MSFS20 What is your (upgrade) scenery workflow?

[vbazillio]

Dear all,
I'm a new rookie in designing scenery in MSFS and want to learn from experience amateur designer.

So far, I'm only using the MSFS scenery editor. I know that when I'll grow up and won't be a Paddawan anymore, I'll have to learn other tools and go to Blender (for example) or any other external tools to get rid of what the SDK can only provide to me. But for now, despite my 50+ years old, I'm like a kid with Playmobil(c) or Lego(c) and really enjoy upgrading default scenery. That's why I'm interested in know what is your workflow?

If I want to upgrade a default airport, here my workflow. It may be stupid and thinks can maybe done more efficiently a different way... please share! :

1. Generate the project file with ADE "New Project from stock"
2. Launch MSFS and open the .xml file as a existin Project.
3. Start the scenery editor
4. Update taxiway names (view render - taxiway name) and taxiway signs (delete, change content...)
5. Update existing Apron, parking definition position and type (mostly removing Fuel position, and GA or docked to remove the ground support) and created a new fuel station (optional) with SDK default objects...
6. Create Exclusion Rectangle(s) or Rectangle(s) and exclude MSFS generated objects, then pick and put/size objects from the default SDK/Asset library
7. Generate the scenery (build the package).
8. Shut down MSFS
9. Copy the new generated package in my Community folder
10. Launch MSFS and validate what I've added, modified... etc...

Feel free to share your own workflow!

 

[Rotornut44]

I started working on scenery the hard way, back before MSFS was a public release. Not knowing the sim-interface at the time, I set up my first project files by manually editing the XML from one of the SDK examples. Now, I do everything with the SDK interface in the sim. I find it to actually be pretty simple to start a project using this method, however I now tend to duplicate a previous project's basic files and just edit it for my new project, as it's a lot faster than inputting everything from scratch.

I like to take a ground-up approach:

After setup and excluding any default items, I normally start with the terrain (Custom Imagery, terraforming, reworked tree placement, ect), making any modifications I need before moving onto the runway, and then taxiways and aprons if needed. Then comes placing the larger structures, such as buildings which can be default or custom. If custom, depending on the number of models, I may do them all at once or break them up over time. After the buildings, any smaller details. Clutter models, vegetation, taxi signs, ect. Then it's pretty much polishing from that point. Make sure everything plays well. Make any adjustments if necessary and address anything I might have missed.

Usually I build and test at each stage of this process. It's a little less efficient, but I like to see the progress and I can identify issues easier this way. On simpler projects, I will build the package after I am done working on it for the day. This way I always have the latest version loaded.

Unfortunately, with how MSFS is currently set up, the testing process isn't real time efficient, with no way to reload updated packages without a complete restart.

 

[PhysicsTeacher]

Now, I do everything with the SDK interface in the sim.

Good to hear someone else is exploring the SDK interface. I'm starting all my projects that way now. I've almost got the directory structure down, and I've been exploring naming restrictions so I can make more meaningful labels.

Unfortunately, with how MSFS is currently set up, the testing process isn't real time efficient, with no way to reload updated packages without a complete restart.

I discovered by accident one day that if I wanted to make a change in Blender on the model (I'm building bridges!), all I had to do was, with the sim still running and the BGL file in the editor, make my changes in Blender, export them via Blender2MSFS and click back to the sim. Depending on the complexity of the model, it takes a few seconds for the model in the sim to update. I don't copy the package into the Community folder, and I make sure any old version of the same package is gone. I've actually gone so far as to add another object - something like a cube I can move around to measure ground heights - and have it appear in the objects list a few seconds later. This makes it really simple to tweak things without restarting the sim. I have Release 0.10.0 installed, and I am running the latest main app (March update - I think it has a 15 in it.). Of course, when I start the sim to work on something, I have to load the BGL file into the editor and then wait about 30 seconds until it puts the model into place.
I'm doing this on a Dell G7 laptop with an nVidia processor. I'm using Blender 2.83, but I'm switching to 2.9 soon.
FWIW: I keep getting an error stating that multiple scenes are defined, and it's going to use the primary one or the default. I finally figured out that this means that I have multiple scenes in Blender, not the simulator. I use scenes in Blender just to work on a sub-part and then bring that part to the main assembly.
There are still a few funnies in the user interface of the SDK: Sometimes the mouse pointer disappears while trying to fill in dialog boxes on a new project; Rotating an object with the mouse is too sensitive with the mouse still on the gizmo ring. I just drag the mouse as far away as I can get it and I have more control.
Here's a screenshot of the 59th Street Bridge (think Simon and Garfunkel) I'm currently working on: