Howto:Convert objects from X-Plane: Difference between revisions

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This tutorial explains how to convert Microsoft(R) Flight Simulator (MSFS) scenery objects to the AC3D format (.ac) used by Flight Gear.  
This [[:Category:Howto|tutorial]] explains how to '''convert X-Plane scenery objects''' to the [[File Formats#.2A.ac|AC3D format]] (.ac) used by [[FlightGear]] (mostly) automatically using the xplane2fg collection of scripts.


We will use the fs2xplane package by Jonathan Harris to first convert the model from MSFS to X-Plane. Then, we import this X-Plane model in blender, using the XPlane2Blender import filter (also by Jonathan Harris), from which we export the model to FlightGear's native AC3D format. Finally, we extract the lat/lon coordinates from an xml file, and place the object in FlightGear.
To convert ''Microsoft® Flight Simulator scenery objects'', first convert them to X-Plane format using [http://marginal.org.uk/x-planescenery/tools.html FS2XPlane], then follow the method described below.


This method has been tested OK on a couple of scenery objects made by [http://www.helles-flusi.de Helfried Miersch] for MSFS 2004. I did not test it with models from other sources, yet.
These scripts were developed on Linux and should work fine on any Unix system including Mac ([[Howto: Convert objects from MSFS#Note to Windows Users|note to Windows users]]).


I've written some bash scripts to ease the conversation a bit. They have been tested on Gentoo Linux. I have no idea about Windows or Mac scripting, however, the manual procedure of conversation should work on Windows, Mac and Linux.  
{{note|[[Howto:Convert objects with ModelConverterX|ModelConverterX]] also seems well suited for this task, having even more features and is probably easier to set up.}}


You will need the following tools:
{{note|MCX doesnt't work for me on Linux (tried with Wine + Mono). As of Feb 2015, I'm re-writing conversion scripts. The new version will come bundled with everything you need, be a lot easier to set-up, and be almost 100% automated.}}


* an X-Plane installation (demo works for me)
{{note|Objects that are uploaded to the [[FlightGear Scenery Database]] (and thus official FG scenery) '''must''' be released under the [[GNU GPL]] license.
* [http://www.blender.org blender] (tested on ver. 2.48a-r3)
* XPlane2Blender (ver 3.09) and fs2xplane (ver 3.11) from [http://marginal.org.uk/x-planescenery/tools.html Jonathan Harris' page]
* FlightGear source
* and, of course, a MSFS scenery to convert. As an example, I will use a model of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Wonder "Das Blaue Wunder"] (The Blue Wonder), a historic bridge over the Elbe river in Dresden, Germany. It has been created by Helfried Miersch, you may get it [http://www.helles-flusi.de/index.php/DD-Weitere_19.html here]. Scroll down to the bottom and download "Blaues Wunder Dresden" and "Blaues Wunder_mdl_xml".


Plus, if you want to semi-automate things using my bash msfs2ac scripts (PM until I found a place to host them), you will need
Most X-Plane/MSFS scenery does '''not''' comply with this license. Therefore, it cannot be included with the official scenery, unless the author granted you permission to release his work under GNU GPL. Basically, it mostly means that it is for your own private use only.}}
* xte from Steve Slaven's xautomation package.


== Semi-automatic conversion using msfs2ac.sh ==
== Prerequisites ==
This Howto assumes that you:


For the impatient, here's how you convert the model semi-automatically using my scripts. You will find the manual step-by-step tutorial below.
* Are able to use the command line to enter basic commands
* Know where FlightGear, its scenery, and its source code are installed


Since I couldn't find an easy way to control blender from the command line, I decided to do a really dirty hack: emulate mouse clicks and key strokes using "xte" from Steve Slaven's xautomation package. Of course, this has some serious limitations: we rely heavily on the exact Blender screen/menu layout I hacked into the script. I'm sure there's a better solution. Feel free to enlighten me.
== Conversion steps ==
The conversion consists of three steps, all conveniently handled by scripts:


Unpack the scripts somewhere, cd there. You should have the following files
* Convert the actual 3-D objects from .obj to .ac format using blender,
* Extract position of objects (longitude, latitude, altitude, and heading) from .dsf file(s) and write them to FlightGear's .stg file(s),
* Copy the objects and their textures to the respective tile folders.


