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FSXA Rotating Airport Beacon

scotth6

scotth6

Messages
542
Country
australia
Hi,

I am having a bit of trouble adding a default rotating airport beacon. I assume they are meant to rotate, I think I remember seeing that.

I used the SDK Object Placement Tool and it was actually the first time I used it. I added a Beacon tower with a Military beacon placed at the top of the tower and the light lined up with the beacon. I ran the xml through the P3D V1.4 SDK bglcomp.exe.

Here is the first XML:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<FSData version="9.0"><!-- Library sceneryObject: air_beaconlightmil --><SceneryObject lat="18.253699" lon="-65.642761" alt="10.800003" pitch="0.000010" bank="0.000000" heading="9.000010" imageComplexity="VERY_SPARSE" altitudeIsAgl="TRUE"><LibraryObject name="5D74182F4024A09411EF2191CB16726D" scale="1.000000"/></SceneryObject><!-- Library sceneryObject: air_beaconlightmilglow --><SceneryObject lat="18.253698" lon="-65.642761" alt="10.799057" pitch="0.000000" bank="0.000000" heading="9.000000" imageComplexity="VERY_SPARSE" altitudeIsAgl="TRUE"><LibraryObject name="ABD29B4543BB7F2B076BA8AB670B4DBB" scale="1.000000"/></SceneryObject><!-- Library sceneryObject: air_beacontower01 --><SceneryObject lat="18.253705" lon="-65.642764" alt="0.000000" pitch="0.000000" bank="0.000000" heading="9.000010" imageComplexity="VERY_SPARSE" altitudeIsAgl="TRUE"><LibraryObject name="7F38BFBC4A40E2953C3F5C8482FA2C87" scale="1.000000"/></SceneryObject></FSData>


This created the objects and the light but there was no rotation.

After a lot of searching I came across a thread here on FS Developer:

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/does-ade-have-a-rotating-beacon.15838/

I removed the beaconlightmilglow section from my original XML and merged the XML from the above thread with the other entries from my XML.

The result was about the same. The light actually looked a bit stronger than the original but there was still no rotation and the light also appeared during the day. Here is the XML after I merged the two as described above:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<FSData
version="9.0"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="bglcomp.xsd">
<!-- Library sceneryObject: air_beaconlightmil --><SceneryObject lat="18.253699" lon="-65.642761" alt="10.800003" pitch="0.000010" bank="0.000000" heading="9.000010" imageComplexity="VERY_SPARSE" altitudeIsAgl="TRUE"><LibraryObject name="5D74182F4024A09411EF2191CB16726D" scale="1.000000"/></SceneryObject>
<SceneryObject
lat="18.253698"
lon="-65.642761"
alt="10.799057"
altitudeIsAgl="TRUE"
pitch="0"
bank="0"
heading="9.000000"
imageComplexity="VERY_SPARSE">
<LibraryObject
name="ABD29B4543BB7F2B076BA8AB670B4DBB"
scale="1.00"
/>
<AttachedObject
attachpointName="attachpt_beacon"
pitch="0"
bank="0"
heading="9.000000">
<RandomAttach
randomness="ALWAYS_DISPLAY"
probability="1"/>
<Beacon
type="MILITARY"
baseType="AIRPORT"/>
</AttachedObject>
</SceneryObject>
<!-- Library sceneryObject: air_beacontower01 --><SceneryObject lat="18.253705" lon="-65.642764" alt="0.000000" pitch="0.000000" bank="0.000000" heading="9.000010" imageComplexity="VERY_SPARSE" altitudeIsAgl="TRUE"><LibraryObject name="7F38BFBC4A40E2953C3F5C8482FA2C87" scale="1.000000"/></SceneryObject></FSData>


I have never tried adding a rotating beacon before, so is someone able to tell me what I should be doing to add one. I thought it would be simple, but it hasn't turned out that way.

