Exclusion does not work in FS9

[florincoter]

Hi,
I use ADE9, Application 01.78.7298.19731, Engine 04.75.7298.19441.
WIN10, 64b, 8G RAM, a lot of free HD space.

As stated above, no exclusion rectangle has any effect in FS9.

The non-solution I found was to open the airport with AFX, place all the exclusions there, save as AF2_XXX.bgl in the airport scenery folder. Now all is OK. If I remove the AF2 from the scenery folder the exclusions in ADE compiled files do not work.

Please help with this bug.

Thank you,
Florin.

 

[scruffyduck]

We need a lot more information. You need to explain what you are trying to exclude and how you are doing it. Generally with ADE you don't need to create exclusion rectangles for stock objects and adding your own can cancel others out. You suggest you are using AFX as well although that isn't for FS9 as I understand it. Please attach the ADE project file (.ad4) that you are working with. I hope that you aren't working back and forth with the bgl file.

 

[scruffyduck]

Something else to think about is File Loading Priority. A file could be loading after your work and defeating your exclusions: https://scruffyduck.screenstepslive.com/s/help_docs/m/20268/l/199760-priority-matters

 

[florincoter]

Hi,
1. I tried to exclude trees and FS9 buildings. All appear all over the place, not over the FS9 airport area. My airport extends beyond FS9 original. Here is the problem.
2. To exclude I place exclusion rectangles, some exclude all, some autogen, just to see if there is any difference in behavior. No exclusion works.
3. After reading that many others complained about this issue and reading about , I checked for lost files. I found none, IMHO, but I may be wrong.
4. I removed all the files from ADE compilation. I opened with AFX the default airport and saved it as a AFCAD file for FS9. I ran FS9 with expected results. Close FS9. I added in AFX a very large exclusion rectangle, much larger than the airport. Every thing except the grass was removed.
5. I placed back the files rom ADE9 and ran FS9. All appeared OK and all ran smoothly. Closed FS9.
6. I removed AFX AFCAD. Run FS9. All the aprons were infested with trees and houses, all over.
7. It appears that FAX AFCAD file does not care about File Loading Priority. So should the ADE9 files.
8. What do you mean by "I hope that you aren't working back and forth with the bgl file."?
9. I did about 5 airports and in no case the exclusions worked. I always use full settings.
10. FSX is for FS9 too. Never failed with exclusions.

The project is added here. Please let me know any additional info you need.

All the best,
Florin.

 

[scruffyduck]

First my apologies - it is so long since I looked at AFX that I had forgotten that it supports FS9.

ADE is doing what it can do and what it is intended to do. It creates bgl files using Microsoft bgl compilers. I think you are aware that the standard exclusion rectangles are not reliably able to exclude autogen. This is what the FS9 SDK says

This element is used to create an exclusion region for scenery. Exclusion rectangles are
used to remove scenery objects from the specified region. Flags can be used to exclude a
subset of objects in the specified region.

It seems that using the Exclude All option will remove some autogen but this is not reliable and appears to be an 'undocumented' feature.

AFX has an exclusion rectangle feature with an extra function to exclude autogen. This is not an exclusion rectangle but is some sort of library object which is sized to match the area of exclusion.

Library objects suppress autogen so that is how AFX does it. AFX uses its own compiler which may be different than the one ADE uses.

I think that I need to ask folks who work with FS9 to come in here sine ADE works as well as it can, no better than we can get with the MS compiler and with no added special exclude as created by AFX. I believe that ADE will create FS9 exclusions that work with scenery objects which is all it is intended with the MS Exclusion rectangle

Hope full some folks here will be able to offer assistance based on how they deal with excluding autogen for FS9.

 

[tgibson]

FS9 Exclusion rectangles work fine for me. Autogen exclusion using Exclude All has been reliable in my hands.

Note also that the exclude files must be present in a scenery layer *higher in priority* than the objects you intend on excluding. This is almost certainly true for autogen, but for other objects it may not be.

 

[florincoter]

FS9 Exclusion rectangles work fine for me, as long as you make sure that the extra file generated (ADE BGL file with _TER in the name)

Hi Tom,
Thank you for the answer. It does not matter how I compile the project, there is no *_TER* file, as you can see in the attached image. What do you suggest?
Regards,
Florin.

