VTP2-Lines that don't affect the Mesh-Terrain

[Sasa 0]

Hi Guys,I'm just experimenting with an airfield in the mountains. There are a lot of trails in the hilly area next to the airfield which have to be implemented. Unfortunately these small trails affect the mesh-terrain like large highways.I've seen in Austria Professional that their roads don't affect the Mesh-Terrain. Does anybody know how to do that?ThanksSasa

[arno 1]

Hi Sasa,I think this depends on the type of road you use. Some of them have an instruction in the terrain.cfg file that makes sure the area around it is made flat.

[Sasa 0]

Well, it's not really some of them.It's ALL of them that have "Offset=flat". :(Sasa

[Holger 0]

Hi Sasa,you can have roads and railroads without flatten (or streams without depressions) by defining your own line types. If you're working with Ground2K4, just add your own custom VTP2 lines to the OwnLines4.txt in the "resource" subdirectory; they will show up at the bottom of the VTP2 texture selection window. You can use the default textures or make your own.If you're working with other software, you can edit the source code for BGLC.exe directly to achieve the same result. The original header might look something like this: VTPTexNameStart label wordVTPTexName0 label word VTPTextureName "1166" VTPTextureType 3, 0, 0, 4VTPTexName1 label wordand the edited version:VTPTexNameStart label wordVTPTexName0 label word VTPTextureName "roadssu.bmp,roadshw.bmp,roadssu.bmp,roadssu.bmp,roadssu.bmp,roadslm.bmp" VTPTextureType 3, 0, 0, 4VTPTexName1 label wordCheers, Holger

[Guest]

Howdy Holger,I'm working in Ground2K4 with an area of small ponds interconnected with streams. They are located on a flat marshy area along a creek. Right now they are all in "trenches" and I want to remove these depressions.I can't figure out how to edit the ownlines4.txt file as you suggest. Here's my ownlines4.txt file.//------------------------------------------// Line example : 1 texture, or 6 textures separated with ',' no space in the name[Texture.4097] // Ground2K4 exampleType=3Size=4Textures=railroadsu.bmp,railroadsu.bmp,railroadsu.bmp,railroadsu.bmp,railroadsu.bmp,railroadsu.bmpEffect=wavecontrollerWould you please provide an example to place a stream on a surface without a channel or trench? I just can't figure it out.I drew the streams as Lines and don't understand the involvement of VTP2. However, there's a lot of this stuff that I don't understand!Wil

[Holger 0]

Hi Wil,actually, all you have to do is open your terrain.cfg file in a text editor, copy the entire section of the first numbered texture (1024) and paste it into your ownlines4.txt file.Then you need to edit the texture number (they need to be sequential, so in your case it would be 4098, and give it a descriptive name to the right of the texture number, which will show up in the G2K4 texture selection window. For example:[Texture.4098] // stream lines without depressionType=1Size=4ExcludeAutogen=1MaskClassMap=3Textures=RiverSU.bmp//offset=-10In addition, one can develop and use custom seasonal textures instead of the often odd-looking default textures. For example, I made custom summer and winter textures for streams, and thus the section looks like this:[Texture.4098] // 1024 streams without depressionType=1Size=4ExcludeAutogen=1MaskClassMap=3Textures=HS_streams_wi.bmp,HS_streams_wi.bmp,HS_streams_su.bmp,HS_streams_su.bmp,HS_streams_su.bmp// offset=-10As you can see in both examples, I have commented out the "offset=" parameter. However, that doesn't really make any difference because any custom-defined VTP2 texture will NOT have flattens or depressions. For example, the original release of USARoads uses custom textures and thus lost the ability to have associated flattens. There's a workaround to this but that's not the point of this thread.I recommend that anyone working with these custom textures does read up on the meaning of the individual parameters. It's the "Terrain Config File.doc" in the FS2004 Terrain SDK.Cheers, Holger

[Guest]

Hi Holger,Thanks again for your guiding hand.Hot diggity dang, it works! The little ponds and streams look much better now.I took a look at the streams I had drawn flowing from snowfields and on down the mountains and think that they look all right with the depressions. They don't appear to be sunken as far as the streams in the flat marshy land beside the larger creek. However, I'll change a sample and see how they look without depressions.Once again to the classroom to take a gander at the Terrain SDK.Wil