• 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.

KML, wrong airport altitude

C

coolfsx

Messages
8
Country
belgium
Hi all,

Please read and see the picture bellow.
I have a problem and I really don't know what to do.
I used the KML to flatten and to exclude.
I used the following tags:
"Exclude__AirportBackgrounds"
"Airport_Backgrounds_Flatten_MaskClassMap"

I tried to edit the BGL but its seems that if I am changing the airport "ALT" in the BGL it getting worse.

I want to reduce the airport "ALT" to the same "ALT" as you see in the picture.
how can I do that??? what attribute should I change to reduce "ALT" of the airport.

exp1.jpg


Thanks
COOLFSX :confused:
 
I tried to edit the BGL but its seems that if I am changing the airport "ALT" in the BGL it getting worse.
Click to expand...

Looking at your screenshot it seems to me that you didn't change the runway "ALT" as well.

Bert
 
As mentioned, the 'Runway' element controls the altitude of the actual runway- remember also that the default unit is metres and its possible you were thinking in feet? (You can specify feet or metres by adding a M or F to the end of your value "20F" etc. If no suffix is added, Metres will be assumed)
 
coolfsx said:
Hi all,

Please read and see the picture bellow.
I have a problem and I really don't know what to do.
I used the KML to flatten and to exclude.
I used the following tags:
"Exclude__AirportBackgrounds"
"Airport_Backgrounds_Flatten_MaskClassMap"

I tried to edit the BGL but its seems that if I am changing the airport "ALT" in the BGL it getting worse.

I want to reduce the airport "ALT" to the same "ALT" as you see in the picture.
how can I do that??? what attribute should I change to reduce "ALT" of the airport.

Thanks
COOLFSX :confused:
Click to expand...

I'm not familiar with the FSX KML tagging, but from the looks of your screenshot you successfully removed the default flatten. What you are seeing is the flattening-ness of the runway and taxis.

As pointed out by Bert, you need to deal with the Airport elevation as well. This will be accomplished using BglComp. Search and you should find a thread addressing this.

-Doug
 
Thanks for your reply.
I did change the runways and airport "ALT" to "32M" ( 108F). all of them were down but some montains are show up in the middle of the runway.

the picture you are seeing above is will the simulation default "ALT".
I post this picture becaue I wanted you to see the original probel.

Thanks
 
Hi Coolfsx,

You didn't mention which airport you are having trouble with.

If it's GCFA (La Palma) then I can tell you there is something within the main bgl (APX43210) which is causing the elevation not to drop to the new altitude.

As a test I disabled APX43210 and the flatten and AFCAD works at the new altitude. So there must be something still set at the old altitude.

David
 
I have also encountered the same problem. Pietermaritzburg airport, in South Africa, has a default elevation of 840m instead of the 738.5m. I have successfully removed the default airport boundary/flatten ("Exclude__Airport_Boundaries") and replaced it with 'n new boundary/flatten ("Flatten + MaskClassMap + ExcludeAutogen") at the correct elevation of 738.5m.

I have written a new xml file to exclude the default airport and to replace it by a new airport, as per SDK. I used the following code to exclude:

<DeleteAirport
deleteAllApronLights = "TRUE"
deleteAllAprons = "TRUE"
deleteAllFrequencies = "TRUE"
deleteAllHelipads = "TRUE"
deleteAllRunways = "TRUE"
deleteAllStarts = "TRUE"
deleteAllTaxiways = "TRUE"
deleteAllBlastFences = "TRUE"
deleteAllBoundaryFences = "TRUE"
deleteAllControlTowers = "TRUE"/>

In FSX, the default airport is gone and I can see the new airport, but the newly created runway, taxiways and aprons are back at the default incorrect elevation. I then edited the default APX file and changed the elevation of all instances related to this airport to 738.5m. Still, the new airport is at the default elevation.

I then deleted the code of this airport from the default APX file and now my new airport is at the correct elevation. However, this is not the way to do it; it is dangerous to allow every scenery designer to patch default FSX files.

I do not use KML, but I do not think this problem is related to FSX KML Tagging.

Expert advice will be appreciated!

Regards
Johan van Wyk
 
Modify Airport Altitude

Hi,

To modify the original airport altitude you have to made two changes:

one, for the airport reference altitude (something AFCAD does for FS9); and
two, creating a new flatten polygon at the new altitude, and a exclude polygon, to delete the old airport.

For the second option, you can use FSX KML or SBuilder, as well.

Regards,

José
 
Modify Airport Altitude

David, I fully agree with you, something in the default APX is causing the elevation not to drop. I have also tested it by disabling the relevant APX. I have deleted the code for the airport in the relevant APX file and this was the only way to get new airport on the correct elevation. Like I said, I ended up patching the APX file. However, this prevents me from releasing the scenery.

José, I have done exactly as you said. The correct airport reference altitude is in the new xml file, the same altitude is being used for the Runway, Tower, Start and RunwayStart data. The airport does not have ILS, so altitudes for ILS/Glideslope would not have had any effect. Other data that use altitude, like Approaches, Transition, Legs, etc will not have any influence on the airport altitude.

