rules.txt

[Dave Morgan 68]

Hello again,I thought I'd have a go at putting a little more complexity into rules.txt now that we have some decent OT textures (thanks Jonathan) but I have a couple of questions before I start (or start winding myself up to it... it will be a long job: I have an anal desire for detail).Has anyone encountered a limit to the size of rules.txt?Is the file only used when the megatiles are generated, or is a large rules.txt (or an excessively complex arrangement of tiles) likely to slow things down when flying?I have a feeling that the FU3 user base is shrinking so finally does anyone have any preference, or an area they would like to see done in detail? Or even a section of your own rules.txt (covering a favourite area?) that you would be happy to share?If it becomes necessary, would anyone be willing to volunteer to do other things like, say, flattening areas of water to give rivers continuity? Hell, I don't even know if that sort of manipulation is possible.I wonder what I'm letting myself in for but it can't be as difficult as making the textures, or a plane...

[juvat 0]

Hello Dave,"Is the file only used when the megatiles are generated, or is a large rules.txt (or an excessively complex arrangement of tiles) likely to slow things down when flying?"The rules.txt is only used in 2 situations: 1-initial generation of the outer terrain. Add generate_outer_megatiles. Start a flight. When flt3 has completed the initial generation, close flt3, open flt3.cfg, find the entry generate_outer_megatiles. Comment out the line to prevent flt3 from trying to regenerate the OT on Flt3 restart. ;generate_outer_megatiles Also make sure flt3.cfg has line use_loose and make sure it is not commented out.;generate_outer_megatilesuse_loose2) User has created a custom area within the OT and needs to tell Flt3 to generate only his defined area upgrade. In this case user comments out use_loose and adds a line to the flt3.cfg(example)generate_outer_megatiles 121.15 121.95 45.00 47.00;use_looseWhen next Flt3 starts a flight it will first go to the "generation" screen to create the users new defined area.When the user next shutsdown flt3, he should reopen flt3.cfg and comment out anything generate and remove the ; from use_loose;generate_outer_megatiles ;generate_outer_megatiles 121.15 121.95 45.00 47.00use_looseAs for rules.txt size limit. I don't think there really is one. Only limit I can think of would be the airport limit. I think Flt3 can only manage a certain number of airports Hires and OT, then will start crashing.Did you get a chance to download from our library outer_terrain_editor.zip? It's full of outer terrain info and was uploaded by one of the LG guys. Its not available anymore because of the attack. We lost some good stuff because of that creep.Take Care,jimb

[Dave Morgan 68]

Thanks Jim,I've made some changes over the years to my rules but wasn't sure if the file might be accessed at other times.Outer Terrain Editor sounds quite useful, judging just by the name. I don't have a copy (never got deeper into modifying FU3 than upgrading airports & 3-d scenery). What is the situation with re-uploading stuff that someone else originally submitted. Would it be OK for someone who has a copy to put it back into the library, with credit given to the originator?Regards,D

[juvat 0]

Hi Dave,I just re-uploaded the file to our library. Hopefully our library managers will allow it. The file is intact the way Looking Glass originally uploaded it. I had to put my real name in the author block with Looking Glass. The file didn't have any copy write declarations in it anywhere; so hopefully it will safely again exist here at Avsim. The file contains an in depth description of the outer terrain tiling system and rules.txt. Also has a folder with tile art. Does not have any "editor tools" actually. Looking Glass kind of missed named the title a bit.I just recieved the auto e-mail notice from Avsim that they recieved the upload and the library managers are evaluating it. "jimmyb crosses fingers"I just tried to e-mail John Voznak in the hopes he would re-upload his 3 damaged files but got a Delivery Status Notification (Failure).Thats terrible because his lks_rvrs1.zip DLID 4942 was one heck of a good rules.txt. He had somehow managed to render a lot of water bodies in the OT.And, again, it's a shame to loose more invaluable files as our community looks to the future.His original file description:"This will enable you to generate Lake Chelan, Banks Lake, and the eastern half of the Columbia River (including Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake). View the LKS_RVRS1.jpg file for the area covered."Here is his Copyright statement in the readme:This file is freeware - please do not charge for it without my permission.Copyright 2000: "his name"He had uploaded 2 other files as well that were damaged.My hope is that recent uploads of rules.txt have JohnV's data already in place.jimb

[Dave Morgan 68]

Hi Jim,That's exactly the sort of thing I was hoping to include. My current rules has a section of JV's lks_rvrs1 in it (I didn't use the whole thing as I'd already made some changes of my own) and a couple of other bits & pieces such as Clare's Valley by JP.I wonder if John or Jon still attend this forum, and if they would mind the inclusion of their rules in rules.txt, obviously with their original header lines to each section, and their names in the file library credits.If John Voznak remains incommunicado I have the original downloaded zipfile & could resubmit it on his behalf...D

