Author Topic: GSX loading generic airport although add-on in community folder  (Read 650 times)

WernerAir

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Hi there!

I have a specific problem with the SCIE scenery from SimulaciĆ³n Extrema. I bought this add-on through SimMarket abd have it installed in the community folder (so the bgl files are definitely available and not encrypted. Nevertheless, GSX always loads and uses the AFCAD file from the fs-base generic folder. I would like to know why that happens.

I attach a log file of the Couatl start-up where you can see a warning regarding SCIE being defined in multiple bgl files without a DeleteAirport element. In fact, some other add-ons seem to have the same problem, but I haven't tried the others out yet. I'd be a bit surprised if this was the reason however, as GSXs priority according to the manual should still be to work with the AFCAD file from the community folder before resorting back to the generic airport. Also, when the DeleteAirport element is missing in an add-on, I usually see double runways in combination with the Navigraph navdata, but I don't have this problem at SCIE.

In the attachment I also add a screenshot of the folder in which the scenery is installed. You can see there are two bgl files there, but I assume only one of them will be the AFCAD file. Any idea which one it should be? I have tried copying both files into the %appdata%\virtuali\GSX\MSFS folder, but that hasn't changed anything.

I would greatly appreciate any help you can give me with this.

virtuali

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Re: GSX loading generic airport although add-on in community folder
« Reply #1 on: August 31, 2022, 09:52:33 am »
This is normal and it's by design. GSX never supported loading data from multiple .BGLs at once, it only uses one file, which must be self-contained, with all elements required by GSX (parking spots, taxiways, runways, etc ) all in the same file.

Some developers (mostly freeware), might not release a complete airport but, instead, only enhancements and additions to the default, for example adding objects or buildings. These files might not contain any elements used by GSX, so in this case GSX should ignore the file.

When a .BGL is designed to be an add-on for the default, it doesn't use the various "DeleteAirport" instructions in the .BGL, because it was designed to work together with the underlying default. Instead, a scenery that includes everything, *should* use these DeleteAirport commands, to be sure there wouldn't be any conflicts with the default airport. Almost all add-on airports are usually made this way, but some aren't and, since the absence of a DeleteAirport command is the clue GSX use to detect an airport that is supposed to work together with the default, it skips the file and revert to the default in these cases.

This is another issue that should change in the future, when the new API from SU10 will be out of Beta, assuming it will be also updated to add some things we are sill missing and we obviously asked to Asobo to be added ( data about Jetways, Jetway links and Runways Starts are missing in the current Beta ), we might possibly get away with the airport cache altogether, solving lots of issues and being able to read encrypted airports as well.

WernerAir

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Re: GSX loading generic airport although add-on in community folder
« Reply #2 on: August 31, 2022, 10:29:28 am »
Thanks for the quick reply.

I am pretty sure the SCIE scenery was built from scratch and does not use any of the default scenery.

So what I understand is: until the SDK airport API is out of beta, the only thing I could do is ask the scenery developer to add appropriate DeleteAirport commands to their scenery to make sure GSX doesn't revert to the default file - correct?

virtuali

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Re: GSX loading generic airport although add-on in community folder
« Reply #3 on: August 31, 2022, 10:34:12 am »
I am pretty sure the SCIE scenery was built from scratch and does not use any of the default scenery.

Then it should have used the DeleteAirport command.

Quote
So what I understand is: until the SDK airport API is out of beta, the only thing I could do is ask the scenery developer to add appropriate DeleteAirport commands to their scenery to make sure GSX doesn't revert to the default file - correct?

Yes.