KPLN Pellston Regional Airport Michigan

[tgycgijoes]

This started over in Falcon 409's other thread and I promised not to comment about this airport any more over there. "Downwind" brought up Pellston which with its unique "log cabin" terminal is really cool. Soooo...I decided that I would try and do it, a huge undertaking. Then I was able to find Matthias Rauh's gorgeous FS9 version and downloaded it. With the upper peninsula landclass though really nice, it was a huge frame hog on my computer so I uninstalled it. Then I decided THIS morning to just see what I could do by first not installing the upper peninsula and just let FSX handle that with autogen. I reinstalled the PLN LC and the PLN lib files and instead of 6-5 fps with BOB I was able to get 11-14 fps with the default Cessna 172, huge improvement. Then I removed the seasonal bgl's which I don't believe I needed anyway again with FSX handling the seasons. When I reloaded there were the FS9 evergreen trees which in FSX are 2D with backgrounds. I had seen this before in other FS9 airports I tried to use in FSX. If you get rid of the trees and let FSX (orP3D) inject its trees instead it works fine. Well, except for P3D V4.5 which I was just told in a PM by Gray Eagle it has big problems. Finally, I just started up FSXWX and its snowing hard in Pellston. I also use Sim Physics X which I got a couple years ago so the snow accumulates some on the aprons. FPS now on my system is 18-23 consistently with the default Cessna 172 FSX. I'm happy with this and will use this airport in my FSX. If you have some frame rate issues try this and post results here. I still have the animated traffic but because FS9 and FSX are not syncd from the air, the trucks and cars are not exactly on the highway 31 I noticed but no biggie IMO. Here is a photo I just shot of the Cape Air Cessna 402C flight just landed.

[gray eagle]

I've discovered that there are three separate scenery and textures folders loaded with stuff. I tried to combine them all into one scenery/texture folder for P3D V4.5 and it made a big mess. I could not
remove the scenery folder in P3D as it would say one of the files was in use when in fact I had deactivated it in P3D. Not knowing how to deal with that, I ended up restoring a previous hard drive
back up. There was a ton of bgls and bmps in those three scenery/texture folders. I gave up.

[tgycgijoes]

I've discovered that there are three separate scenery and textures folders loaded with stuff. I tried to combine them all into one scenery/texture folder for P3D V4.5 and it made a big mess. I could not
remove the scenery folder in P3D as it would say one of the files was in use when in fact I had deactivated it in P3D. Not knowing how to deal with that, I ended up restoring a previous hard drive
back up. There was a ton of bgls and bmps in those three scenery/texture folders. I gave up.

From what I gather from other guys P3D V4.5 or V5 doesn't play nice with a lot of early stuff and not at all with FS9. My friend Ed converted some small airports he liked from FS? to P3D V4.5 somehow but that is beyond me. I am perfectly satisfied with FSX.

[tgycgijoes]

If you look for which airports fly to Mackinaw Island, which in another thread was suggested as a good airport to do, No major airlines fly direct into Mackinac Island Airport. But you can catch a flight to nearby Chippewa County International Airport (CIU), ...(QUOTE) also KPNL Pellston Airport. These are the only two airports to get to and from The Mackinac Island Airport (MCD) a busy self-service airport with a lighted 3,500 foot runway available 24 hours year-round for regional charter flights and private flights.

From my searching KCIU is only a default airport in FSX and P3D versions. No one has done it YET. Hint Hint Ed!

[falcon409]

I was away from Friday to Sunday and didn't have cell service where I was so I missed this. I also downloaded Matthias's excellent scenery for that airport and after looking it over found some of the same things you did (especially the trees). So I emailed Matthias and asked his permission to make some adjustments including a photoreal ground texture and seasonal trees using the autogen annotator. . .he was very receptive and gave me the go ahead. He had also redone some of the earlier buildings to update them and he's sending those to me to use in the updated version.

