World-Maker is functional in the full version of X-Plane only, not the demo version.
X-Plane comes with scenery files for the entire United States.
This data was obtained by an adaptive-gridding program that pulled in data from numerous different sources... the advantage is that it allows scenery for the entire United States, the disadvantage is that it does not 'custom-craft' each file, so some errors concerning lakes and rivers (and buildings that the F.A.A. does not consider to be obstacles) can occurr.
As a result, World-Maker was introduced to allow custom hand-crafting of the X-Plane world, and to allow the addition of new scenery files if you would like to fly outside of the United States.
World-Maker will create new scenery files for X-Plane, or modify existing ones.
Look on your X-Plane CD, in the DATA folder.. the "nav_dat" and "apt_dat" contain all the NAVAIDS and airports in X-Plane.
Notice the folder called "United States"... this contains all the terrain elevation maps and obstacles (buildings, towers, etc.) in X-Plane. A file with the name "+024-081.env" contains elevation and obstacle data (scenery) for ONE SQUARE DEGREE OF LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE, WHOSE SOUTH-WEST CORNER IS AT A LATITUDE OF 24 DEGREES AND LONGITUDE OF -81 DEGREES. Notice there are 923 files in this folder. That means there are 923 square degrees of real estate in the United States. Go figure.
So you wanna edit a scenery file to put in your own obstacles, change the terrain, put in an airport, or whatever? The appropriate '.env' file must be in the right place on your hard drive for World-Maker to see it (to edit it) and for X-Plane to see it (to fly around over it).
Here is the way that works:
Look in your X-Plane folder.
Now look in your 'additonal nav data folder' ('demo nav data' for the demo version of X-Plane).
There are folders in there with names like "+010-160"... in this folder, we break the '.env' files down into groups of 10x10 degrees of lat and lon.... this is to make file organization easier. The folder name lists the lat and lon of the SOUTH-WEST corner of that folder, and it must be an even division of 10 for both lat and lon. Look at the file names of the '.env' files that are within the folders (and an atlas) if you need clarification...
At any rate, if you want to edit the '+025+045.env' file, then you will need to put that file in the '+020+040' folder. (MAKE that folder if there isn't one already there). For the '-025+045.env' file, the folder name would have to be '-030+040'. (remember, SOUTH-WEST corner of the folder, that means round DOWN in both latitude and longitude).
At any rate, copy the file you want to modify from the CD to the aforementioned folder and then it will be visible to World-Maker and X-Plane for editing and flying.
Now, launch World-Maker and switch to the latitude and longitude of the file you wish to edit. (upper right-hand corner) The map that you see on the screen is the map read in FROM THE FILE IN THE "additional nav data" FOLDER! We never mess with the files on the CD. Any changes that you make will affect the file in the "additional nav data" folder. Wherever you DON'T see any scenery other than water, there are simply no scenery files for that latitude and longitude in the "additional nav data" folder. When you launch X-Plane, X-Plane will check for files in the "additional nav data" folder BEFORE it checks for them on the CD, so any changes you make (and save) will take precedence over the 923 scenery files that stay on the CD.... in other words, copy any files you like from the CD to the "additional nav data" folder and X-Plane will read them from that folder instead of the CD... and you can modify them with World-Maker.
Realize that only data in the "additional nav data" folder is modified when you use World-Maker, and if you mess stuff up, all you have to do is copy the original files from the CD into the "additional nav data" folder and you will be right back to where you started when you installed X-Plane.
Changes using the "Map" or "Obstacles" sections of World-Maker will effect the scenery files in the "additional nav data" folder (with names like "+024-081.env"). Whenever you add a building, you enter only the height and location... if the buildig is fairly small, then X-Plane will plot the building as a basic little 'block' with some flashing lights on it. If the building is large, then X-Plane will put window lights all over it, and put a helipad on the top for rapid access to corporate meetings.
Changes to the "Airports" or "Navaids" sections of World-Maker will effect the airport and Navaid files in the "additional nav data" folder (with names "apt_dat" and "nav_dat").
Remember, whenever you add an airport, you must also have the '.env' file that the airport occupies in the 'additonal nav data' folder on your hard drive... this is needed for World-Maker to automatically edit the '.env' file so that all the polygons around the airport are flush with the airport... be sure that the file is NOT 'read-only' in windows. If you add an airport then go back to the environment-editor, the polygons around the new airport should be red, indicating that they have been set to the same elevvation as the airport.
When you load that env file again in World-Maker, the polygons should still be red, and the ground around the airport should be exactly at the runway elevation.
Supplementary note:
If you wish to generate your own ".env" files rather than use World-Maker, use the new binary file format... here it is:
Start off with:
that letter a or i depending on whether you are generating the file on an Apple or an IBM.
3 version
Then, each line is an elevation point in the square degree of lat and lon that the file defines. Each point consists of:
lat lon elevation tri_div tri_1_wet tri_2_wet tri_2_apt tri_2_apt
where:
tri_div indicates the direction the quadrilateral with this data point as it's lower-left-hand corner is broken into triangles (lower-left to upper-right or lower-right to upper-left, 1 or 0, respectively)
tri_1_wet tri_2_wet indicate whether each triangle in the quad is water
tri_1_apt tri_2_apt indicate whether each triangle in the quad is part of an airport
The points start at the lower-left hand corner of the square degree of lat/lon, and work from left to right and then go up a row towards the top, etc.
After scanning in all the lat and lon data-points, we list all the obstacles in the region, in the following format:
type lat lon height i j
where:
type is the type of obstacle,
building = 2,
radio tower = 3,
power-line tower = 4,
cooling tower = 5,
smoke stacks = 6
i and j are the horizontal and vertical data point indices of the lower-left-hand corner of the quadrilateral that the obstacle falls on.
then, make sure to put a '99' at the end... remember, this is all done in binary file mode.
whew!
If you wish to generate your own "apt_dat" file rather than use World-Maker, the format is simply text.
Here is a copy of the first line of the new data file:
A
354 version
354 version code 2
1 31.578384 -94.708733 15 x 154 3610 75 226226 31.577770 -94.710030 36 x 4 5001 75 255255 31.578028 -94.709442 0 x 0 0 0 221221 355 1 OCH A L Mangham Jr Regional
Here is what that stuff means:
1 facility type, 1=airport
31.578384 -94.708733 lat and lon of the CENTER OF THE RUNWAY
