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Custom Tower Design

M

MatthiasGose

Messages
19
Hi,

do I have to care about special things when I want to create my own tower building?
I wonder how it is referenced within the XML file because with in the tower tag only the position is written, not the GUID.
Where can I find and modify it?

Regards,

Matthias
 
M

MatthiasGose

Messages
19
Hi,

I use 3dsmax 8 and the plugins shipped in the SDK. The technical airport was designed with the Airport Design Editor.
 
Last edited:
arno

arno

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Hi Matthias,

The XML tower tag only deals with the frequency and tower view position stuff. It does not have any influence on the visual tower model. That will be placed with a ModelData and SceneryObject command like any other 3D object.
 
Daniel

Daniel

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But the SceneryObject XML (containing the LibraryObject) tag is inside the Tower tag. For airports with multiple towers there are multiple Tower tags in the Airport section.

Yet you can't compile that kind of XML files your self, as the bglcomp.xsd specifies a MaxOccurs of 1 for the Tower tag.

To complicate this further, look at the tag for eham:

Code: 
  <Tower
    lat="N52 18.44896"
    lon="E004 45.74750"
    alt="0.00M">
    <SceneryObject
      lat="N52 19.89108"
      lon="E004 43.08962"
      ...
      <LibraryObject
        name="..."
        scale="1.00"/>
    </SceneryObject>
  </Tower>

The coordinates of the tower and the scenery object are different. As result... when you cycle to the tower view, your view will be from the first coordinates. But when you use the Tower Controller option in multiplay... you will be placed at the location of the scenery object.

Daniel
 
arno

arno

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Hi Daniel,

No, the SceneryObject and LibraryObject commands are not supposed to be inside the Tower command. As far as I know that is not valid. The Tower command has just lat/lon/alt attributes and that is all.

Depending on how the model is designed it could be that an offset is needed between the SceneryObject lat/lon and the Tower lat/lon. Although I think most designers would put the tower at the origin of their model to prevent this :).
 
Daniel

Daniel

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Country
netherlands
Hi Arno,

It appears there are 3 truths here:

1 what is written in the SDK
2 what is specified in the bglcomp.xsd
3 what Microsoft/ACES are using

1: SDK

Tower: This element is used to place a tower location at an airport. This element is not allowed to contain other data (lat/lon/alt) and must be terminated with ‘/>’.

2: bglcomp.xsd:
Code: 
  <xs:complexType name="ctTower">
    <xs:sequence>
      <xs:element name="SceneryObject" type="ctSceneryObject" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" />
    </xs:sequence>
    <xs:attribute name="lat" form="unqualified" type="stLatitude" use="optional" />
    <xs:attribute name="lon" form="unqualified" type="stLongitude" use="optional" />
    <xs:attribute name="alt" form="unqualified" type="stAltitude" use="optional" />
  </xs:complexType>

3: Reversing the MS bgl's reveals multiple Tower objects in several airports, while bgclcomp.xsd specifies maxOccurs=1:

Code: 
<xs:group name="grpAirportChildren">
    <xs:choice>
      <xs:element name="Tower" type="ctTower" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" />

As you can see in my previous post, the first tower tag for EHAM contains an object and this is the main tower, yet the coordinates for the tower itself (not the libraryobject) are those of the satellite tower near the Polderbaan.

Daniel
 
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