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Test veision 2u12uS17

By: Becaff_42
YSFBQ.com








0PBATEB: Novembei 2u12

1ab|e of Contents
Table of Contents ...................................................................................................................................................... 2
FoiwaiuPiefaceIntiouuction Thingy fiom Authoi ............................................................................... S
Wheie to Bownloau ................................................................................................................................................ 6
Inteipieting veision Names ........................................................................................................................... 7
uetting Staiteu ........................................................................................................................................................... 7
veision 2u12uS17 Change Bighlights ........................................................................................................ 7
If You Aie Bianu New To Sceneiy Euitoi .................................................................................................. 7
Nust Reau Tutoiials ........................................................................................................................................... 8
File Types ..................................................................................................................................................................... 8
Sceneiy File Types .............................................................................................................................................. 8
view Contiols ............................................................................................................................................................. 9
Lateial Novement ............................................................................................................................................... 9
Zoom ......................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Rotation ................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Befault views ........................................................................................................................................................ 9
Keyboaiu Shoitcuts ................................................................................................................................................. 9
Nap Elements .......................................................................................................................................................... 1u
0nits ........................................................................................................................................................................ 1u
Refeience uiiu .................................................................................................................................................... 1u
Inseiting Points .................................................................................................................................................. 11
Bugs to watch out foi .................................................................................................................................. 12
Polygons ................................................................................................................................................................ 12
Rectangles ............................................................................................................................................................. 1S
Centei Lines ......................................................................................................................................................... 1S
Runway Light ...................................................................................................................................................... 14
Point Aiiay ........................................................................................................................................................... 14
uiauation Quau Stiip ....................................................................................................................................... 1S
0thei Less-useu Nap Elements ................................................................................................................... 16
Elevation uiius ........................................................................................................................................................ 16
Bow to Inseit Elevation uiius ...................................................................................................................... 16
Nouifying Elevation uiius ............................................................................................................................. 17
Face Elevation Euiting ..................................................................................................................................... 17
Noue Elevation Euiting ................................................................................................................................... 18
0pon Completion of Elevation uiiu Euiting ........................................................................................... 19
Elevation uiiu Builuings ................................................................................................................................. 2u
Elevation uiiu Stiuctuies .......................................................................................................................... 22
Noving Things Aiounu in Sceneiy Euitoi ................................................................................................... 2S
Sceneiies anu Items ......................................................................................................................................... 2S
Selecting the Pait oi Sceneiy ....................................................................................................................... 24
Lateial Novement ............................................................................................................................................. 24
Rotation ................................................................................................................................................................. 2S
uiounu 0bjects ........................................................................................................................................................ 27
Wheie to Install uiounu 0bjects ................................................................................................................ 27
Placing uiounu 0bjects ................................................................................................................................... 28
uiounu 0bject Piopeities .............................................................................................................................. 28
Notion Paths ............................................................................................................................................................ 29
Inseiting Notion Path ...................................................................................................................................... Su
Linking a uiounu 0bject to A Notion Path ............................................................................................. S2
Aieas ............................................................................................................................................................................ S2
Stait Points ................................................................................................................................................................ S6
Euiting Stait Positions ..................................................................................................................................... S7
Expoiting anu Inseiting Nap Pieces .............................................................................................................. S8
Aiipoit Cieation ...................................................................................................................................................... S9
Reseaich ................................................................................................................................................................ S9
Runway Naikings ............................................................................................................................................. S9
Runways ................................................................................................................................................................ 4u
Taiwan's Runways ....................................................................................................................................... 4u
Stykk's Runways ........................................................................................................................................... 41
Taskfoice S8's (TFS8) Runways ............................................................................................................ 41
Runway Conclusions ................................................................................................................................... 42
Taxiway Lines ..................................................................................................................................................... 42
Refeience Bitmaps ............................................................................................................................................ 46
Conveiting Files ............................................................................................................................................ 48
Rectangulai Regions ........................................................................................................................................ 48
view Points ............................................................................................................................................................... Su
F1u Rectangulai Region viewpoint ........................................................................................................... Su
uiounu 0bject viewpoints ............................................................................................................................ SS
Lag Reuuction .......................................................................................................................................................... S4
Auu uiounu 0bjects Last ................................................................................................................................ S4
Polygons ................................................................................................................................................................ S4
Elevation uiiu Sizes .......................................................................................................................................... S4
uiounu 0bjects vs. Elevation uiiu Builuings ......................................................................................... SS
Non-clutteieu Cities ......................................................................................................................................... SS
Navigational Aius ................................................................................................................................................... S6
ILS Placement ...................................................................................................................................................... S7
0thei Navigational Aiu Placement ............................................................................................................. S8
Naming Conventions ........................................................................................................................................ S9
ScalingInveiting .................................................................................................................................................... S9
Auvanceu Elevation uiiu Builuings ................................................................................................................ 6u
veitical Walls ...................................................................................................................................................... 61
Cuiveu Builuings ............................................................................................................................................... 61
Actually look at the builuing you aie tiying to mouel ....................................................................... 61
Be patient anu piactice ................................................................................................................................... 61
Basegiounu colois ............................................................................................................................................... 61
Woiking in uiffeient planes ............................................................................................................................... 62
Auvanceu SB Nanipulations ............................................................................................................................. 62
Nission cieation (The Basic S) ......................................................................................................................... 62
Enuuiance Nissions ......................................................................................................................................... 62
Inteicept Nissions ............................................................................................................................................ 6S
Close Aii Suppoit ............................................................................................................................................... 6S
Anti-Aii Nissions (Auvanceu Nouuing Biscussion) ........................................................................... 6S
Auvanceu Nap Naking Techniques ................................................................................................................ 66
Imitate, Imitate, Innovate .............................................................................................................................. 66
IcemanTaiwan ............................................................................................................................................. 66
Aiibouine ......................................................................................................................................................... 67
Stykk ................................................................................................................................................................... 7u
Taiwan ............................................................................................................................................................... 72
uunny ................................................................................................................................................................. 74
YSNajoi ............................................................................................................................................................. 77
Ninuset foi Betails ................................................................................................................................................ 84
Coloi Palates ............................................................................................................................................................. 84
Final Woius of Auvice .......................................................................................................................................... 8S
Appenuix A: A List of Common Sceneiy Euitoi Keyboaiu Shoitcuts ............................................ 86
Appenuix B: Links to 0seful Infoimation .................................................................................................. 87
Tutoiial Appenuix 1: SB Rotating, Coloiing Elevation uiius. ............................................................. 88
Authoi: Waspe414 fiom YSFBQ.com (0seu with Peimission) ..................................................... 88
Intiouuction .................................................................................................................................................... 88
SB Rotation: .................................................................................................................................................... 88
Nouification anu Euiting Peimissions .......................................................................................................... 91
(EXANPLE) T0T0RIAL APPENBIX 1: TITLE .............................................................................................. 92
Wiitten by: A0TB0R ........................................................................................................................................ 92
(EXANPLE) B0C0NENT ABBITI0N APPENBIX A: TITLE ................................................................... 92
Wiitten by: A0TB0R ........................................................................................................................................ 92

Iorward]reface]Introduct|on 1h|ngy from Author
I use a Nac anu thus theie aie seveial Nac-only setup anu install sections in this uocument
that aie not applicable to othei 0peiating Systems. Eveiything about the use anu opeiation
of Sceneiy Euitoi, the files it cieates, etc aie applicable to the Winuows, Nac anu Linux
veisions of Sceneiy Euitoi.

This tutoiial aspiies to be complete guiue foi making maps in YSFlight Sceneiy Euitoi. It
boiiows quite heavily fiom my peisonal expeiiences, questions, anu the tutoiials anu
woiks fiom those befoie me. I am liteially stanuing on the backs of giants as I cieate this
uocument.

I wanteu to cieate a one-stop-shop foi Sceneiy Euitoi anu I will tiy to be as thoiough anu
complete as I can be to auuiess a wiue iange of topics fiom beginnei to auvanceu levels. I
woulu love foi people to ieau this anu iealize that getting staiteu with Sceneiy Euitoi is not
that haiu anu making ieally cool things isn't that haiu if they put in a little effoit anu time.

Eveiyone shoulu ieau thiough the entiiety of this uocument befoie uoing in-uepth woik.
Theie aie keinels of infoimation scatteieu about the uocument that aie ielateu, but not
next to each othei because of the flow of the uocument. This is an attempt on my pait to
make all the infoimation as easy to finu as possible in a topical aiiangement. The Table of
Contents is youi fiienu.

If you woulu like to auu content, especially wheie applicable to installing on othei
0peiating systems, see the Nouification anu Euiting Peimissions page.




Becaff_42
-Novembei 2u12

Contr|butors:
A list of those who've contiibuteu to this pioject, no mattei how seemingly insignificant
you may thing youi iole was it is appieciateu immensely.

!"##$
Foi claiifying seveial points about navigational aius.

&'()*+,+
Foi allowing his S-B iotation tutoiial to be incluueu in this uocument.



Where to Down|oad
YSFlight is still ielatively new to 0SX, anu as a iesult, the available mouuing tools anu
piogiams aie not as uevelopeu as foi Winuows PCs. This means that we aie going to have
to uownloau the test veision of YSFlight Sceneiy Euitoi.

YSFlight Sceneiy Euitoi Test veision 2u12uS17 foi Nac 0SX Intel

YSFlight Sceneiy Euitoi Test veision 2u12uS17 foi Winuows

At some point in the futuie, Soji Yamakawa will ielease a newei test veision, oi a stable
ielease. At that point, the above link will not woik. Insteau, iefei to his website heie:
http:ysflight.com

Interpret|ng Vers|on Names
At fiist glance the veision names foi YSFlight ieleases aie gibbeiish, but they aie the uate
of the ielease. Foi example the test veision of Sceneiy Euitoi we have available on Nac 0SX
is 2u12uS17. It was ieleaseu on Naich 17
th
, 2u12. Following the Euiopean uate methou of
yeai, month, uay this conveits to 2u12 uS 17. You always want to finu the most iecent
veision anu use it.
Gett|ng Started
If you have useu Sceneiy Euitoi befoie on a PC, oi using an emulatoi on youi Nac, the new
veision of Sceneiy Euitoi has some pietty significant changes. Beie aie some highlights:
Vers|on 20120317 Change n|gh||ghts

1) Theie is no longei a view contiol box on the iight. Insteau, you neeu to use the
keyboaiu shoit anu mouse shoitcuts. (This will be uiscusseu in a latei section).
2) An auuitional coloi pallet has been auueu, giving you up to S2 colois to use at
one time. You have the option of loauing two pallets with 16 colois each. You can
even loau the same pallet twice.
S) The uiop-uown menus aie slightly conuenseu. The majoi change is in the 0bject
menu, which now has the Nap, Elevation uiiu, anu uiounu object menus.
4) Clicking the miuule mouse button uoes not function the same as the Retuin key
as in pievious veisions.
S) .lst files aie automatically geneiateu anu loaueu into youi YSF foluei, so you
uon't have to play aiounu with setting them up in oiuei to iun tests.
If ou Are 8rand New 1o Scenery Ld|tor
If you have nevei useu YSFlight Sceneiy Euitoi befoie in any capacity, getting staiteu is not
veiy uifficult. Theie aie thiee things that you shoulu ieau thiu while tiying theii
instiuctions out in Sceneiy Euitoi.

Must kead 1utor|a|s
1) The Belp File
-This is a veiy goou basics tutoiial foi Sceneiy Euitoi. While it was cieateu
using an oluei veision on a PC, the content is still vERY useful. The look of
the contiols will be uiffeient, but uon't pay attention to that.
-I've noticeu that help->English Belp, uoesn't always open up the html help
file. If this happens to you seveial times, iight click on Sceneiy Euitoi anu
select "Show Package Contents". Then open the help foluei anu open
-*.)*/-01..
2) TFS8's Absolute Simplest Sceneiy Tutoiial
-This is a veiy goou tutoiial. You can finu a text veision heie: TFS8's
Absolute Simplest Sceneiy Tutoiial.
S) PatiickN - A Tieatise on the Cieation of Naps
-Bownloau PBF heie. This is a theoietical appioach of how to go about
cieating maps so that you uo not waste time anu effoit. As you get moie
auvanceu with Sceneiy Euitoi, this becomes moie anu moie applicable.
4) http:ysflight2u11.blogspot.comptutoiiais.html
-This is a gieat iesouice foi finuing tutoiials. Nost of these aie text only, but
it is a gieat place to stait. Scioll uown a little to finu the tutoiials about
Sceneiy Euitoi.
I||e 1ypes
YSflight is a text-baseu simulatoi. Eveiything that you make oi mouify foi YSFlight enus up
geneiating a text file that YSF inteipiets. Theie aie uiffeient file types uepenuing on what
you aie cieating, but sceneiy files aie unique to sceneiies.
Scenery I||e 1ypes
(2*333/.(0
4-5( 65.* 0*..( 789 :-*;* 0< 65#= '.. 0-* )';0( 6<; 0-* 1')/ >0 -'( 0<
?*@5# :50- A(2*B 5# <;=*; 0< ?* ;*'=/ 4-5( 5( 2'(*C(*#(505D*E (< ?*
2';*6"./
/6.=
4-5( 5( 0-* 1'5# 65.* 0-'0 789.5@-0 ;*'=( 6<; (2*#*;5*(/ 82*#*;$
F=50<; 2'..( 0-*(* 65.*( A82*#*;5*(B ?*2'"(* 50E '#= 0-* #*G0 65.*
0$)* ';* '.. $<" #**= 0< ;*#=*; ' 1') 5# 789.5@-0/
/(0)
4-* 84H 65.* =*65#*( *D*;$ (0';0 )<(505<# 0-'0 ' 1') -'(/ 4-5(
5#2."=*( )<(505<#E '.050"=*E ()**=E =5;*205<#E .'#=5#@ @*';
")I=<:#E '#= :-*0-*; <; #<0 0-* (0';0 )<(505<# 5( <# ' 2';;5*;/
/0*;
4-*(* 65.*( =*65#* *.*D'05<# @;5=(/ J4*; CK 0*;;'5# CK *.*D'05<#L
4-*(* ';* 51)<;0'#0 65.*( 6<; -5@-C=*0'5. 1')(E '#= ';* *G0;*1*.$
6.*G5?.*/
/)2M
N#$ 051* $<" *G)<;0 (<1*0-5#@ 6;<1 82*#*;$ F=50<; 0-'0 5( #<0 '#
F.*D'05<# !;5=E 50 2;*'0*( ' /)2M 65.*/ 4-5( '..<:( $<" 0< *'(5.$
5#(*;0 1'#$ 5=*#052'. 0-5#@( .5O* 0'G5 .5#*( :50-<"0 ;*=<5#@ 0-*1
*D*;$ 051*/
95@";* ,P 95.* 4$)* 4'?.*
Knowing what each of these files is foi is impoitant as you cieate moie anu moie complex
maps. The most complex maps in all of YSFlight fully utilize each of the capabilities each file
type gives the cieatoi.
V|ew Contro|s
As I mentioneu eailiei, the view contiol box fiom the pievious veisions of YSFlight Sceneiy
Euitoi has been eliminateu in favoi of a combination of Keyboaiu anu Nouse shoitcuts. I
will pieface this section by saying that you will neeu a two-button mouse to effectively use
Sceneiy Euitoi foi ieasons that will be obvious as you continue to ieau. The new setup
makes moving thiough youi map veiy easy anu less laboi intensive.
Latera| Movement
To move siue to siue oi up anu uown while maintaining youi plane of peispective, holu
shift anu uiag with the left mouse button (Same as pievious veisions). What I mean by
plane of peispective is, say you weie looking uown fiom uiiectly above, without changing
that view, moving lateially thiough the map.
2oom
This is piobably the best impiovement maue in the upuate fiom the last Sceneiy Euitoi
ielease. Boluing shift anu !"#$ the iight anu left mouse button simultaneously, uiag youi
mouse up oi uown to zoom in anu out. This is the same zoom shoitcut as in pievious
veisions, but foi those of us moie inclineu to click buttons, theie was a zoom in anu out
button that woulu take a long time to get to the piopei zoom to uo youi woik.
kotat|on
To iotate aiounu whatevei you aie looking at on-scieen, holu Shift anu the iight mouse
button anu uiag the mouse in whatevei uiiection you wish to altei youi move the cameia.
Defau|t V|ews
In the past veision, the view contiol box hau a section wheie you coulu select top, bottom,
iight, left, foiwaiu, anu back views. Faiily stanuaiu views, but without the contiol box, we
use the function keys to switch to these views. F1 thiough F6 aie the uefault views, with F2
as the top uown view.