# ls -1
== Installation and setup ==
bin/
=== Prerequisites ===
doc/
Besides a Unix environment, you'll need the following tools:
msfs2ac.profile


Adjust the paths in msfs2ac.profile according to your setup:
* [http://ubuntuone.com/0sAOY4lB1OVCWP3zy8jfn8 xplane2fg]
* [http://www.blender.org Blender] (tested with ver. 2.48a-r3)
* XPlane2blender from [http://marginal.org.uk/x-planescenery/tools.html Jonathan Harris' page], tested with ver. 3.09
* [http://winehq.com Wine]
* [http://scenery.x-plane.com/tools.php X-Plane scenery tools]
* [[FlightGear]]
* perl helpers from FlightGear's [http://www.flightgear.org/Downloads/source.shtml source code]:
** <code>calc-tile.pl</code>
** <code>find_elevations.pl</code>
* Telnet


* FG_SRC must point to your FlightGear source,
Optionally (if the scenery to convert contains .dds textures)
* XPLANE must point to the X-Plane custom scenery folder, e.g.
* Convert (from [http://www.imagemagick.org ImageMagick])


# cat msfs2ac.profile
=== Installation ===
export FG_SRC=/home/tom/daten/fgfs/src-release/fg-cvs/
Install <code>xplane2fg</code>:
export XPLANE="/home/tom/X-Plane 9 Demo/Custom Scenery/"


Install fs2xplane here. This should add a directory lib/ plus some files in bin/.
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
mkdir -p ~/fgfs/convert/
cd ~/fgfs/convert/
tar xzf /path/to/xplane2fg.tgz
</syntaxhighlight>


Now we are ready to convert a MSFS scenery:
Copy the <code>autoimport.py</code> helper to Blender's scripts folder:


place the MSFS scenery .zip-files here. Continuing the above example:
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
# mv ~/downloads/Bluewonder.zip ~/downloads/Bluewonder_MDL_XML.zip .
cp ~/fgfs/convert/xplane2fg/lib/autoimport.py ~/.blender/scripts
</syntaxhighlight>


Load environment variables and path:
Install X-Plane tools in <code>''$HOME/convert/xptools''</code>


# source msfs2ac.profile
=== Hack the tools ===
For the first step - importing objects into blender - we use Jonathan Harris' XPlane2Blender import filter. The .ac export filter shipped with Blender does the export. As we will batch convert a large number of objects, both import and export filters need to be 'hacked' as to not stop and wait for user interaction on warnings etc:


Open your default web browser, move it to the bottom right corner of your screen, covering as little screen area as possible, but do not minimize it! Shut down all applications that could steal focus, and run the conversation script:
Open <code>XPlaneImport.py</code> in a text editor, change line 466 (of ver. 3.09) to:  


# msfs2ac.sh -1 Bluewonder.zip
<syntaxhighlight lang="python">
self.verbose = 0
</syntaxhighlight>


The -1 switch tells the script to pack all objects found in Bluewonder.zip into a single output file named Bluewonder.ac.
Save this file as <code>XPlaneImportVerbose0.py</code>


This will fire up blender. Do not touch the mouse nor keyboard until blender closes again. Import and Export of a single model might take some 30 seconds or so. You should now have a new folder containing the convertes model:
Open <code>ac3d_export.py</code> (part of Blender, located for example in <code>''/usr/share/blender/scripts/''</code>) in a text editor, replace line 823:  


# ls -l fgfs/Bluewonder/
<syntaxhighlight lang="python">
total 220
Blender.Draw.PupMenu('ERROR: no objects selected')
-rw-r--r-- 1 tom users 218247 2010-05-03 00:04 Bluewonder.ac
</syntaxhighlight>
lrwxrwxrwx 1 tom users    58 2010-05-03 00:03 objects -> /home/tom/X-Plane 9 Demo/Custom Scenery/Bluewonder/objects


Have a first look at it,
with


# osgviewer fgfs/Bluewonder/Bluewonder.ac
<syntaxhighlight lang="python">
osgDB ac3d reader: could not find texture "Bluewonder.png"
pass
osgDB ac3d reader: could not find texture "Bruehl.png"
</syntaxhighlight>


it should look like this:
''Make sure you keep indention.''


[[File:bluewonder_untextured.jpg]]
Save this file as <code>ac3d_export_hack.py</code>


Copy the missing textures:
=== Setting up the environment according to your system ===
The xplane2fg scripts glue together a number of tools. To have the scripts find these tools, you have to adjust the paths in <code>''$HOME/fgfs/convert/xplane2fg/profile''</code> according to your system (using a text editor).


