[TUTORIAL]How to remove those static jetways GSX cant exclude (Example: AS EDDF)

[woozie]

Here's a tutorial on how to remove static jetways that are part of a terminal building BGL and therefore cant be removed by GSX or by simply removing/renaming the respective BGL file. This tutorial is about "AS EDDF Professional v2", but should work for other addon airports that fall into this category as well.

DISCLAIMER: Please be aware that you likely wont be allowed to share altered BGL files without the creators consent (subject to the respective TOS). Sharing those files is at your own risk. The following tutorial is strictly for educational purposes and I wont take any responsibility for TOS breaches!


Pre-requisites:

ModelConverterX (MCX): https://www.scenerydesign.org/development-releases/

P3Dv4 SDK: https://www.prepar3d.com/support/sdk/


Download and install both packages, then launch MCX and go to OPTIONS > Exporter Settings and set the following file paths (all within your P3Dv4 SDK installation):

P3Dv4_BGLCompPath:
[P3Dv4 SDK installation directory]\World\Scenery\bglcomp.exe

P3Dv4_XtoMDLPath:
[P3Dv4 SDK installation directory]\Modeling\3ds Max\3DSM2018_x64\Plugins\XtoMDL.exe


Another path needs to be set under OPTIONS > FS related settings:

ModelDefPath:
[P3Dv4 SDK installation directory]\Modeling\3ds Max\bin\modeldef.xml


Now open the scenery folder of AS EDDF Pro v2 (its installed under P3D\Ecosystem\ by default) and locate EDDF_OBJ-PH.BGL and EDDF_OBJ-TH.BGL in the scenery folder (make a backup of both files!)

Open any of the two files in MCX and wait for it to be loaded completely (can take a while) and ignore any errors, it should still load fine. Zoom in so you can see the jetways and open the Object Hirarchy (6th button from the left). Scroll through the list using the arrow keys until you see the jetway being marked red. Then hit the REMOVE button and the jetways should disappear. Double check if there are still any jetways left (the EDDF_OBJ-TH.BGL has two jetway objects), if yes then keep scrolling until the remaining jetways are shown in red and remove them as well.

Once done go to EXPORT SCENERY and compile the BGL using the same file name. If you see any errors during this process resulting in no file being created, double check the P3Dv4 SDK file paths you set in MCX

Repeat the steps above for the second BGL file and all jetways should be gone next time you load the scenery.

Note: In case of AS EDDF, the jetway pillars are a separate object within the BGL. You can either leave them in the scenery and use as reference point for placing your GSX L2 jetways, or remove them using the method described above.

I'm still working on my own GSX L2 customization for EDDF, but its nearly finished.  I'll attach the ini file to this thread once its ready to be published (no ETA). Please note that you will still have to follow the tutorial to remove the 2nd and 3rd jetways as i wont be sharing the altered BGL files.

[BrunoEduardo]

Wow, nice my dear, i was thinking how i can do it and i found!

But, pls, look in my case, i'm removing this jetways but the ceiling of jetways is in the same layer of terminal, i can isolate it or no way?
http://i66.tinypic.com/dq290k.jpg

[woozie]

Hmm, thats seems to be a rather unusual way of grouping scenery objects. You may be out of luck, they only thing that comes to my mind that would possibly work here is to export the object to 3DSMax, re-arrange the grouping and then re-import it into the BGL.

[mulgrave]

Thanks

…….."Once done compile the BGL using the same file name

[mulgrave]

sorry did not finish sentence, how do you do that in the ModelConverterX. Thanks

Once done go "....compile the BGL using the same file name

[mulgrave]

Hi

got it, thank you

[ashun]

can i use same process for FSX?

Best wishes

[woozie]

Yes but you may have to use the FSX SDK and link the path settings to the respective modules, dont think it will work if you recompile the files with the P3Dv4 SDK

[ralfy124]

May this post be made "sticky" please.

