl? When I put the shp and xml files into the folder nothing happens my objects don't show up and the excludes don't work. The only bgl file I have in the packages folder is the modelLib. Bgl in scenery / global /scenery. I don't even have a scenery /world / scenery folder
 
fabs79 said:
Yes but no how do I compile the objects and shape files into a bgl? When I put the shp and xml files into the folder nothing happens my objects don't show up and the excludes don't work. The only bgl file I have in the packages folder is the modelLib. Bgl in scenery / global /scenery. I don't even have a scenery /world / scenery folder
Click to expand...
I recommend you follow the scenery guide. Those folders are created based on what you’ve defined when you create the project. The compiler will sort those.

Scenery guide
 
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