Re. Common Airport Backround

[toktiny 0]

Hi LuisMany thanks for your very thorough explanation regarding airport backround and the difference between normal textures and LC masking textures I thaught they all came under the same heading !I selected LPPT airport as an example of a sandy backround and through a serious of elimination I have found the culprit texture in scenery-texture, as you directed me, whch was 142B2SU3.bmp. I then replaced this texture with an option of several others in turn just to see any difference between them and they were : 139B2SU1.bmp and 140B2SU1.bmp from FSX and 139B2SU1.bmp, 140B2SU1.bmp, and 142B2SU1.bmp from FS9 and they all gave various shades of GREEN which was great so one can take your pick on which you prefer.I tried several airports with this change in texture and they provide the same change. However there were some that I tried and they still held the old sand look. No harm I thaught it only means finding which backround texture is being used by this airport and making a simular change. After trying every one of 139,140,142 textures I could not find this culprit ( I found that if you remove the appropriate texture that a particuler airport is useing as a backround mask texture then the LC that is being used around the airport will appear instead in its place ).The question I want to ask is , can you find out what backround texture is being used by a default airport in any faster method than I used above ? and when the texture is not in the scenery-texture folder when you search for it elsewhere what do you use for a indicater in your search other than .bmp which gives you a mountain of textures that it is nearly impossable to select from. You would really want to know where else apart from the scenery-texture folder that the default airports keep there backround textures.Many thanks for pointing me in the right direction and I feel that I am over half way there, thanks to your help, to sort out this little project, as you call it, of mine.Kind regardsTokTiny

[Barnes 192]

Luis,Thanks very much for the links. I've now tried EZ-Landclass with some success but SBuilderX looks very interesting indeed. I'll give it a shot too.Thanks again,Dave :-wave

[LuisFelizTirado 33]

To determine the land class values in the vicinity of the airport (or anywhere in the world, for that matter), it is best to use TMFViewer (in the Terrain S.D.K.)TMFViewer:1. First, load the image_globe_xx bgls that are in the SceneryWorldScenery folder. They will display a picture of the world.2. To center anywhere, just click on that point. To zoom in and out, use the "+" and "-" keys on the numerical keypad. Read the coordinates below on the status bar.3. Then, load the world land class bgl (worldlc.bgl) in the SceneryBASEScenery folder. This is the land class assignments for the entire world.4. Point to the region of interest and read the land class value below in the status bar.Once you know the underlying land class for that airport, use the airport ground masking table in Terrain Design for Flight Simulator X to determine the ground texture used for the airport background.Unfortunately, the land class values are not the equivalent of the ground texture Identification. For example, land class value 95- Grass Skirting 1 is equivalent to ground texture 139.For a table with equivalents between land class values and ground texture identifications, consult the following:http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/178988.zipIn truth, however, except for out-of-the-way airstrips in the bush, most airport backgrounds will be: - Grass Skirting 1 - ground texture 139 - Grass Skirting 2 - ground texture 140 - Grass and Shrub Skirting - ground texture 141 - Dry Grass and Dirt Skirting - ground texture 142and in most instances, these are the only ones that need be changed.A word about ground texture names - for example 139b2su1.bmp139 = the texture idb = the regional variant. There are 26 regions in the FS world, but skirtings only have the b (default - North American) variant, and sometimes the G (Australia) variant. Unless you are in Australia, do not bother with the G variant2 = some part of the naming scheme that was created some time ago, but that seems to have been abandoned by the FS teamsu = the Summer variant. Can also be sp-Spring, fa-Fall, wi-Winter, hw-Hard Winter1 = the variant of this particular texture. Each texture can have between 3 to 15 (17?) different variants, so as to avoid repetition. The skirting textures have 5 variants, for example, 139b2su1, 139b2su2, 139b2su3, 139b2su4, 139b2su5 and you will have to replace each yellow variant with a green oneThe ground textures are in DXT1 format and cannot be viewed with normal image editing programs. You can use the ImageTool program in the S.D.K., but I use Martin Wright's wonderful little utilities, found at his web site: http://www.mnwright.btinternet.co.uk/ and in particular, his ConvIm, great! Thank you, Martin.So:1. Grass Skirting 1http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/178989.jpg - remove all 5 Winter textures (139b2wi1, 139b2wi2, 139b2wi3, 139b2wi4, 139b2wi5) - make a copy of the 5 green textures that you want - I would use either the Spring or Fall - rename the copies to Winter, i.e. 139b2wi1... etc.2. Grass Skirting 2http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/178990.jpg - remove all the Spring, Fall, and Winter variants (5 of each) - make 3 copies of the Summer variants (5 of each) - rename the copies to Spring, Fall, and Winter3. Grass and Shrub Skirtinghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/178991.jpgAll are somewhat yellow, so either use the Summer variant for all the others, or remove them all and use copies of one of the above skirtings that are greener4. Dry Grass and Dirt Skirtinghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/178992.jpgIt doesn't make a lot of sense to change these, since arid parts of the world will not likely display very green grass. But then again, everyone is free to do what they want with their copy of FS.Remove all the seasonal variants, and use copies of one of the green skirtings above.As you see, it is all straightforward enough, just remove yellow textures and replace by green textures.Best regards.Luis

[toktiny 0]

Hi LuisMy sincere thanks for the trouble you went to in order to explain to a dum dum all about masking textures. Really there is nothing you have left out so I look forward to many nights experimenting with all the various options. As they say you have provided the snow it is up to me to make the snowballs !!Again thanks and kind regards.TokTiny