Tutorial for creating 2 airports with scenery & cultivation between them???

  • Several people seem to have mastered the airport scenery and cultivation process. It would be helpful if one of those experts created a tutorial using the latest tools and techniques to show the novices how to create a route with 2 high resolution airports and scenery between them (cultivation included). This grid stuff is more complicated when you're trying to do a full route with 2 airports so a basic tutorial or work flow would be greatly appreciated!

  • Hello Ken,

    I am spread pretty thin for the next few weeks (on vacation with an old POS PC, getting ready to go to Hawaii for a real vacation, and a few other things that retired folks do) but I can tell you that it is not that difficult to create some nice scenery and airports for your personal use.

    Using North West Mississippi as an example, I created a few bands of 1m scenery using Google FSET with the potential of adding a half dozen or so airports to that improved area. I have a couple of small town airports, a couple of left over military airports from WWII and some in between. I used fsCP to add the runways, buildings, etc, used whatever cultivation the area had, and moved in some replacement airports after doctoring up the scenery to cover up the old runways and such.

    These are usually about 18 areas (6 x 3) and I just keep adding to the mix. Above the example area I have some nice scenery around Cleveland and further up near the casino town of Tunica and Memphis. Further South I have the Jackson metro area with some city scapes that really adds some umph to the view. This continues on in bands until I get to the Gulf of Mexico and have from Pensacola to New Orleans.

    I don't have a master plan but I have most of the scenery within 500+ miles in all directions completed with about 200 airports. Some of the scenery rectangles do not align perfectly leaving a sliver of fuzzy ground that I overlook. One rainy day I can redo the match line overlap or make a patch.

    I noticed that from when I first started with Rodeo having to teach me absolutely everything about the scenery downloading and cultivation and Phil building the wonderful fsCP for us that Google tends to improve the scenery over time so I have abandoned some of the early work for sharper, greener grass that I made more recently.

    Most times I add an extra 500 feet or more to the small strips so I can use the Learjet45 and if I really like to area I add extras like fuel stations, sports cars, windmills and such to give it a little character and some movement.

    I am about to flip the switch and buy a 1TB cloud storage service so can choose to have some beta testers look at some of this work with a promise to never share it. I failed to realize just how large all the files are when I tried this a few weeks ago. A GB is small apples when you start making these large rectangles and adding elevation, cultivation, and using 1m scenery.

    I am actually just dragging my feet waiting for someone to simplify using the absolutely excellent USGS free scenery that we can willingly share with all users.

    We can start a conversation if you wish and I can show you some of the details.

    Regards,

    Ray


  • Hello Ray,

    thank you for your contribution and the beautiful pictures you have set here.

    Also I would like to create in my country (Austria) a couple of scenery and airfields for my own use.

    I know Austria very well from my real flights and this country is not shown in Aerofly FS 2 and probably nothing will be released in the foreseeable future.

    Thanks to "FSCloudPort" ( Spit40 and Oldar, thanks gentlemen), who has created 4 main airports of Austria, you could already fly in Austria. If a suitable scenery and cultivation would be there.
    I would like to be able to create that. In addition, since I mainly like low and slow VFR flights, I would like to create the smaller, beautifully located airfields and cultivate them all around.

    Yes, with this post you have encouraged me and others who want to beautify their familiar environment in FS2.

    We could use this thread to start a completely new project (scenery + airport + cultivation) under your guidance.

    Anyone who wants to participate and learn what tools are needed and how they are used. If there are questions, we can put them here, everyone can benefit from the answers given.

    I just started to make my first steps with the "Aero Scenery" (thanks nickhod) and create sceney around the airports. Let's see how far I get.

    I would be grateful to you and to everyone else who helps us to learn step by step to start our own projects.

    Regards, Jakob.

  • So at a very high level, what are the most efficient steps that a novice should follow to create a new hi-res & cultivated route with airports at each end?

    1) identify the 2 airports to be created

    2) use AF2 grid calculator to find the level 9 grids that include these 2 airports???

    3) download/create elevation data for those level 9 grids???

    .

    .

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  • I use FSET and I find a rectangle that includes the two or more airports and I look at the nm x and y to ensure I have included the enough room for approaches for the airports. This is a min of 5 nm in all directions so don’t stop the scenery at the edge of your airport.

    I only use level 14 so I download the 1m scenery. I look at Google and Virtual Earth and see which is better - it varies, I then start GeoConverter with the intention of making the full level 14 run, but I stop after level 12 or 13 and load it into the sim to check that I sized it properly. If not, I redo FSET and make a new download, if ok, I restart GeoConverter before going to bed and let it run during the night.

    3 hours run time is typical and conflicting programs can screw up the run.

    I sometimes get 2 or 3 areas ready for Geoconverting and run one when I go out or watching TV or not using the PC.

    Regards,

    Ray

  • cultivation.

    Ray

    Thanks...I understand that. I meant, I guess which I didn't state, what is the process to do so? What is the process to do so, or where do we find the documentation to do such?

    • Official Post

    Thanks...I understand that. I meant, I guess which I didn't state, what is the process to do so? What is the process to do so, or where do we find the documentation to do such?

    There are tutorials already in our wiki for this. Have a look HERE

    There are also many detailed tutorials regarding making scenery, modeling scenery, making airports, and adding lights in there already as well.

    IPACS Development Team Member

    I'm just a cook, I don't own the restaurant.
    On behalf of Torsten, Marc, and the rest of the IPACS team, we would all like to thank you for your continued support.

    Regards,

    Jeff

  • Has anyone been able to get scenproc to read the building:level attribute from OpenStreetMap export? This is driving me nuts.

    Or has anyone figured out how to get scenproc to identify trees, homes, etc from a JPG or PNG?

  • Ray, is this an accurate summary of your process?

    1) identify the 2 airports to be created

    2) using FSET, check Google & Virtual Earth image examples near one of the airports to determine best source

    3) using the best source, download 1m FSET scenery files for a rectangle that includes both airports and a 5nm buffer edge

    4) run FS2 GeoConverter for levels 12, 13, and 14 but stop the process after 13

    5) transfer new scenery files to FS2 to verify it correctly covers both airports (if not, go back to step 3)

    6) restart FS2 GeoConverter for levels 12, 13, and 14 and let it run overnight (close any other open programs)

    7) transfer new scenery files to FS2

    How do you approach the cultivation process for the same rectangle?

    • Official Post

    How do you approach the cultivation process for the same rectangle?

    The easiest way for you to do this is to follow the video tutorial found on our wiki HERE

    Look under 'Cultivation made easy'

    IPACS Development Team Member

    I'm just a cook, I don't own the restaurant.
    On behalf of Torsten, Marc, and the rest of the IPACS team, we would all like to thank you for your continued support.

    Regards,

    Jeff

  • Ken,

    Dal to Hou is bit of a stretch in distance, I used 2 or 3 blocks to cover that area. I have a larger than normal area for Houston and a larger than normal area for Dallas. I have an area for Austin/Georgetown another for Waco/Killeen and I have one for Galveston and San Antonio.

    Texas is big.

    About your numbered list. A few corrections-

    4. Run levels 9, 11 and copy results to AFS2 and check for accuracy. If ok, then run 9 - 14 and copy to AFS2 (replace the level 9 and 11). I choose to run the higher levels overnight or when I am watching tv. 3+ hours of dedicated cpu time. The first test only takes a few minutes.

    If not ok then go back to 3. and correct and download the corrected area.

    I will check my files and post the block sizes and file sizes but this will be 20 GB or more.

    You might consider making Houston and Dallas as separate areas at dl level 1 and process at 9 - 14 but for the connecting area use dl 2 or even dl 3 and process at level 9 - 13 as flyover area.

    Regards,

    Ray

    Ken,

    It is difficult for me to find the exact areas covered by each folder but, the Dallas/Ft Worth area is something like this. Big area for Dallas, slightly smaller area for Ft Worth, and a 3rd area for South Dallas. See attachment. I may have Houston covered by one area with Galveston for the South and East. Take a look at the sized of the folders for the completed scenery files.

    Regards,

    Ray

    Ken

    You might try something along these lines.

    Regards,

    Ray

    Early on I did an 8m low res area for Dallas and a second 8m low res area for Houston/San Antonio/Beaumont based on lat lon lines just to see what it looked like to fly over. These cover a large area but are only good at high altitudes.

    Regards,

    Ray

    • Official Post

    Jeff, if the 2 airports are far apart like Dallas & Houston, what's the best way to cultivate the entire route / rectangle? Should the airports be added with FSCP after the cultivation or before?

    Ken, much of what Ray stated here, if you have two airports with a large distance between them, study your geoconverted area map and use OSM (OpenStreetMap) to split the cultivation areas between them. Once you do this and have your TOC files used for cultivation just define one to each airport TSC. Also be sure to increase the parameter 'size' to cover the those cultivation areas. The 'size' parameter is a square distance root in meters.

    The way that our new graphics engine works it should handle much larger cultivation areas with ease now.

    IPACS Development Team Member

    I'm just a cook, I don't own the restaurant.
    On behalf of Torsten, Marc, and the rest of the IPACS team, we would all like to thank you for your continued support.

    Regards,

    Jeff

  • Yes, I have been doing exactly what Jeff recommends to keep the size and performance of the cultivation files in check. There is a lot of cultivation in the metro areas and in any very large coverage area. Building a cultivation file is super easy and quick btw.

    Here are the airports that I had added prior to Phil giving the community the free use of fsCloudBase. I will go back one rainy day and update many of the airports to add buildings and static aircraft. fsCloudBase is just about as easy and possible to add a realistic airport in AFS2. Still needs to work out a wrinkle for two so we can add crossing runways, taxiways, and ramps.

    Regards,

    Ray

    3 groups of airports shown.

    Here is what Dallas looks like at 1m 14 w/o cultivation.

    Regards,

    Ray

    and here is Houston at 1m lvl 14 6,000 ft.