[gray eagle]

This started over in Falcon 409's other thread and I promised not to comment about this airport any more over there. "Downwind" brought up Pellston which with its unique "log cabin" terminal is really cool. Soooo...I decided that I would try and do it, a huge undertaking. Then I was able to find Matthias Rauh's gorgeous FS9 version and downloaded it. With the upper peninsula landclass though really nice, it was a huge frame hog on my computer so I uninstalled it. Then I decided THIS morning to just see what I could do by first not installing the upper peninsula and just let FSX handle that with autogen. I reinstalled the PLN LC and the PLN lib files and instead of 6-5 fps with BOB I was able to get 11-14 fps with the default Cessna 172, huge improvement. Then I removed the seasonal bgl's which I don't believe I needed anyway again with FSX handling the seasons. When I reloaded there were the FS9 evergreen trees which in FSX are 2D with backgrounds. I had seen this before in other FS9 airports I tried to use in FSX. If you get rid of the trees and let FSX (orP3D) inject its trees instead it works fine. Well, except for P3D V4.5 which I was just told in a PM by Gray Eagle it has big problems. Finally, I just started up FSXWX and its snowing hard in Pellston. I also use Sim Physics X which I got a couple years ago so the snow accumulates some on the aprons. FPS now on my system is 18-23 consistently with the default Cessna 172 FSX. I'm happy with this and will use this airport in my FSX. If you have some frame rate issues try this and post results here. I still have the animated traffic but because FS9 and FSX are not syncd from the air, the trucks and cars are not exactly on the highway 31 I noticed but no biggie IMO. Here is a photo I just shot of the Cape Air Cessna 402C flight just landed.

Any chance that Matthias would redo/convert this scenery for FSX use?

[tgycgijoes]

I was away from Friday to Sunday and didn't have cell service where I was so I missed this. I also downloaded Matthias's excellent scenery for that airport and after looking it over found some of the same things you did (especially the trees). So I emailed Matthias and asked his permission to make some adjustments including a photoreal ground texture and seasonal trees using the autogen annotator. . .he was very receptive and gave me the go ahead. He had also redone some of the earlier buildings to update them and he's sending those to me to use in the updated version.

That's great ED, I will so look forward to your updated version of it when it is done. I think that I am going to do all I can for KCIU Chippewa Cty Intl since there is none. Google Earth here I come! LOL!!! Something to do before Christmas. I only have one special desert that I BAKE to do for our neighbors who rebuilt our falling down deck last month that I promised them for Christmas. Thank God for good neighbors!. Merry Christmas to you and your family.

[downwind]

What a great simming Christmas this is turning out to be, especially for my adjoining state of Michigan. Thanks to all who have worked on updating or creating these new sceneries. I'm glad I mentioned Pellston....alway one of the nicest FS9 airports, that may also have a new life in FSX!

[falcon409]

A real work in Progress. The photoreal texture in place, redone runways and taxiways. . .all the buildings must be repositioned since they don't match the texture. I've emailed Matthias several times but no answer. I need to know how he placed his objects so that I can move them. . .maybe Christmas is down time for him, possibly traveling for the Holidays. Still plenty to do though.

WIP-2021-001 by Ed Wells, on Flickr

[downwind]

That brings back memories from my FS9 days, where KPLN was one of the bright spots in add-on scenery (also KPHL). Thanks for your work on this, and Merry Christmas!

[falcon409]

I'm in limbo with this project right now as I've had no response from Matthias to any of the recent emails I sent. I have added much of the autogen vegetation but noticed that the areas around the airport where trees are located do not show up. My guess is that the scenery objects he placed are causing it. Each object has a "bounding box" and if that box isn't coded to "allow Autogen" it will block any autogen close to it. Street lights and ramp lights are especially bad about that because the bounding box for the ground light effect can be three times it's size.

I am hoping that Matthias is on vacation for the holidays and will return eventually, but until then this project is at a standstill.

[tgycgijoes]

I know what you mean. I got a reply over at FSDevelopers to my cry for help with that architectural challenge of a main terminal over at Chippewa County. I think that (I hope) that I made all the changes he suggested and that it looks like it does in Sketchup. We'll see in a few moments. It will either post here OR NOT!

[tgycgijoes]

I have I feel done the best I can with the main terminal in Sketchup to Model Converter X to Airport Design Editor X to FSX (DVD). I have a post over at FSDevelopers to see if the person who was helping me gets any better results than I do with the intricate details on some surfaces. After implementing the fixes he suggested this morning, it got better but there are some texture issue errors that MDCx lists that I have never seen and don't understand. I have posted them for him to review and tell me what's going on. That may be the issue but never having run across them before even with 53 custom Sketchup buildings in KASH Boire I am at a loss. We'll see what happens. It is not up to standards at all. Very disappointing.

