Updates to KBFL [released]

[skyop]

Updates to Meadows Field/KBFL (or Meadows Field Improvement Project, if you will)

Introduction

I've been playing around with FlightGear for a little while, and one thing that's always annoyed me is the lack of accurate taxiways and airport service buildings at quite a few airports. I realize this is all a volunteer effort though, so I've decided to make some updates to Meadows Field/KBFL, a semi-major airport in my area.

Status

Overall project status - [RELEASED]
Taxiway network - [DONE]
AI/Ground network - [DONE]
AI traffic - [DONE]
Domestic William M. Thomas terminal - [DONE]
International terminal - [DONE]
Airport scenery - [DONE]

Download

Updated KBFL is available through Terrasync (buildings only)

KBFL/Meadows Field version 1.2.0: Download
Licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2 and above
Please read the included INSTALL.txt file for installation instructions.

Current Issues

• In my build, the airport is surrounded by a forest. I recommend replacing my build with a Terrasync copy when it becomes available.
• Runway 12R/30L set to "Visual" type instead of "Non-precision," may not be accurate- not a big deal though.

First steps in TaxiDraw

[Gijs]

Hey and welcome!

Not many show something like this on their first forum visit. Thumbs up!
The layout looks nice so far. Maybey you could add a little more detail to the curves, especially on that wave in the southwest part of the airport? Also, you can move surfaces up/down, to get them on top of other surfaces. Moving the concrete runway exits/entrances back, so they appear underneath the parrallel taxiway, would make it look nicer in FlightGear.

Just putting the airport in apt.dat won't change the looks of the scenery. You indeed have to re-generate the scenery, which is done with TerraGear. Could you post some system specs? Maybey we can help you compiling or installing TerraGear.

Cheers,
Gijs

[statto]

Finally another interesting post.

Please send your airport layout file, when it's finished, to the scenery object repository at http://scenemodels.flightgear.org (email it to Martin and he'll put it together). Then, when the next official scenery build comes out, everyone will be able to fly over your work.

In the meantime, Gijs is right, you have to recompile the scenery... which can be a rather painful affair, unfortunately.

[skyop]

Hey and welcome!

Not many show something like this on their first forum visit. Thumbs up!
The layout looks nice so far. Maybey you could add a little more detail to the curves, especially on that wave in the southwest part of the airport?

It's all rough, really, that's on my todo list

Also, you can move surfaces up/down, to get them on top of other surfaces. Moving the concrete runway exits/entrances back, so they appear underneath the parrallel taxiway, would make it look nicer in FlightGear.

Err... how do I do that on taxidraw? All the documentation available does not apply to the latest CVS version

Just putting the airport in apt.dat won't change the looks of the scenery. You indeed have to re-generate the scenery, which is done with TerraGear. Could you post some system specs? Maybey we can help you compiling or installing TerraGear.

Sure! I am running Ubuntu 10.04 with all libraries updated. I get to the point of issuing "make all install" but then I get an error with the source code I'll post it when I have time to recompile.

[Gijs]

Also, you can move surfaces up/down

by clicking Right mousebutton > Ordering > ... on a surface. It does require some work, as you might have to work with several layers, making you move surfaces forward and then something else forward etc.

Good luck!
Gijs

[skyop]

Thanks for the reordering tip Gijs, worked great! "Bring forward" and "Bring backward" didn't seem to work for me though, so I had to keep using "Bring to front" and "Bring to back."

Update: Here's the latest screenshot of my work, this time with the FAA diagram I used as a background (couldn't find any decent satellite imagery that was recent enough). I've redone that yellow taxiway in the southwest hangar area and added in an apron for the southeastern area of the airport. I've also relayered the taxiways

[skyop]

Okay, I just tried one more time to compile the latest GIT version of TerraGear, and I got that source file error I was talking about earlier Here's the compile output:

