Layings Runways Directly on Mesh

[Guest pecrowther]

I am trying to lay runways, etc. directly on top of a 10m mesh. The area was once an airport and is still fairly flat, but it does slope. I am using FSSC to create the airport. For the runways, I cannot use a default runway, since that forces the land underneath to flatten. However, I am hoping that I can use something as a substitute, like a road or a taxiway. Two problems:1. I have not found a way to make good looking runways, taxiways or roads that stay on top of the ground. The roads, etc created with FSSC disappear under bumps, etc. The roads, etc. created with coastlinemaker are too fuzzy. I have tried setting different priority levels, but that doesn't seem to help.2. I need to do a little leveling of the terrain to eliminate some bumps and dips. (Perhaps if I can do a good job of this, it will eliminate problem #1.)Any ideas?Thanks,Phil

[arno 1]

If you need to follow the mesh and do not want to flatten the area, then you can only use the VTP polygons. But they have a drawback of the 4.8 pixels/m resolution. It's choosing between or a flat area or not that sharp textures.

[Guest pecrowther]

Thanks.Perhaps if I can flatten the area at a slope, the roads, etc. will show up. It appears that the FSSC roads, etc. do conform to the grid a bit, just that the allowable rate of change is not that great.(I had also considered laying down an API runway, but I think that APIs are also laid down flat and that the best I could do is to have a series of "steps".)Phil

[Holger 0]

Hi Phil:have you tried a combination of default road with a VTP2 poly on top? A short and wide section of road could do the smoothing of the terrain (though the effect depends on the TMVL setting) and the VTP2 poly could provide you with sharp edges (if 4.8m "fuzzy" textures). Just a thought...Cheers, Holger

[Guest manny3]

I laid scasm type roads on a hilly terrain. From the top-down view some portions become hidden by the terrain so it looked like broken roads.But in the normal cockpit/vc and spot views the road followed the contour well. I put more nodes in those really undulating parts of the terrain to make sure it follows the contour.I have not tried to make runways this way so I don't know if the surface type is hard or smooth enough to for a runway.

[Guest pecrowther]

Holger,Thanks. I had tried something like that. I laid down a fuzzy road 250 feet wide and then laid a taxiway on top of it. I see that there is a discussion on VTP2 polys and roads that might tell me how to make a sharper road. VTP2 polys is an area I don't know much about.Phil

[Guest pecrowther]

I hadn't thought of that. You are right. Inserting more nodes "almost" solves the problem. Perhaps the problem is now the width. Points on either side of the road may be at different elevations.Phil