I have already replaced a few airports in our scenery, but this was the only one so far in need of an altitude correction.

Regards
Johan van Wyk
 
Thank you very much for all the replyer, I will see what I can do and let you know the results.

Thanks
 
I have used the latest versions of SDE and BGLAnalyzeX to decompile the APX file and have come to the conclusion that it is those unknown VERTEX tags they were talking about at the beginning of the development of these tools that's causing the problem.

David
logo_sm.jpg
 
Hi all.

This problem was in FS9 as well.

The default APX file sets the airport elevation. All further "corrections" to this are ignored by the sim. What we found were two solutions:

1) Decompile and edit the default APX file to the new elevation. ( Not the best idea ).

OR...

2) Make a new instance of the airport, with the correct elevation, earlier in the Scenery Library!



The first instance of the airport will control all subsequent elevatons.

So a small XML/BGLComp file does the trick, as explained in this thread:

http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=123&topic_id=24653&mesg_id=25106&page=

Dick
 
AI Traffic troubles

Hi, Dick

If I'm not wrong, you've teached in another thread that changing the runway location or its altitude would create some troubles to AI Traffic, because the approaches' data retain the old information.

I ask you if there's a program or an easy method to create or modify approaches, based only on the IAF and the runway start point.

Regards,

José
 
Dick,

Thank you, your suggestion did the trick!

I was hoping that this problem has been rectified in FSX.

I did not check the AI traffic yet.

Regards
Johan
 
rhumbaflappy said:
Hi all.

This problem was in FS9 as well.
The default APX file sets the airport elevation. All further "corrections" to this are ignored by the sim. What we found were two solutions:

1) Decompile and edit the default APX file to the new elevation. ( Not the best idea ).

OR...

2) Make a new instance of the airport, with the correct elevation, earlier in the Scenery Library!



The first instance of the airport will control all subsequent elevatons.

So a small XML/BGLComp file does the trick, as explained in this thread:

http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=123&topic_id=24653&mesg_id=25106&page=

Dick
Click to expand...

hi Dick,
In your thread you are using 3 different altitudes, but i am a little confused which one is the mentioned one.
Can you please explain this a little further?

1."shortform" airport BGL at the bottom-most level possible in the Scenery Library.
(placed in scenery library\corrected afcad elevation\scenery)

which altitude?

2.the altitude-corrected AFCAD BGL placed in it's own project/scenery folder adjusted to the uppermost priority level.

which altitude?

This folder also contains a flatten BGL ( which is slightly less elevation than the runways ).
Ofcourse this altitude is clear.

FSX EHTW airport runway at 117.8ft/35.9m AFCAD 117.8ft/35,9m

Thanks in advance
Bert
 
Hi Bert.

The "short form " is the same altitude as the new altitude-corrected.

The position of the short form BGL in the Scenery Library controls the actual altitude. I don't know if the terrain flatten needs to be 1/128th meter lower than the runway in FSX... that may have been fixed.

Dick
 
rhumbaflappy said:
Hi Bert.

The "short form " is the same altitude as the new altitude-corrected.

The position of the short form BGL in the Scenery Library controls the actual altitude. I don't know if the terrain flatten needs to be 1/128th meter lower than the runway in FSX... that may have been fixed.

Dick
Click to expand...

hi Dick,
Whatever flatten height and/or position in the scenery library i take the result is still negative as you can see in the attachement.
Do you please have any other idea or hint for me yo solve this?

Thanks again.
Bert
EHTW
 
Last edited:
Hi Bert.

Your problem is the vector terrain flatten ( Airport boundry FLX file ).

Without seeing your files, I don't think I can give you any more info than that.


Dick
 
rhumbaflappy said:
Hi Bert.

Your problem is the vector terrain flatten ( Airport boundry FLX file ).

Without seeing your files, I don't think I can give you any more info than that.


Dick
Click to expand...

hi Dick,
Just when i got your reply, i fixed the problem...
But i must confess that i don't understand how it worked well this time!
Therefore i have put the files in the attachement.
Please have a look and give your comment.

regards
Bert
 
Last edited:
Hi Bert.

It looks OK to me.

The folder "Corrected_AFCAD_Elevation" which contains the 'shortform" airport elevation, needs to be placed very early in the Scenery Library.

I use ALT-D to quickly move the scenery folder to the bottom of the list.

Future airport elevations will then default to this elevation. Note this affects runway, apron, and taxiway elevations. The ground elevation needs to be in another scenery folder, high up on the Scenery Library list, just as you seem to have placed it.

Check out AI traffic, and see if they now obey the new altitude.

=====================================

Another note about FSX:

When we make scenery changes, we still need to exit the sim and restart it to ensure the changes are visible. This hasn't changed from FS9... in fact it is worse in that the sim leads you to believe the changes can be done from within the Scenery Library. Not true.

That may be why you didn't see the changes at first, but now they work! You probably exited the sim in frustration, and when you restarted it, the changes were there.

Dick
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top