KASH Boire Field Airport

[falcon409]

Just "for giggles" (I have both versions of MDCx on my system V1.3 and V1.6) I tried and I found out that I CAN use drawcalls in V1.3 successfully and also that sometimes it compiles bgl's when V1.6 will give me an error who knows why. Even Arno has scratched his head when I have something glitch. It could well be just my ACER laptop's funny way. Anyway, I got another building done WITH drawcalls for some of the bmps and then the rest of them as dds and it works. Onto the next one next week. I take Sunday's off for church and for a day of rest. Thank you for your insight.

Are you using a beta version of MCX? I have the latest version (Version 1.5.0.0 e8e1ec0 DEV 7/14/2021). Also, when I import a Sketchup 3D object for conversion the textures are jpg's, bmp's, even some png's. The Drawcall accepts all of those and once the texture sheets are compiled via the "minimize drawcalls" command I then save all textures as dds and compile the bgl. That has always worked quite well.

- - - Updated - - -

[tgycgijoes]

thank you I'll check it out this week

[tgycgijoes]

Here is another building "in the can" just finished, checked, tweaked and shot since its ok. This was the first time in over a year that I had a Sketchup Download that gave me an issue with MDCx. It was so long that I didn't bother to check the compiler creating a bgl from the DAE. I remembered that something I installed would be the issue so I removed the three items I had used one at a time. I had gas meters and an electric meter on the side of the building but even though they were low poly, they still slowed down so I just created some boxes of my own for them. BUT!!!...the culprit was the chain link fence component. When I removed them it compiled so quickly and perfectly I was so glad. Then I went back in and added rectangles between the posts and used the Materials chain link fence and it works perfectly AND is so quick it's great. Here are the shots in FSX and the frame rates are still good on my computer, high 20s with the Cessna 172 and 35-40 with BOB. 22 done and 16 to go. With only an exception or two none of them are complex like this or the tower were.

[tgycgijoes]

Yesterday I worked on buildings 3 and 5 which are small hangers at the runway 32 end of the airport. I matched the green exactly from a Google photo in Photoshop and then created a custom material of vertical siding for it. Then after creating a basic hanger with no textures and ref'ing photos in Google earth, using Sketchup Engineering Plugin I added extruded metal rectangular tubing to the ends. The toughest part I find is rotating and moving them. I haven't gotten the hang of it yet (if there actually is one LOL) so it took me longer to align them than to do the whole basic hanger shape. Both Hangers are identical with slight exceptions. I also learned how to create a simple folded hanger door from a Youtube video and they didn't come out too bad. Nothing like "One-click hanger" but they serve the purpose. Finally, I added the gas meter and electric meter on each where they belong. Final icing was adding 2 inch stainless steel tube to each electric meter which was really fun. You can see in the photo that the gas meter is in the same location BUT the electric meters (???) are in different ones. I didn't put the 200 Amp Circuit breakers inside the hangers at the location of the meter. LOL! There is a limit to detail. Of course these are not supposed to be architectural renderings but FSX scenery and even after "Cleanup" is run there is still a lot of poly's for FSX or P3D. Ground is composed of 2 photoreal bgl's created with SBuilderX compiler of runway 14 end and runway 32 end that beautifully match together. I did one to start but it was "mush" from any closer that 5,000 AGL in FSX so I deleted that...went back into SbuilderX and created two of them. I tried 4 or 6 shots but each time they shifted slightly in FSX when it was opened though they DID look better I didn't like how the runway and taxiways kept getting misaligned. 2 shots works about 98% which I am happy with. And for those Sketchup artists who are thinking that I forgot to delete her, I wanted Lisanne to be in the hanger door of hanger 3 to give it a little perspective.



Here are the fronts:

[tgycgijoes]

I didn't get much time to work today. Started Bldg 83 which is one of the NJA (Nashua Jet Aviation) buildings which also is combined with the Midfield Cafe. I am trying to learn more with each building so since Midfield is on the second level of the building and I could get quite a few pics from their website I am "building" their deck with the Engineering Plugin with 2x6 lumber. Interesting, a later photo montage made my life much simpler. The deck is covered over with a non-skid surface instead of the 2x6 lumber planks I saw originally, which are probably underneath plywood. I wonder if it was too slippery in the rains and sleet of spring or winter. Doing a lot of photo study and having fun. When it is completed as usual I'll post shots here. When I created one of my two local airports, at the end of one runway is a bar and grill with outside dining tables which I'll add to Midfield Cafe where they are in the photos. With "Cleanup" it is possible to add "cool" details like these with little or no frame rate impact like the gas meters where they are very obviously visible.

