Version 1.0
By Marc “Dr. Crisco” Renaud
MAY 2004
This guide explains how to position the “tower cam” where it should have been placed in the first place, that is in the control tower of the airport !
Although it can be done with the keyboard, it is much less trouble to use a joystick !
A mouse with 2 buttons and a central wheel is great for zooming in and out in AFCAD.
You also need the following softwares :
Flight Simulator 2004 by Microsoft.
AFCAD 2.x and up by Lee Swordy.
FSUIPC by Peter L. Dowson. The free version works just fine !
Install these softwares and make sure you read the instructions on how to use them.
- I would like to thank Ray Smith, author of the first "Control Tower Views" files uploaded on AVSIM.COM for showing me the way to go. Not only did I discover new airports which I would never had thought of visiting but he showed me how to correct something that should have been done correctly in the first place by you know who !!!
- I also want to thank Lee Swordy for his marvelous tools, AFCAD and TTools ! What would we do without a genious like him ?
- I would also like to thank Pete Dowson for is great software called FSUIPC which establishes the link between FS 2004 and AFCAD.
A – Airports WITH a control tower.
1 – Lauch Fligth Simulator 2004. FSUIPC will automatically be lauch if properly installed.
2 – Lauch AFCAD 2.x and select the airport for which you want to create a proper tower view. Make sure you click on the “lock” icon. The red cross you see will automatically move when you’ll move the selected aircraft in FS 2004.
3 – Switch to FS 2004 ( by pressing ALT-TAB ).
4 - Make sure that a label appears over the aircraft ( such as the aircraft model or else ). See “Parameters”, “Traffic” and “Aircraft references”.
5 – In the main menu, create a new flight. Select a small aircraft or helicopter. Select the airport for which you want to create a proper tower view.
6 – Go into “Slew mode” ( by pressing “y”).
7 – Using your joystick ( or the keyboard ) move the aircraft until it is at the foot of the control tower.
8 - The idea now is to place the label which appears of the aircraft “dead center” in the middle of the control tower room, at the proper height of course ! See figure 1, 2 and 3 !
To adjust the height using the keyboard press the following keys :
to go up : q
to go down : a
to stop all movement : 5 on num pad ( with num lock OFF ).
For forward and lateral movement : directions keys or num pad.
9 – Take not of the altitude of the aircraft then switch back to AFCAD.
10 – The red cross should be located where the control tower is. NO ICON representing the control tower should be visible at this time, that is if you are modifying a stock airport tower view.
11 – In the INSERT menu, select Tower viewpoint. A dialog box appears.
12 – Point at the middle of the red cross ( no big precision required at this point ) and click the left mouse button. Proper coordinates will automatically appear in the dialog box EXCEPT for the altitude. Type in the altitude that you noted previously. Click OK.
13 – A icon ( pink circle with a T in it ) now appears on the screen. You now have to zoom in as much as you can. The idea here is to PRECISELY position “right smack” in the middle of the pink circle like in figure 4.
14 – If you want to note down the value of the coordinates, simply double-click on the
now “yellowish-brownish” circle. The dialog box will appear again. Simply copy and paste the data in a text file.
15 – Save the file. AFCAD will automatically place the file in the “..\Addon scenery\scenery” directory of FS 2004.
16 – Close all programs, specially FS 2004 and lauch FS 2004 again. Select the airport you just worked on and switch to the “tower view” by pressing “s”. Zoom in and zoom out to enjoy !
17 – You might have to edit your new view a little bit cause it rarely is perfect the first time around.
B – Airports WITHOUT a control tower.
The methodology is the same although precision is not as important.
I select a location where I think a real control tower would be located.
At first, I used to place the “tower cam” over a building but after a while, I realized that it was better to locate it next to a building and a bit “forward” so that at night I can see the lights in the windows of the building.
Have fun fellow simmers ! I’m eager to see your creations soon !
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4