• Which the release of FS2020 we see an explosition of activity on the forun and of course we are very happy to see this. But having all questions about FS2020 in one forum becomes a bit messy. So therefore we would like to ask you all to use the following guidelines when posting your questions:

    • Tag FS2020 specific questions with the MSFS2020 tag.
    • Questions about making 3D assets can be posted in the 3D asset design forum. Either post them in the subforum of the modelling tool you use or in the general forum if they are general.
    • Questions about aircraft design can be posted in the Aircraft design forum
    • Questions about airport design can be posted in the FS2020 airport design forum. Once airport development tools have been updated for FS2020 you can post tool speciifc questions in the subforums of those tools as well of course.
    • Questions about terrain design can be posted in the FS2020 terrain design forum.
    • Questions about SimConnect can be posted in the SimConnect forum.

    Any other question that is not specific to an aspect of development or tool can be posted in the General chat forum.

    By following these guidelines we make sure that the forums remain easy to read for everybody and also that the right people can find your post to answer it.

FS2004 Create Flattens

Messages
201
Country
us-newyork
Hi,
Years ago I was using S-Builder to create Flattens (LWM2.bgl and VTPP.bgls were created and I could place my new ADE airport on the flatten).
Since I got W10 for some reason the available S-Builder cannot be uploaded (heard the same issue is with W11).
Is there any alternate way I could create flattens?
Any advise appreciated.
 
You can use ADE to create flattens. As I remember, it’s the button with the big yellow square?
 
Hi Tom, to my knowledge it is not Flatten, it is exclusion rectangle to clear the default scenery.
 
Try to Poly Button. The green one at top left of this screenshot

1734170001865.png
 
Hi Peter:

I give everyone who posted above top scores for each assertion being correct. :)

It is true that one can implement Flattens in FS9 compatible LWM and/or SCASM / ASM code.

BGLC_9 IIRC was almost a 'cousin' of SCASM, but I thought I saw a SCASM example once ...somewhere.

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/bglc_9-exclude.437045/


IIRC, there is a (very) old SCASM / ASM 'trick' to flatten terrain via an exclusion Rectangle, but I forgot where I saw that.

Hmmm... maybe it was instead the SCASM ability to exclude a Flatten located within another Area layer of Scenery.Cfg via:

GenExcl( name.BGL mask



But I suppose ADE9 writes its Exclusion Rectangles via BGLComp code rather than via SCASM / ASM ?


One can also use Flatten statements in Scenery.Cfg for an entire Area, and optionally to also Exclude certain content.

However, it is best IMHO, to do so with discrete and separate Exclude BGLs loaded within \Scenery sub-folders of 'Active' Areas.


In ADE, at startup, Jon kindly provided us with the (enforced) option to select the FS version we are working with in that session.

If we choose FS9, the Polygon Icon does indeed utilize a FS9 version of what we otherwise see in FSX when we make a Flatten.

A difference in processing internally for FS9 mode is ADE outputs a SCASM / ASM coded Flatten BGL which works perfectly. :wizard:

Many thanks to Jon for his hard work providing us with ADE for so many years (...and very good to see Jon posting again.) :wave:


Note to Peter:

ADE9 performs some- but not all- of the tasks that we depend on SBuilder to do; its good to have many tools to work with. ;)

SBuilder for FS9 (aka 'SBuilder205' etc.) is alive & well, working with full capability as coded by Luis on my Win-10 Pro 64-bit.

If at any point you wish to troubleshoot that installation, I'd be glad to help get it running with you sometime.

GaryGB
 
Last edited:
Yes, the green polygon icon on the button is the correct one. Thanks.

But note that an FS 2004 it will look completely different than John’s image. It will just be a flatten.
 
FWIW ... I'm using SBuilder for FS9 under W10 64-bit with no problems for background polygons and roads and such, but I use SceneGenX to create flattens, just 'cos I'm used to doing it that way.
I've got both programs running from my D drive (ie not in C:\Program Files) as I got fed up with W10 being "security conscious" ... makes life a lot easier ;)
 
FWIW ... I'm using SBuilder for FS9 under W10 64-bit with no problems for background polygons and roads and such, but I use SceneGenX to create flattens, just 'cos I'm used to doing it that way.
I've got both programs running from my D drive (ie not in C:\Program Files) as I got fed up with W10 being "security conscious" ... makes life a lot easier ;)
Hi Chris,
Surprise to hear this.
I tried on number of ocassions and could not download SBuilder to my W10 64bit machine. My colegue could not do it on W11 either.
Any clues?
 
Try to Poly Button. The green one at top left of this screenshot
Hi ScuffyDuck. Tried this. The flatten was made OK. I was also able to place objects on it but not runway?
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot (4645).png
    Screenshot (4645).png
    2.5 MB · Views: 24
Hi Chris,
Surprise to hear this.
I tried on number of ocassions and could not download SBuilder to my W10 64bit machine. My colegue could not do it on W11 either.
Any clues?
Don't remember for sure, but I did make a couple of notes for my own future reference under W10 Pro 64-bit as follows :-

"sBuilder will probably require a couple of OCX files from VisualBasic6-KB896559-v1-ENU.exe
Use 7-Zip to extract the files as required, (don't run the executable), copy them to C:\Windows\SysWOW64 then use Regsvr32 from an administrator command prompt within C:\Windows\SysWOW64 to register the files.
"

From memory, "things did work", then a Microsoft update last April threw a spanner in the works.
I totally forget where I got the clues about the SysWOW64 folder etc., probably from searching for error messages generated during installation, then "jiggling it" a bit to suit.
I do know that SceneGenX required similar interventions, as did an ancient copy of 32-bit PaintShop Pro that I use for one or two specific little jobs and, believe it or not, FS9 itself!
They've all stayed totally reliable once I finally got them working.

I've yet to venture into W11 in any depth ... my first experience was that it is extremely unintuitive and I simply couldn't be bothered to argue with it, so I've reverted to W10.
 
Last edited:
Hello:

Here is a downloadable installer of some MS VB6 files SBuilder requires for use in Windows 10:


NOTE: The above MS VB6 installer automatically "registers" the included code libraries with no need to manually run 'RegSrvr32' etc. :wizard:


PS: I would avoid installing / attempting to use a new Windows version number (like '11') for at least (4) years after it is released by MS.

Notice I did not use the term "Upgrade" in the context of a new Windows version number. :rotfl:

GaryGB
 
Last edited:
Back
Top