• 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.

Duplicate Control Towers

M

miatamariner54

Messages
17
Country
us-massachusetts
I have moved the default FSX medium control tower 2 from my local airport using ADE 1.65, to another position. I did this from the stock airport bgl. When I fired up FSX and went to the airport, the control tower had been moved, but now the same tower was also in it's original position, so now I had two towers. I tried creating an exclude for the original positioned tower, but it did not remove it. Is there a process to accomplish this?

I'm using the default tower 2 as it has a rotating beacon. I could install a different tower using Instant Scenery 3 but can not find a rotating beacon in the airport objects bgl. There are several beacons but none that rotate.
 
Last edited:
How did you move it? Did you just drag the one already there? That should have worked OK. But you must never open and save the ADE BGL file in ADE, only the AD4 file.

If this can't be fixed you can add a beacon using ADE - Add... Beacon. Just stick it on top of your tower.
 
tgibson said:
How did you move it? Did you just drag the one already there? That should have worked OK. But you must never open and save the ADE BGL file in ADE, only the AD4 file.

If this can't be fixed you can add a beacon using ADE - Add... Beacon. Just stick it on top of your tower.
Click to expand...
Thanks. Do you know if the ADE beacon rotates or does ADE simply get it from the airport objects bgl folder?

I moved the tower by changing it's coordinates. All I'm really looking for is a beacon that rotates. I can use Instant Scenery to place it.
 
Hello:

In 2009 when I was still learning how to place a rotating civilian airport beacon in FS2Kx, Jim Vile kindly posted this:

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/what-features-for-version-1-50.16405/post-107493


FYI: Although IS3 can find / place the static 3D models for the airport beacons in Airport_Objects.bgl, IS3 does not place the rotating (animated) 3D scenery objects via the required FS 'AttachPoint' code; to do this, use ADE as Jim, Jon, and Tom explain in that thread.


PS: I recommend installing / using the updated ADE version 1.79x for some fixes and added features:

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/development-version-1-79-7475-available.448076/


The ADE version 1.79x "Project Backup" feature alone is worth its weight in gold, IMHO.

ADEv1.79x Menu > Project > Backup > select target output path for a ZIP of the source and output folders of the current ADE project (including a *.AD4)

GaryGB
 
Last edited:
Hi,

As Gary said, IS cannot place rotating beacons, it doesn't have the capability to edit the needed XML. ADE will place a proper rotating beacon.
 
tgibson said:
Hi,

As Gary said, IS cannot place rotating beacons, it doesn't have the capability to edit the needed XML. ADE will place a proper rotating beacon.
Click to expand...
Tom:
I did not realize (but do now) that IS3 can not read/edit the xml of an object. Do I have that correct? As stated above, it is very easy using IS3 to place a beacon on top of a tower. I am going to assume that I will need to have the exact co-ordinates on hand before attempting to do this with ADE. Will the beacon also come from the airport object bgl folder?

I am embarrassed to ask this, but I can not find an instruction manual on how to use the Library Objects Manager.
All I can find in the main ADE folder is a manual on ground polys. Hope somebody can help.

Thanks
 
Last edited:
Hi again:

IS3 actually does read / write most of the SDK BGLComp XML for working with 3D scenery objects; but adding the program code into IS3 for placing airport beacons with animation and conditional display via AttachPoints was never finished by the author.

See: ADE 1.65 PDF Manual with a web browser or Adobe Acrobat Reader DC:

Adobe - Download Adobe Acrobat Reader

Download free Adobe Acrobat Reader software for your Windows, Mac OS and Android devices to view, print, and comment on PDF documents.
get.adobe.com get.adobe.com

ADE 1.65 PDF Manual download:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/8rp6jr7en9xwdls

...from this web page:

https://www.scruffyducksoftware.com/downloads

GaryGB
 
Last edited:
Once again, to place a rotating beacon you right click where you want it, choose Add.../Beacon, and drag it where you want it to be. You will need to set the elevation though.