Cheers,
 
Last edited:
Hi Scott:

You may wish to use as a guide, this 'worked example' BGLComp XML code format for a standard "Civilian" airport rotating beacon:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<!-- Created by Scenery Design Engine (SDE) on 4/4/2016 -->
<FSData
version="9.0"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="bglcomp.xsd">
<SceneryObject
lat="Your Latitude"
lon="Your Longitude"
alt="0.0M"
altitudeIsAgl="TRUE"
pitch="0"
bank="0"
heading="Your Heading"
imageComplexity="VERY_SPARSE">
<LibraryObject
name="{7f38bfbc-e295-4a40-845c-3f3c872cfa82}"
scale="1.00"
/>
<AttachedObject
attachpointName="attachpt_beacon"
pitch="0"
bank="0"
heading="0">
<RandomAttach
randomness="ALWAYS_DISPLAY"
probability="1"/>
<Beacon
type="CIVILIAN"
baseType="AIRPORT"/>
</AttachedObject>
</SceneryObject>
</FSData>


Also, you may place a rotating airport beacon with ADE ...as described in the latest version 1.65x manual in Section 6.6 on Page 109:

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/ade-version-1-65-english-manual-released.433288/


You can then decompile the resulting placement BGL with BGL2XML to examine the BGLComp XML code used.


PS: I would recommend always working with XML in the above 'individual line display' format rather than in the "wide" format, so that formatting errors may be more easily seen. ;)


Hope this helps with the learning process for working with this type of object. :)

GaryGB
 
Last edited:
Thanks a lot Gary. I don't know why the XML is formatted the way it is. That was how Object Placement Tool spat it out; probably some setting I need to change.

That example will help a lot. I was originally going to use ADE to add the object, but I don't have the original ADE file, I was just working from the compiled Airport bgl. Even though I know you can separate Airport and objects, I was unsure if the recompiled airport would be altered in some way.

Anyway, thanks again, hopefully I'll figure it out from there.

Cheers,

Scott
 
Hi Scott:

As you may know, ADE allows one to use a "Split Compile" for object placement:

"* Compile Separate Airport and Object BGL Files – activates the so called “Split-Compile” (see chapter 12.1.14.2 Split Compile)"

(see page 175 in the ADE version 1.65x manual)

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/ade-version-1-65-english-manual-released.433288/



IMHO, it is best to use this option to keep 'other' scenery object placement in a separate BGL from airport-specific data and object types such as Airport Facilities Data (aka "AFD"), ARP, Tower Location, RWY, Taxiway, Apron, Parking, aircraft Start Locations, Approach data etc.. :idea:

When such separate data sets are compiled to separate BGLs by FS / P3D SDK BGLComp, there should not be any conflict, malfunction, or missing objects when rendered at run time, "IF" the airport-specific data and object types such as Airport Facilities Data (aka "AFD"), ARP, Tower Location, RWY, Taxiway, Apron, Parking, aircraft Start Locations, Approach data etc. ...have been vetted by the ADE "Fault Finder" tool before the airport is compiled to BGL(s) via: :pushpin:

ADE Menu > Tools > Fault Finder



BTW: When one uses "Open airport from BGL", ADE will make a copy of necessary data from the source airport BGL and will create an internal *.AD4 work file for the project, and will also create excludes for the original airport ...so that the new BGL(s) compiled from a ADE project will be displayed instead of the original airport BGL.


Hope this helps a bit more ! :)

GaryGB
 
Last edited:
Thanks again Gary. I ended up just using your example code above. I just changed the latitude, longitude, type etc and it worked straight away with the tower, light and beam all present. I had to alter the altitude down to 0 because I had it set to as the height of the beam from my initial XML. I also noticed that the light was present during the day, so just guessing I removed the following:

<RandomAttach
randomness="ALWAYS_DISPLAY"
probability="1"/>

Removing these lines seemed to fix that issue, so the beacon light beams are only visible at night. Hopefully removing them doesn't have some other side effect.

Cheers,

Scott
 
Hi Scott:

Glad that worked for you ! :)

I must thank Jim Vile and Jon Masterson (aka "Scruffyduck") for originally showing me years ago, how to successfully place a rotating airport beacon from manually edited BGLComp XML code. :wave:

GaryGB
 
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