0sing these keys in conjunction with the iotation can allow you to quickly ietuin to a view
to 'coiiect' whatevei skeweu angle youi iotation moveu the cameia.
keyboard Shortcuts
YS Sceneiy Euitoi has 'nice' shoitcuts that allow you to skip thiough the uiop-uown menus
pioviueu that you know the iight key sequence. I BIuBLY iecommenu you leain these as
quickly as possible. 0sing these shoitcuts uiamatically ieuuces the amount of iepetitive
anu time-consuming -=menu biowsing that you uo. Leain a few of the ones that you use
most fiequently anu then giauually expanu youi iepeitoiie. They aie the same as pievious
veisions with the exception of the Nap, Elevation giiu, anu othei menus that weie put
unuei the 0bject menu.


95@";* MP Q;<)C=<:# R*#" 8-<;02"0(
If, say foi example, we wanteu to inseit a polygon, we woulu go thiough the uiop-uown
menus as shown in Figuie 2, oi we coulu use shoit cuts.

To begin a shoit cut, hit the altoption key anu then the piopei sequence of letteis. In this
example, we woulu hit alt CK o (0bject Nenu) CK m (Nap Nenu) CK I (Inseit Element)

See Appenuix A foi a list of useful shoitcuts.
Map L|ements
Nap Elements, as shown above in Figuie 2, aie the basic (anu auvanceu) builuing blocks of
a YSFlight sceneiy. They iequiie the usei to uefine a specific numbei of points in a ceitain
oiuei to cieate a numbei of useful featuies that you see in eveiy map you fly on.
Un|ts
You may have wonueieu what the units of measuiement aie foi YSFlight anu Sceneiy
Euitoi. In YSFlight, the altituue is given in feet, the uistance to a Navigational Aiu is nautical
miles, anu the aiispeeu is in knots. In Sceneiy Euitoi, the main unit of measuiement is
meteis.
keference Gr|d
When you open up Sceneiy Euitoi, you see a 2u by 2u, blue giiu at the centei of the
winuow. This iefeience giiu allows you to gain an iuea foi the size of things at a quick
glance anu make visual estimates of piopoitions. The uefault size is each giiu is 1uu meteis
by 1uu meteis. You can change this by going to S<#65@ CK T)05<# anu euit the !;<"#=
U'0052* 85V*.

While you aie capable of changing the giiu sizing, it can be confusing if you continually
change it thiough the couise of a pioject. Iueally you want to set it at the beginning anu
leave it unchangeu. If you neeu to piecisely place things, see the next section.
Insert|ng o|nts
To inseit points, make suie that you see the menu in Figuie S.

95@";* WP R') F.*1*#0 R*#"
0nce you see this, you move youi mouse to the place you wish to inseit a point at anu hit
the ;*0";# key. You shoulu see a giey squaie at that point aftei you hit the ietuin key. Any
point selecteu afteiwaius will have a uasheu line with an aiiow in the uiiection fiom point
#1 to point #2, etc.

Foi moie piecise point cieation, you can specify the cooiuinates of a point (Caitesian
Cooiuinate System) in the boxes shown in Figuie 4.


95@";* +P Q*65#5#@ ' H<5#0X( S<<;=5#'0*(
The black boxes on the left siue allow you to uefine the exact cooiuinates you want the
point to be at. 0nce you type the numbeis in, hit the 8*0 button in the miuule of Figuie 4
anu you will see that the gieen cuisoi will move to the specifieu point. Bit Y*0";# to uefine
the point.

0n thing that you might have noticeu is that you aie uefining points in the XZ plane. If you
aie familiai with geometiy, oi use cooiuinate systems in any of youi classes, then this
system might be a little confusing. I know that I am still getting useu it aftei quite some
time woiking with Sceneiy Euitoi.

Figuie S shows the sign of the cooiuinates in the uiffeient quauiants. The veitical axis is
the z-axis, while the hoiizontal axis is the x-axis. If you get confuseu, use the iight hanu
iule with the + x-axis pointing iight. The signs in the paienthesis aie (X,Z).

95@";* ZP [\ S<<;=5#'0* ]"'=;'#0 85@#(
8ugs to watch out for
Because this is the Test veision, theie aie some bugs that neeu to be woikeu out. When you
aie typing in the numeiical values foi the cooiuinates anu alieauy have seveial points
selecteu, be caieful to not uelete the entiie text box. In some instances, it will eiase all of
youi pieviously selecteu points. I fiustiatingly ie-uiu the same set of points piobably S
times befoie noticing the pattein anu iepoiting it.
o|ygons
The funuamental paits of any map aie the coloieu polygons that give the giounu its coloi.
By leaining how to inseit a polygon, you can utilize the othei options fiom the Inseit
Element menu. Polygons iequiie thiee oi moie points that foim a continuous polygon. This
means that you cannot have a shape that ciosses ovei itself. See Figuie 7 foi an Example


95@";* ^P S<;;*20 6<;1'05<# <6 ' _'(52 H<.$@<#
0nce you have uefineu the shape, piess the space bai, to finalize the polygon. Y00 PRESS
TBE SPACE BAR T0 FINALIZE ANYTBINu!!!

95@";* `P >1);<)*;.$ Q*65#*= H<.$@<#
kectang|es
Rectangles aie mostly useu to cieate iunways anu othei aiipoit ielateu shapes, but they
have othei applications if you aie inventive enough. Rectangles iequiie thiee points to be
fully uefineu.

95@";* aP Y*20'#@.* WC)<5#0 Q*65#505<#


95@";* bP F'($ Y*20'#@.* 8-')*(

Center L|nes
These guys make iunway cieation veiy easy. They allow us to cieate a uasheu line with
thiee points. The oiuei of these points mattei. 7<" -'D* 0< =*65#* 0-* .*#@0- 65;(0 '#=
0-*# 0-* :5=0-/ Figuie 1u shows the oiuei foi these points. If you mess up these points,
you will have the segments going in the wiong uiiection.


95@";* ,cP H<5#0 <;=*; 6<; S*#0*;.5#*(

95@";* ,,P S*#0*;.5#* R*#"

Anothei thing to consiuei is how many lines you want in youi centeiline. The menu on the
iight allows two methous of uefining the uash lengths. The fiist methou, which is shown in
Figuie 11, is to uefine the numbei of uivisions theie will be. In Figuie 1u, theie aie ten
segments, S that will be blank, anu S that will be coloieu. If you uefineu an ouu numbei, the
centeiline woulu be cappeu by coloieu uashes at both enus, which is piefeiieu foi most
iunways.

The next methou is to uefine the length of each section. }ust as it sounus, you uefine the
length of each uivision anu Sceneiy Euitoi caps each enu with a coloieu uash.
kunway L|ght
This option allows you to cieate a length of paiallel lights. You use the same uefinition
methou as the centeilines. Thiee points: uefine the length anu then the wiuth. When you
choose d5*: CK H;*D5*: e5@-0 R<=* you can see the points in much gieatei uetail than in
the "uay moue". Lights will always cap the enus of the uefineu line, no mattei what
segmentslengths you select.
o|nt Array
This cieates a stiing of lights baseu on the points you select. You can have any numbei of
points, which makes this iueal foi taxiways anu telephone lights. Like the Runway Lights
anu Centeiline, you uefine how often the lights appeai. Theie aie a couple of uiffeiences.
Lights will always cap the enus of the uefineu line, no mattei what segmentslengths you
select.


95@";* ,MP H<5#0 N;;'$ S;*'05<#
Gradat|on uad Str|p
These aie peihaps the most eye-pleasing tools in youi Nap Elements. It cieates a blenu
between two colois anu can be loopeu so that you cieate a iing of the coloi change. This
can be useful foi making beaches of an islanu, oi cieating a less haish boiuei between two
uiffeient coloi polygons. People have also useu uiffeient aiiangements of this tool to cieate
waves in the ocean, oi uunes in a ueseit. You aie only limiteu by youi imagination with this
tool. Theie aie a ton of things that you can uo.

At a minimum you neeu foui points aiiangeu in an N-shape similai to the aiiangement
shown in Figuie 1S.


95@";* ,WP 8*005#@ ") 0-* !;'='05<# 80;5)

95@";* ,+P N !;'='05<# 80;5)




95@";* ,ZP !;'='05<# R*#"
If you cieate a iing with the uiauation Stiip, select the "Close the Loop" option shown in the
Nenu in Figuie 1S.
Cther Less-used Map L|ements
Theie aie othei Nap Elements that you can choose, but I peisonally uo not use them
fiequently, anu they can be cieateu with the Polygon tool. T#* 0-5#@ 0< :'02- <"0 6<; 5(
0-* .5#* 0<<l. Bo no use this foi making taxiway lines. Insteau, use a Thick Line. I will talk
about how to cieate Taxiway Lines anu use the Thick Line tool latei in the Aiipoit Cieation
section.
L|evat|on Gr|ds
Elevation uiius aie the only things in Sceneiy Euitoi that can make Su shapes. They can be
coloieu anu manipulateu to cieate anything fiom mountain iange to a house.
now to Insert L|evat|on Gr|ds
F=50 CK >#(*;0 CK F.*D'05<# !;5=. To uefine an Elevation giiu, you neeu S points. As a
uefault, Sceneiy Euitoi will stait with a 1u by 1u elevation giiu as shown in Figuie 16. You
can change this by euiting the menu shown in Figuie 17. Befoie you euit it to make it SB,
you have to inseit a flat one.


95@";* ,^P >#(*;05#@ F.*D'05<# !;5=


95@";* ,`P >#(*;0 F.*D'05<# !;5= R*#"


When you click the "inseit Elevation giiu" button, you will see the elevation giiu tuin
whatevei coloi the top coloi palate has selecteu. (See figuie 18)


95@";* ,aP e*: ,cG,c F.*D'05<# !;5=
0nce you see this, piess *(2')* so you no longei see the Inseit Elevation uiiu Nenu. This
allows you to euit the Elevation uiiu anu make it SB.
Mod|fy|ng L|evat|on Gr|ds
Right now, the Elevation uiiu is flat, coloieu, anu you shoulu not see the Inseit Elevation
uiiu Nenu. Now we can go aheau anu euit the Elevation uiiu in two uiffeient ways. You can
combine these methous to cieate uiffeient featuies, but each has it's uiawbacks anu
auvantages.
Iace L|evat|on Ld|t|ng
In Figuie 18, you can see that each of the 1uu giius is composeu of two tiiangles. Each is
consiueieu one face. By clicking on each face you wish to elevate, you select them. 0nce you
have selecteu all the faces you wish to move to the ('1* elevation, go to the menu shown
in Figuie 19, anu select "Nove Selecteu Faces".


95@";* ,bP F.*D'05<# !;5= R*#"
This then biings up the cooiuinate input boxes on the bottom left of the winuow. You only
want to euit the miuule, oi y uiiection, cooiuinate to change the elevation of the selecteu
faces. 0nce you type in youi uesiieu elevation, piess the (*0 button, anu you will see a light
blue outline of what the elevation change will look like as shown in Figuie 2u.


95@";* McP T"0.5#* <6 8*0 F.*D'05<# S-'#@*

95@";* M,P 95#'.5V*= F.*D'05<# S-'#@* 0< F.*D'05<# !;5=


If the elevation change showeu in the blue outline is not what you wanteu, you can change
it by typing in a new cooiuinate into the miuule cooiuinate box anu hitting the (*0 button
again. 0nce you aie satisfieu with the Pieview, piess the ()'2* bai to accept anu then hit
the *(2')* button to get the cooiuinate boxes off the scieen. If you uo not hit the escape
button, you will not be able to select anything else in the elevation giiu to euit. When you
go to make anothei elevation euit, be caieful to ue-select any faces that you uo not want to
euit by clicking them.

The uisauvantage of using this methou of elevation giiu euiting is that making peaks takes a
little bit of woik, anu you have to selectue-select evei single face you want to move. Foi
some laigei elevation giius, this can quickly become oveiwhelming.
Node L|evat|on Ld|t|ng
If you look back to Figuie19, the fiist option in the Elevation uiiu Nenu is "Nove Selecteu
Noues". A noue is the coinei of an elevation giiu squaie as shown in Figuie 22.


95@";* MMP T#* F.*D'05<# !;5= e<=* 8*.*20*=
If you tiy to select multiple noues by just clicking on them like faces, you will only select the
one you clickeu on last. To select multiple noues, holu the 2<#0;<. key while you click on a
new noue. Be caieful when selecting multiple noues, because all it takes is foi you to click
on one noue without holuing 2<#0;<. to ue-select all of the noues you pieviously selecteu.
This is the majoi uisauvantage of using Noues, but I have founu that woiking with noues
typically goes fastei.

Figuie 2S shows the potential uiffeience between noue anu face selection. It shoulu be
noteu that the face selection can be ieplicateu by moving the noues at the coineis of the
faces that aie elevateu.


95@";* MWP N S<1)';5(<# <6 e<=* '#= 9'2* F.*D'05<# F=505#@
Upon Comp|et|on of L|evat|on Gr|d Ld|t|ng
When you aie uone euiting the elevation of the faces oi noues, you can go fuithei with the
elevation giius. 0ne thing you can uo is hiue the giius that weie not elevateu.