Code: Select all

****@linux-toshiba-laptop:/usr/local/src/terragear-cs$ sudo make all install
Making all in src
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/local/src/terragear-cs/src'
Making all in Include
make[2]: Entering directory `/usr/local/src/terragear-cs/src/Include'
make  all-am
make[3]: Entering directory `/usr/local/src/terragear-cs/src/Include'
make[3]: Leaving directory `/usr/local/src/terragear-cs/src/Include'
make[2]: Leaving directory `/usr/local/src/terragear-cs/src/Include'
Making all in Lib
make[2]: Entering directory `/usr/local/src/terragear-cs/src/Lib'
Making all in Array
make[3]: Entering directory `/usr/local/src/terragear-cs/src/Lib/Array'
g++ -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I../../../src/Include -I../../../src    -g -O2 -MT array.o -MD -MP -MF .deps/array.Tpo -c -o array.o array.cxx
mv -f .deps/array.Tpo .deps/array.Po
rm -f libArray.a
ar cru libArray.a array.o
ranlib libArray.a
g++ -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I../../../src/Include -I../../../src    -g -O2 -MT testarray.o -MD -MP -MF .deps/testarray.Tpo -c -o testarray.o testarray.cxx
mv -f .deps/testarray.Tpo .deps/testarray.Po
g++  -g -O2   -o testarray testarray.o ../../../src/Lib/Array/libArray.a -lsgbucket -lsgmath -lsgmisc -lsgdebug -lsgxml  -lz  -lrt -lm
make[3]: Leaving directory `/usr/local/src/terragear-cs/src/Lib/Array'
Making all in DEM
make[3]: Entering directory `/usr/local/src/terragear-cs/src/Lib/DEM'
g++ -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I../../../src/Include -I../../../src    -g -O2 -MT dem.o -MD -MP -MF .deps/dem.Tpo -c -o dem.o dem.cxx
dem.cxx: In member function ‘bool TGDem::write_area(const std::string&, SGBucket&, bool)’:
dem.cxx:485: warning: ignoring return value of ‘int system(const char*)’, declared with attribute warn_unused_result
mv -f .deps/dem.Tpo .deps/dem.Po
rm -f libDEM.a
ar cru libDEM.a dem.o
ranlib libDEM.a
make[3]: Leaving directory `/usr/local/src/terragear-cs/src/Lib/DEM'
Making all in e00
make[3]: Entering directory `/usr/local/src/terragear-cs/src/Lib/e00'
g++ -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I../../../src/Include -I../../../src -I../../../src/Lib    -g -O2 -MT e00.o -MD -MP -MF .deps/e00.Tpo -c -o e00.o e00.cxx
mv -f .deps/e00.Tpo .deps/e00.Po
rm -f libe00.a
ar cru libe00.a e00.o
ranlib libe00.a
g++ -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I../../../src/Include -I../../../src -I../../../src/Lib    -g -O2 -MT teste00.o -MD -MP -MF .deps/teste00.Tpo -c -o teste00.o teste00.cxx
mv -f .deps/teste00.Tpo .deps/teste00.Po
g++  -g -O2   -o teste00 teste00.o libe00.a -lsgmisc -lsgdebug -lsgxml -lz -lrt -lm
make[3]: Leaving directory `/usr/local/src/terragear-cs/src/Lib/e00'
Making all in Geometry
make[3]: Entering directory `/usr/local/src/terragear-cs/src/Lib/Geometry'
g++ -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I../../../src/Include -I../../../src -I../../../src/Lib -I../../../src/BuildTiles    -g -O2 -MT contour_tree.o -MD -MP -MF .deps/contour_tree.Tpo -c -o contour_tree.o contour_tree.cxx
mv -f .deps/contour_tree.Tpo .deps/contour_tree.Po
g++ -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I../../../src/Include -I../../../src -I../../../src/Lib -I../../../src/BuildTiles    -g -O2 -MT line.o -MD -MP -MF .deps/line.Tpo -c -o line.o line.cxx
mv -f .deps/line.Tpo .deps/line.Po
g++ -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I../../../src/Include -I../../../src -I../../../src/Lib -I../../../src/BuildTiles    -g -O2 -MT poly_support.o -MD -MP -MF .deps/poly_support.Tpo -c -o poly_support.o poly_support.cxx
poly_support.cxx: In function ‘void write_tree_element(TGContourNode*, TGPolygon&, int)’:
poly_support.cxx:406: warning: format ‘%ld’ expects type ‘long int’, but argument 3 has type ‘int’
poly_support.cxx:414: warning: format ‘%ld’ expects type ‘long int’, but argument 3 has type ‘int’
poly_support.cxx: In function ‘void calc_point_inside(TGContourNode*, TGPolygon&)’:
poly_support.cxx:474: error: ‘Point3DOrdering’ was not declared in this scope
make[3]: *** [poly_support.o] Error 1
make[3]: Leaving directory `/usr/local/src/terragear-cs/src/Lib/Geometry'
make[2]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[2]: Leaving directory `/usr/local/src/terragear-cs/src/Lib'
make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/local/src/terragear-cs/src'
make: *** [all-recursive] Error 1

I'm not a programmer, don't expect me to fix this on my own!

