AI float planes and water runways in FSX

[expat]

Have had success in FS9 making my own water runways/airports with AFCAD2 and getting float planes (wheels up models) to land and takeoff etc.

Having problems doing this in FSX with ADE up at the lake at Whistler using PNW scenery and a nice add on for the float plane base there. I have read some threads at FS Developers and followed the advice of making the runways and taxi ways in concrete and 0 ft width (one foot width would work in FS9 and stil be invisible) but the airport will not compile and registers a bglcomp.exe error UNLESS I make the runways wider, e.g. 50 ft wide, which then lets it compile, but it looks like a normal concrete runway on water. Plus my AI beaver doesn't show up. Have the runways/taxiways at water surface level , as this is what worked in FS9.

Will reverse engineer some of the few freeware float plane bases - with working AI - by others, e.g. Holger Sandmann, to see how those are done but thought I would check to see if anyone here has figured this out in FSX.

Thanks

expat

[Shylock]

In the options for Runway do you see one for Water? I know you have a few choices. Right click on the runway and select edit and is should be under surface type not so sure but I will check this out more for you when I get home. Sometimes ADE can be finiky.

[JoeW]

Look at some of Holgers water runways.
By the way ........... I'm adding sound to all the listed airports, docks, and cabins. in the Tongass scenery. As soon as I get this "Milissa" out of my computer I'll get back on it.

[ananda]

In the options for Runway do you see one for Water? I know you have a few choices. Right click on the runway and select edit and is should be under surface type not so sure but I will check this out more for you when I get home. Sometimes ADE can be finiky.

You can't use water runways for AI.

You can use zero-width conrete runways and they won't show in FSX.

I don't know what you mean by finicky, ADE is perfect for creating FSX float plane bases.

Does your AI Beaver have wheels? If not, you need them.

http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/4420/beavertaxi.jpg (http://img685.imageshack.us/i/beavertaxi.jpg/)

George

[expat]

In the options for Runway do you see one for Water? I know you have a few choices. Right click on the runway and select edit and is should be under surface type not so sure but I will check this out more for you when I get home. Sometimes ADE can be finiky.

Thanks. The default scenery had the original runway material to be "water." Added to this basic taxiways, start locations and a parking spot but my AI float plane in the TrafficeFile still would not appear. Also, the water color of the taxiway and runway did not match the scenery water color so the whole airport plan was visible from above. Read elsewhere for FSX using ADE it needs to be "concrete" for AI planes to recognize it as an airport and fly to and land on it + then recalled this was the case in FS9. In FS9 the trick was you could set the concrete runway and taxi widths to 1' and they would be invisible and all was well. When trying to shrink/hide the width of the concrete runway in FSX with ADE however it seemed to create a "compiler error". Making it wider again resolved this but looks awful and no AI appear to be active.

Will check out one of Holger's afcads - if I can find one for FSX - which is how I learned how to do this in FS9 . .

[expat]

You can use zero-width conrete runways and they won't show in FSX.


George, thanks, that is exactly what I am attempting - concrete everything, with width of zero - but there is something going on with the taxi way on top of it that is causing the airport not to compile after saving it.

Q: should the airport elevation be the same or just below the water surface in FSX?

btw - agree ADE is a wonderful tool and I just upgraded to the latest version.

Thanks

expat

[ananda]

Zero-width runway in ADE (as used in the above screenshot):

http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/5821/waterafd.jpg (http://img638.imageshack.us/i/waterafd.jpg/)

[ananda]

but there is something going on with the taxi way on top of it that is causing the airport not to compile after saving it.

What is the error message?

[expat]

Something like "bglcomp.exe failed to compile" The old airport bgl then appears when starting up FSX. Widening the concrete runway width - e.g. to say 50' - resovles the problem and then it compiles. Reducing it back to 1' or zero causes the error. Think it is the way the taxiway on top of the runway is configured but not sure why exactly.

The airport in your ADE screenie looks impressive. What I am attempting is much more simple but in ADE the runway, taxiway and parking look the same so I think I am trying to do this correctly.

