Which KPDX Portland for FSX?

[CrisGer]

great work Falcon, i got the bgls in the right place finally and things are looking great, terminals 100% with the correct glass venturi roofs on the outlying terminal arms, and the trees along the main approach avenue, i also added back in all the tarmac files but i think i am getting a wierd stripping on the pavement from them now, i wil check ariel photographs of the real KPDX to verify... i think that is agreat idea to see if the military air sets include one for this area, i am going to add in all of my Virtual Air traffic files again as i want to see this place bustling with the normal traffic. I am sending you some more files i got from one of the guys who has been working on this also, they are compatablity files for UTX and may help us out as well. great work. i may look at Fly Tampa SEA next to see if we can do the same for there, so we can fly between them.

cheers, and this sure is fun.

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/1963/kpdxconversion2.jpg

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/3479/kpdxconversion1.jpg

 

[falcon409]

Ok, a couple of things are popping up here:
No traffic. . .the AFCAD is either corrupted or there isn't one loading. Also, the parking area next to the main terminal that's multi-layered, appears to have a major alpha problem. It looks like it's walled on the exterior with one way glass, lol. I can see the cars on the very top but below that it's just mirrored glass (not really, just how it appears).

 

[CrisGer]

I am loading up the WoAI files for the area to see if i can get traffic that way, as i had the same problem, well, realatively, i had SOME traffic but no heavies.

here are some more bgls. from the work that the other guys have done over the years to try to get this working in FX, maybe there will be some help for that building, i am going to drive around the airport in one of the vehicles to see about that and to check for other issues...

more files:

http://www.filefront.com/14213585/MORE-KPDX-Change-files.rar/

these are more bgls for conversion to FX for this scenery from past work by other simmers....

http://www.filefront.com/14196981/KPDX-Conversion-BGLs.rar/

and these are conversion compatability fixes for users of UTX, but there is an unlock file missing, trying to get it now.
http://www.filefront.com/14209761/More-Tweaks-for-KPDX-and-UTX.rar/

 

[CrisGer]

Falcon i did a long cross check between the FSX and the FS9 versions and indeed the parking structure appears to have some problems as it translates into FSX...pics from both versions...

FS9 Version

http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/5347/fs9parkingstructurekpdx.jpg

plenty of planes in FS9
http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/4826/fs9planesatterminalkpdx.jpg
also there are plenty of planes and traffic in the FX9 version, it is just like being at the real airport and the detail is simply amazing...i did also find fighters parked over at that side area as you discussed.

the detail is still very nice in the FSX, quite a spectacle after dark.

hopefully we can get the fullest detail translated...

 

[falcon409]

Ok, I have zero traffic here, so I may have to go back to the beginning and start all over again as it would be a shot in the dark now to figure out what I did that suddenly caused the AI traffic to disappear. I tried converting the AFCAD to FSX but all that produced was about 2 pages of errors in the process and basically all the info it spit out was greek to me so that's no help. I kept a fresh AFCAD file to overwrite any screw ups I might have made, but still no traffic and I had some when I first started all this conversion.

Looks like I'll be uninstalling this attempt and beginning again.

 

[CrisGer]

me too. I had some traffic after the first bringing over the files and before we added those i got from the other guys. I sure want to keep that lovely traffic, it is as busy as an ant hill with heavies and lights landing and taking off and crusin around all over the place. i am working with FS9 and FSX side by side and hopefully we can find the right way this way. I will ask the other guys too about traffic.
slow and steady wins the race.

FS9 KPDX nice mix of heavies

mix of heavies and medium weights at the gates

and the Air Force is present too

i WAS able to add some traffice with adding WoAI, and the usuals like Continental, and American, etc. but the only one that is showing up at this point is FED EX. nice details tho, with the delivery trucks.

 

[falcon409]

I'm posting some shots I just took of the parking on the Airport side as well as the Military side. This includes the "tree" bgl that you sent me. It also shows the lack of any AI right now, bummer.

On the Military side, the shot that shows the back sides of the Main hangar and Ops buildings and the Static display, that thin light line that goes along the Ops building and around behind the hangar is supposed to be a fenceline. I deployed there 2 and a half years ago and so I remember a lot of what it looked like.

 

[CrisGer]

that is pretty much what i have too....now we just need to figger out the AFCAD sit, i remember there were ppl on the flightscenery site that had the same problem and they fixed it, but i am going to have to try to find an archive of that page.... maybe on Wayback.... and i will ask pj too, who has been helping me with those bgls. i tried adding everything from WoAI and will see if that restores the traffic. the main airlines i saw in the FS9 version were Continental, Delta, Horizon, Southwest, ...and a bunch of others who i did not recognize and there were some cool other statics too, including a Beaver float plane on the river side area....

that military side looks good, did you add stuff over there? if so, do you have a bgl for it?