You do not use the Library Object Manager at all in this process, so I am confused why you are asking about it?
 
Now I am confused! My main objective here is to first find a rotating beacon that can be placed on top of a tower. The only beacons I can find are located in the default FSX airport objects bgl folder, but there is no description provided for any of these beacons which indicate that they rotate. So far, have not found any that rotate.

I was under the impression that using the LOM from ADE would give me rotating beacon,s but on second thought, if the animation is not coded into any of the beacons bgl, they aren't going to rotate. Is this correct? Do you know of any standalone rotating beacons scenery objects that can be placed in FSX? Am I looking in the wrong folder?

Later:

"You do not use the Library Object Manager at all in this process, so I am confused why you are asking about it?"

OK Tom, I think I've got a handle on this now. I followed your process not using the LOM and not the beacons from the fsx airport objects bgl folder. I now have a beacon with feathers. Just have to get the right height.

Thanks


3 hours later:


Success. Thanks to everyone who contributed to my problem. My misunderstanding was centered around my assumption that the Beacons were drawn from the FSX Global/scenery folder with the files of the airport objects bgl. Didn't realize that ADE has its own rotating civilian airport beacon. I do now!
 
Last edited:
Airport Beacon 3D models are sourced from airport objects bgl, but only render as animated / rotatin9g via special (undocumented) routines within FS itself.

The placement BGLComp XML code that ADE outputs from LOM also sources Airport Beacons from the same airport objects bgl, but this LOM placement method does not render Airport Beacons as animated / rotating.

But when the ADE Add > Airport Beacon feature is used, the Beacon will render as animated / rotating via special (undocumented) routines within FS itself ...because a special BGLComp XML element is utilized in the placement code.

ADE does not yet include Parameter values to define 'when' Airport Beacons are to be rendered with rotating illuminated light cones.

IIRC, the default behavior is to display the rotating illuminated light cones 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

But IRL, normally that would be limited to the hours from Dusk to Dawn.


FYI: There have been discussions on how to implement the classic civilian beacon for MSFS; here is one of those threads showing that classic Airport Beacon with its GUID:

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/airport-rotating-3d-beacons.451551/


Although IS3 and other BGLComp XML compatible placement utilities can 'place' Airport Beacons as static 3D models from airport objects bgl via their "lookup" GUID, they will not render as animated / rotating until the XML contains FS' special XML code element section that Jim Vile showed in his example (originally posted here):

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/what-features-for-version-1-50.16405/post-107493

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<FSData version="9.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="bglcomp.xsd">
<SceneryObject
lat="-12.7848493264784" <<<------ thin wall Lat
lon="143.304919052313" <<<<------- thin wall Lon
alt="4.17576" <<<<<<------ altitude the beacon will sit at
pitch="0"
bank="0"
heading="0"
altitudeIsAgl="TRUE" <<<<------ You can leave TRUE since the beacon altitude code does not understand AGL
imageComplexity="NORMAL">
<Beacon type="CIVILIAN" baseType="AIRPORT" />
</SceneryObject>
</FSData>


Like some of us, you may prefer to place 3D models in FS2Kx using IS3.

If so, assuming you wanted to use IS3 for visibly precise placement, you could:

* de-compile the resulting placement BGL output by IS3

* edit the resulting BGLComp XML to add the special FS Airport Beacon XML element above in RED

* re-compile the XML file via SDK BGLComp.exe to output a placement BGL

...that allows FS to render the rotating Airport Beacon.


The software you need to do this is here:

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/bgl2xml-gui-v-1-10.448225/post-849490

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/resources/prepar3d-v1-sdk.227/

GaryGB
 
Last edited:
GaryGB

Thanks for the very detailed explanation and reference posts about this situation. I am a basic beginner in regards to scenery object placement. IS3 has been my utility of choice for placement of objects. Thanks to your info, I now have a better understanding of the animation situation.

Chris
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top