Ground2K question (cont).

[Guest]

If I could get the answer for the above question which can be summarized as follows: What factors can cause original Landclass texture override in part VTP2 Polygon? This is exactly what is hapening in my Project, which in brief consists of : VTP2Polys (forest,urban)and LWM Polys and Lines (lakes, rivers, roads). All laid on unchanged and untouched Landclass.The reason for not deleting original Landclass is that I wanted to maintain looks of the fields between forests. The problem is visible only on the testing computers and from some reasons NOT on original one where the Project was made. I remember helpfull post of Rumbaflappy suggesting removal of ALL original Landclass and assigning to ALL scenery extend land to destroy old watermasking and getting to the bedrock. I realise now that perhaps I tried shortcut, which simply backired now.Perhaps it is the same problem as the one faced by others in other neighboring threads "roads which do not cling to the terrain" and "problem of" water poping over the shore. Ted

[rhumbaflappy 113]

Hi Ted.Landclass will never obscure a VTP2 poly ( or line ), or an LWM watermask.The entire world has landclass. Some landclass values have a water appearance, and actually behave as water... but they are still landclass.LWM watermasks reveal an "underlying" waterclass.When I start a project, I usually make LWM landmasks to "destroy" the pre-existing LWM watermasks in the project area. Now everything is landclass. If LOD13 sized squares of water show, then you are assured these are actually landclass values of water appearance. If those interfere with the proposed project, they need to be changed to a different landclass value.. either by making a Landclass BGL, or by making a VTP2 poly using a landclass value to "cover" the water... make the poly as a layer number 4-7 ( that will allow added watermasks to remove the land from those polys ).Now the project has no water ( or at least none that will interfere with my plans ). This would be the bedrock. So now I can reintroduce LWM watermasks, and they will make my lakes and oceans. Ground2K has options for adding VTP2 lines as shores for these polys, so you don't need to redraw the beaches at the edges of the LWM watermasks.At that point, all the basic land, water, and shorelines are set. Now, specific areas of landclass can be altered as VTP2 polys using either named textures or landclass numbers... very handy for adding irregular shapes of woods or fields to the underlying landclass.Then, streams and roads can be added as VTP lines... streams are usually layer 16, and roads are usually layer 31 and 32. This standard of layers may have some extra importance in FS2004, as I hear there are autogen bridges and utility lines.. as well as railroad tracks.Ground2k removes us one step from the BGLC code, and the SDK that describes that code. Ground2K does not include everything possible with the newer terrain design, but it does include most of it. But now terms and concepts are altered by the "language" of Ground2k, and unless you've studied the SDK, you can easily get confused in a complicated project.For example, Christian names his files with an LWM extension... and the SDKs use LWM to describe Land/Water masking. That could lead to confusion. Ground2K makes it easy to add shorelines to lakes... but that could lead to confusion by making users think the shorelines are actually part of the lake... they are actually VTP2 lines and have no relation to the watermask. There can be confusion between landclass and landclass values used in VTP2 polys... but only because Ground2K makes it so easy to create both. And there can be confusion between watermasks and waterclass. And between landclass water value assignment number and LWM watermasks. For example, we can force water to a VTP2 poly layer by using a landclass number that looks like water... so there is more than one way to make water.So to answer your original question, Ted, there is no way a VTP2 poly or line, or a watermask, can be covered up by the underlying landclass. Can't happen. And you can't delete landclass... you can just replace it with either a landclass BGL or a VTP poly, or mask it with a watermask to create a lake, river, or ocean. You can exclude VTP lines or polys by specifying the layer number to exclude in an LOD13 area.If a project appears different on another computer, it's because there is some texture missing or misplaced or renamed, or a BGL unaccounted for.Dick

[Guest]

I have checked scenery directories of both computers . The are the same and looks that no files are missing. Here below is the pic of the problem. It is severe and I cannot understand that original computer displays it OK and BOTH testing computers get identical problem. Moreover it hapens only on this LOD8 Area and the one next to it is OK. ( not shown here). The latter was made with Ground2K v4.0 the one with the problem with the previous version. I checked all altitudes of the lakes. They are close to the original FS scenery +/- 1m Ted

[rhumbaflappy 113]

Hi Ted.I don't know exactly where to start. Generally this could be resolved by Christian looking at the LWM file. But I did notice one thing:http://forums.avsim.com/user_files/25677.jpgNot all the files are not identical as some have different modification dates.The "squareness" of the missing VTP textures indicates this is a VTP layer exclusion problem. I see your exclusions are named starting with "a" to alphanumerically place the exclusions before the scenery.. that's a good thing. But I suspect the test computers actually are getting a VTP exclusion from another BGL... perhaps not even in this scenery.I can check the BGLs on my computer if you'd like another test:mailto:ludowr@charter.netIf there are no special textures used, you could include the LWM file... I may not need the source map bitmap, as I can fake one for Ground2K.Dick

[Guest]

I ve just e-mailed you the bgls. Modified files with different dates belong to adjacent area which is OK. Will check exclusions but as I remember I have excluded all standard and my VTP2 are never layer 8th. But they are 7 and 9. I double check - perhaps here is something.Ted

[Guest]

Here is something specific that I notice: because my Project consists of 4 separate Projects for each Area: forest, hydro, roads and urban, I assumed that I need only one exclusion file which I did alongwith hydro file and named starting with letter "a". Rest of the lwms (forest, roads, and urban) do not have any exclusions incorporated within. Ted

[rhumbaflappy 113]

Hi Ted.As I e-mailed you, there was a missing texture in the tester's systems.Christian gives an example of a custom texture usage in Ground2K, by including a number 4097 for raillines. This is tied to a texture named "railwayx.bmp". If this texture is not in a local twin "texture" folder, or in the sim's main "Texture" folder, odd areas of excluded textures can pop up.I reproduced the problem and the solution. Your scenery looks very good :) Right now, I'm waiting for FS2004 to come to a store near me... then I'll look at it in FS2004 after I buy it.:-jumpy Dick

[Guest]

Thanks Dick, As I was mentoning you are a Genius. First area was made before Ground2k v4.0 and 2nd area using it. In both instancies there are missing custom railway textures on tester computer, but on earlier made area it wrecks a havoc along the railway tracks.On later made area it quietly shows no railways only. I did not even noticed until now. Congratulations. Thanks again . My work is saved.Ted