Towers and Beacons - FS2004 - Um pacote completo para voce instalar 3 modelos de tower (high-definition tower or low-poly) e beacon (white, green, red). Acompanha neste pacote: BGLCOMP_SDK, Object Placer XML, efeitos, bglcomp, textures, XML, MDL. by Newton Drumond and Fern Marques.
Towers and Beacons - Scenery Design - FS2004 only This package allows the user to place towers of 3 different sizes, with or without beacons and strobes, anywhere. One tower is high-resolution and the other two are low-poly, frame-rate-friendly, all very superior to the default FS airport beacon towers. The format is XML, to be compiled with bglcomp.exe. All you need are the coordinates for where you want to place your tower. Done by Newton Drumond and Fern Marques.
Take off Download airport_beacon_towers.zip (1066kb)
Airport Beacon with Tower (Package) Scenery Design. FS2004 only.
Made by Newton Drumond (Rio) and Fern Marques (North Bay). Very-long-distance teamwork and bickering at its best. This readme file was polished until we couldn't look at it anymore... If you find errors or bad spelling, forgive me.
This package allows you to install a tower, tower-and-beacon, tower-beacon-and-red-strobe, tower-beacon-and-steady-red-light or a small-tower-and-a-white-strobe anywhere. There is a choice of high-polygon + high-definition tower or low-poly, more frame-rate-friendly towers.
The large towers are taller and slimmer than the default airport beacon tower. The low-poly tower also casts no shadow, a major improvement on the "cement block shadow" of the default tower. The high-resolution tower casts the shadow of the rails it is made of. The smaller tower, for smaller airports, casts no shadow.
The objects require bglcomp.exe dated January 2004 or later.
Included in this package is a copy of my BGLCOMP_SDK folder. You can use it, if you don't have bglcomp.exe already. bglcomp.exe doesn't register with Windows, so you can have it placed anywhere in your hard disk. Read the part about compiling in steps 10, 11, and 12 (generating the bgl scenery file).
In case you don't have BGLCOMP_SDK and you want the copy from Microsoft, the best way to get it is by downloading it from http://www.microsoft.com/games/flightsimulator/fs2004_downloads_sdk.asp#bgl
It is very possible to locate the tower anywhere just reading the coordinates of the desired location from Flight Simulator in Slew mode, but...
it a lot easier to locate the tower if you can get the coordinates and orientation (heading) of your tower using Arno Gerresten's ObjectPlacer XML. ObPlacer XML doesn't register with Windows either, so it is very easy to install and run: just place it anywhere and double click on it when you want to run. Search for ObPlacer XML or go to http://www.scenerydesign.org/downloads/index.html#obpxml
DON'T FORGET THAT THE URLs CAN BE CHANGED BY THEIR OWNERS. IF THE ABOVE ONES DON'T WORK, DO A SEARCH FOR THE ITEMS AND, VERY LIKELY, YOU WILL FIND THEM.
You can add to your scenery:
• Tower and beacon, high polygons and high definition (Airport_Beacon_Tower_H2)
• Tower, only low polies (Airport_Beacon_Tower).
• Tower and green and white beacon, low polies (Airport_Beacon_Tower1).
• Tower, beacon and red strobe, low polies (Airport_Beacon_Tower2).
• Tower, beacon and red steady light, low polies (Airport_Beacon_Tower3).
• Small tower, white strobe, red marker, low polies (Airport_Strobe_Tower)
The beacon head appears stopped during day hours. Beacon is on dawn to dusk.
I don't know whether or not ObPlacer XML will locate this tower/beacon properly because the xml files contain attachment objects. I haven't tried it. However, it is easier to locate the tower if you know the exact coordinates and heading, which are easily read from FS in slew mode using ObPlacer XML, clicking on the "Read from FS" button in ObPlacer XML. No other function of ObPlacer XML will be used in the procedure. Once you have the coordinates and heading, write them down exactly as they show and you can exit ObPlacer XML.
The coordinates will work in any format (E, W, +, -, with minutes or a decimal point, no * for degrees or ' for minutes required in any way you enter the coordinates). You may have
lat="30.63562565436"
lon="-79.74623987"
or
lat="N31 43.17"
lon="118 17.98"
These are NOT for the same point on the surface of the Earth, just examples of formats.
Using E, W, N and S and degrees and minutes your tower may end up a few metres off the intended point. This is because the format "N34 41.34", although acceptable, doesn't have enough precision to locate the tower in a very specific place.. My suggestion is to use the ObPlacer XML coordinates with the decimal point and at least 6 decimals. Note that the coordinates are shown between quotes ( " ), a requirement of bglcomp.exe.
The circumference of the Earth has 40,000,000 metres at the equator (that is the first definition of a metre, way back when). This means that one degree equals close to 111 kilometres, a minute is 1851 metres (same as a nautical mile, what are the odds?), and a second is just over 30 metres. If you are using the format N 34 41.34, the best you can hope for is a precision of 18 metres, represented by one-one-hundredth of a minute, or 1851 ÷ 100 = 18.51, using two decimals of minutes. Using 6 decimals of a degree you will be within one metre of your desired location.
