• Which the release of FS2020 we see an explosition of activity on the forun and of course we are very happy to see this. But having all questions about FS2020 in one forum becomes a bit messy. So therefore we would like to ask you all to use the following guidelines when posting your questions:

    • Tag FS2020 specific questions with the MSFS2020 tag.
    • Questions about making 3D assets can be posted in the 3D asset design forum. Either post them in the subforum of the modelling tool you use or in the general forum if they are general.
    • Questions about aircraft design can be posted in the Aircraft design forum
    • Questions about airport design can be posted in the FS2020 airport design forum. Once airport development tools have been updated for FS2020 you can post tool speciifc questions in the subforums of those tools as well of course.
    • Questions about terrain design can be posted in the FS2020 terrain design forum.
    • Questions about SimConnect can be posted in the SimConnect forum.

    Any other question that is not specific to an aspect of development or tool can be posted in the General chat forum.

    By following these guidelines we make sure that the forums remain easy to read for everybody and also that the right people can find your post to answer it.

New FSX scenery design tool using Google Earth

Hallo there,

Well, I've downloaded the V1.02 this morning and I've tried to create a polygone for background on an airport. I'm using Earthplus for the creation of KML.

Here is what I'm getting, and off course nothing exist in the FSX addon scenery.

"Build started
Processing C:\Documents and Settings\Chris\Desktop\lel3.kml
*** Error: Could not convert variant of type (Null) into type (String)
Running Run_SDK_Tools.bat
Build completed with 1 error(s)"

What I'm doing wrong? Any ideas?

Thank you in advance for any response

Chris
 
constant said:
Thank you for your quick response!
File has been sent to the e-mail address.
Chris
Click to expand...

I had a look at your KML file. It doesn't contain any coordinates as you can see below. The coordinates tag is empty. Are you using the $20 plus version of Google Earth?

Code: 
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<kml xmlns="http://earth.google.com/kml/2.0">
	<Placemark>
		<name>lel3</name>
		<LookAt>
			<longitude>23.55528376096533</longitude>
			<latitude>38.05172195701762</latitude>
			<range>605.9955149908396</range>
			<tilt>-2.376855798241771e-011</tilt>
			<heading>-0.00145432131486836</heading>
		</LookAt>
		<LineString>
			<tessellate>1</tessellate>
			<coordinates>
			</coordinates>
		</LineString>
		<description>Airport_Backgrounds_MaskClassMap</description></Placemark>
</kml>
 
KalaK said:
Hi
I'm using GE Pro.
But no matter what I ryr, I get this error:

Shp2Vec.exe version 10.0.60905.0 - VectorQuad 6
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Error log:
source file .\???SHORELINES*.shp not found
Press any key to continue . . .

What can I do to fix this ?

PS: This look's like a great program. I have been using Ground2K before. But this one seem's to be very user friendly and easy to use.
Click to expand...


I had a look at your KML and the problem is that you have not "tagged" any of the KML items.

You can tag an item by clicking in DESCRIPTION column, press F2 and then select the tag you want to use.

Either do this for each of your 12 "island" items... or you can tag them all by simply tagging the folder "Sisimiut" instead.
 
Yes, I'm using the 20$ plus version.

I have tried to create other .kml files but when I'm opening these to notepad in the FSX_KML I see that there are no coordinates as you told me.

Could be that I'm doing something wrong when I'm creating the KMl in the Google earth plus? Or maybe something wrong with the settings in the Google earth plus?

Thank you anyway for your help:)

Chris
 
Well, I'm stupid...I forgot to add the polygone...:o

But now a new problem came up.

Here is what I'm getting

Build started
Processing C:\Documents and Settings\Chris\Desktop\Google Earth - New Polygon1.kml
*** Error: '23.55255580709142' is not a valid floating point value
Running Run_SDK_Tools.bat
Build completed with 1 error(s)