[skyop]

Original message content removed

Okay, I managed to install a copy of Ubuntu 9.10 in Virtualbox and get TerraGear compiled. After sorting out numerous problems (apparently TerraGear won't work with "hold short" taxiways ) I managed to get my first working build of the airport! Unfortunately, I've been affected by the classic "airport is at sea level" problem- I'll solve that tomorrow and post some screenies when I have time

[skyop]

Major Update: Yay! I got my scenery to build and for the first time it's in FlightGear. Check out the screenshots below:


Crossing runway 30R/12L with a DC-3


Another crossing of the airport in a DC-3, showing aprons and taxiways on the east side


A United Express CRJ-200 parked at the theoretical William M. Thomas Terminal, just like real life


An overview of the airport in the UFO

As for why the area looks more like the middle of a forest than the floor of the Central Valley, I didn't download any vmap0 data except for the landmass files.

Next up is to add terminal and airport service buildings, as well as fixing that missing segment of runway 30L/28R (the left one in the last shot)- my guess is that TerraGear doesn't play nice with the non-precision marks setting. Any hints?

I was hoping to use FlightGear Scenery Designer to add scenery, but I couldn't get FLU to compile on my AMD64 system, so I'll just have to settle for the UFO.

[simbabeat]

Ouch. Not the nicest graphics card eh?

Looks very nice though.

I see you mention missing segmant of the runway. Wouldn't that have been there before you edited the files?

Cheers

[skyop]

Ouch. Not the nicest graphics card eh?

I'm running on a laptop, so I have one of those "mobile" models...

Looks very nice though.

Thanks!

I see you mention missing segmant of the runway. Wouldn't that have been there before you edited the files?

Nope, it wasn't, but I extended that runway myself, so... who knows what could possibly go wrong.

[skyop]

Another update: I've done quite a lot with the airport lately. See list of changes below:

• William M. Thomas terminal placed (not a custom model, more like a cluster of office buildings)
• International terminal placed
• IFTA flight training ramp placed
• I did a little research and it turns out that KBFL does, in fact, have taxiway lighting- this has been re-enabled in my airport *.dat file
• Ground/AI network completed with hold points and pushback routes (but no AI traffic... yet)
• A few hangars and static aircraft placed

I've also updated this thread and the wiki:

• Edited first post to be more "professional" looking
• Edited [wiki]Airports under construction[/wiki] page to include KBFL

Here's the latest screenshots of the airport (warning, there are quite a lot of them!):


United Express CRJ-200 parked at the William M. Thomas terminal. Visible are jetways and baggage carriers.


Another angle, showing the rest of the airport equipment. Propeller aircraft also park there.


Northwest A320 parked at the international terminal: disclaimer, Northwest doesn't actually fly to Meadows- in fact, there are no airlines flying into this terminal anymore after Mexicana Airlines pulled out!


A Cessna 172P at the IFTA flight training academy ramp.


Flying over the southeast corner of the airport in a Beechcraft B1900D.


Flying over the east in the same aircraft.


A night shot with a 777-200ER, a first for this thread.


The AI is apparently not responding to the new taxiway layout!

[statto]

Sorry to parrot, but please make sure you've sent your layout in to Martin,

Cheers
John

[skyop]

Sorry to parrot, but please make sure you've sent your layout in to Martin,

Cheers
John

It's not completely finished yet, I still have that 30L/12R missing segment to deal with. I have a hunch that it has to do with misconfigured runway settings. If I manage to solve that bug I may consider an alpha release.

[statto]

Just to make sure, all you have to send in to Martin is the file with the runway layout, you don't actually have to compile any scenery to send in. He'll then put your layout in the master database of runway layouts, and it will be used to generate the master world scenery. You're probably not done editing the layout yet, but if you are and it's a TerraGear/texture problem which is holding your compilation efforts back, then the layout is ready to send in alpha or beta or finished.

Scenery objects work the same way, everything is in one master repository so it doesn't get lost and we don't have people making highly detailed versions of the same building.