# cp fgfs/Bluewonder/objects/Bluewonder.png fgfs/Bluewonder/
Now everything should be set up to actually convert scenery!
# cp fgfs/Bluewonder/objects/Bruehl.png fgfs/Bluewonder/


Now you model should be textured nicely:  
== Conversion ==
First load xplane2fg's environment profile:


[[File:bluewonder_textured.jpg]]
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
source $HOME/fgfs/convert/xplane2fg/profile
</syntaxhighlight>


Last, we need to extract the coordinates of the model and generate a .stg line for placement in FlightGear. Run:
=== Prepare X-Plane scenery ===
In the following, we assume the X-Plane scenery we want to convert is named EDDN (make sure it contains no spaces!) and lives in


# unzip -d msfs/Bluewonder/ Bluewonder_MDL_XML.zip
  $HOME/fgfs/convert/EDDN/
# xml2stg.sh msfs/Bluewonder/Bluewonder.XML


OBJECT_STATIC Bluewonder.ac            13.8101 51.0535 0  238.5            # e010n50/e013n51/3171139.stg
with the following sub folders
    Earth nav data
    objects
    textures


The third number is the object's altitude. In Bluewonder.XML it is given [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Above_ground_level AGL], however, in FlightGear, it is [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Above_mean_sea_level MSL], so we have to guesstimate and correct it later on using the UFO or, even better, [[Howto:_Calculate_elevations|query the actual elevation]]. A good guess here is 120.
Those sub folders may have slightly different names. If so, rename them to fit the above scheme. Remember that Unix file names are case sensitive.


Add this line to FlightGear's scenery/objects/e010n50/e013n51/3171139.stg file
=== Prepare FlightGear ===
and move the model and textures from fgfs/Bluewonder to FlightGear's scenery/objects/e010n50/e013n51/ folder.
X-Plane objects are positioned using [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Above_ground_level AGL], while FlightGear's .stg files expect [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Above_mean_sea_level AMSL]. We will use FlightGear to automatically query the elevation at the object's postition. Therefore, the corresponding scenery tile must be installed. Find out on which tile the scenery you want to convert is located. See [[Howto: Install scenery]] for details on how to install FlightGear scenery. The most convenient way may be to use [[TerraSync]].


Now fire up fgfs --airport=EDDC and fly about 4.5 nm hdg 145. You should find this:
=== Convert ===
Now run the main conversion script:


[[File:bluewonder_in_FG.jpg]]
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
cd $HOME/fgfs/convert/
xplane2fg.sh  EDDN  EDDN.fg
</syntaxhighlight>


== 2. Step-by-step ==
The converted scenery will be written to the path indicated by the second argument, <code>EDDN.fg</code>. It should '''not''' point to FG's actual scenery paths.


'''todo'''
After some seconds, this will stop and ask you to run blender. By that time, it should have created an input file for blender named <code>blender-autoimport-source.py</code> in the current directory.
 
Now open a second terminal and run blender from that directory.


get
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
Bluewonder.zip
cd $HOME/fgfs/convert
Bluewonder_MDL_XML.zip
blender
</syntaxhighlight>


from helles-flusi.de
Click file &gt; import &gt; autoimport, it should now convert all objects, this may take a while.
When finished, close blender (and the second terminal), and press {{Key press|Enter}} in the xplane2fg terminal.
 
xplane2fg will now fire up FlightGear. Press {{Key press|Enter}} when FlightGear is up and running.
The script then queries the elevation for all objects; this might take a while.
During this process, .stg files are written to their respective tile paths under <code>EDDN.fg</code>. Also, xplane2fg searches for texture files used by the scenery objects, copies them to <code>EDDN.fg</code> or complains in case they're missing.
 
When xplane2fg is finished, you should have something like


<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
  ls $HOME/fgfs/convert/EDDN.fg/Objects/e000n40/e006n46/
      3056136.stg
      3056139.stg
      Terminal.ac
      ...
</syntaxhighlight>


mkdir -p msfs/Bluewonder
We're almost done!
mkdir -p fgfs/Bluewonder
unzip -d msfs/Bluewonder Bluewonder.zip
Archive:  Bluewonder.zip
  creating: msfs/Bluewonder/Scenery/
  creating: msfs/Bluewonder/Texture/
  inflating: msfs/Bluewonder/Bluewonder.txt
  inflating: msfs/Bluewonder/Copyright.txt
  inflating: msfs/Bluewonder/Scenery/Bluewonder.BGL
  inflating: msfs/Bluewonder/Texture/Bluewonder_LM.bmp
  inflating: msfs/Bluewonder/Texture/Bluewonder.bmp
  inflating: msfs/Bluewonder/Texture/Bruehl.bmp
  inflating: msfs/Bluewonder/Texture/Bruehl_LM.bmp


bin/fs2xp $PWD/msfs/Bluewonder/  "~/X-Plane 9 Demo/Custom Scenery/Bluewonder"
=== Check textures ===
X-Plane may use .dds textures, which '''can''' be converted to .png format. However, following recent discussion on the developers mailing list, FlightGear/OSG can also use .dds textures. Hence, you may also skip this step. I have not tested using .dds textures with FlightGear. Your mileage may vary.