and here is the KML in the notepad

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<kml xmlns="http://earth.google.com/kml/2.0">
<Placemark>
<name>Google Earth - New Polygon</name>
<LookAt>
<longitude>23.55255580709142</longitude>
<latitude>38.0652779333356</latitude>
<range>389.3611778246178</range>
<tilt>-6.834299111847853e-011</tilt>
<heading>-0.00435964207067483</heading>
</LookAt>
<styleUrl>root://styles#default</styleUrl>
<Polygon>
<tessellate>1</tessellate>
<outerBoundaryIs>
<LinearRing>
<coordinates>
23.55255580709142,38.0652779333356,0 23.55199848711023,38.06556377939826,0 23.55198680591025,38.06553627647965,0 23.55198673119675,38.06549961392436,0 23.55198665081939,38.06545988451543,0 23.55198656393188,38.06541708665376,0 23.55198650199036,38.06538650794831,0 23.551986415128,38.0653436860097,0 23.55198634016617,38.06530697072712,0 23.55199016963988,38.06528248867732,0 23.55199396907237,38.06524269422272,0 23.55199390789977,38.06521207437732,0 23.55200159024581,38.06517225617968,0 23.5520015244511,38.06513855534978,0 23.55200144039344,38.06509565188857,0 23.55203247247275,38.06508030418994,0 23.55207519817121,38.06508027496203,0 23.55211406068284,38.06508638200373,0 23.55216457778807,38.06509860635693,0 23.55221108300917,38.06510463376939,0 23.55225761963037,38.06510451528401,0 23.55229649584422,38.06511672966442,0 23.55235095043848,38.06512584015903,0 23.55240548690061,38.06513804427639,0 23.55245618164611,38.06514410690075,0 23.55249522460688,38.06515019889777,0 23.55255386324531,38.06515009032975,0 23.5526008479746,38.06515000352934,0 23.5526439802307,38.06514991523132,0 23.55268325002385,38.0651529166582,0 23.55272651837508,38.06515281799727,0 23.55276982621911,38.06516201190922,0 23.55278155985484,38.06518985391632,0 23.55277752318162,38.06521770207285,0 23.55277346825004,38.06525170077886,0 23.55276940900346,38.06528874546996,0 23.5527614716771,38.06531033022974,0 23.55275353244896,38.06533497381215,0 23.5527534097331,38.06537499063371,0 23.55275327842341,38.0654180316834,0 23.55275317495956,38.06545181110035,0 23.552745221551,38.06548859001793,0 23.55274514069717,38.06551616808322,0 23.55274504218255,38.06554984294396,0 23.55274495424861,38.06558350153485,0 23.55274487978304,38.06561715353062,0 23.55274485895598,38.06562632674116,0 23.55201406111118,38.0656004458464,0
</coordinates>
</LinearRing>
</outerBoundaryIs>
</Polygon>
<description>Airport_Backgrounds_ExcludeAutoGen</description></Placemark>
</kml>

What do you think?:)
 
Uploaded v1.03.

It can be downloaded via the FSX KML manual page.

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/wiki/index.php?title=FSX_KML


=== v1.03 Beta - 28th 0ct 2006 ===

Issues resolved:-
* Better handle tags in description field. Be less strict about "whitespace" and cr/lf
* Better handle international settings for decimals
* Add more excludes to fsx_kml_tags.xml (see tags starting with "exclude__")
* Add support for moving kml items up/down
* Add support for moving kml items via drag drop
* Add support for creating new kml folder
* Create shapes in order they appear in the KML
* Assign UUID (starting at 1) to each shape in the KML based on its order in the KML

Known issues (Features not implemented in this release):-
* Freeway tags (moving traffic) - in v1.03 you must manually edit the FW .DBF file to set traffic density and direction
 
constant said:
But now a new problem came up.

Here is what I'm getting

Build started
Processing C:\Documents and Settings\Chris\Desktop\Google Earth - New Polygon1.kml
*** Error: '23.55255580709142' is not a valid floating point value
Running Run_SDK_Tools.bat
Build completed with 1 error(s)

What do you think?:)
Click to expand...

I've just uploaded 1.03 which fixes this issue (amongst others).

See my previous post for download info.
 
Adding road traffic

I'm just starting using FSX KML to add traffic on roads aound some of my local airfields (thanks for providing such a convenient tool for doing this kind of thing :)). I've successfully created the roads themselves, but I can't work out how to get the traffic moving on them.

The wiki says -
Freeway tags (moving traffic) - in v1.03 you must manually edit the FW .DBF file to set traffic density and direction

Unfortunately I have no idea what needs to go in there :confused:! If someone can point me in the direction of the relevant documentation or give a brief answer here, I'll be very grateful.

Chris
 
toprob said:
Any tips on excluding bridges? Can't for the life of me make a bridge go away.
Click to expand...

Hmmm... Looks like i included a tag called "Exclude__Roads" which excludes all roads, but not one which excludes all bridges. There is probably a way to exclude all bridges and I will check when I get home.

In the meantime there are about 10 excludes for specific types of bridges (eg "Exclude_Road_Bridges_xxx") but that would be a little painful because you would need to create 10 polys and tag each one with the exclude to cover all the possible bridge types.

When I get home and check I'll post again with the answer.
 
cearnsh said:
I'm just starting using FSX KML to add traffic on roads aound some of my local airfields (thanks for providing such a convenient tool for doing this kind of thing :)). I've successfully created the roads themselves, but I can't work out how to get the traffic moving on them.

The wiki says -
Freeway tags (moving traffic) - in v1.03 you must manually edit the FW .DBF file to set traffic density and direction

Unfortunately I have no idea what needs to go in there :confused:! If someone can point me in the direction of the relevant documentation or give a brief answer here, I'll be very grateful.

Chris
Click to expand...


Sorry about that, I should update the wiki.

You will need a utility to edit the DBF file. I assume you have that.