BTW, I hate using SOH to post all the photos, I used to use Photobox and Imgur but both of them got greedy and want paid space. I tried a couple others but keep getting told that its the wrong format when I try posting a URL. Any advice for a free site that works is most welcome.

[Mike71]

Looking great - your patience and ability are impressive -

[p14u2nv]

I second the above post. This is really looking great so far. I can only imagine the work load which is way beyond my pay grade!

Really looking forward to your release of Boire Field...thank you.

[tgycgijoes]

Thank you, I give all the credit for my talent to my Maker. Today I learned that Maj Railmaker is really fun to use but MDCx doesn't like it and won't compile the bgl. That happens with Sketchup Extensions. A few hours that didn't produce the result I wanted. My stairmaker DOES work beautifully though I don't know why I got no risers so I had to make those myself with rectangles and triangles no problem. Last thing for the day was Engineering Plugin for lumber to make the railings from scratch. Considerably more work but I won't be wasting time. I am taking a Sketchup shot to show progress so far.

That's enough for today. Dinner time and then Sherlock Holmes episode(s) I found on Youtube.

[mrogers]

Great work you're doing there. After checking out the airport on Google Map, I appreciate the scale of your project considering the size of the airport and the many buildings to recreate. Thanks for the updates every now and then. Looks great.

[tgycgijoes]

With each building I try and learn some new aspect of Sketchup (2016). Its the latest free version I can run on my laptop which is limited by the graphics card. Its a great little laptop and I get really good fps and run full sliders in FSX. I don't have a problem with that because I have an app that allows me to open newer version downloads and then retro-save them as 2016 or 2015 having both versions. My Pastor's teenage son asked me after Church Sunday if I could teach him how to use it and I am looking forward to sharing my knowledge with him. My last two flight sim students are fine young men now. One is in the Air Force learning to be a crew chief on cargo aircraft and the other is in the Army learning to be a heavy equipment operator in the Corps of Engineers. I am very proud of them both. Its really rewarding to share my knowledge both on here and at our Christian school. I'll keep plugging along with KASH.

[tgycgijoes]

Well, here are a few shots of Building 83 which is Nashua Jet Aviation and Midfield Cafe. I had it all done just before dinner but when I tried to create a bgl, Model Converter X decided it didn't like some Sketchup Addons so one at a time I had to remove them. Finally, the three beautiful overhead hanger doors with all the hardware went into the trash and then it compiled. When I created building 91 "next door" I had Sketchup cyclone fence sections but MDCx didn't like them so I had to remove them and use Sketchup's own wire fence. It disappears virtually in FSX unless you are right on top of it so I am going to hunt tomorrow for a different Sketchup wire fence and try and see if MDCx will "play nice" with it and make BGLs for 91 and 83 before I do any more buildings with wire fence. MDCx likes the Gate fence just fine and I may see if I can isolate the fence portion away from the posts and use it.





You can see the piece of fence in the lower right corner but then it all disappears into small dashed lines. Gonna try hard and fix that and pass it on here. The windows were all made with Ruby Window which is a paid Sketchup Addon. I have a 10 day trial for it and I really like it a lot. It is an architects tool and very accurate and for a personal copy its not too expensive. Made life really simple. The Doormaker is free and that is cool too. Time for Sherlock Holmes so enjoy the pictures. One step closer to completion.

[tgycgijoes]

The first Sketchup chainlink fence I searched for and downloaded works perfectly! Thank you Lord! I had a lot to do today with the radio show for next week so I just got to test it before dinner and it created the bgl. Woohoo!!! I will fix all the fences in 83 and then upload 81 and change out those disappearing fences. The best is its 2D not 3D and is no impact on frames whatsoever. I am also able to use a few of the eye candy like cafe tables that I deleted in my quest to find the culprit yesterday. It will look even better than above when I am done. I should be able to get all this done tomorrow after breakfast and post here. Closer to completion than yesterday.

[tgycgijoes]

After much prayer and I am very serious, and much experimentation, my last hope was to download and reinstall Model Converter X V1.40. That did the trick after days of black fences without explanation. I also decided to connect Buildings 81, 83 and 85 on a Google Earth image for exact placement of the buildings and the respective gates and fences and here is the result. Saturday evening I completed Building 85 learning more and more about Sketchup and some plugins I have installed. The columns are from the Engineering Plugin which is really cool as are the piping on the electric and gas meters. I used Maj Walls; Ruby Windows and Door Maker. Maj Walls and Door Maker are free. I am going to purchase the personal version of Ruby Window Maker which made all of the windows for Building 85. The front and windows on Building 81 are imported jpg textures. Google Earth makes it difficult to get perfectly straight on shots to use to do this but I try to when I can. The next building 87 will have some of these used because I could get right in front of it. When I did my Capre Fear Jetport airport 5 miles from home, my Nikon and I took many shots I used to do this but New Hampshire is a bit too far from North Carolina to take a ride just to shoot some shots of the airport if they let me.