fire up blender
Go to the converted scenery folder


File->Import->X-Plane Object (.obj)
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
navigate to X-Planes Custom scenery/Bluewonder/objects,
cd EDDN.fg/Objects/e000n40/e006n46/
import 19111954103466011120071138347272-Bluewonder.obj
</syntaxhighlight>


export:
and run
File->Export->AC3D (.ac)
save to fgfs/Bluewonder/bluewonder.ac


(if nothing happens, use 'a' to select all prior to exporting)
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
check_and_fix_textures.sh  *.ac
</syntaxhighlight>


copy texture from X-Plane to fgfs:
You may want to remove .dds files afterwards to save space:
cp "~/X-Planes Custom scenery/Bluewonder/objects/Bluewonder.png fgfs/Bluewonder/
cp "$HOME/X-Plane 9 Demo/Custom Scenery/Bluewonder/objects/Bluewonder.png" fgfs/Bluewonder/


osgviewer fgfs/Bluewonder/Bluewonder.ac
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
rm *.dds
</syntaxhighlight>


- get coordinates
=== Integrate the converted files into FlightGear scenery ===
unzip -d msfs/Bluewonder/ Bluewonder_MDL_XML.zip
Finally you have to copy the converted scenery to FlightGear's scenery folder. Make sure to backup the respective scenery folder beforehand.
look in msfs/Bluewonder/Bluewonder.XML
<SceneryObject lat="51 3.21" lon="13 48.605" alt="0" pitch="0" bank="0" heading="238.5" altitudeIsAgl="TRUE" imageComplexity="NORMAL">


Latitude and longitude are given in grad minutes. Convert to float grad:
The .stg files should be '''appended''' instead of overwritten should they exist already in FlightGear's Scenery folder; otherwise you'll lose previously defined scenery objects. You may want to use a file manager such as Konqueror, Nautilus, or Midnight Commander for this step, as they tend to ask whether to overwrite or append existing files.
lat = 51 + 3.21/60 = 51.0535
lon = 13 + 48.605/60 = 13.8101
heading is 238.5
alt given here is AGL. Can we place it in FG like this, too??
Merely guess alt here: 120


.stg line would read:
Now you can fire up FlightGear and enjoy the converted scenery!


OBJECT_STATIC Bluewonder.ac 13.8101 51.0535 800 238.5
== Final steps ==
=== Cleanup ===
Temporary files were written to <code>''$HOME/fgfs/convert/tmp''</code>. You can remove them now:


find FGFS tile number:
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
$FG_SRC/source/scripts/perl/scenery/calc-tile.pl
rm -rf $HOME/fgfs/convert/tmp
</syntaxhighlight>


# calc-tile.sh 51.0535 13.8101
=== Share the converted scenery ===
Longitude: 51.0535
If you want to publish the scenery you need to obtain authorization to do so from the scenery's original authors.
Latitude:  13.8101
Tile:      3791344
Path:      "e050n10/e051n13/3791344.stg"


bin/xml2stg.sh msfs/Bluewonder/Bluewonder.XML
If you want it to be included in FlightGear's official scenery via the [[FlightGear Scenery Database]], the converted scenery (including all textures) must comply with the [[GNU GPL]].
OBJECT_STATIC msfs/Bluewonder/Bluewonder.ac 13.8101 51.0535 800 238.5# e010n50/e013n51/3171139.stg


--[[User:Radi|Radi]] 22:07, 3 May 2010 (UTC)
=== Optional ===
You may use
 
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
xplane2fg.sh --prefix EDDN_  EDDN  EDDN.fg
</syntaxhighlight>
 
to prepend all converted objects with a prefix, e.g., EDDN_objectname.ac
 
=== Troubleshooting ===
<code>xplane2fg.sh</code> may complain about funny elevations reported by FlightGear:
 