95@";* M+P f5=* \*;<CF.*D'05<# 9'2* R*#" T)05<#

95@";* MZP f5==*# \*;<CF.*D'05<# 9'2*(

Theie aie othei options that you can exploie anu fiuule with at youi heaits content that I
honestly haven't fully exploieu yet. uo ciazy anu test uiffeient things out.
L|evat|on Gr|d 8u||d|ngs
Elevation uiiu Builuings aie Elevation uiius foimeu to look like builuings. They offei Nap
cieatois a way to cieate custom builuings, anu ieuuce lag that giounu objects cause laigei
maps. Foi these, you will neeu to use Noue Elevation Euiting.

Fiist, inseit an Elevation uiiu with as few giius that you neeu. Think about how the ioof is
going to be shapeu. Foi a flat-ioof builuing, only 1 giiu is neeueu. Foi a simple slanteu ioof,
a 2x1 aiiangement as shown in Figuie 26 is all you neeu.


95@";* M^P N MG, F.*D'05<# !;5= 6<; ' 851).* F.*D'05<# !;5= _"5.=5#@/
0nce you inseit the Elevation giiu, set the peak level using Noue Elevation Euiting.


95@";* M`P 8*005#@ 0-* H*'O <6 F.*D'05<# !;5= _"5.=5#@ Y<<6
Next, set the othei points to the level you want the builuing to enu at.


95@";* MaP S<1).*05#@ 0-* Y<<6 <6 '# F.*D'05<# !;5= _"5.=5#@
Next we neeu to make the walls, so in the Elevation uiiu Nenu select Showhiue Siue Wall.


95@";* MbP _"5.=5#@ 0-* 85=* &'..( <6 '# F.*D'05<# !;5= _"5.=5#@
The ShowBiue Wall menu is slightly uiffeient than pievious veisions, but the function
iemains the same. Foi all the walls that you want to be soliu, Nake suie theie is an X in the
box next to the name of the wall as shown in Figuie Su. Then you can select the coloi you
want the wall to be. Nost people leave the walls as the uefault giey, but changing this can
spice a map up anu make things inteiesting.


95@";* WcP 8-<:If5=* &'.. R*#"


95@";* W,P S<1).*0*= F.*D'05<# !;5= _"5.=5#@ '( 8**# ># 82*#*;$ F=50<;
Figuie S1 shows what a complete Elevation uiiu looks like in Sceneiy Euitoi. Note that the
walls appeai black anu not the giey that we selecteu in Figuie Su. This is noimal. When
YSFlight ienueis it, it will appeai giey.


95@";* WMP FG'1).* <6 F.*D'05<# !;5= _"5.=5#@( '0 R'#5.' >#0*;#'05<#'. N5;)<;0 JH-5.5))5#* >(.'#=( R') _*0' DML
As you can see in Figuie S2, the walls ienuei theii piopei colois in YSFlight.
L|evat|on Gr|d Structures
Some people have taken Elevation uiiu builuings to the next level as they cieateu some
inteiesting things with them. Beie aie a few examples fiom Stykk, one of the piemiei
Napmakeis foi YSflight.


95@";* WWP _'(*?'.. 80'=5"1 '#= S50$I8"?";? F.*D'05<# !;5=( JN;5V<#' R')L

95@";* W+P N Y*'.5(052 4*;15#'. '0 8'.0 U'O* S50$ Je<;0-*;# g0'- R')L
Mov|ng 1h|ngs Around |n Scenery Ld|tor
By now, you know how to make a laige chunk of youi sceneiies, but peihaps you've wanteu
to move something aftei placing it, but coulun't figuie it out anu ueleteu it to ieuo it. I know
I have, anu this biings us to the topic of moving things aiounu in Sceneiy Euitoi. To begin
we will have to unueistanu the stiuctuie of sceneiies.
Scener|es and Items
Sceneiies aie stanu-alone .flu files that can be impoiteu into anothei .flu file to auu content.
They aie outlineu with tan boxes anu contain any numbei of Items anu othei sceneiies.

Items aie pietty much anything. They can be maue of Polygons, Elevation uiius, uiounu
0bjects, etc. In geneial a pink box outlines them, but as you can see in the above pictuies,
Elevation uiius aie outlineu in Blue. Figuie SS shows a polygon with s Sceneiy anu item
bounuing-box suiiounuing it. In this example, the Item is selecteu, thus the pink bounuing
box is highlighteu.


95@";* WZP N (5#@.* )<.$@<# 5#(5=* ' 82*#*;$
Se|ect|ng the art or Scenery
To select an item within a Sceneiy, you must fiist select which sceneiy the item is in. If
theie is only one Sceneiy, as in the above example, you uo not have to uo this.


95@";* W^P 8*.*20 R*#"
Theie aie five options in this menu that I have useu extensively. 0nselect All, Select Item,
0nselect Item, Select Sceneiy, anu 0nselect Sceneiy. These options allow me to fiist select
the Sceneiy, anu then the Item within it that I want to manipulate.
Latera| Movement
The movement anu Rotation of Sceneiies anu Items is one of the places that it is extiemely
useful to know the keyboaiu shoitcuts. It cuts uown a lot of time going thiu the menus.

Foi lateial movement (siue to siue, up anu uown) of an item oi sceneiy, go to F=50CKR<D*
anu select whethei you want to move a sceneiy oi item.


95@";* W`P R<D* 8*.*205<# R*#"
This shows the cooiuinate input boxes, anu the gieen cuisei appeais at the centei of the
item as shown in Figuie S8.


95@";* WaP U'0*;'. R<D*1*#0 82;**#
Simply uiag the item to wheie you want to move it input the cooiuinates, oi a combination
of both to get the item to wheie you want it to go. This movement methou woiks foi
Sceneiies as well.
kotat|on
Rotating items anu Sceneiies is easy to uo in Sceneiy Euitoi. Stait by selecting what you
want to iotate. Then go F=50CKY<0'0* anu select whethei it is an Item oi Sceneiy that you
aie tiying to iotate.

95@";* WbP Y<0'05<# 4<<.
This opens up a new set of contiols foi us to input what we want to uo with the iotation.


95@";* +cP Y<0'05<# S<#0;<.(
The top iow of black input boxes allows us to set the centei of oui item. The input box next
to the 8*0 N#@.* button is wheie you input youi angle. The options next to that allow you to
switch between imputing angle measuiements in iauians oi uegiees. This uefaults to
uegiees, so if you aie comfoitable with that, theie is no neeu to change it.

0ne impoitant thing to note is that any iotation maue in a clockwise uiiection, will be
negative, anu any iotation maue in a countei-clockwise (a.k.a. Anti-clockwise) uiiection
will be positive. This is a convention useu in highei levels of math, which Soji Yamakawa
(YSFlight Cieatoi) uses as a piofessoi of mechanical engineeiing.


95@";* +,P Q;'@@5#@ 0-* Y<0'05<#
You can also uiag the item to iotate it. At the 9 o'clock position, theie is an aic, which you
can click anu uiag to iotate as shown in Figuie 41. You can also see that the uegiees aie
cuiiently negative as I iotate to the iight, oi clockwise.

Theie aie also pieset angle iotations, 9u, 18u, 27u, anu u uegiees which you can quickly
use to make a iotation. These will iotate the item clockwise, in 9u uegiee inciements.

Ground Cb[ects
uiounu objects aie paits of the map that can inteiact with the playei. They fall into seveial
categoiies. All giounu objects aie uestioyable by the usei.

1) Aggiessive
a. Basically anything that will shoot uown a playei aiiciaft. Typically these aie
AAA, SANs, tanks, oi giounu tioops.
2) Passive
a. Will not uestioy a playei aiiciaft anu uoes not inteiact with them in any way.
These woulu be builuings like teiminals, cais, etc.
S) 0tilitaiian
a. These inteiact with playeis anu come in a wiue vaiiety of functions. Theie
aie the navigational aius like ILS anu v0Rs, Fuelweapon ieloauing tiucks,
anu finally aiiciaft caiiieis that allow playeis to iefuel anu ie-aim without
being at an aiipoit on lanu.
Where to Insta|| Ground Cb[ects
If you have not tiieu to inseit a uiounu 0bject yet, uo so. (Euit->Inseit->YSFLIuBT uiounu
0bject) Baving any tiouble.


95@";* +MP e< !;<"#= T?h*20( >#(0'..*=iii
If you uiun't see any giounu objects to inseit, even the uefault ones that weie 'uefault'
installeu in the PC veision. In ieality, theie aie two places that you can put files so that YSF
can ieau them.

The fiist is insiue the actual YSFlight.app using iight click -> "Show Package Contents" anu
installing them in the noimal way. The seconu is to put the files into the YSFLIuBT.C0N
foluei in youi useiuocuments foluei. The fiist option is a local install, while the seconu
allows eveiy single copy of YSFlight on youi computei to 'shaie' theii auuons.

This seconu place is wheie we neeu install oui giounu objects in oiuei to use them in
Sceneiy Euitoi. You can cieate a usei foluei in YSFLIuBT.C0N so that you uon't have to euit
the giounu.lst file in oiuei to use the giounu objects in Sceneiy Euitoi.

Now you shoulu be able to inseit giounu objects.
|ac|ng Ground Cb[ects
Aftei you inseit a giounu object you can move it aiounu the map anu iotate it. If you aie
inseiting a laige numbei of giounu objects, it is usually easiei to inseit them all in ioughly
the iight spot anu then go back anu moie anu iotate them inuiviuually latei. This saves
time in the long iun, anu combines with shoitcuts, can take no time at all.

When you select uiounu objects they will be outlineu in a vaiiety of uiffeient colois
uepenuing what IFF they aie assigneu to in the Nap. IFF1 is a uaik blue as shown in Figuie
44, anu IFF4, the typical enemy IFF in YSFlight, is a light gieen, similai to the gieen cuisoi.
Ground Cb[ect ropert|es
Aftei you place youi giounu objects it is impoitant to piopeily label the impoitant things
like ILSs, v0Rs, Aiiciaft Caiiieis, etc.

uo to T?h*20CK!;<"#= T?h*20CK 8*0 4'@ to get the menu shown in Figuie 4S. Type in a
unique name foi the giounu object. Navigational Aius like v0Rs anu ILSs shoulu be veiy
specific anu follow the geneial convention foi ILS naming.


95@";* +WP 8*0 4'@ R*#"
As shown in Figuie 44, Sceneiy Euitoi will list the name of the giounu object, followeu by
youi inputteu name.

95@";* ++P FG'1).* !;<"#= T?h*20 :50- 4'@ (*0


95@";* +ZP !;<"#= T?h*20 R<=565*;(
T?h*20CK!;<"#= T?h*20CKR<=56$ biings up the menu shown in Figuie 4S. This is wheie
we can uefine some veiy useful piopeities. If you have a giounu object that can move (like
an Aiiciaft Caiiiei oi Tank) that you uon't want to move, check Flag 4. 0theiwise they will
move at the speeu uesignateu in theii .uat file.

At the top of the Nenu you can set the IFF of the giounu object so you can cieate a map
with up to 4 factions on it. In geneial maps with only two siues, will use IFF4 to uesignate
the enemy faction giounu objects. Flags 2 anu S aie piimaiily foi Nission cieation, but they
can be fun to have in a noimal map. YSNajoi's Libya map has a battalion of tanks that
uiives aiounu anu kills youi fiienuly giounu objects.
Mot|on aths
A Notion path is a way to uefine wheie a giounu object will move. This can be useu to make
anything fiom a tank to an aiiciaft caiiiei move aiounu. YSNajoi useu this in his vietnam
map to make a KC-1Su fly in a iacetiack ciicuit.

Naking a motion path is easy to uo anu can auu a lot of extia uetails that make a map
unique. Some things you coulu uo is cieate a naval battle, make a fly-by that iepeats so you
can make a viueo, make civilian tiaffic fly all ovei an aiipoit anu stay in a holuing path.
Insert|ng Mot|on ath
F=50CK>#(*;0CKR<05<# H'0- will open the uialog shown in Figuie 46. Leave the fiist
numbei option u, but make suie you assign a Name so you can piopeily assign a uiounu
0bject to. If you want objects to move on the giounu, assign eithei watei oi giounu. Foi
something in the aii, select No Aiea


95@";* +^P R<05<# H'0- >#(*;0
Input a point chain wheie you want the object to move. It shoulu be noteu that at each
point, the object will pause, iotate, anu then continue. Theie is not a tiuly smooth path, but
you can appioximate it faiily well. Naking the angle uiffeience between consecutive points,
you can ieuuce the time spent iotating at on time.


95@";* +`P R<05<# H'0- #*G0 0< N5;2;'60 S';;5*;
You can input a motion path befoie oi aftei inseiting a giounu object. Inseiting the object
befoiehanu, thought, gives you a iefeience to base the motion path fiom.

95@";* +aP S<1).*0*= R<05<# H'0-
When the motion path is complete anu fully inseiteu into the sceneiy, it will highlight gieen
as shown in Figuie 48. Figuie 49 shows us that we can make motion paths in S-B.


95@";* +bP WCQ R<05<# H'0- 4*(0


L|nk|ng a Ground Cb[ect to A Mot|on ath
Now that theie is a motion path in the Nap, we can assign a uiounu 0bject to it. To begin,
select the uiounu 0bject that you want to link to the Notion Path. Follow the menus shown
in Figuie 49. (T?h*20CK!;<"#= T?h*20CK8*0 R<05<# H'0-)


95@";* ZcP N((5@# R<05<# H'0- 0< !;<"#= T?h*20
This will open up the menu shown in Figuie Su, which allows us to pick a motion path fiom
the uiop-uown menu on the uppei iight. This is why it is impoitant to name youi motion
paths.

95@";* Z,P 8*.*20 0-* R<05<# H'0- 0< N((5@# 0< ' !;<"#= T?h*20
Bit 0K anu the giounu object will now move along that path.
Areas
Aieas aie veiy similai to motion paths, but can be useu foi othei applications. Piimaiily,
Aieas aie useu to make lanu anu watei boiueis. This allows YSFlight to know when to use
uiffeient animations foi bombsbullets hit the giounu oi watei. To uo this, you have two
options. The fiist methou is not piecise, but is just like inseiting a new polygon, so faiily
easy.

95@";* ZMP >#(*;0 N;*'
You will then see the menu in figuie SS, pull uown the uiop uown menu anu select whethei
you aie *#2.<(5#@ lanu oi watei.

95@";* ZWP N;*' (*.*205<#
The Loop shoulu be selecteu alieauy, but make suie it is, anu then give youi Aiea a "#5j"*
name so that you can select it fiom a list latei if neeu be.

95@";* Z+P 4'@ 0-'0 N;*'i
Now you can uefine the aiea youi aiea is going to enclose. The uefinition methou is just like
inseiting a polygon; so make suie that you uo not cioss the boiueis. When you aie uone,
piess the spacebai to accept.


