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Guest GCBarni

Mesh scenery and building elevations...Help please...

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Guest abent

I've designed a number of sceneries with GMAX and they are just fine in FS with the default mesh. Some of my beta testers are reporting sunken or floating buildings after they have installed Mesh file add-ons.My question is is there some way to have the buildings appear at the proper elevation without reexporting? And...if I install the mesh before exporting, will the buildings be at the proper elevation ie not burried or floating. When MakeMDL exports, does it read the mesh in FS to place the building on the ground? Will the addition of mesh prior to exporting be taken into consideration for placement?Sorry for the rather convoluted questions.Thanks in advance, Adam

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Hi Adam,I don't know which gamepack you are using.In the Fs2002 gamepack the buildings are placed with a RefPoint 7, this means that they are always on the altitude of the terrain.In the Fs2004 gamepack you have an option to set the altitude to AGL in the XML file, this is also on by default.One important things to note it that the altitude is only matched for the 0,0 point of GMax. If your building is position far from the origin in GMax this can give trouble. Therefore all buildings should be on the 0,0 spot.


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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Guest abent

Hi Arno, I'm using the 2002 gamepack. I will try re-exporting with the buildings at 0,0 and see how that works.Thanks for the help.Adam

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So if you have multiple buildings in one GMax file, but the terrain on which there are placed is not flat, it might be better to make one GMax file for each building and export them to the desired coordinates.


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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Guest abent

Thanks Arno. I learned that lesson some time ago. Do you remember all that trouble I had with the dreaded "blurries", well that was solved by using the export selected option and creating a bgl for each building. I do all structures at an airport in one scene and export each separately.It seems to be working fine. I've got some mesh for northwest Ontario and the buildings are snapped right to the ground. So I guess from now on I may have to make 2 versions - one for default and one for mesh. OR...just tell people to get the mesh. :7 Thanks again,Adam

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Hi Adam,As long as each building is on 0,0 there is no problem with the height. If you use export selected each object will still get the same reference point and the mesh altitude is always matched for that point only.That's why I in general advice not to collect to much object in one scene, it is better to give each object his own scene. Only if the area you are working in is completely flat it will not give trouble (altough the performance is always better when exported around 0,0).


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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Guest abent

Thanks Arno and sorry for the delay in responding - away on a 4-wheeling trip for a couple days.I have another query for you.I want to make some small hills in my latest scenery. They are very small, 1-2m in height and maybe 50-100m long on which some of the airport buildings sit. I know I could make them in gmax but would then have the problem of losing seasonal textures. Is there another way to make small hill - like alter the mesh to acheive small hills such that it would automatically display the correct seasonal texture?I'm attaching a pic to show you the effect I want.Thanks in advance, Adamhttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/94675.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/94677.jpg

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you could try with ground2k remesh feature to alter the ground altitude, but it will be a lot of work to line it all up. Thats the only way I know to do it, unless you were ready to try a custom dem.Bob Bernstein

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Guest abent

Hey Bob, Thanks for the response. Ground2K...hmmm...had a go at that some time ago without much success. What's a custom dem? I would be happy to try it in GMAX but again, I have no idea how to assign the seasonal textures.Thanks, Adam

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Guest GCBarni

FSUtilities contains a 'flatten tool' which allows for extremely accurate and detailed work in small spaces. I used it to 'fix' the banks along the St John River in N.B. The tool works by linking with FS; thus one can do pretty fine work, such as raising the spot of ground depicted in your shots.I don't have a link to the *.zip, but a search of the Library or Google should put you in touch.

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Making a small flatten for this building is probably the easiest way to raise the ground indeed. But I don't know if this also works if you already have a flatten for your airport, it is worth a try anyways I think :).


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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Guest abent

Thaaks a lot gents! I've always appreciated your help Arno.GCBarni, I live in Fredericton, just moved back from Manitoba. Ofcourse the St. John River runs right through town. I go sailing regularly on the river. I got a maritime mesh by Gilles Gautier. Assuming you're not said person,LOL, I'd be interested in checking out your file. I haven't done much flying here lately, along the river, but did notice some major anomilies with the default scenery, one major "tidal wave", I call them, right by the airport.Incidentally, I've been met with some opposition trying to get into CYFC to take pics. I'd love to do the airport. No prob getting into larger airports like CYWG. Fredericton is so uptight lol.Are you from the area?ttyl,Adam

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Guest abent

Hey guys,I tried FSTflatten and I could get a 2m hill but it was much too large at the base, covering up my apron and part of the runway no matter how tightly placed the verticies were. I'm guessing that it links the verticies in FSTflatten to those in FS and the nearest were quite far away hence the very broad base to my hill. I don't think I can achieve my goal with this program. So, if anyone could make some more suggestions as to how I could assign the proper seasonal textures to a GMAX model of a hill, that would be great.I'm sure I saw an airport somewhere that had snowbanks, though these must be triggered to show up only in winter.Thanks again,Adam

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Check this:http://www.scenerydesign.org/forum/showthread.php?t=86The example is for the Fs2002 gamepack, but the same techniques can also be used in the Fs2004 gamepack.


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 Adam,actually, the problem with the spatial precision of any LWM or Area16N flatten file is the limited horizontal resolution of the terrain mesh. With Terrain_Max_Vertex_Level in the FS9.cfg set to the default value of 19, the horizontal res is a mere 76 meters. Setting it to 20 raises it to ~38m, and, at the max. value of 21, to ~19m. Unfortunately, increasing TMVL has other (global) "side effects", such as very steep road and stream cutbanks, higher demand on the display engine, etc. Plus, every user needs to have the same setting as the designer and thus there's great potential for chaos and confusion.I don't have much knowledge about 3-D design but I believe it is your best choice for these kinds of small "pedestals".Good luck!Cheers, Holger

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