[sanookbkk]

Thank you for this great tutorial.
I tried it and it works great on your AS EDDF example but...
when i tried to to do the same on other sceneries, while compiling i have the following error

Sender: BGLXFlatWriter  Message: A placement should be specified for the object

Do you have any idea how to solve that ?

[woozie]

welcome, glad you like it.

Its a bit weird, as the Flatwriter should only come into play when you create a flatten.bgl as far as i know. Perhaps MCX falsely recognized the BGL as a flatten type.

For which scenery did this come up? I may have it as well and can run a quick test

[sanookbkk]

In fact i found the solution,
when compiling i had FSX flatten BGL file as type instead of P3D v4 BGL file

but curiously it worked when i made a test with the EDDF Bgl....

By the way thanks again for this trick because i had a few airports with static jetways (mostly old FSX airports) that i will be able to redo

[woozie]

ah that makes sense, glad you got it working

[johnnycrockett]

Here's a tutorial on how to remove static jetways that are part of a terminal building BGL and therefore cant be removed by GSX or by simply removing/renaming the respective BGL file. This tutorial is about "AS EDDF Professional v2", but should work for other addon airports that fall into this category as well.

DISCLAIMER: Please be aware that you likely wont be allowed to share altered BGL files without the creators consent (subject to the respective TOS). Sharing those files is at your own risk. The following tutorial is strictly for educational purposes and I wont take any responsibility for TOS breaches!


Pre-requisites:

ModelConverterX (MCX): https://www.scenerydesign.org/development-releases/

P3Dv4 SDK: https://www.prepar3d.com/support/sdk/


Download and install both packages, then launch MCX and go to OPTIONS > Exporter Settings and set the following file paths (all within your P3Dv4 SDK installation):

P3Dv4_BGLCompPath:
[P3Dv4 SDK installation directory]\World\Scenery\bglcomp.exe

P3Dv4_XtoMDLPath:
[P3Dv4 SDK installation directory]\Modeling\3ds Max\3DSM2018_x64\Plugins\XtoMDL.exe


Another path needs to be set under OPTIONS > FS related settings:

ModelDefPath:
[P3Dv4 SDK installation directory]\Modeling\3ds Max\bin\modeldef.xml


Now open the scenery folder of AS EDDF Pro v2 (its installed under P3D\Ecosystem\ by default) and locate EDDF_OBJ-PH.BGL and EDDF_OBJ-TH.BGL in the scenery folder (make a backup of both files!)

Open any of the two files in MCX and wait for it to be loaded completely (can take a while) and ignore any errors, it should still load fine. Zoom in so you can see the jetways and open the Object Hirarchy (6th button from the left). Scroll through the list using the arrow keys until you see the jetway being marked red. Then hit the REMOVE button and the jetways should disappear. Double check if there are still any jetways left (the EDDF_OBJ-TH.BGL has two jetway objects), if yes then keep scrolling until the remaining jetways are shown in red and remove them as well.

Once done go to EXPORT SCENERY and compile the BGL using the same file name. If you see any errors during this process resulting in no file being created, double check the P3Dv4 SDK file paths you set in MCX

Repeat the steps above for the second BGL file and all jetways should be gone next time you load the scenery.

Note: In case of AS EDDF, the jetway pillars are a separate object within the BGL. You can either leave them in the scenery and use as reference point for placing your GSX L2 jetways, or remove them using the method described above.

I'm still working on my own GSX L2 customization for EDDF, but its nearly finished.  I'll attach the ini file to this thread once its ready to be published (no ETA). Please note that you will still have to follow the tutorial to remove the 2nd and 3rd jetways as i wont be sharing the altered BGL files.

Thanks so much for these instructions. I tried this out on a freeware airport and using the hierarchy display then removed the two jetways. I had problems when I went to compile/export and couldn't figure it out. In the end I found that if I used the Show List of all Objects and then used that to remove the models, I could then compile no problems.

Thanks again, this gives a lot more options for adding jetways. 

[mamush]

Is all this possible for FSX-SE as well

Peter