[tgycgijoes]

I decided to reinstall my Aerosoft DA CRJ in P3D V4.5 with its "native" installer. Then I went hunting my flash drive archives and found Matthias Rauh's FS2004 airport and one by one I uploaded his scenery bgl's starting with the beautiful log terminal and was successful one by one. THEN I created a photo bmp background in SBuilderX and with the corner coordinates placed it perfectly in ADEx P3D 4.4

Next I opened up the AFCAD from his file and placed it onto the photo background. OK, now being encouraged with success so far, I readjusted the taxiways to match the photo. Added the overruns. Now it was time to correctly detail the runways. I use AIRNAV for this and finished that for the night's work. This was Saturday Dec. 16. I sent an email to Matthias for permission to convert his bgl's and his airport. His readme says you can share the airport for free but no re-engineering which is what I felt I was doing by converting the bgls. He replied on Sunday afternoon with a full permission to update the airport to FSX and Prepar3D V4.5 and to share it here so that is what I am going to do. I am going to create a few new buildings in Sketchup 2017 to bring it up to date (2019) from Google Earth and Pellston's website. I will keep updating this as it progresses. I PM'd Falcon409 today to let him know what I was up to but he had discarded all that he had done with the buildings being a problem as he mentioned and Matthias hadn't replied back in 2021. Matthias said that he almost deleted MY email because it was in his SPAM folder. I wonder if that is what happened to Falcon409's. Anyway, I am having fun tackling this project again.

[tgycgijoes]

I am going to post some screenshots tomorrow but I have been able to convert with Matthias permission all of the bgls with Model Converter X. I have also created one of the most difficult buildings I have ever done. I called it the geometric building and tomorrow you will see why. Yesterday I talked with the airport to find the location of the segmented circle and windsock. The young man I spoke with knew exactly what I was looking for. I found it on Google Earth after he told me where it was. He was describing the locations by runway or taxiway and I was able to mark each. There are five windsocks located around the airport. Only one is in a segmented circle close to the apron. I plotted each one with Slewmaster and then created a SODE xml document for each one by latitude and longitude. They are all there I just checked with BOB. Now, I will be flying my Aerosoft CRJ to/from KDTW Detroit and KPLN Pellston. I have to still mark the taxiways with the big red rectangles and other markings. Also need to place the runway and taxiway signs with either ADEx or Matthias signs. I'll see which is easier.

[tgycgijoes]

Here's a few screenshots I took today at Pellston in Prepar3D 4.5 of the buildings The terminal and the Aero Center are Matthais' buildings from the original FS2004 KPLN that I was able to convert to native P3D blg's. The geometric is a combination of 5 buildings that took me a week to create and join together, and then when they were all done, MDCx wouldn't load them but kept giving me an ASSIMP ERROR which I had no clue what it was having never had it happen before. I posted at FS Developer and ARNO answered me right away and he explained to me that there were zero triangles. He also showed me how to edit a dae in Notepad++ to find them and delete them. As soon as that was done, it opened up immediately and I was able to save the texture dds's and compile a bgl of it. Always learning something new. Here are the screentshots:

[gray eagle]

Hi Richard,

I am interested in this airport now that you have tweaked it for P3D. I was having issues with it in a previous release. Will you be uploading it here anytime soon?

Thanks

Here's a few screenshots I took today at Pellston in Prepar3D 4.5 of the buildings The terminal and the Aero Center are Matthais' buildings from the original FS2004 KPLN that I was able to convert to native P3D blg's. The geometric is a combination of 5 buildings that took me a week to create and join together, and then when they were all done, MDCx wouldn't load them but kept giving me an ASSIMP ERROR which I had no clue what it was having never had it happen before. I posted at FS Developer and ARNO answered me right away and he explained to me that there were zero triangles. He also showed me how to edit a dae in Notepad++ to find them and delete them. As soon as that was done, it opened up immediately and I was able to save the texture dds's and compile a bgl of it. Always learning something new. Here are the screentshots:

[tgycgijoes]

Hi Richard,

I am interested in this airport now that you have tweaked it for P3D. I was having issues with it in a previous release. Will you be uploading it here anytime soon?