95@";* ZZP Q*65#5#@ 0-* N;*'X( ';*'

95@";* Z^P N 6"..$ =*65#*= ';*'
Peihaps you have a complicateu polygon anu you uon't want to have to put uown a lot of
veitices to just uefine an Aiea. You'ie in luck! Theie is a veiy easy way to wiap an aiea
aiounu a polygon, oi gioup of polygons.

To stait, you neeu to select the item the polygon(s) is(aie) in. Next go to the Nap menu anu
select the 8*.*20 N.. F.*1*#0( option. Remembei how when we inseit a polygon, it is
calleu an *.*1*#0. That is wheie the name of this featuie comes in.


95@";* Z`P 8*.*20 >0*1 F.*1*#0(
Now you have all of the inuiviuual polygons highlighteu that fall into the Item you initially
selecteu. This might be a pioblem if you only want to select a single element. To get aiounu
this, go back anu click on g#(*.*20 N.. F.*1*#0( to ueselect all the elements, but enables
you to inuiviuually select elements to incluue in youi aiea bounuaiies.

Now the elements you have selecteu aie highlighteu in the same pink as the Item you
selecteu. Now go to the Nap menu anu select R'O* R<05<# H'0-IN;*' 6;<1 8*.*20*=
F.*1*#0(/


Now the Inseit Aiea menu will appeai, anu you can uefine the aiea type anu give it a tag.
Accept it anu you aie uone!

95@";* ZaP N;*' &;'))*= ';<"#= H<.$@<#
Now, theie aie some consiueiations when using Aieas that will affect how you oiganize
youi map anu influence the amount of lag the Aieas geneiate. While uefining lanu anu
watei is fine anu goou, you only neeu to uefine one baseu on youi map type. If you have a
massive lanu map, with veiy little watei, oi a cleaily bounueu watei, only uefine the watei
sections. Then go to F=50CK 8*0 H;<)*;05*( anu select the uominant suiface quality. If you
have a mainly ocean map, uefine watei foi the map, anu manually uefine the lanu aiea.


95@";* ZbP Q*65#5#@ R') ]"'.505*(
Start o|nts
Without Stait Points, YSFlight maps woulu be useless pieces of uata. Stait Positions contain
a lot of uata, incluuing position, altituue, uiiection, initial speeu, initial thiottle position,
Lanuing geai 0p anu Bown, etc.


95@";* ^cP 80';0 H<(505<# R*#"
Eveiything you uo with stait positions is contiolleu fiom the 80';0H<( uiop-uown menu.
You inseit a stait positions like a giounu object anu then uefine the chaiacteiistics.


95@";* ^,P 95..5#@ <"0 0-* T)05<#(
Figuie 61 shows the options that you can uefine foi each stait position. 4-* #'1* 1"(0
#<0 2<#0'5# ()'2*( <; ()*25'. 2-';'20*;( .5O* AkB/ You will get an eiioi message if you
tiy to inseit one with a bau name. The othei options aie faiily stiaightfoiwaiu.


95@";* ^MP FG'1).* 80';0 H<(505<#
Ld|t|ng Start os|t|ons
Rotating, moving, oi ueleting stait positions is just like uoing similai actions to a sceneiy oi
item, except you go thiu the 80';0H<( menu to uo so. 0ne thing that you may want to uo at
a latei point in time, is euit the stait positions to ie-oiuei them, oi change a chaiacteiistic
about them. The fiist you can uo in Sceneiy Euitoi, but I piefei not to.

By opening up the STP file, you can quickly access all of the stait positions anu change what
you neeu to.

N tico1
C P0SITI0N 16Su1.24m 22.uum 6u92.79m
C ATTIT0BE -1.2uueg u.uuueg u.uuueg


C INITSPEB u.ums


C CTLTBR0T u.uu

C CTLLBuEA TR0E
-The name of the stait position
-The x,y,z position of the stait point
-SB iotation of the stait position allows you
to stait in a bankeu uecent. The fiist ueg is
foi the compass heauing uiiection.
-Initial speeu of the aiiciaft. e<0*P 0-5( 5( 5#
1I( #<0 l#<0( .5O* :'( =*65#*= 6;<1
:50-5# 82*#*;$ F=50<;
-Youi thiottle position in peicent. (1.uu= full
thiottle)
-Lanuing geai upuown. Tiue=uown,
false=up
95@";* ^WP 4'?.* <6 84H 65.* 2<1)<#*#0( J8<";2*P 78R'h<; d5*0#'1 R')L
So now you know all about stait points, how to inseit, manipulate, anu euit them. Now we
can uiscuss the last pait about stait points, anu that is inseiting a set of (0'#=';= (0';0
)<5#0(. 0n the stock maps, you have the option of staiting at stait points like
N0RTB1uuuu_u1. To bieak that name uown, you aie staiting at the fiist noithein stanuaiu
stait position at 1u,uuuft.


95@";* ^+P 80'#=';= 80';0 H<(505<# >#(*;0
80';0H<(CKR'O* 80'#=';= 80';0 H<(505<# allows you to inseit the 1u stanuaiu positions.
Befine theii position ielative to the XZ plane like you weie noimally inseiting a single stait
point, anu then piess space to inseit.

95@";* ^ZP 80'#=';= 80';0 H<5#0( 5# 82*#*;$ F=50<;
They shoulu look something like Figuie 6S when inseiteu into Sceneiy Euitoi
Lxport|ng and Insert|ng Map |eces
Befoie we stait talking about aiipoit cieation, we shoulu talk about impoiting anu
expoiting pieces of maps to ieuuce the amount of things you neeu to make in a Bigh Betail
aiipoit.

0ne of the haiuest things to make in Sceneiy Euitoi, is piecision iunway anu taxiway
maikings anu tuins. You can make some amazing appioximations, but the 'ieal ueal' makes
youi aiipoits an oiuei of magnituue moie inteiesting. Theiefoie the fewei times you have
to make them, the bettei. Why iepeat woik that you uon't have to.

If you useu eailiei veisions theie was an expoit Sceneiy option, which was ueau useful. In
the test veision, that option was iemoveu. This is no the enu of the woilu, but it will take a
little moie planning to get the same effect. Expoiting Sceneiies alloweu us to expoit
multiple items, giounu objects, oi elevation giius with one click of a button.

If you want to have multiple things in a ceitain aiiangement in the cuiient veision, you
have to builu it in a sepaiate sceneiy anu then impoit it.

95.*CKFG)<;0 >0*1 will allow you to expoit a single itemelevation giiu. I uon't know why
you woulu want to expoit a single giounu object, but this woulu also allow you to uo that.
This cieates a .pc2 file which can then be impoiteu into a .flu file.

95.*CK>1)<;0 82*#*;$ will as the name suggests, impoit a sceneiy (.flu file) into the open
sceneiy. In geneial, map makeis will make theii aiipoits in uiffeient sceneiies anu then
impoit them into the full map.

95.*CK>1)<;0 R') impoits a .pc2 file into a sceneiy.

95.*CK>1)<;0 F.*D'05<# !;5= inseits a .tei file, which is an Elevation giiu.

Impoiting something is veiy similai to inseiting a giounu object, but with a slight
uiffeience. Fiist you uefine the appioximate position by eithei uiagging the gieen cuisoi,
oi setting a specific cooiuinate with the cooiuinate input boxes. Then hit space to open the
impoit selection. Select the item oi sceneiy you wish to impoit anu click openimpoit.

Now you have a new sceneiy oi item in youi map. It shoulu be selecteu by uefault, but if it
isn't, select it anu fine-tune its position anu iotation. I typically stait by uefining its position
using the move tool anu the cooiuinate input boxes. Then, once it is in place I will iotate it
as necessaiy.

Bo not be afiaiu to uo multiple moves oi iotations to get the impoiteu thing exactly wheie
you want it. This is, aftei-all youi masteipiece.
A|rport Creat|on
Aiipoits aie one of the most impoitant paits of any map. The amount of uetail anu effoit
you put into these will gieatly affect how people view youi map. Typically the will stait at
an aiipoit, anu it will be theii fiist impiession of the map, so make it a goou one. You may
have amazing mountain ianges oi cities, but take the time anu make youi aiipoits nice.
kesearch
Reseaich, ieseaich, ieseaich, anu ieseaich some moie. I cannot stiess this enough. Finu
pictuies, uiagiams, anything anu eveiything that can give you a place to stait. Wikipeuia
usually has the iunway lengths anu uiiections, anu uoogle Naps can give you a uecent
view, but the moie uetails you finu out about the aiipoit, the bettei.

Peisonally I like to finu a lot of uimensions anu uetaileu uiawings, but I think that is just the
engineei in me. 0nfoitunately foi me, theie aien't a lot of goou uiawings out theie, so I
have to extiapolate a lot of uimensions baseu off of scaling anu estimation.
kunway Mark|ngs
http:128.17S.2u4.6Scouisescee4674cee4674_pubmaikings_aiipoits_iev.puf

This link is a veiy goou place to stait with iespect to iunway maikings. It is a puf of a
PoweiPoint lectuie on iunway maikings. Reau ovei it, anu pay attention to eveiy uetail.

If you uon't know what types of maikings to make, just take a look at othei maps to see
what they use, oi use a stock iunway. If you aie a membei of the YSFBQ mouuing team,
uunny has a .flu file with some iunway lights that you can slap onto youi map as long as
you cieuit him.
kunways
Bow you make youi iunways can have a big impact on youi aiipoits. The best iunways I
have seen come fiom thiee uiffeient cieatois, TFS8, Taiwan, anu Stykk. Rathei than wiite
up a step-by-step tutoiial foi making them, I will highlight some of the things that make
them stanu out anu let you figuie out how to make them. Aftei all, I can't just &'() you
eveiything you neeu to assemble a map! You have to put youi own effoit in anu be cieative.

1a|wan's kunways
Let me stait off by saying that Taiwan's entiie maps aie incieuibly uetaileu anu woith
stuuying, which we will in the N=D'#2*= R') R'O5#@ 4*2-#5j"*( section.


95@";* ^^P !;'='05<# 80;5) N.<#@ 0-* S*#0*; <6 0-* Y"#:'$ Jf<#@ l<#@ R')L
0sing a uiauation Stiip uown the centei of a iunway cieates a gieat contiast anu makes the
iunway stanu out against the iest of the sceneiy. Taiwan typically uses the base iunway
coloi as the centei of the giauation stiip. This ieuuces the numbei of colois neeueu to
cieate aiipoits, anu suipiisingly it looks like uiffeient colois because of the suiiounuing
lightei iunway coloi. Taiwan also makes libeial use of iunway lights anu point aiiays to
cieate a beautiful night scene. Be only uses thiee lighting colois, a gieen, a blue anu a
white, but it woiks veiy well.

Taiwan combines, colois, iunway maikings, anu smooth taxiway inteisections to make a
veiy aesthetically pleasing iunwaytaxiway package. 0ne faiily unique featuie that he
seems to use is to have the taxi lines tiavel fai into the iunway, making the tuins aiiplanes
make veiy gentile. It is obvious that he uoes a lot of ieseaich on each aiipoit anu iunway
he makes.
Stykk's kunways
Stykk is iegaiueu to be one of the best mapmakeis in YSFlight. When looking at his maps,
they uo not seem incieuibly complicateu oi as iefineu like Taiwan, but they caiiy a uistinct
aii of knowing what he was uoing. It's haiu to convey what I mean by wiiting this, but take
my woiu foi it; he knows what he is uoing with eveiy placement anu uetail he puts in. It
might be a small elevation giiu in the iight spot, but that makes the aiipoits anu sceneiy
that much moie iealistic.


95@";* ^`P N# FG'1).* <6 80$OOX( Y"#:'$ JN;5V<#' R')L
Stykk uses a uiauation Stiip at the centei of his iunways, but notice that it uoesn't go the
entiie length of the iunway anu it tapeis off at eithei enu. Bis coloi scheme contains fewei
colois than Taiwan's, but the colois woik well with backgiounu gieen anu the iunway
maikings.

Be also incluues a set of the laige yellow aiiows that point to the beginning of the iunway.
At the fai iight of Figuie 67, you can see that the aiiows aie theii own sepaiate item. This
makes it easy foi him to quickly inseit an item that piobably took 1u to 1S minutes to
make, in no time.

1askforce S8's (1IS8) kunways
TFS8 is one of the best all-aiounu mouueis foi YSFlight. In auuition to making incieuible
maps, he makespaints aiiplanes anu has publisheu a set of weapon skins that make me
gieen with envy. Bis bioau iange of skills shows itself paiticulai well in his Euwaius Aii
Foice Base map.


95@";* ^aP Y"#:'$ 8-<".=*;( J49Za F=:';=( N9_ R')L
Theie aie seveial things I like about this iunway, but the biggest is the shoulueis that aie
piesent. The tan anu light giey on eithei siue of the iunway help with a numbei of things.
Fiist they make the iunway stanu out bettei against the giounu coloi. They also give the
sense of iealism. In ieality iunways tenu to have a buffei zone oi shouluei on eithei siue.
While most civilian iunways woulu only have the giey shouluei, the tan auus a militaiy feel
because it is usually only founu wheie theie is moie lanu available, i.e. on a militaiy aii
base.
kunway Conc|us|ons
Reseaich is you best bet foi making a life-like iunway that people will want to fly on. Bon't
be afiaiu to put most of the effoit foi you map into youi iunways anu aiipoits. They make a
huge impact on the quality of the map anu eveiy time you fly out of them, you will feel glau
that you uiun't cut any coineis.
1ax|way L|nes
Taxiway lines anu maikings aie not 1uu% necessaiy foi a YSFlight aiipoit, but boy uo they
auu a ton to the oveiall quality. Now, I've hinteu at what we use to make them eailiei, but if
you weien't paying attention, we use 4-52O U5#*(.

Thick lines aie basically iectangles that Sceneiy Euitoi uefines baseu on a usei inputteu
point chain anu thickness. Fiist we will use two colois, so get those ieauy ?*6<;*
continuing with the cieation of a thick line. You will neeu a uaik base, typically ieally uaik
giey (iecommenueu) oi black anu a yellow top. See Figuie 69 foi an example.


95@";* ^bP 4'5:'#X( 4'G5 .5#*(
To uo this, we neeu to fiist cieate oui base Thick Line. T?h*20CKR')CK4-52O U5#* allows
us to uefine a point chain to make the Thick Line fiom.



95@";* `cP 4-52O U5#* 4<<.
As we stait to select points, the Thick Line will be in a 'Pieview' moue anu will show what
the thick line will look like aftei you accept it as shown in Figuie 71.


95@";* `,P Q*65#5#@ 4-52O U5#*
To change the thickness of the line, entei the uesiieu wiuth (in meteis) into the thickness
input box that appeais unuei the coloi pallets.


