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rhumbaflappy

What is GMax View Distance Maximum

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How can I get the GMax "View Distance" greater than 60000 meters?I have been successfully working with GMax for quite a while. During the export phase I have found that I have not been able to exceed a "view distance" of around 60000 meters--approximately 37 miles.I am presently working on a project that covers as much as a 20 mile radius and I need to be able to see it from well beyond that distance--preferably from 60 miles or more.The project is to graphically represent the inbound and outbound traffic patterns surrounding KATL--the flight paths which ATC uses to move aircraft safely in and out of the congested KATL area.I have been able to create these, but so far, I can't get it where you can fly outside of the immediate area and still be able to see the graphics. As soon as the aircraft goes beyond the 60000 meter perimeter, the graphics disappear. And that is just not quite far enough out to be able to view the entire graphic.Any ideas how to overcome that will be sincerely appreciated!Happy Flying!Bill MolonyAtlanta GA USAUnder the 27L Approach to KATL--the busiest airport in the world :)

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I thought Chicago O'Hare took back the Busiest airport in the world title this year? :) Anyway I think you have reached the maximum of view distance for Gmax. I read at the gmaxsupport.com forum about compiling the .bgl file then decompile it and change the view distance, and recompile.

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I think the best way is to split the project.I assume it consists of different objects and then it is best to export each object seperate. This has also the advantage that the visibility range is measured to the center of the object and you can use smaller ranges, which increases the performance. From performance point of view it is never a good thing to make big areas in one RefPoint, because that doesn't allow good optimalization for performance.Arno


Member Netherlands 2000 Scenery Team[a href=http://home.wanadoo.nl/arno.gerretsen]http://home.wanadoo.nl/arno.gerretsen/banner.jpg[/a]

Arno

If the world should blow itself up, the last audible voice would be that of an expert saying it can't be done.

FSDeveloper.com | Former Microsoft FS MVP | Blog

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Hi Dave,Them's fightin' words!!! :) But I agree KATL and O'Hare do seem to rock back and forth between first place. Depends on which month of the year I guess. But KATL seems to be headed for the final win. After all KATL was in 3rd place just a few years ago behind both O'Hare and DFW and now they have left DFW in the dust. Time will tell.I appreciate the info on the possiblity of a decompile/recompile. Sounds like a promising solution. But I could not find anything further about it. If you have more info or some place where I can find more info, I would certainly appreciate it!Happy Flying!Bill MolonyAtlanta GA USAUnder the 27L Approach to KATL--the busiest airport in the world :)

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Arno,Thanks for the reply. But I am afraid separating them into several separate projects will just get too complex. I think my graphics objects are just too big and intricately involved with each other for that approach. Besides that, one of my objects is 20 nm in circumference! :)And performance has not seemed to be an issue at all. Surprisingly, with my graphics loaded, I cannot see any real degradation in performance at all.See the additional reply I added below with more info.Happy Flying!Bill MolonyAtlanta GA USAUnder the 27L Approach to KATL--the busiest airport in the world :)

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Interesting, know I understand your problem :).I haven't tried this with GMax, but in SCASM the maximum range of an Area can be 255 km, so that means that in theory you should be able to get a greater distance, but I never tested in GMax how this should or could be done.Arno


Member Netherlands 2000 Scenery Team[a href=http://home.wanadoo.nl/arno.gerretsen]http://home.wanadoo.nl/arno.gerretsen/banner.jpg[/a]

Arno

If the world should blow itself up, the last audible voice would be that of an expert saying it can't be done.

FSDeveloper.com | Former Microsoft FS MVP | Blog

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Yep, you are right. There is no good reason why this limit should be necessary. Obviously this is some type of arbitrary limit that was put on it by some programmer not really thinking deep enough.Probably felt that 10 miles away should be good enough for anything. Probably never considered something could actually need to be even twice as big as the limit he was putting on it.Or maybe even he was too lazy to take the time to allow for more units of measurement than simply meters and he had already set the value to integer and the variable could accept only up to 65536.Actually, I've known a lot of programmers like that personally ! :)Of course, it is even more likely that he was put on a strict and unrealistic time limit by management such that he did not have time to do more.Oh well! :)Happy Flying!Bill MolonyAtlanta GA USAUnder the 27L Approach to KATL--the busiest airport in the world :)

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A solution might be to make a library using FsRegen and then place the object with an API (or simple SCASM code). Maybe you can get the greater range then.Arno


Member Netherlands 2000 Scenery Team[a href=http://home.wanadoo.nl/arno.gerretsen]http://home.wanadoo.nl/arno.gerretsen/banner.jpg[/a]

Arno

If the world should blow itself up, the last audible voice would be that of an expert saying it can't be done.

FSDeveloper.com | Former Microsoft FS MVP | Blog

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Arno,What you are saying sounds like maybe the right track. Unfortunately I have no idea how to do what you are suggesting.Could you send me more detailed instructions. It might be best if we continue this through direct email.My email address is bmolony@bellsouth.netHappy Flying!Bill MolonyAtlanta GA USAUnder the 27L Approach to KATL--the busiest airport in the world :)

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I hope these bumps are you banging your head at new problems every time :D, a little bit of patient is not a bad thing on this forum.Arno


Member Netherlands 2000 Scenery Team[a href=http://home.wanadoo.nl/arno.gerretsen]http://home.wanadoo.nl/arno.gerretsen/banner.jpg[/a]

Arno

If the world should blow itself up, the last audible voice would be that of an expert saying it can't be done.

FSDeveloper.com | Former Microsoft FS MVP | Blog

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bumpyep, still banging my head against the wall :)

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Hi bmolony.Have you checked the header bounds of the resultant BGL? A scenery is only active within the bounds set by the header.I'm thinking that might cause an object to limited as to it's viewing distance as well. The header could possibly be rewritten in the ASM code, or a hex editor used to hack the bounds, if they are at fault.Dick

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