It's almost 03:00 (EDT) but I'll give your problems a go ...
Ice Man, on Oct 18 2005, 10:56 PM, said:
1. SceneGenX is only a top down view, so I don't know how the building will look and if the textures are stretched or not.
FSDS2 presents four windows during construction (similar to GMAX); the upper right window allows you to see the object as you progress and rotate it to see all around, top down, or from the bottom up. The zoom in/out feature lets you get in as close as you want to see how the textures are.
Ice Man, on Oct 18 2005, 10:56 PM, said:
2. FSSC is only really good for FS2002 and below but when I do try to use it it always says there is an error loading textures.
Before I started writing XML for exclusions and object placement, I used FSSC easily for FS2004, but I only used it to create flatten areas, exclusions, surface smoothing, and object placement. Didn't like the way it created runways and taxiways; prefer AFCAD2 for the actual airport "build."
Ice Man, on Oct 18 2005, 10:56 PM, said:
3. I haven't found a program that lets you build buildings with the standard height that FS buildings are. I have to make a building and hope it's tall enough, there is no program that builds buildings by the number of standard-sized levels, as buildings seem to be built actually in FS.
All of my buildings are in heights I determine (120'w x 75'd x 20'h, for example) and I've never had a problem with their presentation in the sceneries. If you find that your building is a bit oversized when you place it, adjust the scale (normally 0.100000) downward in increments until it's the right size next to your airplane.
Ice Man, on Oct 18 2005, 10:56 PM, said:
4. GMAX never does textures right, they always end up not being able to be dragged and cut into the appropriate positions.
When applying the texture in FSDS2, you can specify interations on the x-axis (horizontal) and y-axis (vertical). For instance, when I custom build chain link fences, I have a chain link texture that is perfect for 10'w x 6'h. If I make a fence polygon that is 100'w, I set "10" for the x-axis adjustment in the texture selection window and FSDS2 puts the texture 10 times horizontally on that polygon. No distortion that way.
Ice Man, on Oct 18 2005, 10:56 PM, said:
5. All the programs make you have to come up with a central location, which can mean a lot of trial and error to place a building.
Unfortunately, that's the way it is, regardless of the placement you choose. When I write the XML placement, I have to know the point (lat/lon) on the airport where the center of the object is to be placed, and the heading. Same in real-world when you build a house -- you have to know exactly where you're going to build it and which way the front door is going to face. If you can find the lat/lon in AFCAD2 where you want the building to be, and the x-y-z axis have all been centered on the object you built, that's enough to get it almost exactly where you want it. Sometimes I have to make one or two adjustments to the heading because of the MAGVAR at a particular airport, but that's about it.
Ice Man, on Oct 18 2005, 10:56 PM, said:
6. Nothing is really WYSIWYG. GMAX is the only one so far that I've seen that actually shows buildings in 3D, but you have to know a central location.
Are you talking about the "central location" where the building is going to appear at the airport? or the "central location" of the building you create? There should be something on the GMAX toolbar to allow you to change the rotation of the axis and center it. All you need to do then is find the lat/lon in AFCAD of the spot you want the building centered on and put it there.
Ice Man, on Oct 18 2005, 10:56 PM, said:
7. Nothing lets you change the default buildings. An example of this would be: I want to change the texture on Terminal B at KSMF but I can't.
Actually, you can; but you need the _SDK's (available on Microsoft's FS9 website) and a WHOLE lot of studying them to figure out how to call the particular object and which texture to remove and which texture to apply, another program that will decompile the BGL that FS9 uses to place the object, and then the bglcomp_SDK to recompile the raw XML data to a new BGL after you've changed the data. Believe me, it isn't worth the effort; I looked into that and it's just so much easier to exclude the default object and build my own replacement object.
Ice Man, on Oct 18 2005, 10:56 PM, said:
8. All programs stretch a texture too mush, there is now program that senses when a texture is getting too distorted an repeats it automatically.
See above RE: chain link fence
Ice Man, on Oct 18 2005, 10:56 PM, said:
Is FSDS2 better? Does it provide an answer to at least a few of my problems? And, most importantly, does it cost anything?
(1) To me, yes; but that's MY preference. (2) Yes; see above, and I hope some of that helped you. (3) Payware, from Abacus.
Ice Man, on Oct 18 2005, 10:56 PM, said:
Also, I noticed that you like to do military base sceneries. I was wondering if you had enough information to do the now-closed McClellan AFB in Sacramento, CA.
Quite familiar with McClellan, the former ALC.
I can get the current set-up at McClellan using Google Earth (even facility approximate measurements). To "recreate" it, I would need some photos of the time-period -- pre-SEA? during SEA? immediately prior to closure? My "knack" for military base sceneries stems from the fact that FS9 is a commercial/private flight simulator and very little detail has been put in for military bases unless they are joint-use bases. Even then, military designated parking spots are non-existant in the default AFCADs. I started out upgrading an AFCAD and wound up designing and placing the infrastructure for the bases, too. Kinda carved a little niche for myself in the flight sim world ....
Anyway, hope some of this helped you a bit .... yes; FSDS2 is going to cost you some coins, but if you're REALLY serious about designing sceneries, it'll be a worthwhile investment. For what it's worth, learning GMAX is
HIGH on my agenda -- there are some things that GMAX is better suited for than FSDS2 or other scenery design programs. Besides, no self-respecting mechanic has just ONE wrench in his toolbox, right?
Edited by sarge, 19 October 2005 - 02:12 AM.
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nice sarge... when we can download this ???
