AFCAD users - help needed please...

[simi_av8r 0]

can anybody help?

I've got AFCAD, and a couple other tools i'm lead to believe i need (sbuilder, fssc, and rwy12)....but how do i go about getting started?

I've used afcad previously for editing existing airfields, but never creating a new one...could anyone point me in the right direction or hold my hand through the first few steps?

Help would truly be appreciated. Many thanks in advance.

Simi

[allardjd 1,853]

Simi,

 

First I recommemd getting ADE9X. It's freeware and is usable for both FS9 and FSX. It's very similar to AFCAD and does the same thing, but is newer and probably a little better in some ways.

 

John

[simi_av8r 0]

ah yes, i think i used that app very briefly before, not sure if i still have it but i'll have a dig around thanks for the help John!

[JD_LincsUK 0]

ah yes, i think i used that app very briefly before, not sure if i still have it but i'll have a dig around thanks for the help John!

Make sure you download the tutorials, too - well worth going through them. Shows you how simple it is, you just need an encyclopaedic memory to remember it all (in addition to everything else you have to remember, that is).

JD

[allardjd 1,853]

You mention some other things, Rwy 12, for instance (the only one on your list I'm familiar with). The airport editor will do all the airport infrastructure things for you, including navaids. You'll place and link runways, taxiways, ramps and aprons and parking places with that, along with the radio frequencies and navaids. It also does runway, taxiway and approach lighting, but not area lights for ramps and aprons.

 

To flesh it out with buildings and other physical objects you'll need an "Object Placer". Rwy 12 is a freeware one - I've never used it but it's been around for a while and must be pretty good. If you want something really state of the art, you can't beat Flight1's Instant Scenery 2. I don't have a lot of experience with it but used their IS1 for quite a while before upgrading to the new one.

 

To go a step further, also payware, Abacus FS Design Studio allows you to actually make 3D library objects and apply textures to them and place them in FS. If you were trying to accurately model the buildings at a particular airport, for instance, that would permit you to do it. It's a step beyond the object placers, which only let you use "objects" that others have created. I think there are similar applications from other developers but really don't know what they are or how well they work. FSDS works.

 

John

[simi_av8r 0]

thanks again john, and also thanks to jd, your help is much appreciated, the tutorials are really useful!

Just for info john, as far as i'm led to believe, both fssc and sbuilder are used for altering the terrain for flattening. Sbuilder more so than fssc, as it can be used to generate new and alter the existing terrain mesh. Fssc is, as far as i can work out, among other things, is utilised for making exclusion zones for the default autogen.

I think i've got the basic list of things, just need to find a suitable location for the new airport and try my, albeit minimal, new skills...

[allardjd 1,853]

The airport editors (AFCAD, AFX, ADE9X) can do the autogen exclusion rectangles. No need to go to another app for that.

 

Sounds like you're getting your teeth into it.

 

John

[simi_av8r 0]

The airport editors (AFCAD, AFX, ADE9X) can do the autogen exclusion rectangles. No need to go to another app for that.

Sounds like you're getting your teeth into it.

John

Can they now.... interesting, any chance you could point me in the right direction john? i can't seem to find any notice to it in afcad?

[allardjd 1,853]

Simi,

My mistake - that's not in AFCAD, but is in AFX, the Flight1 Payware version of it and is also in the freeware ADE9X. I haven't used the freeware AFCAD in a long time and didn't remember that exclusions were not a part of it. Here's the control in ADE9X...