95@";* `MP 4-52O U5#* Q*6'".0 4-52O#*((
0nce you have youi Taxiway base all uefineu, we want to put anothei thick line on top of it.
That woulu be haiu to uo if not foi a hanuy featuie that allows us to use the same point
chain as anothei Thick Line.

Fiist select the Taxiway base. Nake suie you exiteu out of the thick line scieen (the
Cooiuinate Input boxes uisappeai) anu use 8*.*20CK8*.*20 >0*1 anu click on the thick line.
You shoulu see bolu pink lines appeai like in Figuie 7S once it is selecteu. If you cannot
select it, tiy again. Bo not use the Selection Bialog, as it will not pick up inuiviuual
polygonsthick lines.


95@";* `WP 4-52O U5#* 8*.*20*=
Now we have to obtain the point chain fiom the selecteu thick line, so go to T?h*20CKR')C
KR'O* R".05CS<<;=5#'0* >#)"0 9;<1mCKS*#0*; <6 4-52O U5#* as shown in Figuie 74.


95@";* `+P R".05CS<<;=5#'0* >#)"0 6;<1 S*#0*; <6 4-52O U5#*
You shoulu see the uasheu line anu aiiows signifying that the points aie selecteu once
again.


95@";* `ZP R".05CS<<;=5#'0* 6;<1 _'(* 4-52O U5#*
When you see that, immeuiately inseit anothei Thick Line T?h*20CKR')CK4-52O U5#* anu
uo not select any points. Sceneiy Euitoi shoulu alieauy show something similai to Figuie
76. }ust make suie that you change the wiuth of the Thick Line so you uo not covei the base
Thick Line ovei completely.


95@";* `^P 4-52O U5#* 6;<1 R".05CS<<;=5#'0* >#)"0
Figuie 77 shows what the oveilapping Thick Lines shoulu look like.


95@";* ``P 4-52O U5#* T# 4<) <6 H;*D5<"( 4-52O U5#*
Now that we have the lines painteu on oui taxiways, we aie not uone yet. Now we auu the
gieen lights foi nighttime guiuance.

0nce again we neeu to boiiow the Thick Line's point chain, so we get the Nulti-Cooiuinate
Input fiom the Centei of one of the Thick Lines. Now input a point aiiay, T?h*20CKR')C
K>#(*;0 F.*1*#0CKH<5#0 N;;'$. Select the gieen coloi you want to use foi the lights, anu
set the spacing between the lights.

Accept, anu youi Taxiway lines aie 1uu% complete.
keference 8|tmaps
0ne veiy useful featuie in Sceneiy Euitoi is to input a backgiounu pictuie to use as a
iefeience while making featuies in Sceneiy Euitoi. Sceneiy Euitoi calls this a Refeience
Bitmap, anu can ieau .bmp anu .png files. See the 0seful Links section foi a link to gieat
0SuS maps foi fiee.


95@";* `aP Y*6*;*#2* _501') R*#"
To open the Refeience Bitmap uialog, d5*:CKY*6*;*#2* _501')CKT)*# S<#0;<. Q5'.<@ as
shown in Figuie 78. This uialog allows you to loau up to six images, anu place them aiounu
the map.


95@";* `bP 7<" S'# U<'= ^ >1'@*( >#0<
Click on the R<D* button anu you can open up the move uialog anu set the size anu centei,
oi two coineis. 0nce uone, make suie that the 8-<: box is checkeu so that it will show.


95@";* acP d5*: '#= R<D* S<#0;<.(

95@";* a,P 4-* Y*6*;*#2* _501') U<'=*= 5# 82*#*;$ F=50<;

If you cannot set the size of the image to the coiiect size, uo not woiiy. }ust make suie that
you can finu the uistance of something in the image to use as a scale foi latei. 0nce you
finish making whatevei is in the image, you can scale it using the scaling tool, which is
uiscusseu latei.
Convert|ng I||es
I have founu that theie aie times when I have a laige image that I want to use as a iefeience
(upwaius of Su Nb) but when I tiieu to iename them anu conveit to a PNu foimat that
Sceneiy Euitoi can ieau, they weie too big to open. I have founu thiough expeiimentation
that files laigei than about 1S Nb will ciash Sceneiy Euitoi

To get aiounu this pioblem, I use Pieview on my Nac to save the image to a PBF. This
compiesses the file ioughly 7S%. Fiom theie I save the PBF as a PNu, anu the iesulting
image file is usually 6u% oi less of the oiiginal file size. I also have the option of setting the
iesolution when saving fiom a PBF to PNu. 0sually I finu 2uu-2Su upi woiks well.
kectangu|ar keg|ons
Talking about iectangulai iegions coulu be a full section on it's own, but they aie piimaiily
useu in cieating aiipoits, so it makes sense to talk about them heie.

So, what makes an aiipoit uiffeient fiom the iest of the map aiounu it. If you tiieu to fly
aiounu anu then lanu on some ianuom pait of the map, you woulu ciash, but if you lanu on
a iunway at an aiipoit, you suivive.

You can thank Rectangulai Regions foi that.

Two specific types of Rectangulai Regions that aie '?(<."0*.$ iequiieu foi aiipoits:
Runway anu Taxiway iegions. As theii names imply, they aie iequiieu to make a lanu-able
iunway anu uiive-able taimac.


95@";* aMP >#(*;0 Y*20'#@".'; Y*@5<# R*#"
F=50CK>#(*;0CKY*20'#@".'; Y*@5<# biings up the contiols foi inputting the piopei
iectangulai iegion.


95@";* aWP Y*20'#@".'; Y*@5<# T)05<#(
Foi now, ignoie the othei options. We will talk about those in latei sections. Select the
iegion that you want to use.


95@";* a+P U'?*. 7<"; Y*20'#@".'; Y*@5<#(i
To make things easiei in the futuie, label youi iectangulai iegions now. Remembei, no
spaces oi special chaiacteis aie alloweu in names.
Now you can uefine youi iectangulai iegion. This is *G'20.$ like inputting a iectangle Nap
Element. Thiee point aie all that is neeueu. In Figuie 8S, theie aie blue anu ieu iectangulai
outlines. Reu uenotes Taxiway iegions anu blue uenotes iunway iegions.


95@";* aZP FG'1).* <6 Y"#:'$ '#= 4'G5:'$ Y*20'#@".'; Y*@5<#(
I usually make the iunways fiist, anu then just making a taxiway iegion that coveis the
entiie aiipoit. This takes less time, but it allows people to uiive on giass anu othei places
wheie they noimally woulun't. As always theie is a tiaue-off. If you have the time,
uefinitely make a lot of smallei taxiway iegions to covei the appiopiiate aieas. It auus a
healthy uose of iealism to youi aiipoits.
V|ew o|nts
Theie aie foui types of viewpoints you can cieate in Sceneiy Euitoi, thiee of which involve
giounu objects. I shall auuiess the lonely non-giounu object viewpoint fiist as it is a
Rectangulai Region.
I10 kectangu|ar keg|on V|ewpo|nt
Take a look back at Figuie S1 anu look at the bottom of the vaiious options. # 1u is
viewpoint, which is veiy useful. This viewpoint can be accesseu with the F9 key in YSFlight,
anu is typically ieseiveu foi the Contiol Towei views at uiffeient aiipoits.

Now, since you alieauy know how to inseit a iectangulai iegion, make a view point one. It
shoulu look something like Figuie S4. Note that it is coloieu the same ieu as the Taxiway
Region. This can make it haiu to spot in a complex aiipoit with a lot of taxiway iegions; one
of the ieasons I stick to a single taxiway iegion coveiing the whole taimac.


95@";* a^P Y*20'#@".'; Y*@5<# d5*:)<5#0 FG'1).*
Now that you have impoiteu it we neeu to elevate it. If you look at it fiom the siue, you can
see that this is at the base elevation of the iest of the map.


95@";* a`P 9,c d5*:)<5#0 <# 0-* @;<"#=/
This means that oui view fiom it is going to look like Figuie 88. Not veiy nice.


95@";* aaP d5*: 6;<1 '# 9,c d5*:)<5#0 <# 0-* @;<"#=
We obviously neeu to change this. You may be thinking that we coulu uefine the iegion's
cooiuinates with a y-cooiuinate that iaises it above the giounu. That is goou logic, but this
won't woik foi us. I stiuggleu with this featuie foi a while until someone tolu me how to uo
it piopeily.

What you have to uo is input the viewpoint at giounu level like we have so fai, anu then
move it. In oluei veisions of Sceneiy Euitoi, this was easy, as we just selecteu anu moveu it
like an Item. 0nfoitunately this no longei seems to woik, so we have to uo it the long way.

8*.*20CKT)*# 8*.*205<# Q5'.<@ will open up the mastei section tool in Sceneiy Euitoi as
shown in Figuies 89 anu 9u.


95@";* abP T)*# 8*.*205<# Q5'.<@

95@";* bcP 8*.*20 0-* 4$)* <6 4-5#@ 7<" &'#0 0< 8*.*20
If you uiun't set the Tag of the viewpoint as you inseiteu, you weie being a bau iogue. As
shown in Figuie S9, you neeu to have a tag set to select an inuiviuual viewpoint. If you
uon't, you will move all of the F1u viewpoints in the entiie sceneiy file you have open.


95@";* b,P _*00*; e'1* 4-'0 d5*:)<5#0i
Now that you've selecteu the Type anu Tag, select the IB, which shoulu be 1u, because this
is a iectangulai Region viewpoint, as selecteu in Figuie 91. That is wheie the IB numbei 1u
comes fiom. Next, hit the 8*.*20 '#= R<D* d5*: H<5#0 button. This centeis the winuow
ovei the viewpoint Sceneiy Euitoi thinks you want to move. veiify that this is the
viewpoint you aie tiying to move. Bit select anu it shoulu become bolu as shown in Figuie
6u. Now, move it like a noimal Item (Euit->Nove->Item). You will want to make the Y-
cooiuinate a e*@'05D* numbei so that it iises above the suiface.

95@";* bMP 8*.*20*= 9,c d5*:)<5#0i
95@";* bWP d*;56$ 4-'0 0-* d5*:)<5#0 f'( _**# R<D*= g)/
0nce you've veiifieu that the viewpoint has moveu, we neeu to close the Selection uialog.
0nfoitunately in the test veision, the *(2')* key uoesn't close this menu out. This is a bug
that I have submitteu to Ni. Yamakawa, so hopefully this will be fixeu in the next stable
ielease.
Ground Cb[ect V|ewpo|nts
The two othei viewpoints aie fiom giounu objects. ILSs anu Aiiciaft Caiiieis cieate
viewpoints accessible thiough the F6 button in YSFlight. Simply by placing these giounu
objects in a map, you automatically get a viewpoint. When placing ILSs, uo not go
oveiboaiu. Each iunway neeus one ILS at most. Foi laigei aiipoits, 2 oi S ILSs aie the
uppei limit of what you shoulu put in. Any moie ovei-ciowus the navigation menu.

Take a look at the Navigational Aius section foi moie infoimation about these featuies.
Add|ng A|rp|anes to your A|rport
You will see in some maps, that theie aie aiiplanes paikeu aiounu the aiipoit. If you wish
to auu aiiplanes, theie aie two methous of uoing so.
Ground Cb[ect A|rp|anes
Taskfoice S8 has a goou collection of giounu objects, anu many of his maps, like Euwaius
Aii Foice Base has many planes paikeu on the taimac. By inseiting giounu objects that
look like aiiplanes, you aie given a few options. Numbei one, you can contiol how they
move with motion paths foi taxing oi you can make them still by selecting the appiopiiate
flags. This methou also is moie likely to give the enu usei the ability to see the planes by
just telling them to install the appiopiiate giounu packs.
A|rcraft A|rp|anes
Sceneiy Euitoi allows you to inseit actual aiiciaft fiom the aiiciaft foluei. The uiffeience
with these mouels is that they aie moie uetaileu, but also inuuce moie lag. uetting them to
obey youi wishes can also be a little uifficult, as they will not follow motion paths. Insteau,
you can get them to follow a few options such as uo nothing, fly stiaight, ciicle, oi lanu at
neaiest aiipoit. To uo this, select the aiiciaft you inseiteu anu go to <?h*20CK'5;2;'60C
K1<=56$ anu select youi options. veiy few map makeis use this option, piecisely because it
is possible foi a few somewhat uetaileu aiiciaft to make the map iun at extiemely low fps
iates. 0sing giounu objects is lowei lag, but the AI uoesn't contiol them, anu you also have
to manually uictate what they uo, anu it can be a time consuming piocess.
Lag keduct|on
When you stait to combine eveiything that has been talkeu about so fai, the level of uetail
in a map can get faiily extieme. In auuition, the laigei the map, the moie lag, shaking, anu
low fps (Fiames pei Seconu) become likely. The fuithei items get fiom the centei of a map
(u,u,u) the moie shaking becomes a ieality. You will finu that in geneial, a Nac will stait to
shake !"#$ befoie a PC of similai powei. To make suie eveiyone can thoioughly enjoy, we
can take some steps to ieuuce the lag anu inciease the fps.
Add Ground Cb[ects Last
This is a faiily easy step to accomplish, anu it can make a significant uiffeience. 0nless youi
map is small, less than 1uu squaie kilometeis, you can use giounu objects without much
affect on the lag, but it is a goou iuea to use them in places that Elevation uiiu Builuings
cannot ieplace them.

Neuium maps 1uu to Suu squaie kilometeis shoulu be gentle with the giounu objects,
piobably half the giounu objects as a small map, anu all the othei builuings shoulu be
Elevation uiiu Builuings.

Laige Naps shoulu only have giounu objects foi the *!+",-#),. iequiieu Navigational Aius,
fuelie-loauing tiucks, anu Naval vessels.
o|ygons
The fewei laige polygons that you have in youi map, the bettei foi ieuucing lag. Take a
look at Stykk's Aiizona Nap, anu TFS8's Euwaius AFB map. Both uo not use a polygon foi
the giounu. Insteau they set the giounu coloi to be what they want.

0se the smallest polygons you can, anu you shoulu be okay.
L|evat|on Gr|d S|zes
Like Polygons, the Size of an Elevation uiiu can inciease the lag of a Nap. Taiwan's Bong
Kong map uoes a goou job uisplaying how to uo this. It also makes cieating mountains
easiei because you can uiviue it up into small chunks anu put moie uetail attention into it.


95@";* b+P 4'5:'#X( F.*D'05<# !;5= Q5D5(5<#
While this is goou, uon't go oveiboaiu with a million small elevation giius to foim a
mountain chain. That woulu piobably be woise than not uiviuing the mountain iange in the
fiist place.
Ground Cb[ects vs. L|evat|on Gr|d 8u||d|ngs
I've mentioneu this alieauy, but wheievei Elevation uiius can be substituteu foi a uiounu
objet builuing they shoulu be. They piouuce less lag because theie is less infoimation
associateu with them anu aie easiei to ienuei.