 

[falcon409]

. . . . .the main airlines i saw in the FS9 version were Continental, Delta, Horizon, Southwest, ...and a bunch of others who i did not recognize and there were some cool other statics too, including a Beaver float plane on the river side area....that military side looks good, did you add stuff over there? if so, do you have a bgl for it?

The airlines that I saw flying out of the Airport side every day while I was there were Horizon, Southwest, Northwest, Delta, FedEx and some American Airlines.

Yes I did add stuff on the Military side but it's not complete yet
. I still have to find a good "fence object" so I can place the fenceline correctly. The AI is paramount now. If I can get some F-15's either static bgl files or AI traffic, then I can place the age equipment and other things in and around the parking spots to make it realistic.

 

[CrisGer]

YEs, American was there too, forgot that.

ok good re the miltiary side. i will work on getting any info i can about the air traffic.

ok, i found a note on this from the previous work on this project:

they say:

I also used the FSXPlanner and the Airport Design Editor programs to edit the FSX master Airport Afcad APX15150.bgl which is found in the FSX\Scenery\0101 directory...
This APX15150.bgl was easily converted using Bgl2Xml.exe if needed...

i am going to dig for that bgl

here it is: http://www.filefront.com/14219919/APX15150.bgl


i will try putting it above the scenery in the Addons folder to see if it will restore at least the default traffic

 

[falcon409]

Ok, I uninstalled the entire package to start again from scratch. At this point, everything is installed. . .I haven't started removing anything. Here's the freaky part, no AI during the day, but from about 8:00pm until dawn. . .traffic. . .let the sun come up and it's gone again. I installed a bunch of MAIW packages with F-15, F-16, C-130 and KC-135 aircraft along with packages for American, Horizon, Frontier, FedEx and a few others. Now Horizon is the big carrier at Portland, but American, Frontier and a lot of Southwest flights go in and out daily, but none of them show up. . .nor does the default aircraft which we all know and love, lol.

Pretty frustrating!

 

[CrisGer]

i think i recall that they fixed the no aircraft during the day by taking out some of the lights...

yes, i do recall that now, it is some of the light bgls that interfere with the presence of planes.

i have all those packages installled too but no go yet. lets keep working, it is close close

UPDATE: ok i got most of the traffic back using WoAI, the statics are there too, the fighters at least, during the day, not just at night. but you are right, continental and American are not showing as they should. I am going to try removing some of the light bgls. will check FS9 for confirmation one more time.

 

[falcon409]

i think i recall that they fixed the no aircraft during the day by taking out some of the lights...yes, i do recall that now, it is some of the light bgls that interfere with the presence of planes.

Yep, I pulled the lights and the AI (Horizon and Alaskan Airlines) shows up, but not Southwest or some of the others

UPDATE: ok i got most of the traffic back using WoAI, the statics are there too, the fighters at least, during the day, not just at night.

Ok, I've got no Military at all, so you're one up on me there. Still working it though.

 

[CrisGer]

sigh, hard work this, so close

i have lots at night, and none during the day, even with WoAI, dont know why. i may try re installing from start again too.

here is the most detailed worksheet from the work the guys did preiously dont remember if i shared this exact one so here it is:

