35 MSFS 2020 SDK TUTORIAL Modify an Airport-Part 2-Add ATC Controlled Taxiways, Parking, Taxi Lights

In this tutorial, picking up from part 1, I will go step by step through adding ATC-controlled parking and taxiways. Also, I will add taxiway lights.
This video is up to 4K with CC for language translation.
Part 1
35 MSFS 2020 SDK TUTORIAL - Modify existing Airport (Part1) Redo Runways - Add Helipad and hangars
• 35 MSFS 2020 SDK TUTOR...
Patriot Six Channel
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Video Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:38 Tutorial Start - Loading Package
04:17 Planning the Project
04:43 Delete existing Parking and Taxiways
05:15 Adding GA Parking Ramps
11:59 Adding and Naming Taxiways
26:48 Clean up the Last Taxi Junction
32:49 Binding all Taxiways Together with Runway Taxiways
37:44 Adding Hold Shorts
39:41 Link Parking Ramps to Taxiways
42:21 Add Taxiway Lighting
47:37 Build Final Package and move to Community Folder
49:00 Test the Final Build
57:20 Wrap Up

[@GlockEmbPilot]

Just one amazing tutorial in an excellent series. I've watched many of your SDK tutorials that helped me greatly in creating my most recent airport release. I really like your pacing in them and keeping everything very clear and concise. Cheers!

[@patriotsix5880]

Thanks. I try to take the approach I am explaining to people that know nothing.

[@krozareq]

You rock! Thanks so much!!!

[@patriotsix5880]

You are welcome. If I made this now, I could do better. I already figured out a few things to do better. Too bad that you can't edit these videos once they are up, it is sealed in stone. Regardless, this will work for you as it workeds for me. Just little things.

[@krozareq]

@@patriotsix5880 I hate that... when I'm done with something and think.;... O I COULD'VE DONE THIS and THAT! If you can add some tips and tricks to another video of stuff you've learned along the way that would be awesome.

[@pablogarciamarquez7039]

I'm so glad to see you again. Thanks a lot.

[@patriotsix5880]

Thank you. I am around. I do not put out videos for the sake of putting them out. They are hard work because I do a lot to make the videos as good as they can be, This video took 16 hours to make from start to end of upload. 😀

[@frysimulation]

Recently found your series , and appreciate sharing all of your knowledge. I was wondering if you have a video that addresses how to change existed taxiways that are not labeled properly or are not connected.

[@patriotsix5880]

See if this series helps. The taxiways are in part two. Part 1 kzbin.info/www/bejne/i526mnSYncqlqck part 2 kzbin.info/www/bejne/bWGUYXifp9l4h8U

[@frysimulation]

@@patriotsix5880 thanks

[@frysimulation]

@@patriotsix5880 Great videos and I did watch both of them. I see you deleted all the taxiways. Many airports have wrong taxiway numbering and/or some of them are not completely connected. Is there a way to to do this?

[@patriotsix5880]

@@frysimulation I am not 100% clear on the question. Are you asking if there is a way to only change taxiway designators? I'll just assume that is the question unless you tell me otherwise. You would need the entire airport package to edit the taxiways, which is unavailable. There is a way to do it if you can use Blender for 3D modeling. It would take more time unless you are a blender whiz. And then, you will only have an aesthetic change. Instructions from ATC will still refer to incorrect numbers as it is built. Anything you change in an airport package will be recognized correctly by ATC. I hope that helps.

[@frysimulation]

@@patriotsix5880 That answers. Thanks

[@ruuddevreugd8369]

I must say your SDK tutorials are fantastic. Just starting with editing they are absolute gold. There is an airport near my place (stock fs2020) that has an annoying error. Because of some fault AI will go directly via the taxiway to a runway and never holds short. Won't get take off clearance because of that and is stuck on the runway. See for your self at Rotterdam (EHRD). If I want to correct that is there a way to modify a piece of the original BGL file. For instance only edit a part of the taxiway and the holding points? Or do I have to redo all the parkingspots, taxiways, and the runway to make that work? As said thank you for those magnificent tutorials

[@patriotsix5880]

Thanks for watching. I am curious, what AI traffic do you use? The answer to your question is I do not know of any way to edit the default airports because you will not have access to the entire scenery folder which is required to make changes. So, unfortunately, you will need to redo the taxiways. You can do it. It simply takes time and patience.

[@ruuddevreugd8369]

@@patriotsix5880 I thought so already, so back to work it is. 😁 I like to fly with the single pistons small aircrafts and do mostly VFR flights. To make the sky 'alive' I use GaMod for the general aviation combined with FSLTL for the airliners. Works great. Smaller airstrips are filled with active general traffic as long as there is parking space, bigger airports have liners on the gates and mostly GA at the ramps. You have to adjust for a nice balance. Rotterdam (EHRD) has the for mentioned problem even with stock AI. Its is a known bug ever since SU12 or 13

[@patriotsix5880]

@@ruuddevreugd8369 Yes, there are many airport inaccuracies out there and that includes payware. I use FSLTL myself but I am not familiar with GaMod. I fly high and fast so GA is not something I think about. However, I do hear GA aircraft at times in FSLTL. I moved over to Beyond ATC so for the time being, it is only me up there. BATC is making their own traffic injection model so it will get better. I still use FSLTL to see other aircraft but at this version of BATC, there is no communication with other aircraft. Good luck on the project. Try not to get frustrated. You can do this.