That being saiu, avoiu concentiating giounu objects anu elevation giiu builuings into a
small aiea. This leaus into oui next uiscussion of how to ueal with making cities.
Non-c|uttered C|t|es
Naking cities is a gieat thing to uo. It makes the sceneiy feel moie ieal anu you can
accomplish this without going insane with the numbei of builuings that you put in theie.
Take a look at this scieenshot of the Chicago Aii Show map


95@";* bZP S-52'@< JS-52'@< N5;(-<: R')L
Notice that theie aien't a ton of builuings. Naybe S% oi less of the city blocks have a
builuing on them. The city blocks anu ioaus aie uefineu by thick lines, which auu baiely
any lag, but at T0N of uetail. This also avoius ovei-clutteiing.
Nav|gat|ona| A|ds
Navigational Aius aie a key pait of any map. While they aie a pait of the aiipoits 99% oi
the time, they aie impoitant enough to waiiant theii own section in this uocument. The
foui types of navigational aius in YSFlight aie v0R, v0RBNE, ILS anu NBB. Eveiy one of
these giounu objects can be seen in the Navigational Aius Nenu (Befault "L") anu aie useu
to guiue aiiciaft to aiipoits.


95@";* b^P dTY

95@";* b`P eQ_

95@";* baPdTYQRF
95@";* bbP >U8

ILS |acement
Bow you place youi ILS's is veiy impoitant to youi map anu aiipoit. Bo not input an ILS foi
eveiy iunway uiiection. This uoes seveial negative things. Fiist it auus moie giounu
objects that we uo not neeu, seconu it clutteis the in game Navigation Nenu, anu thiiu it
clutteis up the F6 viewpoint menu.

Befoie you begin inseiting ILS giounu objects, you shoulu tuin on the ILS guiueline by
selecting d5*:CKQ;':CKQ;': >U8 !"5=* U5#*. This will uisplay a gieen line with a bunch
of aiiows along it. Balf of this line will be soliu, anu the othei half will be uasheu. The point
wheie the line changes is wheie the ILS path inteisects with the giounu, which happens to
be Su meteis to the iight of the ILS giounu object.


95@";* ,ccP >U8 !"5=* U5#* T#IT66

95@";* ,c,P >U8 !;<"#= >#0*;(*205<#
Notice in Figuie 1u1, that the uieen Aiiow's tip is exactly wheie the path hits the giounu.
Also, notice the two white lines on the fai left of the image. Those aie the touch uown
maikings on the iunway. You shoulu place youi ILS iight aiounu those, but not befoie
them.

Cther Nav|gat|ona| A|d |acement
To be piopei, v0R anu v0RBNE's shoulu be on the left siue of the iunway (To the
appioaching aiiciaft) anu in the geneial vicinity of the ILS giounu object.

In geneial, YSFlight maps use v0RBNE's to act as long-iange beacons anu tenu to place the
v0R's in the geneial aiea of the aiipoit (within a few hunuieu meteis) without any ieal
accuiacy.

The NBB is typically fuithei out anu a few kilometeis fiom the aiipoit.
Nam|ng Convent|ons
When it comes to Navigational Aius, eNR>e! >8 FdFY74f>e!. ILS's, v0R's, v0RBNE's,
anu NBB's all have to be piopeily nameu so that someone can select the iight Navigation
point to get to wheie they want to go.

You 1"(0 incluue the '5;)<;0 #'1*. Without this, people won't know what iunway the
Navigational Aiu is at. You can use the aiipoit coue to shoiten the menu entiy, but a way to
uistinguish the aiipoits.

When naming an ILS, incluue the iunway numbei that the ILS is on.

At the enu of the uay, as long as you label eveiything in a logical anu easy to unueistanu
way, uon't woiiy about the piecise naming of youi Navigational Aius.
Sca||ng]Invert|ng
Like I mentioneu eailiei, it is possible to scale polygons veiy easily. 0sing the same tool, it
is possible to flip an item ovei the x oi z-axis.


95@";* ,cMP 82'.5#@ 4<<. R*#"

95@";* ,cWP 4-* 82'.5#@ 4<<.
1.uu equals 1uu% of the oiiginal size. You can stietch things by inputting uiffeient
numbeis. By enteiing a negative, it will flip the item ovei the othei axis. Foi example, if I
change the X scaling Factoi to -1, the image will iemain the same size, but will be flippeu
ovei z-axis.

Advanced L|evat|on Gr|d 8u||d|ngs


95@";* ,c+P N?*;=**# N5;)<;0 6;<1 !"##$X( gl );<h*20
Theie is no ieal way to teach making auvanceu Elevation giiu builuings, except foi you to
go aheau anu tiy builuing them foi youi selves. This section will talk about some
techniques foi bieaking uown complex builuings into sections that can be cieateu with
Elevation uiius.

The key thing about cieating complex elevation giiu builuings is to be piecise, patient anu
most impoitantly, use many elevation giius to foim a single builuing.
Vert|ca| Wa||s
Whenevei you see a pait of a builuing that has veitical walls, you shoulu equate that to a
sepaiate elevation giiu builuing. You cannot move the noues of the elevation giiu to be
unueineath anothei; so theiefoie, you have to use the 8-<:If5=* 85=*:'.. featuie to
cieate the veitical poitions of the builuing.
Curved 8u||d|ngs
0nfoitunately theie is no ieal way to "benu" an inuiviuual elevation giiu builuing.
Theiefoie we have to simulate the cuive by using multiple Elevation uiiu builuings, just
like we simulate cuives by using seveial euges at angles. Take a look at uunny's section
latei on to see his Lauuaiuia Aiipoit setup. That is a goou example of how to cieate cuiveu
walls.
Actua||y |ook at the bu||d|ng you are try|ng to mode|
Finu iefeiences, uiawings, pictuies, etc anu iuentify featuies you can eliminate to simplify
the builuing. By iuentifying what you can simplify, you can also finu featuies that you /*0
cieate to auu uetail to youi map.
8e pat|ent and pract|ce
If you uo not piactice making uetaileu Elevation uiiu builuings, you will nevei builu up the
expeiience to cieate some of the ieally amazing builuings that people have cieateu.
8ase]ground co|ors

95@";* ,cZP !;<"#= 2<.<; ># R*#"


95@";* ,c^P !;<"#= S<.<; n <0-*;( 5#0*;6'2*
Work|ng |n d|fferent p|anes
Woiking in uiffeient planes can be both confusing anu fiustiating, but has some uses. 0ne
the best examples is motion paths foi flying objects. You can see in figuie 49 (a ways back
in the motion path section) how it might look.

The uefault plane that you want to woik in is the XZ plane. To make a polygon in anothei
plane, you neeu to follow the tutoiial in the next section.
Advanced 3D Man|pu|at|ons
Rotating things in uiffeient planes cannot be uone within Sceneiy Euitoi. Insteau, it must
be uone using text baseu flu file euiting methous. You can finu a gieat tutoiial fiom
Waspe414 at the link below.
http:ysfhq.comfoiumviewtopic.php.f=149&t=7u6#p71SS
M|ss|on creat|on (1he 8as|c 3)
While it is possible to cieate custom missions foi YSflight, the Basic S Nissions (Inteicept
Enuuiance, Close Aii Suppoit) aie automatically geneiateu foi a selecteu map as long as
ceitain featuies aie in the map. To get to these you open YSflight anu unuei the Simulations
Nenu, select one of the last thiee options.
Lndurance M|ss|ons
Enuuiance Nissions pit usei contiolleu anu allieu aiiciaft against AI contiolleu aiiciaft.
This is the simplest mission to piep in Sceneiy Euitoi because all you neeu aie the basic
stait positions. As mentioneu in the Stait Position section, 80';0H<(CKR'O* 80'#=';=
80';0 H<(505<# will inseit the piopeily nameu stait positions foi these missions.
Intercept M|ss|ons
Inteicept Nissions aie similai to Enuuiance missions in that you aie fighting AI aiiciaft, but
this mission auus the element of aiibase uefense. Inbounu bogies aie bombeis, attack, anu
fightei-bombei types of aiiciaft. They can have fightei escoits if that option is selecteu, but
foi the most pait the bogies aie not attacking you, but iathei youi base. They will evaue
youi fiie anu missiles with flaies aplenty, fiie uefensively (tail gunneis), but will not
aggiessively engage you.

To enable Inteicept Nissions foi a map, two conuitions must be met. Fiist, you have a stait
position on the giounu that has a name staiting with "RW" wheie the usei-contiolleu plane
will stait the mission. Seconu, you must have at least one giounu object of IFF1 that has
been uesignateu as the piimaiy taiget. Figuie 1u7 shows how these giounu objects shoulu
be flaggeu.


95@";* ,c`P >#0*;2*)0 R5((5<# !;<"#= T?h*20 9.'@(
C|ose A|r Support
Close Aii Suppoit Nissions aie gieat fun, but also faiily challenging. You neeu to have the
same basic set up as the Inteicept mission with the stait position anu giounu object Flags.
In auuition, you neeu to have at least one iectangulai iegion with an IB of 6, which makes it
a spawn aiea foi enemy tanks.


95@";* ,caP S.<(* N5; 8"))<;0 F#*1$ 4'#O !*#*;'0<; Y*20'#@".'; Y*@5<# >Q #"1?*;
If you want to also have a fiienuly tank geneiatoi, simply inseit anothei iectangulai iegion
with IB=7. In geneial you want to place these as shown in Figuie 1u8.


95@";* ,cbP 80<2O N<1<;5 S.<(* N5; ("))<;0 Y*20'#@".'; Y*@5<#(
You can put these iectangulai iegions anywheie on the map. I wonuei what woulu happen
if you put them on top of each othei..... *&5#OE :5#OE #"=@*E #"=@**
Ant|-A|r M|ss|ons (Advanced Modd|ng D|scuss|on)
YSFlight veision 2u12u7u1 intiouuceu a new type of mission wheie the usei uefenueu an
aiibase with AAA anu SANs fiom a usei contiolleu uiounu 0bject. Cuiiently theie is only
one giounu object that can be useu foi this mission type anu it is only founu on the stock
Aomoii map. You can see what it looks like on Figuie 1u9. While I have not been able to
make othei giounu objects usable foi this mission, I have figuieu a few things that you can
fiuule with.

8<1* 0-5#@( > -'D* 65@";*= <"0P
You will piobably neeu to euit the uesiieu giounu object BAT file in oiuei to get the giounu
object to be a possible Anti-Aii Nission vehicle.

0SERCTRL BRIvE u0N SAN
C0CKPITP um 1.72m 2.66m
AAAu0NNR um 2.9m u.7Sm
AAA0FFST um um um

These lines in the BAT file aie piobably
what shoulu be fiuuleu with.

In oiuei to get the giounu object to woik in the Anti-Aii mission, you will piobably neeu
the flags shown in Figuie 11u assigneu to it.


95@";* ,,cP N#05CN5; R5((5<# !;<"#= T?h*20 9.'@ N((5@#1*#0
I uo not believe that you neeu to make any .unm euits to youi uesiieu giounu object. Theie
uo not appeai to be any special animations to get the giounu object ieauy foi Nissions.
Figuie 111 shows the hatch anu iauai up, which is the extent of the animations.


95@";* ,,,P !*)';= N#05CN5; R5((5<# !;<"#= <?h*20 QeR '#51'05<# FG0*#0
Advanced Map Mak|ng 1echn|ques
Cieating amazing sceneiies takes two things, expeiience anu patience. 0nfoitunately, if you
aie new to Sceneiy Euitoi, you uon't have expeiience. That's wheie this section comes to
youi aiu.
Im|tate, Im|tate, Innovate
When leaining complicateu things, begin by imitating anothei peison's woik, picking up
theii techniques, tiying to unueistanu theii thought piocess anu then builuing on that to
foim youi own techniques. Reveise engineeiing people's woik anu leaining fiom that is by
fai the easiest way to auu skills to youi Sceneiy Euitoi tool belt.

Let's take a look at seveial people's maps to see what we can leain fiom them.
Iceman]1a|wan
As mentioneu in the Runway section, using giauation stiips to foim a contiasting iunway is
a gieat way to auu a touch of uetail that uoesn't auu to the lag of the map anu is veiy easy to
uo.

What I've founu to woik the best is to not make the giauation covei the whole wiuth of a
iunway. Rathei, if you make it covei appioximately 7S-8u% of the iunway wiuth, it looks
moie iealistic. If you look closely, you can see wheie the giauation stiip stops in Figuie
112.


95@";* ,,MP !;'='05<# 80;5) Y"#:'$ FG'1).*
You can iefei to Iceman's tutoiial if you want moie infoimation about this.
http:ysfhq.comfoiumviewtopic.php.f=1S1&t=1u2&p=S2u&hilit=iunway#pS2u
A|rbourne
Aiibouine is a gieat Nouuei foi YSFlight who makes Extiemely Bigh uetail Aiiplanes,
maps, anu giounu objects. Theie aie seveial featuies of his maps that I wish to highlight foi
you that will hopefully spaik an iuea. I will use his Rockfoiu Aii fest Nap foi examples.
).$/0,+-% 1&+* 2&$$3
Aiibouine uses Elevation giius to make inuiviuual tiees to auu some contiast anu S-B
featuies foi his maps. This methou only woiks foi making a hanuful of tiees as if they weie
lanuscapeu. If you want to make foiests using this methou, you will cieate too much lag to
actually fly on the map.


95@";* ,,WP F.*D'05<# !;5= R'O5#@ >#=5D5="'. 4;**(
Foi the most pait, these tiees aie useu to make the viewpoints on the map moie accenteu
anu inteiesting to look thiough. It auus coloi to the mostly giey S-B stiuctuies anu is faiily
simply to make.
456 7$%#$3

95@";* ,,+P MCQ 6*#2*( D*;052'. ;<0'05<#
Rotating things in S uimensions in Sceneiy Euitoi is impossible to uo within the piogiam
itself. 4;"(0 1* > -'D* 0;5*=/ That uoesn't mean that you cannot iotate things in S-B foi
youi maps. You just have to get cieative.

Recall that Naps aie .flu files. If you open these up, you can see that they aie text files with a
uefinite stiuctuie. Waspe414 fiom YSFBQ has an excellent tutoiial that you can follow to
exploit the text file natuie of the .flu files. Waspe is a mastei of manipulating the text files.
You can finu his tutoiial heie: http:ysfhq.comphpbbSviewtopic.php.f=4u&t=81S

Tutoiial Appenuix 1 contains a copy of this tutoiial, useu with peimission fiom Waspe414.
8+9:;0'3

95@";* ,,ZP N5;?<";#*X( f5@-:'$(

Aiibouine is one of the few people I've seen to fully iecieate neaiby highways anu ioaus to
an insane level. 0sing a combination of polygons anu thick lines he cieates all the
ioauways. This auus veiy little lag, but a 0<# of uetail that makes flying even moie iealistic.
<##$%,$* ).$/0,+-% 1&+* =>+.*+%93


95@";* ,,^P F.*D'05<# !;5= ?"5.=5#@ )';O5#@ .<0(I MCQ '22*#0(
Shauowing Elevation giiu builuings with polygons compliments the builuing anu ties it in
with the ioau system making the map moie congiuent anu makes it seem less like the
builuings aie hap-hazaiuly thiown in. If you uiun't incluue the ioauways, this woulu be a
countei-piouuctive featuie. Without any ioaus theie is nothing to tie into anu you uon't
neeu to oiuei the builuings in any mannei.


