So i was working on my 1st airport, and was just finalizing it with runway lights. I did drop the last version of it into my community folder.
The airport loads in FS2020 just fine, but it is not loading in the editor anymore. I think when i saved it the last time and ‘build all’,. i seemed to have messed up the file somehow.
The xml file seems empty, with barely any text in it. When i open it in the editor, noting happens, the bgl does not load.
So I was wondering if i can use the airport i created and extract a file from there to continue editing it ? I dont see an xml file in there ( which is usually what the SDK opens to start editing documents) , but i do see the bgl file.
So can i use the airport folder already in my community package to keep editing this airport ?
Not saying it will work.
But can’t you just start a new project and then move the files from the community folder back into the packages folder for the newly created edit. as they would have come from your packages folder.
Looking at it I’m not sure my suggestion above is possible, as your be missing the xml file in the scene folder. Sorry don’t have another suggestion.
No, not yet anyway. Jon “Scruffyduck” is working on a new version of ADE which will internally decompile bgl’s for you, but I’m sure it’s a lonnngg way off from release. There are also other tools for decompiling bgl’s but I don’t know where they stand at the moment for msfs. I believe there’s a thread on decompiling bgl’s somewhere around here.
I don’t know if this is what happened for you, but when I first started developing airports, I was naming my shape file and “xml” file the same name… problem is, when you save the shape file, it creates its own associated xml file, which then overwrites the airport/objects xml file the next time you hit “Save Scenery”.
Given issues like this, I’ve made it a habit to periodically create a backup of my project, and the xml file specifically. It’s saved my butt a few times.
i think thats the mistake i made. I had to rebuild my scenery / airport from scratch. It did go a lot faster this time since i was more comfortable with the SDK.
It is a good idea to save the original xml file though, to back it up!
It took me three tries to figure that one out… 
Thankfully, I saved the xml after the second try…
But it took me a bit to figure out why it kept getting deleted.