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"Sloping runway" with ADE

W

Wantok

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papuanewguinea
I am trying to make a new rugged mountain strip sloped with the Airport Design Editor (ADE). I recall somewhere, either in this forum or Avsim, that it can be done. I think it was Jon (scruffyduck) who pointed this out.

Could someone point out if that is correct and how to achieve this.

Thanks
Wantok
 
Yes it can be done.

But keep in mind there are limitations, in that AI will not use your sloped runway at all. Also you may have crash detect issues with your aircraft on there, depending on how radical the slope is.

I have used FSX_KML to create a sloped runway airport--I have not used ADE. But the type of scenery used is the same.

In ADE you would need to create a new airport, centered on the lat/long of your choice.

Load a background image if you think you need one...to get an idea of where your landing strip will go.

In ADE there is a green icon, for laying down shp2vec-style/cvx polygons. Draw a poly of the outline of your runway using this tool.

Tag the poly with any tag of your choice. (I suggest one of the dirt tags, etc.) I think ADE and FSX_KML tag names are a little different but you get the idea.

Keep in mind that this runway will not have any markings, will not be used by any AI, and may be a lot rougher than you would like, making it difficult to land on.

Be SURE that you do not have any flatten under the area you are working in. Check in TMFViewer to verify that there is no stock scenery flatten under there. Since you're working on a mountaintop, I doubt that will be an issue.

Long and short is, yes it can be done. Perhaps there are some ADE-specific things that I have omitted here; for that, Jon and others can fill in the blanks.
 
Rhett,
I appreciate your swift reply.
Great short tute for KLM and ADE. I have both so I'll go ahead and start designing a new rwy off of a forty-five 100 ft mountainside. I am not interested in AI as the rwy and background scenery is intended for bush pilots who like the outback rugged terrain-simming. Besides this rwy, in real life, is only 430m long; AI would not be best for such short field scenery even if flat.

I would appreciate also if Jon or others could chime in a bit more on designing slope in this project using ADE.

Regards
Wantok
 
Not really my area of expertise :o ADE is primarily an airport designer. Sloping runways are priarily about terrainn or even GMax. Certainly you can create a sloping polygon to represent a runway but any airport facilities that you create will be 'flat' since that is the only way things work in FSX
 
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Thanks for the clarity Jon. I guess I'll have to read more into SBX then.

Kind regards
Wantok
 
I don't know about SBX on this, but here's the shorthand-version of the FSX_KML process.

1) go to the site in GoogleEarth
2) draw a polygon (in GoogleEarth, on it's toolbar) of your runway.
3) save (in GoogleEarth) as .kml
4) load your kml file in FSX_KML
5) apply the tag of your choice to your poly (I used one that made it look like dirt). Do not use a flattening tag.
6) compile in FSX_KML. Load it in the sim. that's it.

Oh, I almost forgot. You'll want to create another larger poly around your runway, and tag it with Airport_Backgrounds_Remove_Autogen. This will remove all the trees, etc. in that area.

Having a good quality terrain mesh is crucial.

As Jon said, you can do things with Gmax too, but unless your terrain is really extreme (like Lukla, in the Himalayas) you shouldn't need to resort to using gmax surfaces.
 
I have a flatten background poly under my entire airport. I want to create a sloped terrain. Is there a way to remove just part of the flatten background in the area I want to create the sloped terrain. In order to not have the flatten poly I would have to go back and do the whole airport over again which is not an option at this point.
 
Hi Tom:

You can easily edit the CVX vector flatten polygon vertices to any shape you want in ADE, then re-compile to test it.

Make a backup of your *.AD4 file first. ;)

GaryGB
 
Problem is, There are no vertices where I need to reshape the flatten poly. I wish it was that easy, but the flatten poly covers the entire airport from corner to corner, no vertices inbetween anywhere to allow me to edit the background poly. Basically what I would have to do is remove the background poly completely, then painstakingly redraw it around the area I want to add the slope. That would be very difficult (not impossible, just time consuming and difficult). I may have to go that route unless there is another way around the problem.
 
Hi again:

IiRC, in ADE, click the polyline portion of the CVX vector flatten Polygon, and it will change color, with vertices at each corner.

Left click and hold the vertex you wish to move, then drag it to where you want it.

You can also add vertices where needed IIRC, by right-clicking the polyline portion of the CVX vector flatten Polygon.

GaryGB
 
Yeah, couldn't get it to work. You would need to look at the actual AD4 airport file to see what I mean. The flatten only has 4 vertices, one on each corner. It covers the entire airport.
 
I have the latter *.AD4 loaded in ADEv1.79x.

In ADE:

Click the poly-line portion of the CVX vector flatten Polygon, and it will change color.

Right-click the poly-line portion of the CVX vector flatten Polygon, and select Edit Object.

The Properties dialog will open; check the checkbox: "Edit Individual Points", then click [OK] button.

Zoom way in to see the Green vertices at each corner.

Left click and hold the vertex you wish to move, then drag it to where you want it.


AFAIK, you can also add poly-line / polygon vertices where needed, but I do not recall how.

We'll have to look that up in the FSDEV ADE forums:

https://www.google.com/search?q=site:+www.fsdeveloper.com+ADE+Add+Point+Vertex&client=firefox-b-1-d&sca_esv=17212dbc4d09d461&ei=pQ6OZ5aKM5KeptQPhNu_mQE&ved=0ahUKEwjW8If49YOLAxUSj4kEHYTtLxMQ4dUDCBA&uact=5&oq=site:+www.fsdeveloper.com+ADE+Add+Point+Vertex&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiLnNpdGU6IHd3dy5mc2RldmVsb3Blci5jb20gQURFIEFkZCBQb2ludCBWZXJ0ZXhIAFAAWABwAHgAkAEAmAEAoAEAqgEAuAEDyAEA-AEB-AECmAIAoAIAmAMAkgcAoAcA&sclient=gws-wiz-serp


This can also be done by Appending the CVX vector flatten ESRI *.SHP file to SBuilderX and editing it there.

I'd like to be able to tell you it is as easy as reading the ADE manual, but this info is scattered throughout threads at FSDEV.

So one must learn how to search FSDEV forums, but with Google and not the FSDEV search engine which is not very useful.

In Google enter: site: www.fsdeveloper.com ADE followed by a few words pertinent to what you want to find. :pushpin:

GaryGB
 
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