95@";* ,,`P N5;?<";#*X( 9';1.'#=
Aiibouine also auueu some faimlanu, which contiasts nicely with the next mapmakei,
Stykk's faims. In Aiibouine's example he only uses a few colois ielying on the giounu coloi
anu the shape to pioviue the uetail he wanteu.
2:+#? @+%$ 8->3$3

95@";* ,,aP S<2< _*'2- 4-52O U5#* f<"(*(
Aiibouine is known foi his high-lag, insanely high-uetail maps. 0ne of his techniques foi
ieuucing the lag, is to use thick lines to simulate houses. Notice how he went thiu the map
anu maue the thick lines, anu then went back anu auueu the moie natuial colois on the
bottom left. 0ne iuea to make this fastei is to make them all one of the final coloi, so you
uon't have to change those. 0se the Paint by picking tool unuei T?h*20CKF.*1*#0CK H'5#0
_$ H52O5#@. Select the coloi you want anu stait clicking!

Stykk
Stykk makes a laige amount of pc2 anu sceneiy files with highly uetaileu featuies anu then
impoits them into the final map. Be makes his iunway maikings, elevation giiu builuing
aiiangements, anu subuiban ioaus in inuiviuual sceneiies anu pc2's anu then impoits
them.


95@";* ,,bP >#(*;0*= )2M
Anothei Lag-ieuucing technique that Stykk implements in his maps is to not incluue a base
polygon. Figuie 119 shows the 'blank' backgiounu of the sceneiy. By setting the
backgiounu coloi, you can eliminate the neeu foi laige polygons as a coloi foi the base.
This only woiks foi ceitain types of maps, wheie theie is a continuous lanu oi watei base.
This makes it veiy easy to cieate an inlanu oi islanu map. Because of this, I iecommenu
staiting with making Islanu maps.

The final thing that makes Stykk stanu out fiom the othei mapmakeis is the uetail he puts
into some of this elevation stiuctuies. Like the baseball stauium in Figuie 12u, Stykk has
maue othei spoits ielateu venues like tiacks, anu a socceifootball stauium.


95@";* ,McP _'(*?'.. 80'=5"1 F.*D'05<# !;5=
Stykk has maue extensive use of elevation giius to make complex objects like teiminals. In
seveial instances, he uses oveilapping elevation giius to foim builuings that have a benu in
them.


95@";* ,M,P H';O5#@ .<0 #*'; '# '5;)<;0
A final note foi Stykk's maps is that he incluues moie uetail neai the aiipoits than fuithei
away. Figuie 121 shows a paiking lot that was close to an aiipoit on his Aiizona map. The
amount of woik that went into this featuie is consiueiable, anu it auus moie iealism to his
map. 0ne iuea might be to make a paiking gaiage out of elevation giius anu inseiting
seveial of those aiounu the teiminal aiea.
1a|wan
0ne of the things I love about Taiwan's woik is that theie is a high level of uetail thiough
out his entiie map. The map sizes vaiy, but they always show the thought that he puts into
his woik. Taiwan uses a vaiiety of uiffeient techniques that will be uiscusseu.


95@";* ,MMP 4'5:'# f<#@ l<#@ R') FG'1).*
0ne of the fiist things that you may notice in Figuie 122 is that theie aie a bunch of squaies
of vaiying colois thioughout the map. This uoes seveial things foi the visual complexity of
the map. Fiist it uisiupts the aiea that woulu be mono-coloi otheiwise, i.e. wheie theie
aien't significant mountains oi othei featuies like cities oi clusteis of ioauways. Seconu it
auus seveial uiffeient, complimenting colois that sew the uistances togethei. Finally, they
can act as giauation foi hill oi mountains that aie not significant enough to waiiant an
Elevation giiu.

This biings up his extensive coloi palate. Taking the time to look at satellite photos, using
coloi matching web tools oi by using youi eye to gathei a set of colois that woik well
togethei. Baving a theme foi the map, gieen, tan, biown, etc gives you a base to stait fiom.
In some cases these can slightly oveilap. The extensive colois in Taiwan's maps make his
woik seveial times bettei. By putting youi time into getting youi colois, youi map will
become that much bettei.


95@";* ,MWP 4'5:'#X( f5@-Cj"'.50$ 0';1'2

95@";* ,M+P 4'G5:'$ R';O5#@(

Bis aiipoits aie veiy piecise. With the taxi maikings anu high-piecision cuives, they exuue
the effoit he pouieu into them. Anothei thing that Taiwan uoes is auuing paikeu aiiplane
giounu objects thiough out the aiipoit. You will nevei see a majoi aiipoit with zeio
aiiplanes aiounu. It just uoesn't happen. While auuing giounu objects auus to the lag,
Taiwan's maps aie of the size wheie it uoesn't ieally mattei. Taiwan took the time to
caiefully woik thiough anu builu his maps. Bis ingenuity anu effoit have maue him a stai
mapmakei.


95@";* ,MZP H';O*= '5;).'#*(
Gunny
uunny is a gieat mapmakei anu makes some veiy laige maps. We can leain a lot fiom his
effoits to keep lag low anu his expeiience in making uetaileu maps.

95@";* ,M^P !"##$X( e*: 7<;O S50$
0ne thing that I've noticeu about uunny's maps is that he uses a combination of quantity of
uetails with lowei iesolution than otheis. This, in my opinion, is a clevei way to auu a lot of
gieat featuies without piling up the lag anu shaking too quickly. Take a look at Figuies 126
anu 127 to see the tons of uetails uunny puts in. While peihaps not the highest iesolution
in teims of how closely spaceu the veitexes of the polygons aie placeu, the consistency
acioss the map uoesn't uetiact fiom the oveiall quality.

A$B$&$%#$ CD09$3
0ne majoi thing that uunny uses effectively is iefeience images. Rathei than piinting out
an image anu tiying to uiaw a giiu anu go fiom theie as I have uone in the past (it woiks,
but slowly), uunny uses iefeience images quite effectively. }ust tiy to make Nanhattan
without one.I uaie you.
<+&E-&, 0%* A-0* #-DF+%0,+-%3
uunny is one of the fiist mapmakeis I have seen to combine aiipoits anu all theii ioauways
as seen in Figuie 127.


95@";* ,M`P U'!"';=5' 4*;15#'.
Since most people make theii aiipoits in sepaiate sceneiies anu then impoit them, they
often uo not then make any connecting uetails between the map anu theii aiipoits. This
leaus to a sense of isolation, anu uunny effectively stops that in this New Yoik Nap.
6-%G, F$ <B&0+* ,- ,0?$ 3-D$ 0&,+3,+# .+#$%3$
This is YSFlight, wheie you can liteially "fly a BC-S unuei a biiuge, upsiue uown anu
shooting chainsaw missiles."
1
If you want to take some shoitcuts anu take a little aitistic
license, go foi it. uunny uiu it in uowntown NYC be smoothly tiansition fiom miutown to
the wateifiont. 0nless you weie looking at a map oi new the layout of NYC veiy well, you
piobably woulu have nevei noticeu.

1
Boomsuay fiom YSFBQ in the "YSFlight in 0ne Sentence" Thieau

).$/0,+-% 1&+* =>+.*+%93
uunny is one of the best elevation giiu aitists in the YSFlight community. Take a ganuei at
Figuies 128 anu 127 if you uon't believe me. Notice the same paiking lot shauowing seen in
Aiibouine's map. Also look at the use of multi-coloi elements foi the same builuing. By
oveilapping seveial elevation giius, uunny "builus" up the builuing anu can make many
complex shapes anu uesigns even if they aie only iectangles by themselves.


95@";* ,MaP N=D'#2*= F.*D'05<# @;5= ?"5.=5#@(
6$B+%+%9 @0%* 0%* H0,$& A$9+-%3
0ne thing that you may have nevei noticeu is the boiuei between lanu anu watei. 0nless
you aie uiopping bombs anu shooting the giounu, you many nevei see the uiffeience, the
polygons aie just coloieu uiffeiently. veiy few maps actually go into this level of planning
anu caie. See the section about Aieas to lean how to make this uesignation.


95@";* ,MbP U'#= N;*' Q*65#505<#

95@";* ,WcP gl R') H;<h*20
In this Nap, uunny auueu a lot of uetail with uefining the lanu anu watei boiueis to make
the map moie iealistic.
SMa[or
YSNajoi is a mastei map builuei who has a ton of useful techniques that we shoulu leain
fiom. Bis maps aie mainly combat ielateu, anu aie mainly of meuium to small size. This
uoes not mean that civilian mapmakeis cannot leain something fiom his woik. As an
example of his woik I will be pulling techniques fiom his vietnam Nap, which is one of the
bettei all-aiounu maps foi YSFlight.

A$#'#.+%9 I0E J0&,3
0ne of the fiist things I neeu to say about YSNajoi is that he is one of the best iecycleis I
have evei seen in his maps. The human eye is veiy easy to tiick, anu by simply iotating
ceitain pie-maue polygons oi elevation giius, he is able to uensely populate a 7,uuu squaie
kilometei map with only a hanuful of pie-maue elevation giius anu othei items.


95@";* ,W,P Y*2$2.5#@ R') H';0(
In Figuie 1S1, Najoi uses 9 iuentical small hills, 4 polygon clusteis, S iotateu elevation
giius, anu moie than five Foiiest Elevation uiius (See latei foi moie uetails) in one small
section of sceneiy. By oveilapping some elevation giius he can hiue iuentical featuies that
woulu otheiwise show the iepeateu featuies.

In his cities Najoi uses the iecycling technique to supplement the elevation giiu builuings
he inseits anu ianuomly iotates to make things uiffeient. Figuie 1S2 shows how the
inseiteu item is useu to contiast the elevation giiu builuings. Note how theie aie giey
polygons that might look like builuings fiom oveiheau, but aie only 2-B. This simple piece
auus so much to the map complexity without anything fancy oi lag inuucing.


95@";* ,WMP S50$ Y<'= '#= H';O
J-.'9-% K.->*3
By cieating a white polygon, anu then elevating it, to a high altituue (2u-Su thousanu feet),
it acts like a high altituue stiata clouu. When looking at them fiom below, it makes the map
appeai moie ieal. The only uiaw back of using this methou is how they look fiom above.


95@";* ,WWP 8**C0-;<"@- 2.<"=(
Foi whatevei ieason, looking thiough these clouus fiom above hiues the polygons blockeu
by it, but shows the elevation giius, even though the elevation giius uo not exceeu the
height of the polygon clouus.

70*$ 2- =.0#?
0ne unique featuie of YSNajoi's Naps is how they faue to black at the boiuei of the map.
By setting the giounu coloi to a veiy, veiy uaik giey (not black), it allows foi a cleai boiuei
of the map to be establisheu anu offeis a way to "see off into the sunset" without having to
put in extia uetails to let the sceneiy tiail away into the uistance.

This fauing can be uone in two ways as exampleu by his vietnam Nap. Fiist you can use a
giauation stiip between the polygon coloi anu the giounu coloi. Seconu you can put
mountain elevation giius to suiiounu the heait of the map without the giauation stiip. In
his vietnam Nap, Najoi uses the fiist methou foi the ocean, anu the seconu foi the lanu.
While you coulu use the fiist methou foi lanu, anu YSNajoi uoes in his Libya map, the style
of map is uiffeient.


95@";* ,W+P d5*0#'1 9'=* 0< _.'2O

95@";* ,WZP &'0*; !;'='05<# 9'=* 0< _.'2O
).$/0,$* I-,+-% J0,:3 L 7.'+%9 1&->%* MFN$#,3
YSNajoi is the fiist peison I've seen to have flying giounu objects in his maps. Neai the
coastline of his vietnam map, he has two uiffeient tankei giounu objects elevateu, anu
assigneu to elevateu motion paths in a iacetiack loop.


95@";* ,W^P lSC,Wc @;<"#= <?h*20 6.$5#@ :50- ;<0'05#@ );<)*..*;( <# '# *.*D'0*= 1<05<# )'0-
If you iefei back to Figuie 1S1, you can see the motion path on the iight siue of the image.
This is elevateu to appioximately 2uuu meteis.
H0/$3 L 6>%$3
Naking waves oi uunes in Sceneiy Euitoi is something that was fiist seen in Najoi's maps.
By using white, oi close off-white, anu the coloi of the unueilying polygon, YSNajoi uses a
giauation quau stiip to simulate waves anu uunes. Figuie 1S7 is an example of how he lines
these up neai the shoieline. If you look at his Libya map, you will see these with a biown
coloi simulating uunes.


95@";* ,W`P FG'1).* <6 :'D*( 6;<1 78R'h<;
8+9: O>0.+,' =$0#:$3
Figuie 1S7 biings us to making beaches. 0ne thing I enjoy about YSNajoi's style of beaches
is that he uses uiauation Stiips to simulate the bieaking of waves neai the shoie. Nany
map makeis, incluuing myself will not bothei to auu the tan beach anu have a suuuen
bluegieen bounuaiy to simulate the change between watei anu lanu.

Figuie 1S8 shows a close up cioss-section of YSNajoi's beach.


95@";* ,WaP 78R'h<;X( ?*'2-
The way I see Najoi making this is by fiist making the lanuwatei boiuei uistinction, so
that theie is only gieen anu blue. Then he auus the beach tan coloi, oveilapping gieenblue
boiuei. Then he auus a gieen to beach tan giauation stiip on the lanusiue to covei the
lanubeach inteisection. Be leaves a goou amount of the beach un-coveieu by the giauation
stiip, as eviuenceu by the soliu tan stiip in Figuie 1S8. Finally, he auus the whitewatei
blue giauation stiip on the wateisiue to covei the wateibeach inteiface. The oiuei of the
giauation stiips uoesn't matei, but that is simply how I woulu uo it.
).$/0,+-% 1&+* 6$%3$ P>%9.$Q7-&$3,3
The final thing I wish to highlight fiom YSNajoi's maps is the way he simulates uense
foiests anu jungles. Again, these examples come fiom his vietnam Nap.

By using elevateu, low elevation giius, we can simulate foiests. When you auu the coloi
giauation, use a veiy uaik gieen almost black to simulate the shauows, anu a gieen foi the
tiee canopies. In auuition, you uon't want to only have one coloi elevation giiu to copy
aiounu. The coloi becomes monotonous aftei a veiy shoit while. YSNajoi uses a faiily
stanuaiu gieen anu then a matteu lightei gieen foi two uiffeiently shapeu foiest elevation
giius. This bieaks up the coloi anu shape monotonous lanuscape. Figuie 1S9 shows an
example of how the two types of foiest elevation giius can be combineu.