In case you don't know, Latitude + is North, - is South. Longitude + is East, - is West. Everything from the Greenwich Meridian to the west, all the way to the International Date Line is - (minus) or West.
Here is how to use the files:
1. Copy the Airport_Beacon_TowerN.mdl AND Airport_Beacon_TowerN.xml files into the same folder where bglcomp.exe is located (Or, of course, Airport_Strobe_Tower.xml and .mdl). Make sure the originals are in a safe place.
Note that the pair of files blah-blah-blah.xml and blah-blah-blah.mdl must be always together in the same folder for the compilation to work.
Airport_Beacon_TowerN.xml (or Airport_Strobe_Tower.xml)
and
Airport_Beacon_TowerN.mdl (or Airport_Strobe_Tower.mdl)
are required, and the number at the end of the name must match, of course.
3. Copy the textures included in the Texture folder of this package into the Texture folder of your scenery that will use the tower and beacon. The high resolution tower uses only the texture called Airport_Beacon_Tower_H.bmp.
It is time to position the tower (beacon). This is done by editing the Airport_Beacon_TowerN.xml file. The mdl file is used by bglcomp.exe but it is not edited.
4. Start Flight Simulator NOT IN FULL SCREEN MODE. In Slew mode, park the plane exactly where you want the tower to appear and facing the way you want it. The ladder on the tower will be towards the back of the plane. Use ctrl+s to get a top-down view and zoom + or - to a convenient point of view.
5. Start ObPlacer XML. The button (top-right) should be green. If it isn't, return to FS, make sure it is not paused, and return to ObPlacer XML. As you return to ObPlacer XML, FS will be paused but now the button will be green. . Click on "Read from FS" and the latitude, longitude and heading will show.
6. WRITE DOWN THOSE LAT, LON AND HEADING EXACTLY AS THEY APPEAR IN ObPlacer XML. YOU WILL USE THOSE EXACT SAME NUMBERS LOCATING THE TOWER (AND BEACON). Eight decimals are enough, but you can use more, if you want.
(7. Alternatively, you can just read the latitude and longitude and heading directly from FS. As I explained before, your tower will be in the neighbourhood of where you want it, but it could be a few metres off for lack of precision of the numbers supplied by FS.)
8. Open the Airport_Beacon_TowerN.xml with notepad. It will look like this (this example is Airport_Beacon_Tower3.xml):
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<FSData version="9.0" xmlns:xsi='http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance' xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="bglcomp.xsd">
<SceneryObject
lat="5.861488"
lon="-60.619969"
alt="0"
pitch="0"
bank="0"
heading="0"
altitudeIsAgl="TRUE"
imageComplexity="NORMAL">
<LibraryObject
name="E05DB4304713DBC7C94508A7181EC2E3"
scale="1.0" />
<AttachedObject attachpointName="attachpt_beacon" >
<Beacon type="CIVILIAN" baseType="AIRPORT" />
</AttachedObject>
</SceneryObject>
<ModelData name="E05DB4304713DBC7C94508A7181EC2E3" sourceFile="Airport_Beacon_Tower3.mdl" />
</FSData>
9. Change the lat, lon and heading to the numbers you collected form ObPlacer XML or from FS. Make absolutely sure you keep the format correct, with the " (quotes) at the beginning and at the end of the numbers. Play particular attention to + for North and East and - for South and West, or that you are using N, S, E or W correctly. One apparently insignificant mistake and bglcomp.exe won't accept it and won't generate a bgl. As I said before, the N, S, E and W formats are also acceptable, no * or ' required. A forgotten - (minus), for example, will place your tower in the other hemisphere and won't show in your scenery, and you'll think the process is not working, when it is just a finger problem.
10. Save the file back into the folder that contains bglcomp.exe. Note that this can be the folder that I included in this package, but it can also be your own original, in case you had BGLCOMP_SDK installed.
11. It is time to create the bgl file. Click and hold the left button of the mouse with the arrow over the icon of the file Airport_Beacon_TowerN.xml that you just edited. Now drag it to bglcomp.exe and let go the left button. BGLComp will compile the code and create an Airport_Beacon_TowerN.bgl file, which it will appear after a few seconds in the same folder.
12. Naming your object may be important. If you are going to have more than one of these objects in the same Scenery folder, you will need to give each one a different name before you copy them into the respective Scenery folder. Personally I always name them with the airport name first, for example CYYB_beacon_tower.bgl. Chances are the same airport won't have two towers.
13. Copy the effect fx_strobeJ.fx, included in this package inside the Effects folder, into your FS2009 Effects folder (FS9\Effects).
That's it. You now place the Airport_Beacon_TowerN.bgl in the Scenery folder where you want, making sure that the tower textures included in this package are in the associated Texture folder.
Start FS, and the tower will be there, I hope.
If you have any questions, problems or comments, drop me a line at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Thanks!
These files are free and can be used as such by anyone. It is not to be uploaded to any sites that require paid memberships, sold in any way, shape or form, or included in any payware of any kind. They were tested in more than one machine, but carry no guarantees. Use at your own risk.