[juvat 0]

Dave,If you like I can send you, or anyone, outer_terrain_editor.zip. It's 4865KB in size. Interestly it's rules.txt is 48KB in size; by contrast the one I mainly use is 34KB and it include JohnV's Lakes and Rivers and JonP Clares Vale.Could be LG had "developed" a lot more OT realestate in thier newer 48KB version?jimbjbuff61173 -at- msn.com

[jstonehouse 0]

Hello again, I thought I'd have a go at putting a little more complexity into rules.txt now that we have some decent OT textures (thanks Jonathan) but I have a couple of questions before I start (or start winding myself up to it... it will be a long job: I have an anal desire for detail).Has anyone encountered a limit to the size of rules.txt?Is the file only used when the megatiles are generated, or is a large rules.txt (or an excessively complex arrangement of tiles) likely to slow things down when flying?I have a feeling that the FU3 user base is shrinking so finally does anyone have any preference, or an area they would like to see done in detail? Or even a section of your own rules.txt (covering a favourite area?) that you would be happy to share?If it becomes necessary, would anyone be willing to volunteer to do other things like, say, flattening areas of water to give rivers continuity? Hell, I don't even know if that sort of manipulation is possible.I wonder what I'm letting myself in for but it can't be as difficult as making the textures, or a plane...

Hi DaveGlad you're going to have a crack at this. In terms of what you're letting yourself in for, be aware that I drool almost all the time now and wake up in the middle of the night screaming obscenities and wrestling with phantom LGS texture artists. As regards rules, FU3 reads the file header (for the terrain types, mapping and rotation) each time you start a flight in the OT. So, if you use your existing rules file as a starting point then you'll need to copy the file header from the rules file provided with my textures and paste it into your own rules file.I'm working on the remaining 7 textures at the moment, to complete the full set of 26. Otherwise, I'd probably never get round to finishing them! Should be ready by the end of the first week of March. I'll upload the gentiles file when it's done and then make a start on the water transitions. The only change is to terrain type 'E', which is now an alternative field texture. Otherwise, the terrain types are as per my previous post: http://forums1.avsim.net/index.php?showtopic=275453Oh, with the next gentiles upload I'll also provide a texture transition spreadsheet. Most textures will only transition with a dozen or so other textures, and the spreadsheet will tell you whether texture A will transition with texture B, C, D, E, F and so on.I've often though that Portland would make a good candidate for a makeover: Google maps shows it as a nice mixture of urban, suburban, fields and agriculture, with a national park and mountains nearby. Kind regardsJonathan S.

[Dave Morgan 68]

Hi.Sorry for the silent treatment- internet comes via work or the local library.Jonathan, I look forward to the new tiles. The spreadsheet should be useful too and save me some grief... I might start on Portland (got to do it somewhere) and getting it right will be a good incentive to carry on!Jim, I do have OTE after all. It was zipped up inside an archived zip of Avsim downloads. I went through the rules on Saturday night while waiting to rescue my daughter from a party (3 am...) and made it rather more readable and replaced random strings of spaces & tabs with single tabs (makes it directly copiable to MS Excel).It has a good deal of extra stuff: Mono Lake, Lakes Mead & Powell, Snake River valley, the whole of the horrible rectangular Great Basin is gone, Los Angeles redone, some of the Sierra Nevada, less snow in the southern Rocky Mountains, lots of other smaller water bodies. Some areas have less variety than before. Still, it looks better from 300 000 feet though I haven't flown over it yet... I took a couple of screenshots in Fled, from about 300 000 feet.Clean install OT terrain:OTE rules.txt OT terrain:If anyone wants it I could mail you the cleaned up copy if you like, something to tide you over! Strange that it wasn't released but as I said, I haven't seen it from close up yet.

[jstonehouse 0]

Hi Dave. I've uploaded a new gentiles.tag file to the library, titled Outer Terrain Textures - Version 2. This includes a texture transition spreadsheet and the artwork for the 26 base textures. Good luck with the rules!RegardsJonathan S.

[Dave Morgan 68]

Hello Jonathan,I'll have a look at the new stuff tonight & get down to some real work. I've started on the Portland area, think I'll fill the rest in north to south unless anyone out there has a wish to see another specific location done first. My hair is already starting to come out from hunting down suitable land-cover and vegetation data... USDA, NASA, FlashEarth et c. et c.Regards,D