"Hi Everyone... Its been months since I've added anything here but after seeing Vauchez' response above I felt good to know we have not been forgotten, and it was reassuring to hear, "A promise is a promise..."
One year ago I took on a slow 2 day process of adding and removing FZ02 bgl's to see which ones worked in FSX and which ones caused problems... I wrote my findings in a Post at the time and these temporary mods have helped several friends who are using FZ02... The Black roof's are addressed, as are the black trees...
As an X- KPDX scenery designer who helped write the last major Portland Scenery available, before Vauchez created what I still consider to be the finest Scenery package to ever have been released, I know and respect others data so I have not edited, nor would I edit anyone's bgls, however I have found many bgl's that conflicted with FSX and by removing them until an FSX FZ02 upgrade is available at least I and my friends have been able to fly with very good frame rates...
Now with FZ02 loaded and only using the FlightZone02_SC scenery directory which I have modified as listed before by only removing the problem bgl's Portland works beautifully on my 8800GT\Quad CPU\4GB Workstation...
I'd like to note that I am not using the FlightZone02_LC Landclass directory at all because I am using, and have really enjoyed the wonderful Landclass, Roadway\Railway\River\Lake\Creek\Stream, software GEX\UTX which covers the whole USA and has incredible satellite based GIS\GPS accurate detail...
After FSX SP2 we have all heard good and bad about it... For me it smoothed out all my flying and both SLI graphics boards just sing along with the multi CPU's working hand in hand to make flying very fluid on the Vista Ultimate 64 bit OS...
Like many others GEX kicked up my FPS even better by about 4 to 5 frames consistently... The stock settings however for UTX put a bit of a hit on my system, but seeing every creek and stream accurately placed in all gullies and draws was worth the small FPS hit... With all roads and railroads perfectly in place I saw no need personally for the FlightZone02_LC Landclass directory, as every Portland, street, railroad, creek, lake, farm pond, was in it's proper size and location, including every logging road throughout the State and Nation just as you see them from Google earth... At least for now the FlightZone02_LC Landclass directory was not needed with UTX's, Satellite\GIS accurate, roadway\railway\waterway, accuracy...
Anyway enough of this... Here is what I removed until our beloved FZ02 is finally made available and of which I hope I live long enough to see...
Note 1: I do still get some FZ02 ground texture bleedthrough if my camera is close to the ground but if I pan in spotview at about 40' or 50' AGL the bleed disappears...
Note 2: Backup your existing FZ02 FlightZone02_SC & FlightZone02_LC...
Note 3: The entire Landclass FlightZone02_LC directory can still be used in FSX\Sp1\Sp2 as I have tested it with no problems at least on my machine... It was beautifully created and is very accurate for the FZ02 area if one is not using the GEX\UTX addon packages...
Again I'm sorry this is so long... Here are the files I found caused many on the problems in FSX for me...

1W1-ground01v2.bgl (great PDX photo scenery but many of the buildings are black... If the bgl was recompiled without all those black buildings the whole FZ02 area would look just about perfect...
All FZ02 Tree bgl's needed removing...
PDX_trees03-01.bgl
PDX_trees03-02.bgl
PDX_trees03-03.bgl
PDX_trees03-04.bgl
PDX_treesAMF.bgl
PDX_treeseastpk.bgl
PDX_treesFltcft.bgl
PDX_treespt5.bgl
PDX_treespt9.bgl
PDX_treespt11.bgl
PDX_treessouth.bgl
PDX_treestwr.bgl

pdx-dirtsrwyCv2.bgl
pdx-dirtsrwyEv2.bgl
pdx-dirtsrwyWv2.bgl

All pdx-tarmac bgl's needed removing...
pdx-tarmac2_E.bgl
pdx-tarmac2_W.bgl
pdx-tarmac2_Wa.bgl
pdx-tarmac2v2.bgl

phx-2004seasons.bgl needed removing...

ttd_tarmac01.bgl
ttd_tarmac02.bgl
ttd_tarmac03.bgl

ttd-trees.bgl

vuo-tarmac01.bgl
vuo-tarmac02.bgl
vuo-trees01,bgl
vuo-trees02.bgl
vuo-trees03.bgl

hio-rwy01.bgl
hio-rwy02.bgl
hio-tarmac01.bgl
hio-tarmac02.bgl
hio-trees01.bgl
hio-trees02.bgl
hio-trees03

I also used the FSXPlanner and the Airport Design Editor programs to edit the FSX master Airport Afcad APX15150.bgl which is found in the FSX\Scenery\0101 directory...
This APX15150.bgl was easily converted using Bgl2Xml.exe if needed...
I still need to move a bit more the default FSX APX15150.bgl's, Jetways and parking to align with the FZ02 Terminal buildings and Jetways more accurately and this can be done nicely in either of the free FSXPlanner program or the Airport Design Editor programs which sync's nicely with an FSX Top-Down slew mode while FSX is running...
I hate to add anything else here but I have to note, that at least for me, if I also remove:
kpdxrwylights.bgl
kvuorwylights.bgl
kttdrwylights.bgl
I keep all my Dusk\Nite\Dawn runway lights and flashing strobes\Rabbit turned on during these hours... BUT, and for whatever reason I cannot explain, and maybe Vauchez can, I lose seeing all daytime AI aircraft... Dusk\Nite\Dawn AI aircraft show up perfectly, only the daytime planes disappear... This has happened only since FSX SP2... All the AI is still working, you just cannot see the planes... I see all their lights and rubber smoke on landings, but no aircraft, if those bgls listed just above here are installed... Remember crazy as this is with these same bgl's removed I also see all my Dusk\Nite\Dawn runway lights...
Now if I install those 3 bgl's I will see all my AI aircraft perfectly during Day\Dusk\Nite\Dawn but I will loose all my Dusk\Nite\Dawn runway lights and strobes within the FZ02 area... If I'm flying to Seattle's SEATAC KSEA all AI aircraft and runway lights work perfectly because I'm out of the FZ02 area... Go figure... I have removed SP2 and everything works fine in the FZ02 area regarding seeing all my AI aircraft and all runway lights but SP2 does something strange to say the least within these 3 bgl's...
So by just renaming or removing these FZ02 files and playing with APX15150.bgl I was able to put together a most wonderful to look at FlightScenery FZ02...
Have fun flying everyone and remember, "A promise is a promise..."
bnick??"