[@eduardogranja6418]

Jon, is there a video where you put ILS on an existing default airport? Thanks for your work, I love it.

[@patriotsix5880]

No, I have not made a video on ILS. From what I hear from others who have worked with ILS, it is complicated and not intuitive. It does not work on logic and takes manipulation to get it right. I want to put videos out there that will be manageable for the viewers.

[@volandosinfin7750]

Excellent tutorial. I'm working on a strange airport, whose taxiway (A) ends in a horrible left ear (F) with HOLD_SHORT, which is longer than using a runway departure taxiway (E) (which in life is one way) with an angle of 135 degrees. It turns out that the AI ​​always sends the route A E, but it must be A F. the E is just for leaving the track. Is there a way to force E to be one-way to prevent the AI ​​from using E and then sending traffic through F? The same thing happens to me with the other header (05), there is no taxiway (the runway is used) and at the end there is a K ear with HOLD_SORT, but the AI ​​never uses it, it always orders direct taxiing to the takeoff point on 05 without using K

[@patriotsix5880]

Volando. I am trying to picture your situation, but it is challenging with only words. So here are a couple of options where you can upload a picture so I can understand. You can join the Facebook Group here and upload images. facebook.com/groups/788136852324508 Or, if you prefer, you can join Discord here. discord.gg/xuqQUXRm

[@GamesBR2]

nice job, i'll put it into practice , where is the video 36? it was what I needed about taxiway markings

[@patriotsix5880]

Ha! I did not do taxiway markings. I let the mod in the marketplace do the work for me. 😃

[@captainrayo]

First, thanks for all your videos, that are helping me a lot to create a new freeware scenery for an spanish airport. I wonder if you know anyway to modify existing parking spots in default airports, not just creating new ones. As some of the default parking spots are not correct, the only way I was able to do it is by deleting the parking spots in the airport and then recreating all the parking spots (+ taxiways) that has been a pain in the a$$. (Thanks that we can edit the XML file made this a little bit less painful). Today I discover that using ADE it is possible to export the XML version of default BGL files and that could be a way, copying all the information to a new created project, and then doing the edition in MSFS.

[@patriotsix5880]

Thanks for watching and for the kind words. If you know what you are doing in editing the XMLs, you can modify a lot. Although I have changed XMLs I have not edited parking spots that way. The only way I have edited parking spots is with the edit airport option. You are correct, it is a PITA and time-consuming. It is rare to find a default airport with accurate parking locations. It is AI doing the work. If we waited on human intervention and perfect accuracy it would be MSFS 2030 instead of 2020. 🤣I would love to hear how your experiment works though. Do keep me informed, please.

[@captainrayo]

@@patriotsix5880 Yes!. In Spain the AIP is free, and you get the real and precise lat and long of all the airport parking spots in DEGºMIN'SEC" I converted them to decimal DEG. Then, in the XML you can copy/paste one node, change the lan/lon properties and paying attention that there is an "index" property that should be unique in the XML file, so you change it. Then, even with the project already loaded in the MSFS editor, you click on "Load assets" of the project, and the simulator reads the XML again, showing the new nodes added. To use the information of the default airport, you can use ADE to read the default BGL file from MSFS, and Export it as XML (in Tools). This generates the same XML file information that you use in your own airports. You then can take the elements that you need, and paste them in your project, taking again in account the index property of the nodes. I found this after recreating manually all the parking spots and taxiways, because I was looking for the ILS/glidescope properties. PD: To find the BGL file in the default scenery, you can activate the Debug Airport information in the Developer Menu. It shows in the screen the specific filename for the airports that are loaded while editing. These BGL files include several airports (at least in my case), but in ADE you select previously which ICAO code you are using, and it generates the XML file only for that one.

[@zaidooos]

hey man big g to the content your making i just have a question i would love to ask i do use aig an i did notic alot of scenery comes with missed us parking codes where you dont see airline that are supposed to be there or use wrong planes at wrong gates my question is can you tech us how to custom the parking codes

[@patriotsix5880]

It would be best to see parking /gate locations changed to match the real world. I have yet to make that, but I need to. Have you tried FSLTL traffic? It is easier to set up and is more accurate.

[@zaidooos]

@@patriotsix5880 i know i have it the problem is tho that i mainly fly middle east but fsltl is not customized for that and it miss alot of liverys

[@patriotsix5880]

@@zaidooos Oh that is too bad. Just Flight makes FS Traffic a payware. I am curious if it covers all continents, but being a payware, I would think it would. www.justflight.com/product/fs-traffic-microsoft-flight-simulator

[@DefiniteFan3067]

Hi! Is there a way to put a taxiway point between 2 existing taxiway points to make the connections to the gates? At 39:44 Theres a bunch of taxiway points that you linked with the parking, how did you add them?

