FSXA A Custom Airport Beacon

[tgycgijoes]

Now that Tom Gibson has helped me to create a working custom airport beacon, which by the way DOES work, I wanted to be able like in real life have the beacon stationary during the daylight hours and then illuminated and rotating in the hours of darkness because the one that DOES work is rotating and illuminated green and white 24/7. Here is what I wrote:

<SODE> 

<!-- Time based switching of 3D-Model -->
<!-- Beacon -->
    <SimObject Name="Flight_Light_Beacon_80">
            <Placement Lat="34.60401202" Lon="-78.57886612" Alt="32#AGL" Hdg="360.0"/>
        <Model SimTitle="Flight_Light_Beacon_80">
        <ConditionalVisibility Variable="Time" Value="0700-1700LT"/>
        </Model>
        <Model SimTitle="Flight_Light_80C_TRG">
        <ConditionalVisibility Variable="Time" Value="1700-0700LT"/>
        </Model>
        <Model SimTitle="beacon_land_fsx">
        <ConditionalVisibility Variable="Time" Value="1700-0700LT"/>
        </Model>
    </SimObject>
  
</SODE>

Attached is the complete package for SODE with sim objects and the xml. The stationary custom beacon mdl IS visible from 0700-1700LT but there is no mdl with animation. I hope this is simple and can be fixed. Otherwise I will be forced to have the beacon on 24/7.

 

[tgycgijoes]

I even tried this code to see if this would generate the desired night result, but no luck either. The daytime is there but no night beacon.

<SODE>  

      <SimObject Name="EDP KEYF">
        <Placement Lat="34.6018042" Lon="-78.5792708" Alt="132.1" Hdg="0.0"/>
        <Model SimTitle="12bPilot_SODE_Environmental_Data_Probe">
            <EnvironmentalDataProbe ClientList="Flight_Light_Beacon_80;Flight_Light_80C_TRG;beacon_land_fsx"/>
        </Model>
    </SimObject>
   
        <SimObject Name="Flight_Light_Beacon_80">
            <Placement Lat="34.60401202" Lon="-78.57886612" Alt="32#AGL" Hdg="360.0"/>
        <Model SimTitle="Flight_Light_Beacon_80">
        <ConditionalVisibility Variable="Time" Value="0700-1700LT"/>
        </Model>
        <Model SimTitle="Flight_Light_80C_TRG">
        <ConditionalVisibility Variable="Time" Value="1700-0700LT"/>
        </Model>
        <Model SimTitle="beacon_land_fsx">
        <ConditionalVisibility Variable="Time" Value="1700-0700LT"/>
        </Model>
    </SimObject>
   
    </SODE>

 

[Bushpilot]

The sode code should look something like this...

<SODE>

    <!-- Data Probe serving its clients -->
    <SimObject Name="KEYF - Brown">
        <Placement Lat="34.6018042" Lon="-78.5792708" Alt="132.1" Hdg="0.0"/>
        <Model SimTitle="12bPilot_SODE_Environmental_Data_Probe">
        <EnvironmentalDataProbe ClientList="Beacon_Land"/>
        </Model>
    </SimObject>

    <!-- Visibility weather and time trigger based-->
    <SimObject Name="Beacon_Land">
        <Placement Lat="34.60401202" Lon="-78.57886612" Alt="32#AGL" Hdg="360.0"/>
        <Model SimTitle="SODE_Beacon_Land_Rotation">
            <ConditionalVisibility LogicExpression="A|B|C">
                <Condition ID="A" Variable="MetVisibility" Value="0-10000"/>
                <Condition ID="B" Variable="MetPrecipitation" Value="RAIN;SNOW"/>
                <Condition ID="C" Variable="TimeOfDay" Value="DUSK;NIGHT;DAWN"/>
            </ConditionalVisibility>
        </Model>

        <Model SimTitle="SODE_Beacon_Land_Static">
            <ConditionalVisibility LogicExpression="!(A|B|C)">
                <Condition ID="A" Variable="MetVisibility" Value="0-10000"/>
                <Condition ID="B" Variable="MetPrecipitation" Value="RAIN;SNOW"/>
                <Condition ID="C" Variable="TimeOfDay" Value="DUSK;NIGHT;DAWN"/>
            </ConditionalVisibility>
        </Model>
    </SimObject>
</SODE>

Here, the Beacon begins its work at dusk and ends at dawn.
Furthermore, the Beacon works when it rains and snows.
And it also works when the visibility is less than 10km.

The working SODE beacon is in the appendix with all necessary SODE files.

 

[tgycgijoes]

thank you for coming through again. I will study what you did and what I did wrong so that I can learn from it.

Richard

 

[tgycgijoes]

I have a perfectly working airport beacon now thank you much. After opening up in FSX, I realized that the models had not been resized and were way too large (not your fault) so in MDCx I scaled them both down and adjusted the height by 1 foot to be close as possible to the real beacon at KEYF. Here are two screen shots: one daytime still and one dusk rotating. Wow! they look great. You can see the blinking obstruction lights that I made in MDCx with the tower.

 

[GaryGB]

Congratulations, Richard.


For those of us that may wish to see your current build of the beacon working in FSX, will there be a download available here ?

I was very pleased to see experienced members of the FS Community cooperate on this innovative enhancement for FSX.


PS: Does it also work in P3D ?

GaryGB

 

[tgycgijoes]

I don't know if it works in P3D since I only use FSX Acceleration. I have tweaked it so that the models are the correct size for the airport since they got enlarged from GMAX to FSX mdl download and that is what Bushpilot worked with (my mistake). I am going to "pack up" the finished package with the mdls sized and the height AGL fixed so it sits exactly on top of the tower. I am also including the custom tower bgl so this is a complete custom object package. Here it is for anyone who would like to download it. Let me know how it works in all the flight simulators those who download and test it. There is a detailed README in the folder after you unzip it explaining how to use it at anywhere beside the Curtis L. Brown Jr. Airport, KEYF in Elizabethtown, North Carolina USA