About airbase

[dewoitine]

Hi moustachioed,
How created an airbase with name (Dortmund, Arles, Avignon, Genova, Le Luc, etc) as Britain airbase (ACC AirfieldsView attachment 31042) in single, dual, 1, 2,3, etc (global layer).
Regards.

 

[Pat Pattle]

Hi Dewoitine,

You need the terrain SDK from the microsoft site.

Basically....

1) Change your chosen airbase entry in the global_layer.xml to call up seperate files for your airbase.
(take a look at how the ACC ones are done) and run the global layer tool to produce the gsl.lib file.

2) Create a mos file for the airbase and maybe new textures if you wish. If not you can use existing ones.

3) Create a facilty file for the new airbase, the top line is where you put the airfield name as in your picture.

The global layer, mos file and facilty must have exactly the same name. eg. ACC_Abbots-Bromley_airbase

It's a bit tricky at first but once you get the hang of it it's quite straightforward.

If you REALLY want to have a try, I'll take you through it step-by-step here.

Cheers,

Clive

 

[dewoitine]

Thank you Clive but I think that it's too much complicated for me and it's not very important.
Regards.
André.

 

[ndicki]

What did you have in mind?

 

[Pat Pattle]

think that it's too much complicated for me and it's not very important

If I can do it, anyone can!

Which airfields would you like to see Andre? I'm working on Northern France & a little bit of Belgium and Holland at the moment....

 

[FAFL342Pascal]

its also quite easy to add an entry to the global layer, using existing facilities.

 

[HouseHobbit]

I use the SceneryDB program to add airbases and files..With whatever facilites I need from what I have loaded..
I just build a scenery config file and load it to the set up..

 

[ndicki]

Oh no, not SceneDB! I've had such trouble with that program you wouldn't believe it! Take the time to learn to do it by hand, it'll save you a great deal of grief later. A valiant try by Martin Wright, but unfortunately, even he can't win 'em all!

 

[FAFL342Pascal]

do you have any tutorial to build your own airfield ?
by the way, i use existing facilities, but would be better to build more realistic
France : orly, issy les moulineaux
England : Hartfordbridge (blackbush), sculthorpe
Thanks.

 

[Pat Pattle]

do you have any tutorial to build your own airfield ?

I've made one on airfield facility creation which I've called part 2. Part 1 which will cover the global layer, qclocation & .mos bit is in the works.

If anyone wants a copy of part 2. pm me.

 

[flashgordon]

RAF Sculthorpe will be in ETO 1.30. Sculthorpe will only appear in the 1943 Era as in April 1944 it was closed for conversion to 'Very Heavy Bomber' configuration and was not re-opened as an operational airbase until after VE Day. This and about 100 other Bomber Command additions are based on generic ACC airbase designs with alterations to the facility file to reflect the number and type of aircraft and hangars based at each airfield through the various ETO eras. Although to a generic design they give a huge enhancement on the stock cfs3 offering.

Adding stuff to the Global Layer is not hugely complicated. If you compare the stock cfs3 global with one from ETO you will see hundreds of additional entries for airbases, factories, radar stations, harbours, HAA sites etc. Copy a global and qclocation files somewhere and open the first in Excel (you can use Notepad but Excel puts everything neatly in columns and rows) and qclocation in Notepad. Take a look and you will see what is involved. Obviously if you use a non stock facility you would need the permission of the author before uploading for general use but of course you can build your own.

Pat_Pattle, Frosty and Chriseponymous of the ACC team have all produced a number of new custom airbases for the 1.30 upgrade each one of which is the result of many hours of research and construction to produce authentic master pieces.

Air Ministry airfield scale plans of a number of airfields can be obtained from
http://www.motorbooks.co.uk/showsect.asp?id=211&pageno=1 whilst an internet search can turn up some interesting stuff for free.

If you can use Paint_Net you can produce the texture files then comes the interesting bit of mastering g-max to position buildings etc for the xml file. Having previously been wholly involved in adding entries to the GL I recently took my first steps into building a custom airbase (North Killinghome). I can tell you I take my hat off to those guys who use g-max to produce 3D a/c models. Using it in plan view is stretching my brain to the limit.

 

[FAFL342Pascal]

Thanks Flashgordon
So i will probably use stock airbase, as i did with stock cfs3
Hartforbridge had a standard 3 runways, still visible on google earth (see photo in 1945 attached)
Orly was an airfield occupied by luftwafe and rebuild by americans in 1944 with one runway 02/20 (now international airport)
Issy les moulineaux is an historical place. During WWII, it was used by Caudron Simoun light aircrafts for staff and intelligence services. (one short runway). Now its an heliport.

 

[dewoitine]

Hi, after 48 hours of researches, I did not manage to set up an airbase.
Well, an example :
1) global layer csv => Buc,airbase,France36,N...........etc
2) assets=>mos=>Buc_airbase_France36.mos and Buc_airbase_France36_winter.mos
3) facilities=>Buc_airbase_France36 with name up : Versailles-Buc.
Result :View attachment 31317
I am very disappointed

André.

 

[FAFL342Pascal]

Hi andré
i did it with Terrain SDK for cfs3 stock and with stock airfield facilities
its quite easy indeed.

If you want, we can spent some time through Team Speak or kind of Live messenger.
in french of course.

Regards.

 

[Pat Pattle]

Stick with it Andre, you are nearly there by the look of it. What ground textures are you using?

 

[dewoitine]

Hi Clive,
I don't no, just managed this airbase as you posted it to me and also configure CFS3 config.
I have terrain SDK in Microsoft Games file but I don't understand the procedure.
I have just script in french "Base aerienne" and put some statics aircrafts or windsock in single 1, 2 etc..but I can't create.

Regards
André.

 

[Pat Pattle]

I have terrain SDK in Microsoft Games file but I don't understand the procedure.

Ok!

Global_layer.csv - This the file where all the permanent terrain objects are defined.
gsl.lib - This is the Global_layer.csv compiled for the game and it also includes all the bridge locations.

If you are modding the ETO, make sure that you are in era 1 first. You can modify the .csv files but they will have to be renamed for use with the tool then renamed back again afterwards.

Create back up copies of these two files!!


Method:

1) Open the Global Layer folder in CFS3
2) Open the Global Layer folder in the SDK
3) Copy your modified global_layer.csv into the SDK folder
4) Run the 'make_gsl.bat' file - It will create a new gsl.lib file.
5) Move the Global_layer.csv and the new gsl.lib back into your CFS3 Global Layer folder.

Et voila!

 

[dewoitine]

Enjoy ! Thank you very much
Regards.View attachment 31481

 

[Pat Pattle]

Excellent! Well done Dewoitine You are now one of us!.