[@patriotsix5880]

You select the taxi path with a left tick. You can right tick and see options. One of the options is add a point. I am sure I performed this task earlier in the video so I wanted to keep the video as short as possible by not repeating myself. The directions above are from memory so if it does not work, let me know and I will open up a package and find the exact way. You can also select any point or node and move it if needed.

[@flightsimdev9021]

Great channel, do you know how when modifying an existing airport how to use my own created models, I have made many for FS9-X in the last 11 years, and have hundreds of models (many converted to MSFS), and I have watched part one of this series, but for the life of me I can't see how to use my own models.👍🏿

[@patriotsix5880]

Thanks for watching. I know some things about it. Since you have already converted models to work in MSFS, I am still determining where to start. First, I am not an expert on this subject. You can find a better explanation from My Physical World on KZbin. The short answer is you use Blender with the MSFS plugin to export the models into the scenery folder. I can do this, but I do not have a recent tutorial on the subject. You would be better served checking out My Physical World's channel. I hope that helps.

[@flightsimdev9021]

@@patriotsix5880 You told me a lot just in your reply, export from blender the models, that's all I need, putting into the sim, I can work out just following what you did with a runway. Thanks Dude!!

[@patriotsix5880]

@@flightsimdev9021 If you have issues, join the Facebook Group. We have folks in there that are really good with Blender. I am a simpleton. I can make signs, and that is about it. You want to make sure you have the correct Blender version. I know 3.3.1 works, and you will need the newest MSFS GTIF plugin. Anyway, if you need help, come on over. facebook.com/groups/788136852324508

[@volandosinfin7750]

Hello, at minute 39:40, the Hold Shorts are without Labels, then at 41:21 ther appear with Labels. How to? Any way to show that labels on ground before Hold Short. Thanks. Greetins from Colombia.

[@patriotsix5880]

Hello Volando in Columbia. I didn't switch suddenly in the video or do anything unrecorded. However, here is what I believe is going on. It is from a payware mod Enhanced Airport Graphics by Zinertek in the MSFS 2020 Marketplace. Of course, this is speculation, but once the taxiways were all tied together and all errors and warnings satisfied, the mod added the enhanced graphics. That is the only conclusion I can come to. The next time I add taxiways, I will pay more attention. I didn't even notice the change.

[@volandosinfin7750]

@@patriotsix5880 Thanks for you information. Great video. I am modifying some small airports in my country, they are going to be freeware. Isn't there a way to easily mark those hold shorts with the standard asobo libraries?

[@patriotsix5880]

@@volandosinfin7750 I have the mod I told you about, so I would have to uninstall the mod to see what you get as standard. I suspect the standard Asobo hold shorts are plain with no runway designator. You can install a hold short and have the properties window up. You can get to the properties from the menu on the scenery editor and see what options are in the properties. If you can't find anything, let me know, and I'll go ahead and uninstall the mod and run a test.

[@djjay5190]

Why I have an x signes on my runway? I was doing exactly what is in this video?

[@patriotsix5880]

Thanks for watching. Can you explain what you are seeing? Is it X on the runway, and where are you seeing the X? If you tick on the runway in the scenery editor and look at the properties window, is the runway correctly numbered?

[@djjay5190]

The runway is correctly numbered i have coupe x in the middle of the runway from the touchdown markings to the middle of the length of the runway

[@patriotsix5880]

@@djjay5190 That is a strange issue. I have never seen that before. Are you adding a runway where no runway exists, or are you replacing an existing runway? We are limited in KZbin chat as to what we can accomplish. I will do my best, but going back and forth may take some time. There are other options if we fail to figure this out in chat.

[@therealpoody7485]

So I noticed in this video, you also had the same issue with connecting one end of the runway to the other. When changing it to runway it just says 01-None. Is this normal, how would you make it connect the other end of the runway with 01-19?

[@patriotsix5880]

Thanks for watching. I don't know where in the video you are referring to. Are you talking about tying the two ends of the taxiway down the runway? I would need to watch it again and refresh my memory. There were no errors, so I was able to complete the package. If you could give me a timestamp, that would be great.

[@therealpoody7485]

@@patriotsix5880 Yeah, it's at 34:33 At the top it says Name: Taxi way Path 01-None (runway)

[@patriotsix5880]

@@therealpoody7485 Oh! I see what is missing. I must have edited something out. Let me see if I can find an example.

[@patriotsix5880]

@@therealpoody7485Okay, here is what is missing. You can go to 39:41. Linking a taxiway to a parking spot is the same process. You are the first to notice that or at least bring it up. If that does not work, I will need to go back and figure out how it is different. So much of what I do is instinctual, so I might have to refresh my memory.

[@therealpoody7485]

@@patriotsix5880 Yeah, I've done this, but if I go back to the runway it still says Pathway 01-None. If you load up a scene, does yours say the same? I just wanted to say thank you for all of your help. The BIGGEST advice I would say is when you're adding parking to a spot, MAKE SURE YOU PUT AN APPRON DOWN FIRST! I spent 12 hours doing polygons around my parking to make it look complete, not knowing all I needed to do was put an Apron down before making the parking spots.