I no longer have CFS2 loaded and haven't played it in a while. I seem to remember in CFS 1 the runway coordinates could be changed somehow. (In the scenery file?) I know I ran into this problem before in custom missions. The mission file may need to be changed also.
Or maybe the runway could be changed to a bridge. j/k

Cody,

I just tried the mkafd2 program. I have it making files but I can't install the new field as scenery. There must be more to it than just getting the files. I have a folder in scenedb set up for the new airfield and put the mkafd2 output files there. And I put an entry into the airbase.dat file. MB now puts an X on my MB map and allows me to take off there but there is no runway there.

I guess my question is exactly what sort of files are required in the scenerydb folder to get the program to install the runway as new scenery?

Actually just realizing I can get a new takeoff point with the .dat file was a revelation. It was fairly easy to install MB infrastructure around the parked airplane to get the airfield in the desired location.

Jimski

Thanks again for the help guys! I ran into the same problem as Jimski. Haven't tried using a CFS1 runway yet, but after reading your reply decided to have a look at FSSC. It is easy to use, and clearly much more successful!

I will say that the auto installation of the file isn't exactly intuitive... it was only that I'd been futzing around with the files earlier that I knew where to send them... straight to the runways folder in the scenerydb.

Now I think I need to play with the colour of the grass   

Cheers

Piers

Thanks Hagar, I'd forgotten all about the addon folder. They're all still empty in my various installs of the game. It would help me keep a track of what I'm sticking into the game...

Piers

jimski wrote on Feb 18^th, 2007 at 2:32pm:

Not quite sure what you mean by that Jimski. FSSC is a complete scenery design program.

Quote:

You seem to be doing this about right. It's been a while since I messed around with scenery but, if I remember correctly, MkAFD will create the AFD menu entries for new runways. Like other scenery design applications that use SCASM it will generate the BGL files with information in the saved SCA file. When the BGL is created pop it into the same Scenery folder as the BGL files for your new project & make sure the project folder is activated from the CFS2 Scenery Library. If you did it right there should be a new entry on the CFS2 Free Flight scenery menu.

FSSC can create AFD BGL files so if you're using that for the runways MkAFD shouldn't be necessary.

PS. For it to show up in the MB you will have to add a new Airbases.dat entry. MkAFD2 will do this for you automatically.

jimski wrote on Feb 18^th, 2007 at 7:07pm:

That's great.

A couple of points. To create the BGL files simply drag the SCA files onto SCASM.exe. Name them appropriately first.
FSSC should install & run without problems. You might be right about that update.

I also found that when I changed the start point in the mission file with notepad that it is reset when MB is used, but it will stay if you fly the mission in the main program. In my case I was trying to simulate the "bomber streams" that the British used at night by taking the trail formation and changing the spacing from about 1/4 mile to several miles. It worked and held as long as I kept it out of MB.

Jimski

I was unable to load the latest version of fssc including on a machine with a fresh win2000 install. I keep getting messages that I am missing a file. I gave up on that and downloaded old version 1.2 and that is running fine.

Like piersyf I also crashed and blew up while taxiing to the fssc runway. It was very much like breaking through ice, falling and exploding and I decided it was due to an unflat base and fssc1.2 doesn't give much info on how to fix that. Here is what I am doing now. First scout the proposed runway site in MB and note lat and long and ground alititude. The use mkafd to construct the main runway being sure to use a very wide "flatten" option, say 2000 meters so it will handle anything you might throw into the new airport. Test fly the new runway. Then construct the base taxiways and extra runways, etc with fssc. And then populate the base with stock csf2 strutures so you can shoot them up. Works fine for me. Only "problem" is that I don't understand the "texture" thing in fssc and my airfields all look like pool tables. How do you get "texture" onto the field so it looks more like grass instead of like felt?

Jimski

As for that Kondor mission you might have to reinvent it. MB is pretty good to work with. As someone said, the man who wrote the mission might have had a totally different set of sceneries, very easy to do after you start installing add ons.

I got a texture to work and get a good looking grass field around the runway. Not sure why my first tries failed. I will try to figure out how to get a screen capture posted on the forum.

Two things I would like to solve are overlapping at taxiway intersections - I assume I can make the main taxiway a high number "layer" to solve that. And getting the old fssc to get buildings from other folders. In particular I'd like to get the stock csf2 to install with the scenery instead of with MB.

Well, thanks for the help. I suppose I have been thinking about doing airfields for a couple of years. Now I can go crazy with it. By the way, wikipedia.com is turning out to be a good source of info on old air bases. Try an "raf airfields" search. Most of the old USAAF bases include photos towards the end of the war plus details of units stationed there and significant missions flown from there.