I'm not home at the moment so I cant check what you need to set in the DBF. But from what i remember i think traffic direction is "B" for traffic in both directions, and the other column is for number of lanes. So if you enter 10 and B you get five lanes in each direction.
 
Thanks for the reply.

I've got tools which can edit the dbf file - if I can manage to create it. Having spent quite a while with the software earlier today, I can't work out how to tell fsx-kml to create a freeway object - there is no predefined tag for this in the XML. It's quite likely I'm being stupid, but I'm stuck at this point.

I've tried creating a dbf file using the freeway example from the SDK but can't get this to work either - I can't get the GUIDs to match.

Hope there's a simple explanation for where I'm going wrong!

Cheers,

Chris
 
cearnsh said:
I've got tools which can edit the dbf file - if I can manage to create it. Having spent quite a while with the software earlier today, I can't work out how to tell fsx-kml to create a freeway object - there is no predefined tag for this in the XML. It's quite likely I'm being stupid, but I'm stuck at this point.
Click to expand...

I might have forgotten to add the freeway tag to the fsx_kml_tags.xml file. I will check when i get back home and upload an updated tags file. Also, once tagged the FW shapefiles (ie DBF) should be automatically created. You would just need to edit the appropriate columns in the DBF to set the direction and number of lanes... In anycase I'll post later on today sometime.
 
Well, I've almost managed to hack it together.

Added this section to the fsx_kml_tags.xml file -
<tag>
<tag>FreewayTraffic</tag>
<description>FreewayTraffic</description>
<guid>{54B91ED8-BC02-41B7-8C3B-2B8449FF85EC}</guid>
<Feature>FreewayTraffic</Feature></tag>

This allows me to select 'FreewayTraffic' as a description in fsx-kml, which in turn creates the FWXroadname.* files when I run it. Editing the .dbf file with PFE I changed the '0 ' before the Uuid into '2B'. Running the Run_SDK_Tools.bat script successfully creates a BGL which in turn adds 2 lanes of traffic in FSX, but only in the forward direction. This is what I would have expected from '2F' rather than '2B'. A little more experimentation is required...

Thanks for a really useful program!

Chris
 
cearnsh said:
Well, I've almost managed to hack it together.

Added this section to the fsx_kml_tags.xml file -
<tag>
<tag>FreewayTraffic</tag>
<description>FreewayTraffic</description>
<guid>{54B91ED8-BC02-41B7-8C3B-2B8449FF85EC}</guid>
<Feature>FreewayTraffic</Feature></tag>

This allows me to select 'FreewayTraffic' as a description in fsx-kml, which in turn creates the FWXroadname.* files when I run it. Editing the .dbf file with PFE I changed the '0 ' before the Uuid into '2B'. Running the Run_SDK_Tools.bat script successfully creates a BGL which in turn adds 2 lanes of traffic in FSX, but only in the forward direction. This is what I would have expected from '2F' rather than '2B'. A little more experimentation is required...

Thanks for a really useful program!

Chris
Click to expand...


Good job. Sorry i did get a chance to look earlier.

In the FW DBF file thats created there are 3 fields

NumberOfLa = Number of Lanes.
TrafficDir - B = Both directions, F = From start point to end point, T = from end point to start point
UUID - You should leave this as is

So if you want 2 lanes traffic (ie 1 in each direction), you set NumberOfLa = 2 and TrafficDir = B

In v1.04 I will make it default to this instead of no traffic. Sorry about that :)
 
Still no 2-way traffic

'Fraid it's me again. No matter what I do I can't get traffic moving in both directions. Setting NumberOfLa does exactly what you'd expect (I've tried 1,2 and 4) and TrafficDir with values of F or T sets the direction as expected. Two way traffic has so far defeated me. Setting TrafficDir to B behaves exactly like F - one way traffic flowing away from the origin of the path. Other values don't seem to give any traffic at all (as you may well expect).

I'd be grateful for any suggestions on how to fix this as I can't see what I'm doing wrong. And it's kind of frustrating because the approach to EGSC rwy23 (my home airfield) looks so much better with traffic on the road just before the threshold!

Cheers,

Chris
 
Last edited:
cearnsh said:
'Fraid it's me again. No matter what I do I can't get traffic moving in both directions. Setting NumberOfLa does exactly what you'd expect (I've tried 1,2 and 4) and TrafficDir with values of F or T sets the direction as expected. Two way traffic has so far defeated me. Setting TrafficDir to B behaves exactly like F - one way traffic flowing away from the origin of the path. Other values don't seem to give any traffic at all (as you may well expect).

I'd be grateful for any suggestions on how to fix this as I can't see what I'm doing wrong. And it's kind of frustrating because the approach to EGSC rwy23 (my home airfield) looks so much better with traffic on the road just before the threshold!

Cheers,

Chris
Click to expand...

I must admit I haven't tested the freeway traffic yet... But I'm pretty sure FSX_KML is doing it correctly. In anycase can you post your KML file so I can use it to debug?

I agree that traffic before the threshold adds great atmosphere :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top