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[REFERENCE] FSX Scenery Library Object Catalog

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unitedstates
Hello everyone!

First off, I know that this has been done before, but I wasn't completely satisfied with efficiency, ease or presentation of others in the past; though I can only find one other 'catalog'. So please, if this is not for you, I feel there is no need to make negative comments. Constructive comments are more than welcome. Besides, I already made it! :p

Preface:
While I create scenery, whether it is updating local airports or adding new ones, I often find that I spend more time trying to figure out what GUID goes with what model, what they look like, how big they are, etc, etc. There is very little information about this. Sure, I could open up 'another' program, load the file, etc, etc ... This is very time consuming and not very helpful and I have to look through several files before finding what I was looking for!

Well ... Here it is for all you Mission Makers, Scenery Developers and those just curious about what is in 'those' files. I have, over the past couple days, cataloged all the major Scenery BGL files. I made images, and created an On-Line FSX Scenery Library Object Catalog. This was made possible, in part, by Arno Gerretsen's excellent ModelConverterX( MCX )!

Features:
This Catalog is fairly straight forward, and has some( hopefully ) time-saving features to it. These features are as follows:
  • The catalog is SEARCHABLE! Though, the search function is very basic!
    • For example: When searching for 'Oak Trees', one would enter 'oak' to produce better results. If one entered 'oak tress', the logic would search for files/file names with 'oak' AND 'trees' in them.
  • There are convenient 'Zoom' and 'Back' buttons.
  • There is an easy to use 'Night / Day Toggle'; for both thumbnails and zoomed images.
  • Copy the GUID to clipboard in a very simple way. All GUIDs are clickable. When clicked, the entire GUID is selected and focused, without the braces '{}'; just hit 'CTRL + C' and you're done!
  • Every major BGL file in the main Scenery folder has been included!
  • High Resolution images. Images were created @ 1920px x 1080px. Thumbnails were created @ 409px x 200px ~25KB each.
  • 7600+ Library Objects!

Please feel free to post suggestions on ways this can further be improved; this includes grammar, spelling, etc, etc. Hope this helps all of you with your projects!

"Without further ado ..."

FSX Scenery Library Object Catalog

:cool:
 
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unitedstates
OMG, I hate Firefox! ... so slow...

I do see what you mean. Odd, if you right click the page, choose view source, the image( img ) links are clearly there... :confused:

*** EDIT ***

Found it. Try now ... Dreamweaver apparently changed my links, sort-of:
Code:
<img src="http://fsxsoc.dynamicfxgroup.com[b]\[/b]images[b]\[/b]...
instead of:
Code:
<img src="http://fsxsoc.dynamicfxgroup.com[b]/[/b]images[b]/[/b]...

I forgot that is what happens when you choose a file via the built in 'Browse', rather than writing out the path by hand. Weird that IE 10 and Chrome didn't seem to mind! LOL! Sorry about that...

Let me know if there is anything else ... ;-)
 
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arno

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Nice, I like the search function :)
 
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Very nice and useful, thanks.
You could even add some links to freeware scenery objects on other sites (like this one e.g.) with pictures and details of course:).
 
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unitedstates
Very nice and useful, thanks.
You could even add some links to freeware scenery objects on other sites (like this one e.g.) with pictures and details of course:).

You know, I had thought about that; still am a bit. I first PM'd Arno, to make sure it was OK to use his program for this, and he had mentioned 3rd party scenery, as well. While that was more about obtaining permission to post a 3rd party BGL Library, it got the gears turning.

Well, today I thought about some - what would appear to be - random buildings that float around the Chicago area. They are fine with no other scenery installed, however, one of my add-ons seems to cause them to float. Then it hit me!

"Though GUIDs are unique, it is still possible to assign one to your models, that may be already assigned to one in FSX!"

This would be the only reason I could think of, for those floating buildings. I thought maybe an Add-on scenery file, with custom models, possibly assigned a GUID that a stock object had? Correct me if I am wrong here, but doesn't the logic of the simulator override the majority of stock objects, with those in the Add-ons folder? I.E. the priority setting in the Scenery Manager screen?

So, I came up with: GUID Checker!

I figure that designers could check their newly generated GUIDs against that of the vanilla objects. It would be very simple too: create your GUID, visit the GUID Checker page, paste your GUID in, hit check. Pretty much a boolean result: In-Use - Not In-Use. Now this would only check against the stock objects within FSX. But I thought that, disabling a 3rd party Add-on scenery in conflict with another 3rd party Add-on scenery, would be a bit easier. Also, newly created scenery wouldn't have as high a chance, messing up the stock objects.

What do you guys think? I know what this would entail, and have no problem doing it. But some feedback on the idea, would help me decide if I want to 'open this can of worms'.

After all, there are A LOT of BGL files I would need to 'snatch' the XML files out of, and insert that data into the database. On a plus note, once it was done, it would be there for all ...

Thoughts? Am I crazy?? Someone please tell me, my needle is skipping ... :rolleyes:
 

scruffyduck

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GUIDs are pretty much impossible to duplicate - that is the whole point. The chances of a random duplicate is not worth considering. So if a user is generating a GUID randomly - and most tools will do that - then there is very little point in checking if it is in use. The real danger is if either someone does not generate it randomly or repackages existing objects in a new library without changing the GUID.
 
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unitedstates
GUIDs are pretty much impossible to duplicate - that is the whole point. The chances of a random duplicate is not worth considering. So if a user is generating a GUID randomly - and most tools will do that - then there is very little point in checking if it is in use. The real danger is if either someone does not generate it randomly or repackages existing objects in a new library without changing the GUID.

That's what I had thought. Sometimes the thoughts go faster than the reason, in my melon! Then I get fixated on an idea ... :p

Still open to other suggestions: additions, improvements ...
 
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unitedstates
I found that I was looking for a couple models today, and only had their GUID's. So I added the ability to search by GUID - full or partial.

;)
 
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unitedstates
I am trying to give up my hosting. Would anyone like to get the files to host the catalog?

*** EDIT ***
It's simple php and javascript. BEST PART HERE: → With ZIP files, holding the images! That's right! Pulling the images straight out of the archives!
 
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arno

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We might be able to host them here. Let me discuss with the other admins.
 

arno

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@Sven2157 how much space does the database take for hosting? And do you have an idea how many people are using it? Those two things are good to know when we discuss if we can host it here.
 
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unitedstates
Arno ... Sorry for the late response, I will get back to you very soon. It is honestly not that much. I get a lot more MOD'ers from The Sims ....
 
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unitedstates
Arno, sorry for the delay again ... Haven't been working much, so when it comes around, I must.
Anyway. The database is a MySQL build and is 5.57MB. Last I checked, the majority of users were for "The Sims 4". Even then, traffic wasn't too heavy.

The main files are like 30GB! BUT! I have them ZIPPED! The images you see on the pages ... They are being pulled, on demand, out of the ZIP file!
 
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