BTW: None of the links on ImgBB are valid when I try and use the URL for photos so I have to use SOH space to post. I used to use Photobucket successfully but they are messed up and don't host free anymore.

[tgycgijoes]

I can get imgbox to put a thumbnail here I guess and then you have to click it to go see it. This is the only way I have been able to upload without using SOH bandwidth. So click away, there are two images. One is Building 87 only and then Building 87 and 85 next door yesterday's post. I used all jpg textures for Building 87 except for the hanger doors and the sidelight window. I built the whole thing in about 4 hours start to finish. I don't know if that is a record or not. LOL!

[tgycgijoes]

This is the last building in this row from 81-89. I used virtually all jpg textures for this also so it was completed in just a few hours. Textures match Building 87 as they do in real life. Here are three shots:



I figured out how to post these. Enjoy!

[MrZippy]

I can get imgbox to put a thumbnail here I guess and then you have to click it to go see it. This is the only way I have been able to upload without using SOH bandwidth. So click away, there are two images. One is Building 87 only and then Building 87 and 85 next door yesterday's post. I used all jpg textures for Building 87 except for the hanger doors and the sidelight window. I built the whole thing in about 4 hours start to finish. I don't know if that is a record or not. LOL!

Don't know how many people clicked on your single image....but what an eyefull!

OK, it only happened once! The "correct" image showed the second time I clicked on it!

[tgycgijoes]

I don't know what that was either but I won't be using them for any more image hosting. They HAVE a click when you upload that your image is "family-friendly" but that garbage sure is not. Not MY family anyway!

[tgycgijoes]

I would like to ask a couple of you if you would be willing to test out what I have done so far and let me know if anything needs fixing. I have FSX but I would like another FSX person and then a couple different versions of P3D to see if it is compatible with them. You can PM me and I will send you a mediafire link to the airport scenery and texture files. There are a few FSX buildings but very few if they don't show in P3D. Thank you in advance for your assistance. After I fix anything if it needs fixing I will share it for everyone to download if they want to.

[falcon409]

. . . . . There are a few FSX buildings but very few if they don't show in P3D. Thank you in advance for your assistance. After I fix anything if it needs fixing I will share it for everyone to download if they want to.

If you compiled your buildings using the FSX SDK then it has been my experience that all buildings will show. . .even into V5+.

[tgycgijoes]

If you compiled your buildings using the FSX SDK then it has been my experience that all buildings will show. . .even into V5+.

They were all compiled using Model Converter X with the FSX SDK Compiler so I guess they should all be good. We'll see when I get someone with P3D Vx how they work.

R

[Brian_Gladden]

I've got P3D 3.1

[tgycgijoes]

I've got P3D 3.1

Check your private message for the link.

[Brian_Gladden]

Gave it a look. Nice frame rates and no major issues other than the following;

Grass areas look kinda "Sparkly" when the eyepoint moves. Might be my rig though since I run the Derweki design grass and ground texture bumps.

Are you planning autogen for the photoreal background? I have both Orbix NA Landclass and Megascenery Earth New Hampshire and it's a bit distracting with the big "hole" around the airport. Perhaps a optional version with no photo background?

[tgycgijoes]

When I look online on Google Earth it's quite barren on and around the airport. I will check the flatten and be sure it does NOT depress the autogen so it gets generated and I will also check my sliders. I changed the concrete textures too that look so great in the bmps and then look "dumb" on FSX.

[falcon409]

When I look online on Google Earth it's quite barren on and around the airport. I will check the flatten and be sure it does NOT depress the autogen so it gets generated and I will also check my sliders. I changed the concrete textures too that look so great in the bmps and then look "dumb" on FSX.

With a photoreal background, the default autogen is automatically suppressed. You have to use the Autogen Annotator to hand place any vegetation you want to show around the airport. I checked the Google Earth Pro view of Nashua and it has an abundance of trees in and around the airport. Granted, it's a lot of work to get the autogen placed but the results will add a great deal to your hard work on all the custom buildings.

Nashua_KASH by Ed Wells, on Flickr