Simviation Forum - Helipads just fall through...

Jul 3^rd, 2010 at 4:42am

CT 3920 Offline
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I have bee trying my darnedest to build a landing pad on an existing FSX building but its just not working... I get everything lined up set it in its place and after I save it and convert it I find it on the ground..... am I missing something?

thanks for any help on this!

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Reply #1 - Jul 3^rd, 2010 at 10:31am

skoker Offline
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you can't put a helipad on top of a building because FS will automatically snap it to the ground. Wink

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Reply #2 - Jul 3^rd, 2010 at 8:49pm

ShaneG Offline
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skoker wrote on Jul 3^rd, 2010 at 10:31am:

you can't put a helipad on top of a building because FS will automatically snap it to the ground. Wink

Then how do they do it? I know (at least with FS9) that MANY addon scenery creators place helipads on top of buildings.

Are they creating custom buildings for this purpose, or is this a design flaw of FSX?

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Reply #3 - Jul 3^rd, 2010 at 10:17pm

BrandonF Offline
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@ShaneG: I would assume that these buildings are designed with a helipad on top, as I don't believe that you can place a helipad in the air, which is basically what he is trying to do. This applies to FS9 and FSX. (I believe)

@CT 3920: The helipad is not "falling through." It's simply not in the air in the first place. The helipad will go on the ground. It won't float on top of another object.

Cool

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Reply #4 - Jul 4^th, 2010 at 4:11am

Fozzer Offline
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BrandonF wrote on Jul 3^rd, 2010 at 10:17pm:

@ShaneG: I would assume that these buildings are designed with a helipad on top, as I don't believe that you can place a helipad in the air, which is basically what he is trying to do. This applies to FS9 and FSX. (I believe)

@CT 3920: The helipad is not "falling through." It's simply not in the air in the first place. The helipad will go on the ground. It won't float on top of another object.

Cool

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Reply #5 - Jul 4^th, 2010 at 6:55am

idahosurge Offline
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How about downloading Airport Design Editor (ADE), it is free.
http://www.airportdesigneditor.co.uk/

The support forum is located at:
http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=5d99815014eaec5a123230339d27...

I have not done this, so I do not know if it will work, but it sounds logical. With ADE you create a new airport with one helipad and with this new airport you specify the altitude, longitude and latitude. The altitude, longitude and latitude is going to place the helipad on top of the building.

The hard part is going to be figuring out the exact altitude and location in order to place the helipad right on top of the building in question. Once you get it done your new airport helipad will show up in FSX and you can even start from there. Note that when you create this in ADE you will need to specify your helipad airport as a start location.

You can ask your question over at the ADE support forums, I would be suprised if someone over there has not already done this once or twice.

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Reply #6 - Jul 4^th, 2010 at 7:16am

ShaneG Offline
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Another idea, would be to ask the folks at MAIW how it is they place 'invisible' landing points in the middle of the sky for their AI to use as starting points. Wink

One of these could easily be placed 'at or near' a roof top if no other solution presents itself.

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Reply #7 - Jul 4^th, 2010 at 7:20pm

Opa Offline
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CT 3920 wrote on Jul 3^rd, 2010 at 4:42am:

I have bee trying my darnedest to build a landing pad on an existing FSX building but its just not working... I get everything lined up set it in its place and after I save it and convert it I find it on the ground..... am I missing something?

thanks for any help on this!

Your duplicate post has been answered in some detail on the Flightsim forum but I will repeat it here.

Basically you create a ficticious "airport" with a unique ICAO code and set the elevation to the top of the building.

The airport has one runway (

NO

taxilines at all) which is the shape of the building roof (50 x 50 or whatever). Place the reference point on the landing spot. In the absence of any "start " locations, FS will place your aircraft at the reference point.

This concept works in FS2004 using Afcad and should work in FSX using ADE.

I wrote an Illustrated Tutorial on this idea and believe it is in the library here.

« Last Edit: Jul 4^th, 2010 at 8:40pm by Opa »

David "Opa" Marshall

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Reply #8 - Jul 4^th, 2010 at 10:33pm

skoker Offline
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ShaneG wrote on Jul 3^rd, 2010 at 8:49pm:

skoker wrote on Jul 3^rd, 2010 at 10:31am:

you can't put a helipad on top of a building because FS will automatically snap it to the ground. Wink

Then how do they do it? I know (at least with FS9) that MANY addon scenery creators place helipads on top of buildings.

Are they creating custom buildings for this purpose, or is this a design flaw of FSX?

You can create a "invisible mountain" to match your building. Then model your building in gmax to match it. Also you can make some buildings as hard surfaces. Wink

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Reply #9 - Jul 5^th, 2010 at 6:35am

ShaneG Offline
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I think the way Opa posted above is probably the most reasonable, and correct explanation for this issue. Grin

Invisible mountains would be quite deadly in the real world! Shocked

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Reply #10 - Jul 7^th, 2010 at 7:01pm

skoker Offline
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ShaneG wrote on Jul 5^th, 2010 at 6:35am:

I think the way Opa posted above is probably the most reasonable, and correct explanation for this issue. Grin

Invisible mountains would be quite deadly in the real world! Shocked

"I swear, we were just flying, then BAM! We crashed in mid-air. I have no Idea how it happened..."

Grin

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Reply #11 - Jul 17^th, 2010 at 3:08am

CT 3920 Offline
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I got it figured out I used FSDS and made a pillar with a land able surface.

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