 

[florincoter]

I just checked and ADE is creating a TER file for me. If you can't get a TER file you won't have any excludes. But I am still using 1.76 - perhaps the newest versions aren't doing that anymore?

Hi Tom,
I have installed 1.76. It does not generate any TER file. I have checked the CTO box too. It is checked, but grayed out. Do I have to purchase the PRO key to have the feature activated?
Thank you,
Florin.

 

[scruffyduck]

OK - sorry to come in here but the TER file contains flattens and not exclusion rectangles. The Conditional Compile options will only be available if you have a ProKey and if there are flattens in the project file. If you don't have a ProKey then the TER file will automatically be created but only if there are flattens in the project.

There is no difference between 1.76 and 1.78 in how they work here.

I notice from your screenshot above that you are using a Complex split compile for this project - is there any reason for that? exclusion rectangles are in the _OBJ.bgl file

 

[florincoter]

OK - sorry to come in here but the TER file contains flattens and not exclusion rectangles. The Conditional Compile options will only be available if you have a ProKey and if there are flattens in the project file. If you don't have a ProKey then the TER file will automatically be created but only if there are flattens in the project.

There is no difference between 1.76 and 1.78 in how they work here.

I notice from your screenshot above that you are using a Complex split compile for this project - is there any reason for that? exclusion rectangles are in the _OBJ.bgl file

Hi Jon,
Thank you. The reason was to try to find the problem. I thought Complex split may provide more info.

What next, if there is a next?

Keep healthy,
Florin.

 

[florincoter]

Hi All,
I have added a flatten for the sake of the argument, and... no TER file was created.
F.

 

[scruffyduck]

I am not sure what is going on for you. I just added a flatten using the Poly Tool

To your airport project and compiled. I get a TER file

So at the moment I am not able to replicate your issues. Perhaps Tom will have some more good suggestions once he gets online.

 

[scruffyduck]

I notice that you have 30 exclusion rectangles in your project. What are these related to? stock objects or autogen or what? Generally ADE adds exclusion rectangles automatically for stock items when a project is created. However you don't seem to have any of those so I guess you didn't start your project with a stock airport

 

[scruffyduck]

I compiled your project file and replicated the presence of autogen on aprons. I removed all your various exclusion rectangles and replaced them with one large one to exclude all. Most of the autogen trees seem to have gone but one or two remain. I attach my revised project file. If you try to compile this be sure to remove all bgl files that you created from Addon Scenery\scenery or wherever you compiled them to.

 

[florincoter]

I notice that you have 30 exclusion rectangles in your project. What are these related to? stock objects or autogen or what? Generally ADE adds exclusion rectangles automatically for stock items when a project is created. However you don't seem to have any of those so I guess you didn't start your project with a stock airport

Hi Jon,
I started with an existing airport, most probably an old ADE project. Is there a requirement to start with a stock airport? If yes, what about creating an airport that has no stock counterpart. At any rate, I did create one from nothing, with only a flatten and it did not produced a TER file. I reinstalled ADE 1.78, but nothing changed.
F.

 

[florincoter]

I notice that you have 30 exclusion rectangles in your project. What are these related to?

They are related to several areas along a diagonal. I did not want one large exclusion. They exclude ALL.

F.

 

[florincoter]

I compiled your project file and replicated the presence of autogen on aprons. I removed all your various exclusion rectangles and replaced them with one large one to exclude all. Most of the autogen trees seem to have gone but one or two remain. I attach my revised project file. If you try to compile this be sure to remove all bgl files that you created from Addon Scenery\scenery or wherever you compiled them to.

Hi Jon,
This did the job, almost. I placed a total cover and the airport is clean of every thing I wanted to get rid of. Still, it puzzles me. Is there any reference I missed in the manual? If not, I suggest to add.

Let me try to clarify. If I want a clean area, clean it all? Then, why does ADE allow for more than one exclusion? What do I miss about the concept?

F.

 

[florincoter]

Jon and Tom,

A lot of thanks for the patience and the support.

Keep healthy,
Florin.

 

[scruffyduck]

I need to repeat that this isn't ADE. There is no reference in the manual since unless we add something like using exclusion rectangles in FS9 to remove autogen or that overlapping exclusion rectangles can defeat each other. This is the behavior of the compiler and sim.

 

[tgibson]

The reason you have the capability to add more than one rectangle is if you are trying to preserve some default scenery between them. But they should never overlap.