Land to Water - Is what I suggest here possible?

[martinlest2 58]

Hi. I have in the past managed to create a few bgl files which turn LC to WC (to remove odd squares of Landclass in the middle of the sea), using programmes such as Ground2K4, but for whatever reason I don't by any means get a 100% success rate, far from it in fact. It's usually a very frustrating process. I wouldn't care to add up the dozens of hours I have wasted in the past trying to change WC/LC, though my successes do show that at least in theory I know what to do!This may be a daft question - I am relatively inexperienced in this - but it possible to take one of my 'successful' LC to WC bgl files and edit it manually, changing the co-ordinates as necessary, so that I can use it to remove squares of land that appear in other parts of the ocean, as and when I find such problems? My main difficulty is that of course bgl files which contain terrain data of land/water mask type cannot be edited using BGLAnalyze + scasm, or similar. I do have the programme TDF Macros, which I thought I would need to do this, but I've ended up realising that I don't know how to use it I'm afraid!If anyone could say how I can dissemble & reassemble land/water mask files, so that I can edit and then use them as I have described, I would be most grateful. Or is it just not possible? Many thanks,Martin

[scott967 62]

for FS9, SBuilder 2.05 is probably your best bet for that.scott s..

[martinlest2 58]

Hi Scott,I seem to spend SO many hours tweaking files these days rather than flying - mostly 'a labour of love' (and often a satisfying learning curve) but I find LC/WC problems much less 'fun' to correct. My theory is that, since the files I have created that successfully transform LC to WC show up as small, defined areas in TMF Viewer (for instance), the geographical co-ordinates obviously must be locked in the bgl file somewhere. It would be so easy if I could just alter the co-ordinates manually and use copies of the same file to fix problems in other parts of the FS world.Is that not possible (presumably because no software will reduce LC/WC masks to an editable text file?). Or are you saying that SBuilder (which I do have) will do this? Martin

[scott967 62]

You can use something like lwmviewer to generate a source code version of your file, but I think you will find the problem is that the data are based on the LOD8 cell. You could change the cell ID to move it, but the specific info is tied to the LOD13 area within the cell, so if you need more control than what a cell size gives you would have to get into the niity-gritty. Sbuilder has a water and land "fill" tool which can pretty quickly create a file to change large areas, as long as squares are OK. If you need a coastline, that will require creating polygon shapes. scott s..

[martinlest2 58]

I have only rarely tried using SBuilder: I'll have another look at it..M.