SDE Build 2555 Available

Scenery Design Engine Build 2555 is now available from the SDE page. This build includes the abillity to add and remove elements from the scenery file plus additional elements such as taxiways and aprons. There is now some basic information about how to use the program and what is left to be done.

Going Sideways

I hope that everyone had a good break over the Christmas period!   You may have noticed that there have not been any new SDE builds for a while.  Actually I have been working hard on completing the engine but, as with these things ran into a problem of sorts.  Each different scenery object group was stored in a list and the tree generated from the lists.  This worked fine for a de-compiler, but when I began working on being able to add and remove objects via the Tree, I ran into some real complications.  Changing objects in the Tree is eay enough but getting the XML code to update to reflect the changes is something else entirely and it got very messy.  I am by nature a lazy programmer so when I saw how much code I was letting myself in for I stopped.

I am now turning things inside out.  That is, the Tree is now the main data store itself and if you want lists then they are created on the fly from the Tree.  This has meant quite a re-think but I now see that I should have done it this way in the first place. Ho Hum…..

Well the changes are about half made so maybe this weekend will see a build which  allows proper updating of the object tree, adding and removing of scenery objects.   The program can already limit what can be added to those elements valid at the  point in the Tree.   The Tree is not quite as pretty now since the ‘dummy nodes’ (those enclosed in [ ])have gone for the time being.

Latest SDE Weekly Build

OK folks this week’s build can be gotten from my website:

This has the following updates from the last build:

Fixed – Problems with XML code getting comma decimal separator for some objects when the culture calls for a comma separator.
Fixed – not reading all the Com codes and not reading them correctly
Fixed – problem with Marker BackCourse name
Fixed – bunch of smaller odds and ends

Added – De-compile/Compile Approaches
Added – de-compile/compile of FSX additional SceneryObject Flags
Added – Context Menu for Tree view.  currently contains delete but will eventually contain context sensitive add options.
Added – Hex View of most scenery objects displayed below XML pane

Updated – XML Coding methods
Updated – The way that SDE generates and makes object trees available

Main change is the addition of approaches.  I don’t understand them   But I think that SDE de-compiles and compiles them now.  Perhaps someone who knows can let me know.  I have found the hex display useful for understanding some of the objects.  It is available from the engine so I thought to display it.

I guess I need to caution people that this tool is currently capable of doing harm to your FSX set-up.  Make sure that you do not overwrite any default or other bgls which are important to you.  Also there is no limits checking in the engine at the moment – it relies on BGLComp to spit out what it does not like.  You can compile out sections of a file such as an airport but make sure that you select something that can be compiled as a stand alone otherwise the compiler will throw a lot of errors – you have been warned

All feedback much appreciated.  I think that I have now managed to remove any XML generation which will generate comma separators.
 

SDE Latest Build

There is now a new build. This has a number of changes including those mentioned in the last post below. There is also a button to delete parts of the scenery file tree. This works and will remove the tree node and anything it contains.

Anything you compile is saved in both XML and BGL form in the work sub-folder of the application. You can obviously play around with the raw XML if you wish The version of bglcomp included is from SP1. Also you can load back in the bgl created and see if the changes you made in properties etc worked OK.

Be aware that the compile will only generate that stuff for which there is valid XML available. There is now some basic information on Approaches but this is not complete (no legs yet). A number of other bits have been sorted out and I would like to thank Winfried Orthman (Osman) for his special and invaluable help to me in understanding the format of FS9/FSX scenery files.

Hopefully there will be more progress next week. I will focus on Approaches as my next key bit of the jigsaw.

All feedback and comments gratefully received

Just a final warning not to use this for anything important!!!!

Follow the link on my site to download this build.

What should be in the Next SDE Weekly Build (Hopefully!)

Well I am getting more stuff de-compiled although it is still not all there especially around the airport with taxiways, aprons and approaches still as work in progress.

What is there now is compiling.  It is possible to decompile a file and then make some changes and re-compile it.  Because of the design of the Engine it is possible just to compile part – so for example a single airport.  So there is now a simple way to make changes and save them using the BGL format itself.  For example, decompile a default BGL, extract a single airport and compile it then load that back in so that you are working with that alone.

This week has also involved a lot of tidying up and finding out the things that I had missed or gotten wrong. 

Hope to release the next build Sunday night

Test Build of Scenery Design Engine

I have just uploaded a build of SDE.  It comes with a simple front end so that you can read FS9/FSX scenery files (generated by bglcomp) and look at their contents.  This build adds more decoded information and also a panel for the XML code.  Changes made to the properties of a scenery object are reflected in the xml code pane as you go.  You can download it from the Home page pf my website.