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SBuilder Map Not Showing

RyanB

RyanB

Messages
62
Country
england
Hi all. Since getting SBuilder working, I have not been able to get the map to show in the background. If someone can either point me to a tutorial or tell me themselves the that would be great, thanks.

Ryan
 
Start by looking in ...\SBuilderFS9\Html for Sbuilder.chm

There is instructions in that Help file for calibrating your map.

cheers,
Lane
 
I have read that section about the map calibrating and when clicking the background on map mode, instead of asking me to calibrate the map, it comes up with the SBuilder archive (as shown in the screenshot). Anyone ever come across this problem before or is it just me?

Ryan
 

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It's been a while since I have done this, I think SBuilder is looking for the image to use as your background.

cheers,
Lane
 
oh ok now I see. But how would I know what the right size image would be. If I am making background poly's and the image is to big and I make a poly of the outline of the real airport background then when I load fs9 up, there will be a huge poly in the airport background. If u know what I mean. And isn't there a way to get a map in Sbuilder just like in SBuilderX?

Ryan
 
Last edited:
RyanB said:
isn't there a way to get a map in Sbuilder just like in SBuilderX?
Click to expand...
Nope, it takes a bit more work.

IIRC, the only limitation to image size is the file size and the amount of memory it takes to display it. Jpegs are better than bitmaps.

The concept is that you define the lat/lon coordinates of 2 spots on the image and the pixel location of those 2 spots, then SBuilder scales the image automatically.

As an example, you could use 2 corners of a runway and get their lat/lon by zooming in on them in Google Earth.

Then you would use your image editing software to find the pixel dimensions of the background image. I believe SBuilder wants to know the amount of pixels from the top left corner of the image.

The farther away from each other the 2 spots are, the more accurate the scaling will be. You would want to use 2 runway corners on opposite ends of the runway, not on the same end.

Hope this helps.

cheers,
Lane
 
Umm...ok. That sounds waaay too complicated for me. Is there any other software I can use to make background polygons a little simpler? Or am I stuck with SBuilder? I think of SBuilder like 'building blind' - When you are making something with no templates. Which is why I wont use ADE9 without a background template to build upon. I am so far not liking the sound of SBuilder.
I'm sure it is very simple once you get your head around it. But I don't think I am ever going to get my head around it.
Why can't Jon 'Scruffyduck' just put the background poly maker from ADEX into ADE9?
Do you know of a video tutorial that I can watch?

Ryan
 
RyanB said:
...isn't there a way to get a map in Sbuilder just like in SBuilderX?
Click to expand...

If you have SBuilderX installed just download and save a map with it then add it in SBuilder9. The SBX map will have an accompanying .txt file containing the coordinates, SB9 will read those and position the map correctly.
 
Honestly I always made my airport backgrounds another way.

I would start by removing the original background so I could see the underlying landclass.

Then I slew around the airport in Top Down View, with the sim connected to SBuilder, and set the poly vertexes in places that would make the new poly blend in with the landclass.

Granted, some people are more picky than I am in terms of wanting in the sim what exists in the real world. I would sacrifice reality for something that looks good in the sim.

If you have not seen them, there are some good tutorials for SBuilder here- SBuilder tutorials

It was my experience with learning SBuilder that everything I read was confusing, until I actually tried it. I had to work through things a couple times before I wrapped my head around how it worked. Once I did, I could whip up an airport background in just a few minutes.

I recommend you look at the tutorials on airfield regression and follow along with them, doing the steps as they are explained. Once you figure out SBuilder I think you will appreciate what a powerful, useful tool it is.

As I am typing this I see Mr. Robinson has posted a great tip that I have never tried. Thanks for that, Jim. Nice Avatar.

cheers,
Lane
 
JRobinson, could you show me how this is done? Sounds like something I might try.

Lane Street, that is the case with most thing for me. When I started off using ADE, I thought it was really confusing. Now I know almost every nook and cranny inside it. I have scanned over the airfield regression but I don't see anything to do with SBuilder maps.
 
My main problem at the moment though is the map. I am thinking of moving back to FSX just because the utilities that you can use with it are a lot simpler and offer more with them.
 
Moving back to FSX would be an excellent idea IMHO, the limitations of FS9 are something ACES put a lot of effort into overcoming with FSX. That won't stop you from needing SBuilder eventually though so you may as well come to grips with it.

To put a map into SB9 start SBX, go to your airfield's location and "show background". Zoom in to level 16 or so then do add map > from background. That's it, start SB9 and when it asks for a .bmp navigate to your SBuilderX_314\Tools\Work folder and sort it by date. Select the Lxxxxxxxxxxxxx.bmp at the top of the list. SB9 will say "You may need to calibrate this map!" and pop up a dialog for you to do so. If you check the coords against the .txt file in SBuilderX_314\Tools\Work you'll see that SB9 has found them and entered them into the coordinates fields automatically so just hit the OK button and your map should be calibrated. Save the project.

Note that you can also use the SBX map in ADE, although I think you have to calibrate it manually with the values from the .txt file and you may have to convert the .bmp to .jpg else ADE will squawk about exceeding 7 Mb or whatever it is.

Jim
 
I am in the process of doing this, Jim. But the map isn't showing up as a satellite. It is just a street map. And Google satellite doesn't work.

The only thing stopping me from going back to FSX is the fact that the performance is bad...and that I cant find my installation disk.
 
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