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
WARNING: Zero alt for LSGS-grasss-1.ac?
</syntaxhighlight>
 
I suspect this happens when a tile is just being loaded in background, as subsequent calls would return correct elevation. However, since we might query objects floating on water, I did not implement automatic retrying (yet). Instead, you should manually query these objects. Start FlightGear
 
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
xplane2fg.sh --run-fgfs
</syntaxhighlight>
 
then run
 
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
xplane2fg.sh --query-alt LSGS-grasss-1.ac
</syntaxhighlight>
 
which would return something like
 
OBJECT_STATIC LSGS-grasss-1.ac 7.3416857 46.2201743 482.24 357.99
in /e000n40/e007n46/3072521.stg
 
and correct the respective line in the indicated .stg file.
 
=== Note to Windows Users ===
I developed these scripts on Linux. They are written in bash and make heavy use of GNU utilities (sed, awk, grep etc.). Some helpers require Perl.
To run these scripts on Windows, you will need to install cygwin and perl (at least). You will have to fix some further issues yourself; the wine part, for example, is probably not necessary on Windows ;)
 
[[Category:Howto|Convert objects from X-Plane]]
[[Category:Scenery enhancement|Convert objects from X-Plane]]

Revision as of 16:00, 16 February 2015

This tutorial explains how to convert X-Plane scenery objects to the AC3D format (.ac) used by FlightGear (mostly) automatically using the xplane2fg collection of scripts.

To convert Microsoft® Flight Simulator scenery objects, first convert them to X-Plane format using FS2XPlane, then follow the method described below.

These scripts were developed on Linux and should work fine on any Unix system including Mac (note to Windows users).

Note  ModelConverterX also seems well suited for this task, having even more features and is probably easier to set up.
Note  MCX doesnt't work for me on Linux (tried with Wine + Mono). As of Feb 2015, I'm re-writing conversion scripts. The new version will come bundled with everything you need, be a lot easier to set-up, and be almost 100% automated.
Note  Objects that are uploaded to the FlightGear Scenery Database (and thus official FG scenery) must be released under the GNU GPL license.

Most X-Plane/MSFS scenery does not comply with this license. Therefore, it cannot be included with the official scenery, unless the author granted you permission to release his work under GNU GPL. Basically, it mostly means that it is for your own private use only.

Prerequisites

This Howto assumes that you:

  • Are able to use the command line to enter basic commands
  • Know where FlightGear, its scenery, and its source code are installed

Conversion steps

The conversion consists of three steps, all conveniently handled by scripts:

  • Convert the actual 3-D objects from .obj to .ac format using blender,
  • Extract position of objects (longitude, latitude, altitude, and heading) from .dsf file(s) and write them to FlightGear's .stg file(s),
  • Copy the objects and their textures to the respective tile folders.

Installation and setup

Prerequisites

Besides a Unix environment, you'll need the following tools:

Optionally (if the scenery to convert contains .dds textures)

Installation

Install xplane2fg: 

mkdir -p ~/fgfs/convert/
cd ~/fgfs/convert/
tar xzf /path/to/xplane2fg.tgz

Copy the autoimport.py helper to Blender's scripts folder: 

cp ~/fgfs/convert/xplane2fg/lib/autoimport.py ~/.blender/scripts

Install X-Plane tools in $HOME/convert/xptools

Hack the tools

For the first step - importing objects into blender - we use Jonathan Harris' XPlane2Blender import filter. The .ac export filter shipped with Blender does the export. As we will batch convert a large number of objects, both import and export filters need to be 'hacked' as to not stop and wait for user interaction on warnings etc:

Open XPlaneImport.py in a text editor, change line 466 (of ver. 3.09) to: 

self.verbose = 0

Save this file as XPlaneImportVerbose0.py

Open ac3d_export.py (part of Blender, located for example in /usr/share/blender/scripts/) in a text editor, replace line 823: 

Blender.Draw.PupMenu('ERROR: no objects selected')

with 

pass

Make sure you keep indention.

Save this file as ac3d_export_hack.py

Setting up the environment according to your system

The xplane2fg scripts glue together a number of tools. To have the scripts find these tools, you have to adjust the paths in $HOME/fgfs/convert/xplane2fg/profile according to your system (using a text editor).

Now everything should be set up to actually convert scenery!

