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FSX Runway Altitude Problem

Big_John

Big_John

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us-ohio
Hello everyone.

First of all, let me state that I have had quite a lot of experience with designing scenery for FS since FS98. With that said, I am at a loss with FSX, and if you will please read my post carefully as I hate repeating myself........ (chuckles).

The problem is this, the altitude of my runway and the airport are quite different even after using a Flatten Mask Class Map ExcludeAutoGen polygon, and all entities that require altitudes are set to 975 feet, as you can see by the images provided. I have to admit, I haven't had a ton of experience with FSX in scenery design, so I am certain this is pilot error, if you will.....(chuckles).

On the Runway

RunwayProblem1.jpg


On the Airport Background next to the Runway

RunwayProblem2.jpg


Airport Background Poly Specs

RunwayProblem3.jpg


Runway Object Specs

RunwayProblem4.jpg


Airport Properties

RunwayProblem5.jpg


So, as you can see, there is 25 feet difference between the poly, airport, and the runway. I am not certain how to handle this problem as I have tried every trick I can think of to rectify the situation. The only situation that works is adding 25 feet to the Airport Background poly, which looks good, but leaves the runways at the wrong altitude. I even start new airport files with different sequences of placing the objects and polys while removing any older files. The airport you see in the images is a very simple airport, Airport Properties, one Poly as mentioned above, and one Runway, no other elements or objects. The area where the airport is situated has no other airports really close, and when I look at the ADE 160, I see no other airport boundary circles within the area of my airport.

I hope this post is detailed enough to explain my situation and that someone here can help me through this problem as I would like to recreate an old airport from FS2004 at this location, but until this issue is resolve I don't think that will happen.

I am using ADE v01.61.5286 (Pro).

File Link:
http://www.jrwilliamsart.us/Storage/OH06_ADEX_JRW.ad4

Thanks a bunch in advance, and may I say this is a great bunch of folks here at FSDeveloper.com

John Williams (AirCoaster)
 
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John

I do not see the problem you are having. The default C172 on the runway is at 975 ft (978.8 eye point) the same as the airport elevation and the flatten.

fsscr021.jpg
 
Jim, I understand the viewpoint of the C172. You don't see the problem 'cause you aren't looking at my information closely enough. Take a close look at my images and read the altitudes and you will see what I am talking about. If this is a problem with my computer, then I need someone to tell me what the fix is.

Oh, my rig is a homebuilt ASRock FM2A75M Pro4+ running an AMD A6-5400K 3.6GHz CPU 2 core overclocked to 4.0GHz, 8Gb RAM, AMD Radeon HD 7540D + 6500 Dual Graphics running in dual Graphics mode, 4096Mb video RAM in use with updated drivers. I have tried changing the graphics mode back to normal and that doesn't help.
 
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Hi John,

I'm not sure you understand Jim. In your pictures, the elevation on the runway is displayed as 1003.8 ft, telling us that that runway is at an elevation of 1000 ft (subtract 3.8 ft for the Cessna). However, when you are off the runway, your elevation is 978.8, which is the correct 975 ft elevation.

But Jim is saying that using your file on his computer, the elevation on the runway is at the correct 975 ft for him. That tells us that you probably have *another file* on your computer that is likely causing this problem. Two possibilities are that you have an older version of the ADE BGL file hiding somewhere (with the wrong runway elevation), or some other scenery addon is causing this. Finally, check in your Scenery/World/scenery folder and make sure there is no old stub file (used for elevation changes) lurking there that your latest compile of the current ADE airport didn't place there.

Hope this helps,
 
John

When I say I do not see the problem I mean I do not see the problem with your airport loaded on my computer.

I do see your plane on runway problem. When your plane is on the runway it says 1003.8 ft but the runway is 975 ft. which is the 25 ft you talked about in your post. My post is showing (with your airport added) that I do not have that problem and my plane on the runway is 975 ft. I also looked at all the raw XML data and all elevations agree which is 975 ft.

Now why your plane is showing 1003 ft using the Shift Z I don't know. If the runway is 25 ft higher then the ground you would see the runway up in the air. I have to ask what plane did you use when on the runway.

EDIT Sorry Tom I cross posted
 
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Tom, Good Call, I knew I had a stud file, but wasn't certain how they worked and where they were located, thus I figured the stub file was part of the main airport BGL. Thanks a bunch guys for the help. I knew if anyone was going to help me it would be you folks. Thanks again Jim and Tom.

Problem Resolved !!!
 
John,
Attached are three images. The first is of your airport in FSX. You will see that I have two apps running on top. TcalcX show the precise location of the aircraft. The altitude is in meters which I multiplied by 3.28 as a close enough conversion which is what is represented in the calculator. 974.75 feet is close enough for me. The second image shows your airport while connected to FSX with the aircraft in the middle of the runway represented by the red cross. In the upper left corner, in red numbers the altitude of the aircraft without any adjustment for eye altitude is displayed as 975. In the third image the map window in FSX is open and you can see that the altitude is given as 975. Tom Gibson and Jim Vile have already stated what are the two most likely reasons for your altitude difference.

Ed
OH06inFSX.jpg OH06inADE.jpg MapinFSX.jpg
 
Big_John said:
Tom, Good Call, I knew I had a stud file, but wasn't certain how they worked and where they were located, thus I figured the stub file was part of the main airport BGL. Thanks a bunch guys for the help. I knew if anyone was going to help me it would be you folks. Thanks again Jim and Tom.

Problem Resolved !!!
Click to expand...

John

Glad you found it with Tom's help on the stub. Since this was a new airport you don't need to use a stub since your not changing any existing stock airport altitude. Just a bit of information for future reference.
 
Jim, The stub file was totally a mistake on my part as I happened to click the check box and forgot to uncheck it before changing the altitude, experimenting I guess. The original airport was created for FS2004, and I wanted to bring it into FSX. Yes, the simple airport I made was new, but it was for demo use only. The stub file was created by mistake while adjusting the new location of the airport, thus, not knowing anything about stub files it was buried in the Scenery/World/scenery directory, which Tom so helpfully pointed out, and I had no idea it was placed there, as I had explained. Everything looks great now except for some small tweaks and some near future model creation to replace those that have since been lost. Thanks for the tip, but I still have no idea what a stub file is or what it does other than control altitude.

Thanks again guys.
 
For some parts of the airport (like AI parking, etc.), FS will only read the elevation from a file located in a "base folder", like Scenery/World/scenery. So to change the elevation of a default airport we need to put a stub file in there to set those elevations (otherwise it will read them from the default file). A stub file is a file with just the airport header, and nothing else. In the old days we used to just put a copy of the AFCAD file in there, which also works fine.

BTW, this is also how to change the name of the airport in the GoTo Airport menu listing.
 
Thanks Tom for the information. It all makes sense, and yes, I remember using the AFCAD file in regards to AI and other things like you mentioned airport name change. Great stuff here, thanks again.
 
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