Problem with object placement tool

[Guest cwright]

Hello all, I've just started to use the object placement tool that comes as part of the mission creation SDK. Unfortunately I'm seeing a serious problem that makes it effectively useless.The problem is that, when I reload the scenery file on a subsequent session, many of the objects do not appear correctly.Here's an example of the problem:1. I place a collection of buildings.2. I save it as scenery and also as a mission with a different name (just in case).3. If I immediately click NEW and re-load the scenery file then the buildings still appear correctly.4. I then exit FSX, run it again, start the tool and re-load the scenery file.Many of the buildings do not appear correctly, though the object boxes are still there. And it gets better. If I simply re-load the same scenery file then some of the previously missing buildings appear, while some of the other buildings disappear. If I re-load again then it reverts to the first situation. In other words, each time I re-load it toggles between the two situations, each situation having a different set of buildings that do not appear.The same problem occurs when using scenery or mission files.If I compile the scenery file then all buildings appear correctly, so there's nothing wrong with the scenery file. It has to be a problem with the tool. Unfortunately this makes it almost useless for serious design work. Does anyone have any ideas?Best regards, Chris

[mikesflight 0]

Hi ChrisThere have been quite a few threads in this forum about object placement - have you tried a search?Yesterday a new FSX file was added to the library at Avsim called making_scenery_with_the_object_pacement_tool This is an illustrated html file and should answer all yours and my questions too.CheersMike

[Guest cwright]

Mike, yes to both, but no joy.Best regards, Chris

[Guest SkyDrift]

Chris - a question & a thought:Does this issue occur whith any combination of buildings, or just specific ones?Try creating a "test" scenery with only 4-5 buildings that exhibits this behaviour, then post the raw xml file (as text) to this forum so we designers can a) have a look at it:( see if we have the same issue when loading it into Object placement tool on our systems.- SkyDrift

[Guest SkyDrift]

Chris - a question & a thought:Does this issue occur whith any combination of buildings, or just specific ones?Try creating a "test" scenery with only 4-5 buildings that exhibits this behaviour, then post the raw xml file (as text) to this forum so we designers can a) have a look at it:( see if we have the same issue when loading it into Object placement tool on our systems.- SkyDrift

[Guest cwright]

SkyDrift, here's a file for 4 objects (below). It fails on mine. It looks like the number of objects doesn't make any difference (the tool fails with just one object). With 4 objects, occasionally they will all appear. If this happens, simply close the tool, open it again and reload the file. Do this 3 or 4 times.Another small test: select a building and then click on COPY. This never works for me: the box belonging to the new object appears but not the object itself. I suspect this may be part of the same problem. There's also discussion of this problem on the scenery forum. This file has about 30 buildings: http://www.kline.demon.co.uk/test_scenery.zip One of the guys there already confirmed that the tool cannot correctly load it. After compiling the file with bglcomp the buildings show correctly in FSX.Many thanks.Best regards, Chris********************************************<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

[Guest SkyDrift]

Thanks Chris. I have tested both your files (zipped file & text included in your last post) & confirm that, like others have mentioned in other threads on this matter, your problems are not unique to you. For example, my experience was that loading your 4-object test file gives random results. Most of the time I get no objects - sometimes only one, sometimes two. I've not got all four visible at the same time :<(The Copy option exhibits the same problem as you describe.Some other observations:If you load the file, then make modifications to an existing object(say, change the image complexity from Very Sparse to Normal) & then save the scenery - either to the same file or to a new one - the changes are not made - in this case, the image complexity stays at "Very Sparse"Adding a new object IS saved when you re-save a loaded scenery fileModifying an object in the xml file by hand & then reloading the file sometimes allows the modified object to be viewed - but at the expense of another object becoming "unviewable"!Saving either as a mission file or as a scenery file makes no difference when reloading the file - both types exhibit this behaviourThe display settings for scenery (e.g. Scenery & Mesh complexity, etc.) make no difference - didn't think they would, but tried just in case :>)So, looks like you have to get your secenry set correctly first time round, or else you end up having to modify it via the xml file directly.So it looks like there are at least a couple of bugs in the code: * Changes to existing scenery objects are not saved * the object renderer randomly barfs when trying to display a scenery object on load - SkyDrift

[Guest cwright]

SkyDrift, thanks very much for that. Seems pretty conclusive, doesn't it? As I would certainly need to do extensive editing in successive sessions, this tool is essentially useless. That's a shame, because it would be a very useful design tool. How on Earth did it get through testing?But there is some good news. You've probably seen the discussion about this on the scenery forum. Jon just stated that Microsoft are aware of the problem, which is a start. However it's probably a low priority, unlike performance, so we probably shouldn't hold our collective breath!Many thanks.Best regards, Chris