 

[Paul J]

Good Morning Chris: Falcon: I see you have been hard at work! I downloaded the files you had posted earlier, and then chopped out the three rwylights bgl's and now have modest traffic: I think I must have loaded up Flight1's Ultimate Traffic, NA only, as I see two Flight1 MD-80's and th Flight1 763 in, and just east of "D" parking. I have a plethora of Alaskan, both in "C" and "D", along with two Southwest 7xx's, an America West 7xx in "C", another Flight1 7xx, and then in the "B" area several Delta, and an American Airlines 7xx. There are also a few aircraft scattered on the south side. Time was around 0730 local.
I must say, you guys have done an amazing job of bringing it back to "how it should be": it looks great. How are you going to fix the floors in that multi-level parking building, though? That must present an awful challenge.

Did you get the other piece of the FZ02-UT_USA patch Chris?

pj

 

[falcon409]

Good Morning Chris: Falcon: I see you have been hard at work!. . . . .How are you going to fix the floors in that multi-level parking building, though? That must present an awful challenge.
Did you get the other piece of the FZ02-UT_USA patch Chris?
pj

Hi Paul,

I'm still working on the AI, I even downloaded AI_FlightPlanner and was able to convert the traffic files from WOAI to FSX Format, so I at least have more traffic than yesterday. I was going to simply make up some new arrival/departure legs for just KPDX, but the program is asking for info that I have no clue how to input. A work in progress!!

As for that multi_level parking area, it's an alpha problem for sure, but the fact that no one else has ever been able to correct it tells me It's an FSX "thing", that can't be corrected without getting into the mdl files. So it probably will have to remain a problem. I would imagine that if it could be corrected though it would up the fps a few notches as well.

 

[CrisGer]

Hi Paul, welcome to the effort here is the unlock file for the UTX compatablity:

http://www.filefront.com/14229005/USUnlock.rar/

that is great what you were able to get, i havent seen any Alaska yet, or Amwerican West, just have southwest, Horizon and Hawaian but that was becasue i installed WoAI, i will re read your post and see if i can shadow what you did,

the traffic issue remains the final challenge, as there is plenty at night but almost none during the day and from what i recall from the working forum topic on the now vanished FlightScenery site, they had that problem before and solved it but i am not sure how yet

yp that parking garage has the alphas.. but i can live with that if we can get other things working

cheers

 

[Paul J]

Can you use FS9's TrafficTools in FSX? This is what I used for Rhode Island's Quonset Point when adding the ANG + other odd aircraft. (This was my "home" base" in FS9). I'll give it a shot later on today (have "chores" to attend to...).

I guess I've found the answer... you don't need to - it's in the SDK/EnvironmentKit/TrafficToolBoxSDK......

 

[CrisGer]

i am buying Ultimate Traffic X to see if that will get the traffic back. will report later.

 

[falcon409]

i am buying Ultimate Traffic X to see if that will get the traffic back. will report later.

I used AIFlight Planner (thanks dhazelgrove) to convert the FS9 WOAI Packages that I downloaded. Even though when I download them from flightsim.com or Avsim the header says FS9/FSX. . .they are not. . .they can be easily converted, but those packages are not FSX ready. Once they are converted everything comes back, to include the default traffic as well.

As mjrhealth noted also, even though the flightplans are converted doesn't mean we'll automatically have all our spots filled. The person who made up those plans will have had to include KPDX with enough frequency for it to really fill up the slots.
I can tell you, they did not. Using AIFlight Planner you can add extra legs to include KPDX with more frequency, but as they are, once the files are converted, is all we can expect for now, which is far better than none at all.

As for the Military side, the best plan of action is to write a separate flight plan for KPDX to encompass the C-130, F-15 and KC-135. AIFlight Planner will do, and I assume for someone who is versed in the program it's no big deal, but actually it's not really that simple, not impossible, but not simple either.