Afcad question: how do I get AI to stop floating?

[earlybird]

Hi all,

I thought I'd try adding afcads to the Aeropostale scenery that's on biplaneflyer's site. I am brand new to all aspects of scenery design... this is my first foray

After much trial and error, I succeeded in building an afcad for the first airport that allows the ai to appear in the parking spot, taxi to the runway, take off, and land (I have it doing t&g's for my trials). It does that all just great!

However, the AI aircraft floats about 3 feet off the ground, and I can't get it back down.

• This happens even with the default cessna, so it's not an aircraft problem
  
• I've tried lowering the elevations on both the runway centerpoint and the airport reference point, with no effect
  
• The aircraft I am in sits right on the ground
  
• The scenery was originally designed in Airport for Windows, for fs2002
  

Any thoughts? I'm about ready to give up

Bruce

[Admin]

Deactivate the aeropostale scenery and then see if the ground rises to meet the aircraft. I suspect a flatten in the scenery is the problem. Sorry, I have no brilliant ideas other than tinkering and trial & error.

[earlybird]

Thanks, Tom, removing the scenery did the trick -- the ai are now safely on the ground

Is there an easy way to fix the flatten, preferably by adding a new bgl (so I don't have to learn how to decompile the scenery )

[Admin]

I don't know an easy way. One thing you could try is to make a flatten at the proper altitude. Make it as small as possible to still include runway and taxiways. The other option would be to contact the author. Am I right in thinking the scenery was made for FS2002?

[earlybird]

You're right that the scenery was for fs2002. I think the problem stems from the fact that there is a default airport at the site, at an elevation 2.5 feet above the ground level in the scenery.

What program do I use to make a flatten?

[Admin]

I use Airport for Windows.

Full Setup Releases
Airport for Windows Version 2.60 (Build 146) - Full Setup (9.6 MB)

www.airportforwindows.com/downloads/moved/a26b146.zip

3.00 Release

Airport for Windows Version 3 Build 192 Upgrade

www.airportforwindows.com/downloads/moved/Airport%20for%20Windows%20Update.msi

Run the Setup.exe file to upgrade your existing AFW installation to the new version 3.00
(Note: This build brings together all prior version of Airport for Windows.)

You need both files.

Do the tutorial that comes with it to familiarize yourself with the interface. If you have FSUIPC, you can use an aircraft in FS to mark your location in AFW

[earlybird]

Thanks, I'll give that a try!

[earlybird]

Well, I succeeded in making the flatten, and got the elevation down to the right level, but the ai kept floating 3 feet above the ground

I tried various permutations of the order of the flatten, the afcad, and the original scenery, but to no avail.

I'm gonna quit working on this, it's not fun If anyone with more experience can work out how to fix this (I'll gladly send you what I've done), then I'll be happy to work on afcads for the rest of the airfields in the scenery, but for now I'm just gonna go fly!

[Admin]

Giving it a break may be just the thing... an idea occurs to me, some time ago there was a problem with Georender scenery that was similar. If you flew from Orcas to Diamond Point the AI would be at the wrong altitude. I don't remember the solution but I believe Peter McLeland created a fix using AFCADs

It may have been discussed in this forum:
forums.simflight.com/viewforum.php?f=116&sid=b3a9252dc1552b260444160d6c364e6a

[Snowman]

Could it be that you set the elevation wrong when making the AFCAD file. Remember, if you use the default Cessna, the height indicated is 2.8 feel above the ground allowing for the landing gear. i.e. - Shift+Z indicates alt as 100 feet while in the default Cessna 172... the ground elevation would be 97.2 feet.

It seems that I made this mistake before.

[earlybird]

philc said:

Could it be that you set the elevation wrong when making the AFCAD file. Remember, if you use the default Cessna, the height indicated is 2.8 feel above the ground allowing for the landing gear. i.e. - Shift+Z indicates alt as 100 feet while in the default Cessna 172... the ground elevation would be 97.2 feet.

It seems that I made this mistake before.

I wasn't sure if that was the case or not... I had tried sinking the afcad a good 15 feet below indicated, with no improvement... but maybe that was a problem with my flatten When I have time I'll try lowering that...

[earlybird]

richard said:

Did you used the default airport ID in your Afcad file ?

Yes, I did. Does changing this fix the problem? Another one of sceneries in this series had some existing ai using the default airport that was hidden by the scenery - they also were floating above the ground.