Geographically locked objects

[Rick Tobin]

I found somewhere in another forum that some of the objects in the FS9 LibraryObjects.xls are "geographically" locked and can not be relocated in the sim (ex. DFW_West_J is located at Dallas Fort Worth and won't appear anywhere else when it's GUID is used at a different location in a manually created XML)


Assuming the above info is correct and this is coded in the XML file; does anyone know what the syntax of that code might be?

 

[scruffyduck]

I think you will find that this is in the bgl file and the location coding is placed with the mdl file. Assuming you want to unlock it you would have to extract the mdl files and recompile them into a new library without any location code. A number of people have done this and there are libraries of some of the objects on AVSIM. I think Sidney Swartz (not sure of the spelling) did them for EZ-Scenery. There is an ethical and copyright issue here that I am sure you are aware of. That is whether it is infringing the developers rights by unpacking a bgl file and repackaging the models in it. If you are doing it for you own use then it should not be a problem.

If you are talking about locking an object then the location code needs to be in the same bgl file as the model (mdl) file.

 

[Rick Tobin]

Thanks for the reply.

I wasn't attempting to unlock anything. My quest started after helping someone else that couldn't get objects to show up and he was doing everything correctly.

When I found out about the possibility of the objects being locked, it just got me wondering what the data syntax would be had it been a part of the XML file.

 

[arno]

Hi,

As Jon already said, there is no special syntax for this. Just mixing the ModelData and SceneryObject XML commands in the same file, will result in the ModelData objects becoming geolocked to the area of this BGL file.

A lot of the default objects that are designed especially for one location are geolocked.

 

[Rick Tobin]

Thanks for the input Arno. I guess I should have asked - "How do you geolock an object".

Jon referenced EZ-Scenery above and after doing some more searching I found what i was looking for.

Initially I was left with the impression that the process of locking an object was accomplished while using MakeMDL or BGLComp alone. I didn't know I'd need yet another scenery application to do it.

Thanks for the help guys.

 

[arno]

Hi Rick,

You don't need any special application to lock them. Just using BGLComp is enough. By mixing the ModelData and SceneryObject commands in the same XML file they get locked.

It is indeed not in the MDL file itself, but determined in the XML file to place them.

 

[agarzon]

Hi all.

I know this topic is very old and sorry for re-open, but is possible show us a real example?

How compile a MDL but geographically locked, can we see a XML example?

Thanks all.

 

[arno]

Hi,

It's quite simple, just have both the SceneryObject and ModelData command in the same file.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<FSData
	version="9.0"
	xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
	xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="bglcomp.xsd">
	<SceneryObject
		lat="40.0000000"
		lon="-39.9999772"
		alt="0.0000000"
		pitch="0.0000000"
		bank="0.0000000"
		heading="0.0000000"
		altitudeIsAgl="TRUE"
		imageComplexity="NORMAL">
		<LibraryObject
			name="{C93FBA22-0C82-47E4-AC76-0E90D2A1EF9D}"
			scale="1.0000000"/>
	</SceneryObject>

	<ModelData
		sourceFile="myFile.mdl"
		fileOffset="0"/>
</FSData>

 

[agarzon]

A big thank to you.

 

[agarzon]

Hi again,

I make the test and works well but... I was thinking in some more different.

What I really need is to lock objects in the coordinate but also make them invisible to the "object placement tool" (and another similar tools) so that nobody else can use my models in places other than that I assigned.

I'm sure there must be some way because the same simulator have somes BGL unusable with certain models and belong to a single place on earth

How is possible to do that? Thanks for any help.

 

[arno]

Hi,

I don't think you can completely prevent it. Some tools will hide objects that come from a BGL file that also contains placement, but not all do.

 

[agarzon]

But at least there is some way to avoid appearing listed in the OPT?

 

[rhumbaflappy]

There are decompilers that will extract the MDL from any BGL.

Also, a stubborn hacker will be able to manually extract the MDL from the BGL... that's how we first found out about scenery MDLs in FS9, and how we first found out how to geo-lock them. FSX is no different in this regard.

Hiding an object from only certain tools would do you no good in the long run, even if it is possible.

( Almost no one uses the OPT for scenery object placement ).

Dick