Problem with Cellgrid.

[Guest]

Here is our problem with Cellgrid2 and map made by Terrabuilder_Lite. Viewed under shallow angle map covers grid, rendering it invisible. Along with angle being increased the map becomes more and more translucent revealing the grid underneath. However in full top view the map becomes invisible. How to make both: map and grid visible in top view? Thanks for any suggestion. Ted

[rhumbaflappy 113]

Hi Ted.Without knowing exactly what you are doing, I'll guess that you are using CUSTOM textures, and placement, with resample, in conjunction with the VTP polys of cellgrid.CUSTOM-resample placed textures destroy all VTP and LWM polys and lines that they cover. They also destroy autogen. There is nothing wrong with the cellgrid, Terrabuilder, or resample. This is a feature of the photoreal technique.The grid cannot be made visible over the map, unless the CUSTOM textures are rendered as VTP poly textures, of a lower VTPLayer than the grid.Dick

[Guest]

Thank you Dick, CUSTOM resample textures (in my case a map) were used here to develop VTP/LWM poly textures with LWMDraw. I guess one thing too many. However, I'll trade the visible cellgrid just for resample. It would be nice to have it as a backgroung for work. Still in top view resample_textures=map are not visible.Perhaps I should check how it will show without cellgrid. Ted

[Guest gorchi]

Hi Ted!I have just recently corrected slovenian coast with LWMDraw and I used Photoshp for this. Here is what I did:- installed CellGrid for appropriate LOD8 quadrants- went to FS, made approx 20-30 snapshots in PSP (can be done in Photoshop also I think) in top view from FS- then I took snapshots from Atlas of Slovenia- I have separately merged snapshots in one big bitmap and I did same for pictures from Atlas- I went to PhotoShop and then put on one layer snapshot from FS and on another snapshot from Atlas- Then I set layer opacity to 60-70% for FS Snapshot and made it top layer- I resized snapshot to match image from Atlas- then I have flattened layers and created one single bitmap.- the last thing to do was to cut this bitmap to LOD13 quadrants (a lot of them!!) and I have resized each bitmap to 256x256- and now came drawing in LWMDraw.It took me whole day but the final effect is almost reality :)Hope this will somehow help You.Best regards,Goran BrumenFS Slovenija 2002 teamhttp://slovenia.avsim.net

[Guest]

GoranI'd be a happy camper to see a screenshot of your day's work being I haven't worked a coastline project.ThanksKen

[rhumbaflappy 113]

Hi Ted.You can display CUSTOM textures by placing them as VTP polys, and bypassing the BGL produced by resample. A lot has been written on the forum concerning just that in recent weeks. A search using 'custom' and 'vtp' should give you the discussions.The BGL produced by resample is the same as a landclass BGL that uses only values '254' ( transparent ) and '253' ( non-seasonal CUSTOM ). Whereas a landclass assignment value will allow all kinds of LWM and VTP polys and lines, the CUSTOM assignment destroys everything under it ( except flattens, unfortunately ), and prevents any LWM or VTP to show over it as well. That's one reason why I have been urging designers to consider avoiding the BGL produced by resample.======================================If you look at the cellgrid macro with a text editor, you'll see I used a VTP Layer9 for the display. That means the grid will cover all scenery from layer 0-8.Normally, you'd use a VTPLayer4 to paint the ground with textures. VTPLayers 4-7 are land, and still allow LWM masking. VTPLayer 8 is used for shorelines.If the map in the picture were produced by VTP, you could either alter the VTPLayer of the map to 4-7 ( recommended ), or alter the cellgrid macro VTPLayer to greater than the layer of your polys. That allows the cellgrid to display over CUSTOM textures.=========================================The CUSTOM textures are easily displayed as VTP polys by using "253" as the texture name. There are 2 restrictions:1) The textures must be vertically flipped to use them as VTP. I recommend XNView for batch processing the vertical flipping. DXTBmp might also handle the job, but I am not that familiar with it's batching capabilities.2) The flipped, and processed textures must reside in the "C:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesFS2002SCENEDBWORLDTexture folder, along with the default autogen and landclass textures.=========================================By using VTP to display these CUSTOM map textures, you can then use cellgrid over the CUSTOM, and see the effects of placing your roads, shores, LWM polys and VTP polys over the map itself. They can't show up over a resample-produced CUSTOM bgl.If you use flipped VTP textures in this manner, make sure you keep a non-flipped reference set in a separate folder, for use with LWMDraw. This way you can load the reference textures into LWMDraw, and have the 'flipped' actually displaying in the sim ( with cellgrid ), and run both programs at the same time if you like. Not a bad working environment.I understand the concept of using the map to help place roads, citys, water. Seems like a very good approach to a complex problem. And the resultant VTP and LWM bgls should be much smaller in size than a typical photoreal project, and should be able to use underlying default landclass for much of the area.========================================In your case, the best tool would be like LWMDraw, but use an FSUIPC interface to be able to "click" the points right in the sim, instead of on a bitmap. Then you could slew with the joystick and develop your polys and lines directly on the map without needing to fuss with the CUSTOM textures.... just make the photoreal with Terrabuilder ( resample ), load it to the sim, and start tracing the VTPs.Dick

[Guest]

Thank you all for such a helpfull and informative replies. Plenty to work on. Thanks.Ted

[Guest]

No problem really, just another question. Is there any resource I can find LOD8 grid superimposed on world map with borders to find which grid numbers belong to selected countries? I gues I could do that myself using LWMDraw "calculate" grid utility, but as always it doesn't hurt to ask first. Ted

[Guest]

I'll try to get a help to the above question one more time, but I promise it will be no more. I guess, I'd better begin calcullating and making it myself. No big deal, I think. Ted