[ananda]

Try this one, it is on Bassenthwaite but may not fit with the default scenery.

http://www.geo-davison.demon.co.uk/LK00_ADE_GHD.ade (http://www.geo-davison.demon.co.uk/LK00_ADE_GHD.ade)

[expat]

After hours of experimenting I have various AI floatplanes sitting on Green Lake at Whistler but nothing moves. I tried the attached AFCAD - thanks for posting it - and I have designed my water airport exactly the same way. However, it, like my own airport just will not compile in ADE with a concrete runway under 3.5 feet. If I make the runway "water" it compiles but for moving AI you must have concrete runways and for them to be invisible they must be zero feet width.

I read at FSDevelopers something about compiling in FS9 or with a compiler outside of ADE doing exactly this - it won't compile a cocrete runway unless at least 3.5 feet in width. Is my ADE (latest version) somehow using a different or older FS9 version compiler? Using ADE in FSX - which is what I am trying to do - causes no problems for others. Is there a way to check and fix this?

Thanks for any furrther help.

expat

[ananda]

In ADE, select "Help/About" and tell me the versions shown.

You could also select "Help/Check for Update" and it will see whether there is a later version.

George

[Railrunner130]

I have AFX and am downloading ADE. AFX won't let you do any lines thinner than 1 foot. I'll have to give this a try and see if I can back up to speed on AFCAD building.

Thanks for the info guys.

[mmann]

If you have FTX PNW with the .003 patch installed then you will have about four Holger Sandmann AI compatible float plane bases to examine. The bgl's for these bases will be dated 2007. The only base that is not superseded by a newer (non AI compatible) bgl is Maple Bay (CMAP) SPB. Note that most of Holger's AI bgl's do not use zero width concrete runways and taxiways but instead are .3 meters width.

It's ironic that the reason I stopped uploading my scenery projects for Orbx PNW was because I got tired of creating two versions; one with full AI compatibility for myself and one to upload (fashioned like the newest Orbx bgl's) with no AI support. Such is life!

Regards, Mike Mann

[ananda]

I am sure the problem is due to the aircraft.cfg / .air file.

Attached is a very simple AFD (which was created by ADE but can be opened and saved with AFX). It is in Sumburgh harbour.

http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/1384/egp12.jpg (http://img821.imageshack.us/i/egp12.jpg/)

http://img863.imageshack.us/img863/8662/egp11.jpg (http://img863.imageshack.us/i/egp11.jpg/)

George

[expat]

In ADE, select "Help/About" and tell me the versions shown.

George, this is what it says:

Versions:
Application 01.47.7
Engine 04.07.0


It's ironic that the reason I stopped uploading my scenery projects for Orbx PNW was because I got tired of creating two versions; one with full AI compatibility for myself and one to upload (fashioned like the newest Orbx bgl's) with no AI support. Such is life!

Michael, that is indeed a shame as your Whistler and other PNW scenery is truly sublime and what inspired me to make an "AI environment" there - am close to getting this solved but still think it must be something to do with the compiler in my ADE install.

Regards,

expat

[ananda]

George, this is what it says:

Versions:
Application 01.47.7
Engine 04.07.0



Hmm, I am running 1.47.11 with Engine 4.06.5.

Have you tried getting an on-line update?

You can download the update to 1.47.11 directly from:

http://www.airportdesigneditor.co.uk/ade_003.htm

What is the error message when trying to compile an airport with a zero-width runway?

George

[expat]

Updated to 1.47.11 without problems. This is the error message I continue to get:

[ananda]

Hmm, that doesn't seem to be an ADE problem, but a problem with BglComp.

Are you sure you have the version of the SDK compatible with the version of FSX?

Have you tried ADE-Check.exe in the main ADE folder?

http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/6082/adecheck.jpg (http://img707.imageshack.us/i/adecheck.jpg/)

George

[expat]

Just did a full uninstall and re-install of ADE. I had remnants/artifacts etc from older versions all mixed up in the folders and it has now compiled the concrete runway with zero width!

Thanks all for the guidance and help.

expat

[ananda]

Great :applause: