Aerofly FS airport creation tool ( early alpha version, work in progress )

Quote from ApfelFlieger

I have already tested whether the toc-files can be transferred to the tap-files : Yes, it works in principle.

However, there are some boundary conditions that have to be taken into account:

• Designation of the individual data fields
  - With FIND&REPLACE I have changed the FS2 designations into the FS4 designations.
• Lower case of the xref objects:
  - With FIND&REPLACE (one after the other for a, b, c, ...) I changed all upper case letters into lower case letters.
  - If you don't do this, the FS AirportCrationTool shows every wrong spelling of an xref-object during import.
• Orientation adjustment:
  - This is the most time-consuming part, because no FIND&REPLACE can be used here, but you have to go through object by object. When converting, it should be noted:
  -- FS2 has its own orientation:
  ---- 0° is at 3 o'clock
  ---- counting counter-clockwise
  -- FS4, on the other hand, is "normal":
  ---- 0° is at 0 o'clock
  ---- clockwise counting
  
  This results in:
  - if the FS2 orientation is in the range 0°-90°, the following applies:
  -- FS4° = 90° - FS2°
  - if the FS2 orientation is in the range 91°-359°,
  -- FS4° = 450-FS2°.
  
  This can also be easily calculated in Excel with a small formula.

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I have given some more thought to how the airfields from the FS AirportCreationTool can be made available to the general public for download.

My concrete suggestion is:

IPACS sets up a database where a zip file of the ICAO.zip pattern can be stored for each airfield, and this database is linked to the FS AirportCreationTool.

Then the process would be:

• IPACS and/or a small group of dedicated users (I would join) look up daily in the FS AirportCreationTool which airfields have been newly created or added.
• their ICAO.tap files are downloaded and converted
• the resulting ICAO.tmb-, ICAO.toc-, ICAO.tsc- and ICAO.wad-files as well as the ICAO.tap-file are compressed into an ICAO.zip-file
• the ICAO.zip file is uploaded to the database
• the menu in FS AirportCreationTool at each airport is extended by the item "Export airport", which automatically contains a link to an ICAO.zip file

Voila - that's it

Quote from ApfelFlieger

IPACS and/or a small group of dedicated users (I would join) look up daily in the FS AirportCreationTool which airfields have been newly created or added.

This could be easily automated. If Ipacs would offer an API the community could do many more things, like for example AeroScenery could also download Airports and so on.

So, now I have tried out whether the current 112 airfields can be converted "in one go". It works and is ready for download:

• https://flight-sim.org/filebase/index…rportcreationt/

Maybe we should have a flag when an airfield is considered ready by the author.

I am currently making do with the addition "- IN PROGRESS", but this can only be an interim solution.

The flag should then be designed so that there are two positions:

- RED -- visible only to participating authors

- GREEN -- visible and downloadable for all users

Could officials update those airports for aerofly fs mobile

admin

Yesterday I found a simple way (see my contribution in this post) to export and convert the tap files of the airfields with a few clicks and make the result available again as a zip file in Flight-Sim.org to everyone (!).

Since the test is successful, I am creating a better page than the test page.

If there are any objections from IPACS to this, please let me know. Otherwise I would put the page online tomorrow.

I would like to consult the airport creators about the ？MB storage range required for each new airport

These 112 airports (extracted) need 6.9 MB.

admin Will mobile devices be able to select and download their preferred airport by connecting to the network in the game? Or they can choose whether to download it all, and how to add it, based on the updated official content in the store. Thank you!

It is done, the new page

• https://flight-sim.org/filebase/index.php?entry/1344

is in operation.

Quote from ApfelFlieger

It is done, the new page

• https://flight-sim.org/filebase/index.php?entry/1344

is in operation.

We salute all the authors of these airports - and hope, that these marvels will find their way into Aerofly Core for all platforms. Until then: thank you for making these airports publicly available.

Given that the main simulator is so big, some more megabytes for some hundred airports is a very small price to pay.

Very nice, thank you.

Unfortunately, as always after an update, I have the "For development purpuse only" ads again:

It now works again without the hint - and even without clearing the cache.

I took a look at what the tm.log registers for the airports from the tool:

--------------------

(1) ERROR messages:

I have ERROR messages for these three airports.

2.42-tmsimulator: ERROR: (airport invalid icao='N14' tsc='/Users/username/Library/Application Support/Aerofly FS 4/scenery/airports/act_airports_all/N14/N14.tsc')
2.42-tmsimulator: ERROR: (airport invalid icao='S40' tsc='/Users/username/Library/Application Support/Aerofly FS 4/scenery/airports/act_airports_all/S40/S40.tsc')
2.42-tmsimulator: ERROR: (airport invalid icao='U70' tsc='/Users/username/Library/Application Support/Aerofly FS 4/scenery/airports/act_airports_all/U70/U70.tsc')

FS4 also has a bug with an airfield:

2.80-tmsimulator: ERROR: (airport invalid icao='L05' tsc='scenery/airports/custom/us/l05/l05.tsc')

My question now is what can be automated in the tool to prevent errors from occurring, and what needs to be included in the instructions to avoid errors on the user side?

--------------------

(2) SKIPPING airports

I found the SKIPPING notice at three airfields:

2.72-tmsimulator: skipping duplicate place 'scenery/airports/be/ebbl/ebbl.tsc'. icao='EBBL' using '/Users/username/Library/Application Support/Aerofly FS 4/scenery/airports/act_airports_all/EBBL/EBBL.tsc'
2.72-tmsimulator: skipping duplicate place 'scenery/airports/be/ebkt/ebkt.tsc'. icao='EBKT' using '/Users/username/Library/Application Support/Aerofly FS 4/scenery/airports/act_airports_all/EBKT/EBKT.tsc'
2.72-tmsimulator: skipping duplicate place 'scenery/airports/be/ebos/ebos.tsc'. icao='EBOS' using '/Users/username/Library/Application Support/Aerofly FS 4/scenery/airports/act_airports_all/EBOS/EBOS.tsc'

My question is whether FS4 automatically prefers user airports to FS4 airports, so that one does not have to delete existing airports in FS4 if one wants to create them oneself?