Isla San Felix

[Dave Morgan 68]

Hi all.After a discussion concerning Robinson Crusoe Island, about 6 months ago in the FS9 forum, I have made vector coastline, LWM and landclass with SBuilder, and a rudimentary airfield with ADE, for Isla San Felix 450 miles north. I like to think it will go with the material result of that discussion which is now a very nice island worth a visit, rather than a shapeless blob in the ocean. Sadly I'm at a loss about how to make mesh...For myself, I don't need it as FS Global covers the island pretty well. However, the default mesh and FS Genesis don't do it justice, so if I ever upload the island I'd like to include mesh just to make the package complete. Here's what I have so far: my LWM, VTP, LC and field with FS Global '08.I've found three problems with this plan. First, I don't really know how to go about making mesh though I suppose I'll work it out by reading around. Second, a lot of the recommended applications seem either to be unavailable (read 'I haven't found them yet') or payware with big licence fees. Third, the SRTM appears to have missed Isla San Felix- I haven't looked at the tiff yet (no suitable viewer on this public PC) and all the points in the accompanying ascii seem to be -9999, though I believe there must be data in there or the download wouldn't exist (I may just have missed it while scrolling through).Could somebody raise me out of my ignorance, and perhaps also point me in the direction of some free tools so that I can have a couple of trial runs? A nutshell description along the lines of 'Take the data set from this-site and do this to it with application A, then do that to the result with application B, then convert that result using application C' would be very helpful...Thanks for any help.D

[rhumbaflappy 113]

Hi Dave.Mesh creation for FSX has been much simplified. I suggest you go to the Global Data Explorer.Register, and define the co-ordinates to enclose the island. Select the ASTER data and click the toolbar download button.Choose a purpose for the download ( I usually choose water ). You'll want the data as lat-long, and Geotiff format. You can then download a small geotiff of the data.To make mesh from the geotiff, you need to make a text file with an .inf extension, like so:

[source]Type = GeoTIFFLayer = ElevationSourceDir = "."SourceFile = "20120324090536_658420436.tif"[Destination]DestDir = "."DestBaseFileName = "IslaSanFelixDem"DestFileType = BGLLOD = 2,11

The SourceFile will need to be changed to whatever unzipped file you downloaded. You want the geotiff and the INF file in the same folder... then drag-n-drop the INF file onto resample, and you should get a dem BGL named IslaSanFelixDem.bglDick

[Dave Morgan 68]

_{Hello again.I'm sorry to be so slow in responding- internet comes courtesey of my employer.Thanks for the suggestion. I should have mentioned that I'm using FS9; will the .inf method work for that too? I ought just to give it a go but it's early Monday morning here and I have nine hours to go before I get to my own PC...Cheers,D}

[rhumbaflappy 113]

Hi Dave.FS9 is a bit more difficult, as the data needs to be in a different format.. long story made short: I just made some LOD11 mesh from ASTER data and we'll see if it's OK for you.IslaSanFelix.zip This is a multiple destination dem. I used the FS2000 resample tools, and used tmfmerge to merge LOD7, LOD9, and LOD11 tmfs into one BGL... this stops some of the problem with FS9 ( and earlier ) having mesh disappear at a distance. I also used a hex editor to adjust the header, as the FS2000 resample has a location bug in the header.Dick

[Dave Morgan 68]

Hi Dick.Your new mesh fits the new coastline every bit as well as FS Global 08, and fits the sky perfectly. Neither stock nor FS Genesis mesh cover the islands in any detail but FS Global 08 does a reasonable job.Default (and Genesis):Your new mesh:New coast & LC with default mesh:New coast & LC with your mesh:New coast & LC with Global08:After I made the coastline by following aerial or satellite photos (Flash Earth) I spent some time tweaking it by eye to get a good match with the edges of Global08's topography. That means there's the odd length that doesn't quite match the new mesh because my coast is no longer quite accurate...So there are two questions I must ask. Can you explain how you made it? I've just made a new coastline for Malta and have started on landclass, and would like to make a good mesh there too as FS9 default scenery doesn't do it justice. (I have been considering opening a base there in Air Hauler but the default island is pretty poor).And... would you be willing to co-author San Félix for an upload, by having your mesh included as an option for people who lack anything accurate? I could send you what I've made so you can decide whether or not it's adequate.Thanks very much for taking the time to make it.D

[rhumbaflappy 113]

Hi Dave.You can include the mesh if you like.Dick

[Dave Morgan 68]

Hi Dick.

 

Thanks for all your help. It's here should you like to have a look at it.

 

http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fs2004scen&DLID=167305

 

Cheers,

D