Jimski

Hey Jimski.
You're right that moving the layers so the runway sits on top of taxiway overlaps should work. An irritation you may have is that FSSC has a very basic layer control in that you can only 'bring to front' or 'send to back'. You can't shift up or down in single layer increments. To get around this, make a list of your layers in the order you want them to appear (from top to bottom) (eg; runway, taxiways, grass1, grass2, flat area) then starting from the top of the list, select the layer and 'send to back'. By the time you have finished the whole list they will all be arranged in the order you want. Sorry if I'm telling you something you already know...

As to uploading screenshots, in the header of this page there's a row of buttons (home, help, search etc). Above them is a site navigation bar without buttons. One of these is 'upload images' This takes you to the upload page. Images have to be no larger than 800 pixels wide (from memory), and no larger than 100k. The info is there on the page... once you have browsed your system for the image and submitted it you'll get a name string. Copy this (control C) then return to your post in the forum.
Now in the post or post reply there's a list of buttons (over the smiley's). The third one along the top row is the 'insert image' icon. Hit that and it will give you a prompt. Put your cursor in the prompt and 'control V' to past the image ID string, and you're away!

Looking forward to seeing some of your pics!

Piers

That worked! Might as well try another.

Here is Martlesham done from a photo I found on wikipedia.org. The article said it was a grass field but the photo looks like paved runways. I suspect the USAAF put down at least matting that looks like pavement. Photos of parked P51 clearly shows matting. Anyway, this one has two grass runways from mkafd. The grass field texture (called grass.bmp) was identical to the mkafd runway texture at first and I couldn't see the runway strips. I changed the pixel thing on the field texture so you can just make out the grass runways, sort of realistic. If I were to do it over I would use the steel matting runway option.



Jimski

You did go crazy, didn't you! Very cool! I very much liked your approach to the grass fields.
Have a bash at the layers thing. Don't know whether you've noticed (or maybe your version of FSSC is different) but the help files tell you to right click on the area you want to change layers for and it will allow you to selct the move option (front or back). It doesn't on mine. I had to select one of the circles that define a corner of the polygon before that option to move that layer was no longer 'greyed out'.

Nice work!

Piers

What I would do first is bring it up in Mission Builder so it fills the mission screen there. Down to the left is another small box that will show the lat and long and elevation of the ground under your mouse cursor. Drag the cursor around your field everywhere and steer it around the taxiways and make sure everything is totally flat.

My first attempt (the twin parallel runways) also had the problem of explosions as I crossed onto the runway. I fixed it by making another runway in mkafd and being very certain that the "flatten" area would include the full airport, say 4000 meters (about 2.5 miles) wide. Mkafd is very quick and easy, the hardest part is knowing what to do with the sca files it generates and you know how to do that already.

I gave up on the layering problem. I am out of ideas for now. It was quite random no matter how I layered things. The problem was where the hardstands meet the main taxiway. Each hardstand is itself a taxiway in three sections. In many cases one end of the hardstand would tuck under the main taxiway (what I wanted) and the other end would flop on top of it! And this when the main taxiway had a higher layer than the hardstand. For now I am solving the problem by using the same bland concrete texture that everyone else uses and it all blends together. But the old texture, with tire streaks and oil spots, had a lot more character.

You might dig deep on the net to find the Bordeaux data. I also found an RAF site that has a writeup of all the RAF bomber fields and a drawing of the runway layout for each. The thing is that the drawings are mostly from modern maps showing the lines as "disused" airfields. In many cases the old airfield infrastructure is still around in pieces and you might see them on modern maps you can find on the internet. For RAF Polebrook (where Clark Gable filmed Combat America) I found the old base is now "Polebrook Lodge". The runways are all gone but the basic road structure is still there.

Also in most cases military airfields became municipal fields after the war. Another trick might be to fly in say FS2002 or whatever and look at the larger airfields around Bordeaux. I would bet one or all of them were military fields during the war. You might dig into wikipedia.org to check the history of those fields. The Condor would have flown from large permanent bases.

Jimski

Thanks for the wiki reference, having the correct location and runway headings is a good start!
Unfortunately still having the same problems with exploding. Tried deleting all files for the base and started again with Mkfds thingy, nothing showed up. Then tried FSSC again, and the same thing happens. In MB all show at same altitude, but the runway is visibly floating in the game. Except you can't fly under it... tried that.
Getting monumentally sick of the whole thing. Missions don't work, utilities don't work... It may even be that it doesn't like the world scenery that I have... but I can't be bothered doing a whole reinstall to test that theory.

P