This is the download that I wish had existed when I started making things - a written guide with sample files on how to do scenery creation.
It took me a pitifully long time to learn some of the most basic things. Hopefully this will shove a Falcon Heavy up your jacksy and send you off to the mod creating stars.
One of life's most ghastly developments is the transfer of knowledge dissmenination from the written word to Youtube.
I have of course learnt from it too. But I could've learnt the same in a fraction of the time without spending hours rewinding looking for the right section after he or she coughs.
There are other written guides out there, but things move so fast they're often hopelessly out of date. Others are so infuriatingly vague they're effectively useless.
This is designed for a total know nothing, but there might be some information people who are already creating may not have picked up. I can't tell how comprehensible this is for someone who has never done this before but I did my best.
There's loads of stuff I still don't know. I might also have some appalling habits that will make any reader in the know push their great aunt's head through the wall. I do not care. And stop that.
What's present in this download
- A written guide about how to create an airport from initial folder set up to the finished deal.
- Project files for the example airport in the above - KPVC Provincetown in this case - in varying stages, from the initial empty folder set up, to a complete ish project with a 3d model and custom ground textures.
- Project files and the relevant models for a heliport in various stages of failure.
- Project files for a seaplane airport on water.
- Project files for adding light to KMEM Memphis for those who want to see what a pure airport light project looks like.
- Project files for non airport scenery. In this case it's one giraffe at Provincetown.
There are separate briefer guides on -
- How to get 3d models into the sim. Also thrown in are two 3d models in various stages to go with it.
- How to add custom textures along with some sample textures.
- How to add DEM data to a project file for better elevations along with the project and source files.
- How to clean up a model from 3dwarehouse in Blender to get it usable along with the model files.
Also included are the original Word files if you want to translate the text. Microsoft Office Word online can translate entire Word documents.
I didn't realise how crap pdfs are so you might need these to read certain bits.
Because of the SDK's now ludicrously overwrought file paths you may get that 'filename is too long' error when trying to unzip this. In this case you'll need to unzip in the C: root folder most likely.
If you insist on being a video watcher this is a very good up to date series by Mamu82 - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJxUgoFBRXImPokQktx6iBNfCVpvRNeo0
V 1.4
There is no change to the main file so don't bother re downloading if you have 1.3.
I've added as a separate download, that you'll see when you press the download button, a file about how to create water masks in the same style as this one - https://flightsim.to/file/3615/eghe-st-mary-s-airport-isles-of-scilly-uk-upgrade
This includes example images, project files, 3d models and a description as a PDF and Word file. This method is far from perfect, but I think it's the only way it can be done by us lot.
It is now your job to populate the world with more of them.
2 months ago
Neels
Thank you very much, a very useful and very needed resource.
5 months ago
felixfer
A great resource, thanks for taking the time to prepare this!
6 months ago
Flak
amazing. This will save you many hours of searching for information
9 months ago
68ponyGT
Wow, what a document! Respect and thanks for that. I've been looking for something like this for a long time. What a lot of work you've done. I also learn more easily from a written tutorial than from a video.
I only want to make a bush strip of grass, dirt or transparent with at most a windsock (and a small building or a few static bushcraft planes?) but still find it difficult to only get the instructions needed for this from your manual "MSFS Airport and Scenery Creation". Could you help me out a bit?
Tip or suggestion: It might be helpful if you number the different instructions so that you can refer to a few numbers very briefly (such as paragraphs)
11 months ago
This is now horribly out of date so it probably has a lot of wrong info. I will get it in order soon ish.
I did consider a quick start type guide for the type of thing you described, but it's hard to know where people need to start and stop.
Even with the most basic one you'll be using many of the tools and principles. I will probably add an example bush strip when it's updated.
11 months ago
superspud
FeGo
Excellent! After scouring many YouTube videos, I found this guide and it was the first tutorial that enabled me to get my first 3D object ever created to export from Blender to MSFS! Thanks for the contribution!
1 years ago
Good to know that bit still works. I'm waiting for SU11 now to update the rest. Things sure do move fast.
1 years ago
superspud
FlicMcFly
5 stars for superspud super contribution to the flight sim community!
However
This is now fully relevant, the wizard has changed, shape files are no longer needed as these are nested within the scenery, so read it if you have already followed other tutorials and may pick up other tips if you can already move your way around the SDK else it may frustrate you.
Also the tools mentioned for ground imagery, for some crazy behaviour of the person who made the tool, are no longer available penalising the community itself to punish a small % misusing it for commercial use, no excuses really for him (not superspud fault of course!).
Overall you may pick up useful bits here and there just mind the above points 😊
1 years ago
This is hideously out of date now.
I'm waiting for SU10 and will see what horrors it gifts us and I'll give this a rewrite after that.
There's so many tweaks I'll probably miss quite a few new additions.
1 years ago
superspud
Trustdesa
Toolkit from Nool Aerosystems, which is needed, is not available anymore to the public. Any idea where to get a copy?
1 years ago
Keep an eye on this thread - https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/msfs-toolkit-by-nool-aerosystems.452363/page-9
It looks like it should be back soon. I think I might have lost my copy. I'll have to dig around.
1 years ago
superspud
NeverEverBeaver
Not sure if i'm understanding the file contents here - all i see in the MCA app and no Project files or written guide as described in the "What's Present in this download" section.
2 years ago
Everything's present as always. It's just a bunch of folders split into various subjects. And what's a MCA app?
2 years ago
superspud
Angelus1701
Great Help !
Thanks for your effort.
2 years ago
hollyshomemade
Hey do you know if it’s possible to create a starting point at a hospital heliport. I’ve tried all kinds of things and I can’t get it to work.
2 years ago
Yup. Read the heliport section and open up the heliport project files.
If you're taking off from the ground it'll be nice and easy.
You need an airport object and a runway or parking space.
If you want to take off from the top of an existing autogen building you're likely out of luck but it's worth checking anyway.
Most of the time the building's collision box will cause the helicopter to float above it or bounce in a very silly manner. The collision box projects beyond the building's visual appearance.
If it's above ground level you need to raise the ground or runway to near the level where the helicopter will take off.
You'll probably need your own 3d model and hide the ground or runway inside it to take off from in that case.
2 years ago
superspud
Mcrabtree
Thanks for this Superspud,it's a great help,,,have you ever thought of doing some basic YouTube tutorials,? most videos I've seen are now out of date,,just a thought.
regards Graham
2 years ago
Never, ever, ever. I can't stand attempting to learn via video.
It's a monumental waste of time with coughing, infuriating dithering and vital bits missing.
Maybe some day there'll be a middle ground between video and words, but I'm sticking with words.
2 years ago
superspud
G.Christie
I'm looking for an example project that replaces an off airport object (a water tower in my case) with a custom model of my creation. Tried from scratch using dev mode and an empty folder structure, was able to create an exclusion polygon for getting rid of Asobo's ugly rendition of our water tower, but upon first build, my simple exclusion polgony disapears from my project. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
2 years ago
mitchell.hesket
Great job on the update! Where was that sketchup tutorial 1.5 years ago when I was ready to throw my computer out the window learning that!!
2 years ago
Misfit79
Great work. Thank you
2 years ago
douluc