95@";* ,WbP Q566*;*#0 2<.<;( 6<; 78R'h<;X( 9<;*(0(
The ciitical pait of Elevation uiiu Foiests is that they '?(<."0*.$ 1"(0 <D*;.')i This
makes it possible to fly thiough without ciashing in a spectaculai fiieball. Figuie 14u
shows how the iotateu foiest elevation giius mesh togethei to oveilap anu look
continuous.



95@";* ,+cP TD*;.'))5#@ F.*D'05<# !;5= 9<;*(0(
The final thing to note about theses Foiest Elevation uiius is how they aie at uiffeient
elevations as seen in Figuie 141. The uaikei giiu is iaiseu peihaps 1uu feet, while the
lightei foiest giiu is still on the giounu.


95@";* ,+,P F.*D'05<# =566*;*#2* <; 9<;*(0 F.*D'05<# !;5=(
M|ndset for Deta||s
Theie aie a couple uiffeient minusets foi YSflight mouuing in geneial, which aie applicable
in making Naps. Fiist you have the hypei attention to uetail that can stiess you out ovei
the littlest uetails. I will aumit to falling unuei this categoiy many times, but in ceitain
ciicumstances it is useful like in making youi iunways anu aiipoit uetails.

In most othei situations in Napmaking especially, like in placing elevation giius anu
builuings in a fictional city you aie cieating, you can use the "Yeah, that looks iight" methou
of map making. Take some libeities anu aitistic license, anu you've got a uecent looking
final piouuct. This methou can take a little piactice to uevelop, but it woiks beautifully.

As you gain expeiience in Sceneiy Euitoi anu examine othei maps in uetail, you gain the
pseuuo expeiience to apply both of these methous to cieate a goou-looking map. By having
a sense of when uetails aie neeueu, you can both ieuuce the time spent making the map,
anu inciease the joy of flying the map by keeping the lag-causing uetails, uown in aieas that
uon't neeu them.
Co|or a|ates
0ne thing that is veiy haiu to uo is to settle on a coloi palate foi youi maps. Choosing the
coiiect colois can accent eveiything beautifully, while clashing colois can uistiact people
fiom youi map's featuies.

When fiist beginning, the uefault colois aie okay, but aftei a while, they become boiing anu
even ugly. Theie aie uiffeient levels to map makei's attention to uetail with iespect to theii
colois. Piobably the most effoit intensive mapmakei in this iespect is Taiwan. YSNajoi is
piobably somewheie in the miuule, anu the uefault colois anu close cousins aie the lowei
enu of the spectium (Biu you get the pun.)

0ne way to jumpstait youi collection of colois is to copy them fiom othei maps. I (0;<#@.$
uige you to not use these colois exactly, but select a few anu use coloi pallete cieating tools
founu on the Inteinet. Beie aie seveial that I have founu useful.

http:ysfhq.comphpbbSviewtopic.php.f=148&t=4SS7

0ne final thing to consiuei is the use of tans wheie you might otheiwise have chosen gieys,
most typically aiounu aiipoits foi taimac anu iunways. Conciete, which most aiipoit
suifaces aie maue fiom, is not giey, but tan. 0sing non-YSFlight typical colois foi ceitain
things can make toui map stanu out fiom the hunuieus anu hunuieus of maps, anu if
cooiuinateu iight, can make youi map look that much bettei.
I|na| Words of Adv|ce
In the immoital woius of uunny: &-*# $<" (0';0 0< @*0 6;"(0;'0*=E 0'O* ' ?;*'O/ This
has saveu my sanity many a time as I have stiuggleu to woik bugs out of both maps anu
aiiciaft, sometimes successfully, anu sometimes not. By taking a bieak like uunny suggests,
you ue-invest youiself in youi woik foi a while, allowing you to ue-stiess anu come back to
youi woik at a latei time with a new peispective oi iuea to solve the pioblem.

Bo not tiy to uo eveiything in youi fiist map. Take the time to piactice uiffeient techniques
anu styles like those shown heie to giauually builu up youi abilities in Sceneiy Euitoi. Nap
making is an ait foim anu is not leaineu oveinight, not mattei what kinu of instiuction you
have.

Bo not expect youi fiist map to be a Picasso, oi a uunny oi a Stykk, oi an YSNajoi. Theii
woiks took months to cieate anu weie built with a laige wealth of expeiience. With time,
you can get to theii level if you aie patient anu woik haiu.

!< 0< S.'((/ Q< 0-* &<;O/ N(O 6<; f*.)/
Leain what you can fiom othei maps, tiy anu expeiiment with techniques oi tiy out iueas
you have. By putting in the woik, you can leain a lot anu if you simply cannot figuie out
something fiom tutoiials, oi tiial anu eiioi, uon't be afiaiu to N(O 9<; f*.) fiom the
YSFlight community. We aie open anu fiienuly. Tell us what you tiouble is anu what you've
uone to tiy to solve the pioblem. This seconu pait uoes two things. It fiist shows us that
you aie seiious anu seconu, it allows us to see youi thought piocess anu make suggestions
baseu on what woikeuuiun't woik baseu on oui expeiience. Belp is a two way stieet.
You've got to help us help you by giving uetails.

_* H'05*#0 '#= Q<#o0 Y"(-/ Rome wasn't built in a uay, anu youi map of Rome won't be
built in a uay. Rushing leaves telltale signs anu can be easily avoiueu with a few moie
minutes. It makes maps much bettei, anu well woith the time investment.

Append|x A: A L|st of Common Scenery Ld|tor keyboard Shortcuts
Alt -> e -> v -> i -move selecteu item
Alt -> e -> v -> s - -move selecteu sceneiy
Alt -> e -> u -> I -uelete selecteu item
Alt -> e -> u -> s -uelete selecteu sceneiy
Alt -> s -> c -> click -Select Item you click on
Alt -> e -> i -> I -Rotate selecteu Item
Alt -> e -> i ->s -iotate selecteu sceneiy
Alt -> o -> m -> p -> p -> ietuin -paints a polygon in a selecteu item the coloi selecteu
ESC -makes a menu oi tool inteiface uisappeaicancel out


Append|x 8: L|nks to Usefu| Informat|on
Elevateu Runway Tutoiial by Styk.
http:ysfhq.comfoiumviewtopic.php.f=1S1&t=97&p=Su9&hilit=iunway#pSu9

A Basic Sceneiy File type explination
http:flightsimhq.oigysflightiealism-sceneiy.txt

Coloi iesouices
http:ysfhq.comphpbbSviewtopic.php.f=148&t=4SS7

Nap iefeiences
http:ysfhq.comphpbbSviewtopic.php.f=148&t=4S47

Nouuing Peimission Compilation (not a complete list, but has seveial goou souices)
http:ysfhq.comphpbbSviewtopic.php.f=149&t=4S27

Naking accuiate Runways
http:ysfhq.comphpbbSviewtopic.php.f=4u&t=99

Biawing Roaus
http:ysfhq.comphpbbSviewtopic.php.f=4u&t=1u1

S-B iotating in Sceneiy Euitoi
http:ysfhq.comphpbbSviewtopic.php.f=4u&t=81S

Backgiounu Image iefeiences
http:ysfhq.comphpbbSviewtopic.php.f=4u&t=1uu

Tianspaient Winuows (Nac)
http:tips4mac.blogspot.com2uu7uStianspaient-winuows.html

Tianspaient Winuows (Winuows 7)
http:www.howtogeek.comhowto4491Show-to-change-winuow-tianspaiency-in-
winuows-7

0thei tutoiials:
http:ysflight2u11.blogspot.comptutoiiais.html




1utor|a| Append|x 1: 3D kotat|ng, Co|or|ng L|evat|on Gr|ds.
Author: Waspe414 from SIn.com (Used w|th erm|ss|on)
http:ysfhq.comphpbbSviewtopic.php.p=8S6S#p8S6S

eT4FP 4-*;* ';* (*D*;'. 6*'0";*( 5# 0-5( 0"0<;5'. 0-'0 ';* 2<.<;C()*25652 0< 6'25.50'0*
"#=*;(0'#=5#@/ d5*:5#@ 0-* 0"0<;5'. '0 789f] =5(05#@"5(-*( 0-* 2<.<;( ?*00*; 0-'#
&<;=/
Introduct|on
If you aie unfamiliai with Sceneiy Euitoi anu the map making piocess, ieau this fiist:
viewtopic.php.f=4u&t=!"#$

If the map has few enough elements it is possible to uo all of this without expoiting things
as sepaiate files, but once a sceneiy has moie than thiee oi foui of anything, it is veiy
uifficult to tell the uiffeience.

N.:'$( 1'O* ' ?'2O") 2<)$ <6 0-* 1') ?*6<;* =<5#@ 0-5(/ You uon't want to lose
anything.

Teims:
-Sceneiy, Fielu, oi .flu: The map file.
-Chilu Sceneiy, oi .pc2: The segments of the sceneiy. Note: When impoiting, the piogiam
calls this a map.
-New sceneiy: The file to be euiteu in Notepau, the .flu with the expoiteu .pc2 in it.
-0iiginal sceneiy: The whole sceneiy that the final euit will be put back into.
-Sceneuit: Sceneiy Euitoi
-RuB: Reu uieen Blue coloi coue, using numbeis between 2SS anu u (Looks like 2SS 2SS
2SS oi 1u S4 187 in coue). What Sceneuit uses to uesignate coloi foi items.

3D kotat|on:

Rotation in the veitical uiiection is something the Sceneiy Euitoi simply can not uo. It is,
howevei, accomplishable by using Notepau.

Befoie you begin the piocess you must make suie that eveiything you want iotateu is in its
own chilu sceneiy (pink box).

,/ Select the chilu sceneiy you want iotateu veitically.
M/ Expoit it as a .pc2 file. (File > Expoit > Cuiient Item)
W/ Belete the item fiom the oiiginal sceneiy anu save.
+/ Close anu ieopen Sceneuit. This cleais the uefault save name. (Not uoing it can cause you
to acciuentally oveiwiite youi oiiginal sceneiy file.)
Z/ Cieate a new map anu impoit youi .pc2. (File > Impoit > Nap)
^/ Place it, then iotate it hoiizontally by the amount you want it iotateu veitically. If you
want it to be stiaight up anu uown, iotate it 9u.
Watch out foi positive oi negative angles. ueneially you want to iotate it positively, anu it
can get inveiteu if you mess it up...
`/ Save the cuiient sceneiy as a uiffeient file than youi oiiginal sceneiy.
a/ 0pen the new .flu in Notepau. You will see something like this:


PC2
FIL "uuuuuuu1.pc2"
P0S -Suu.uu -u.uu 1uu.uu u.uu 16S84.uu -u.uu
IB u
ENB


Inuicates it's a chilu sceneiy.
Tells the piogiam which of the sections above it in the file to look at.
Position in meteis. Boiizontal, veitical, hoiizontal. Yaw angle (stanuaiu iotate). Pitch (The
one you want to change it to). Roll (0seu if pitch is iotating it about the wiong axis).
Not a clue.
Enus the .pc2 segment.

You want to move the value fiom yaw to eithei pitch (noimally what woiks foi me) oi ioll.

b/ Save the Notepau file, anu open it in Sceneuit to make suie you uiu it iight.
,c/ 0pen the oiiginal sceneiy, anu impoit the new sceneiy. (File > Impoit > Sceneiy)
,,/ Nove anu iotate the new sceneiy, now insiue the oiiginal sceneiy, aiounu noimally if
necessaiy. (Euit > Nove > Cuiient Sceneiy)

Coloiing F.*D'05<# !;5=( J/0*;LP

This allows each face of an elevation giiu to be its own coloi iathei than all being the same.

,/ Inseit youi elevation giiu noimally anu with whatevei base coloi you wish.
M/ If you'ie uoing this to an oluei map, unhiue all faces to be suie. (Elevation uiiu > 0nhiue
> All Faces)
W/ Select the faces that you want to coloi a single coloi (so if you want two colois anu the
base, you neeu to uo this twice).
+/ Biue these faces. (Elevation uiiu > Biue > Selecteu Faces)
Z/ Expoit the elevation giiu. (File > Expoit > Cuiient Item)
^/ 0pen the .tei file in Notepau. You will see many lines similai to this:

BL0 u.uu R 1 u 127 u u u 127 u
Neaning:
Pait of the giiu
Beight(m)
visible
Coloui
Invisible

`/ Theie aie two ways to uo the following: Eithei manually in Notepau, oi with the
FinuReplace featuie in something like Niciosoft Woiu.
a/ Copy anu Paste the entiie file into youi woiu piocessoi. Finu "u (Coloi RuB text heie)"
anu ieplace it with "1 (New coloi RuB text heie)"
Foi example: "u u 127 u" to "1 2SS 127 11u"
b/ Copy anu paste the entiie file back out of youi woiu piocessoi anu into Notepau. Save.
,c/ 0pen with Sceneuit to make suie it's coiiect. Repeat if necessaiy.

Mod|f|cat|on and Ld|t|ng erm|ss|ons
This uocument was cieateu to be a neaily complete guiue to making high quality maps foi
YSFlight. If theie is something that you woulu like to auu, wiite up what you woulu like to
input anu submit it to uecaff_42 at YSFBQ.com. If appioveu as is, oi with slight euiting, it
will be auueu as an Appenuix anu the contiibutoi will be nameu as the Appenuix's authoi.

If Becaff_42 cannot be ieacheu aftei seveial attempts, then anyone may auu an Appenuix to
this. Shoulu this be the case, "#=*; #< 25;2"1(0'#2*( (-<".= '#$ 1'0*;5'. ?* ;*1<D*=
6;<1 0-5( =<2"1*#0E even if latei veisions of Sceneiy Euitoi invaliuate ceitain paits.
Insteau, auu an appenuix stating the veision anu featuie that has changeu anu how to use
it.

No tutoiials weie uiiectly copieu into this uocument. Shoulu you be an authoi of one of the
vaiious linkeu tutoiials anu woulu like foi youi guiue to be copieu into this uocument to
help make it moie complete, I welcome youi auuition with open aims. Nany tutoiials weie
lost with the fall of YSP2, anu it woulu be a shame if some point in the futuie, uue to
whatevei ieason, youi tutoiials weie lost. Belp pieseive them heie.

You can auu an appenuix anu auu a line unuei the link to youi section stating to look in the
Appenuices foi it. Bo not uelete the link. 8** 0-* #*G0 )'@* 6<; '# *G'1).*/

0nce a new appenuix is auueu, save the file unuei the upuate uate following the YS
convention of yyyymmuu. Cieate a new PBF veision anu post both. 0n the Title page,
upuate the 0PBATEB: uate to the month anu yeai of youi auuition.


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