Thanks

I have more work to do on the taxiways yet and a few more buildings and signs across the highway and then it will be uploaded here. I will also test it in FSX and if I need to do anything to it to work in that sim I will do that. The P3D will be first because that is what I actively fly in now.

[tgycgijoes]

Just finished, compiled and uploaded the FEDEX Office I created in Sketchup this afternoon into Pellston KPLN. I Googled FEDEX but only found one blurry file for Sketchup so I opened up Google Earth and went "down on the ground" with the desktop snapshot camera. The siding, trim and roofing are all custom matching the photos and I am pleased with how it came out. Here is a shot:

[tgycgijoes]

These are the last buildings I am adding to KPLN. They are opposite US Hwy 31 in Pellston from the airport. They are not exact replicas (except for Beaches Up North) but close Sketchup buildings. The windsocks on the airport all five of them are placed by latitude and longitude with Sode and are sensitive to time and wind speed. Only the #1 windsock is in a segmented circle. It is red and white from Google Earth. Some are all white, yellow or orange depending on the airport. Also the height is dependent on the climate conditions. In Michigan they are 3 feet tall to show above the surface of accumulated snow.

The last step is to place the runway markings on the taxiways in the red rectangles where they are on the real airport. I have also placed enhanced taxiway markings and hold short with ground polys in Airport Design Editor again from Google Earth. Here is a composite photo of the buildings and the segmented circle with the windsock:

[gray eagle]

Looking good Richard. I am not familiar with that neck of the woods but I would like to see how it plays in P3D V5.4 barring any scenery elevations/alignment issues as per P3D V5.3 should
work out ok. I'm not sure but I think I read somewhere that V5.4 was suppose to take the kinks out of the scenery alignment issues and any scenery/building/runway bleed thru.

[tgycgijoes]

Well, Gray Eagle beta tested it for me today in Prepar3D V5.3 and I checked it out in V4.5 and with a few tweaks it's all done and ready to pack up. I will announce here when I have uploaded it to the Library after I finish the readme. Since all the windsocks are SODE, I will include the simobject and the 5 xml's for them. I have seen where they can all be in one xml, but the last time I tried that it didn't work, which I'm sure is me. I am going to make a version for FSX/Prepar3D V1,2,and 3 as well. I have to add all the bgl's into ADEx FSX version library and then it should be good to save and compile. (At least I hope so...fingers crossed LOL!!!) 🤞 I'll send it to my beta tester for FSX Falcon409 and if it's ok on his sim then it's ok to upload. OK Ed?

[gray eagle]

Richard,

Correction, I tried it out in P3D V5.4 I still cannot see the wind sock pole. I sent you an email about that. With screen shots.

[tgycgijoes]

Well, after working for a few hours tonight, I thought that I had the FSX version ready. NOT!!!!!!!! All of the bgl's that I had converted from Matthias libraries are all actually in P3D4 format and do not show up in FSX EVEN THOUGH they do in Airport Design Editor when I imported them into the library. So, now I have to delete them all; convert the FS9 to FSX and reload them into the ADE FSX Library Object Manager and I'm not in the mood right now, ya think? It has been a disappointment. After a good night's sleep I will probably do it tomorrow since we are supposed to have horrible weather and I have a day off from home school. Now, in the words of a famous General: NUTS!!!!!

[tgycgijoes]

I am asking for some help if anyone is willing: I would like those who use Prepar3D V4's and V5's to download the KPLN Airport from the link below, unzip it and follow the README inside the folder. Then PM me with your comment and constructive criticisms to fix anything that needs fixing before final release. From my post last night. I am holding off on FSX until I get the comments on P3D and thank you all for your help. I know this is the FSX forum and I am doing this backwards. My Dell Windows 10 doesn't like FSX Acceleration and after much working on trying to fix that it just works how and when it wants to. Sometimes it was great and then other times after a two hour flight on final it just turned itself off. When last Christmas my friend bought me Prepar3D V4.5 I just haven't looked back. I will spend my day off today in Model Converter X converting all the KPLN FS9 bgls from Matthias with his permission to FSX ready to go and check it out myself.

https://www.mediafire.com/file/wpgrt...+Beta.zip/file