Conversion

First load xplane2fg's environment profile: 

source $HOME/fgfs/convert/xplane2fg/profile

Prepare X-Plane scenery

In the following, we assume the X-Plane scenery we want to convert is named EDDN (make sure it contains no spaces!) and lives in 

 $HOME/fgfs/convert/EDDN/

with the following sub folders 

   Earth nav data
   objects
   textures

Those sub folders may have slightly different names. If so, rename them to fit the above scheme. Remember that Unix file names are case sensitive.

Prepare FlightGear

X-Plane objects are positioned using AGL, while FlightGear's .stg files expect AMSL. We will use FlightGear to automatically query the elevation at the object's postition. Therefore, the corresponding scenery tile must be installed. Find out on which tile the scenery you want to convert is located. See Howto: Install scenery for details on how to install FlightGear scenery. The most convenient way may be to use TerraSync.

Convert

Now run the main conversion script: 

cd $HOME/fgfs/convert/
xplane2fg.sh  EDDN  EDDN.fg

The converted scenery will be written to the path indicated by the second argument, EDDN.fg. It should not point to FG's actual scenery paths.

After some seconds, this will stop and ask you to run blender. By that time, it should have created an input file for blender named blender-autoimport-source.py in the current directory.

Now open a second terminal and run blender from that directory. 

cd $HOME/fgfs/convert
blender

Click file > import > autoimport, it should now convert all objects, this may take a while. When finished, close blender (and the second terminal), and press ↵ Enter in the xplane2fg terminal.

xplane2fg will now fire up FlightGear. Press ↵ Enter when FlightGear is up and running. The script then queries the elevation for all objects; this might take a while. During this process, .stg files are written to their respective tile paths under EDDN.fg. Also, xplane2fg searches for texture files used by the scenery objects, copies them to EDDN.fg or complains in case they're missing.

When xplane2fg is finished, you should have something like 

  ls $HOME/fgfs/convert/EDDN.fg/Objects/e000n40/e006n46/
      3056136.stg
      3056139.stg
      Terminal.ac
      ...

We're almost done!

Check textures

X-Plane may use .dds textures, which can be converted to .png format. However, following recent discussion on the developers mailing list, FlightGear/OSG can also use .dds textures. Hence, you may also skip this step. I have not tested using .dds textures with FlightGear. Your mileage may vary.

Go to the converted scenery folder 

cd EDDN.fg/Objects/e000n40/e006n46/

and run 

check_and_fix_textures.sh  *.ac

You may want to remove .dds files afterwards to save space: 

rm *.dds

Integrate the converted files into FlightGear scenery

Finally you have to copy the converted scenery to FlightGear's scenery folder. Make sure to backup the respective scenery folder beforehand.

The .stg files should be appended instead of overwritten should they exist already in FlightGear's Scenery folder; otherwise you'll lose previously defined scenery objects. You may want to use a file manager such as Konqueror, Nautilus, or Midnight Commander for this step, as they tend to ask whether to overwrite or append existing files.

Now you can fire up FlightGear and enjoy the converted scenery!

Final steps

Cleanup

Temporary files were written to $HOME/fgfs/convert/tmp. You can remove them now: 

rm -rf $HOME/fgfs/convert/tmp

Share the converted scenery

If you want to publish the scenery you need to obtain authorization to do so from the scenery's original authors.

If you want it to be included in FlightGear's official scenery via the FlightGear Scenery Database, the converted scenery (including all textures) must comply with the GNU GPL.

Optional

You may use 

xplane2fg.sh --prefix EDDN_  EDDN  EDDN.fg

to prepend all converted objects with a prefix, e.g., EDDN_objectname.ac

Troubleshooting

xplane2fg.sh may complain about funny elevations reported by FlightGear: 

WARNING: Zero alt for LSGS-grasss-1.ac?

I suspect this happens when a tile is just being loaded in background, as subsequent calls would return correct elevation. However, since we might query objects floating on water, I did not implement automatic retrying (yet). Instead, you should manually query these objects. Start FlightGear 

xplane2fg.sh --run-fgfs

then run 

xplane2fg.sh --query-alt LSGS-grasss-1.ac

which would return something like 

OBJECT_STATIC LSGS-grasss-1.ac 7.3416857 46.2201743 482.24 357.99
in /e000n40/e007n46/3072521.stg

and correct the respective line in the indicated .stg file.

Note to Windows Users

I developed these scripts on Linux. They are written in bash and make heavy use of GNU utilities (sed, awk, grep etc.). Some helpers require Perl. To run these scripts on Windows, you will need to install cygwin and perl (at least). You will have to fix some further issues yourself; the wine part, for example, is probably not necessary on Windows ;)

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