Misalignment and mesh not showing in flightsim?

[Guest schlucke]

Hi gurus,because I must wait for the French Polynesia SRTM data, I've started a little mesh training project. After fighting with all the new tools (MicroDEM, SDK, etc), finally I've got my first result (BGL) and it shows up in TMFViewer nearly perfectly - only the south end of the island is missing. But the mesh didn't show up in FS2004 ... :(I've tried all hints from this forum (fixed LOD in ini-file, changing FS settings, etc) but the scenery didn't show up. I can load and see it with LWMViewer, but not in FS.Is the misalignment between mesh and coastline my problem and why is the south end of the island missing (it is there in the source data)?ByeHolger (the rookie, not the expert)http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/60546.jpg

[Guest schlucke]

Made some progress, the mesh shows up in FS2004. Some 3rd party addon did a mess with my TERRAIN_* values in FS9.CFG, after fixing that, I was able to see the nice hills :)But the problem that the mesh didn't fit in the default MS coastlines persists. I played around with the ini files for resample.exe, read a lot of forums and web sites and perhaps I'm more confused now than before :( Every time I change some values in the ini file, I get different results, but every time more worse than in the picture.I've loaded a GeoTIFF image into MicroDEM and exported it to 16-Bit BSQ format for the compiler. MicroDEM and the documents belonging to the GeoTIFF image agree with the NW corner of the data and the number of rows and cols. I've calculated the CellX(Y)DimensionDeg values with (width/height in degreess) DIV (rows/cols-1). And this is the resulting ini-file:---[source]Type = ElevS16LSBSourceDir = "."SourceFile = "tutuila.dem"Lat = -14.12851Lon = -170.87637NumOfCellsPerLine = 4050NumOfLines = 2771CellXDimensionDeg = 9.2809335638429241788095826129909e-5CellYDimensionDeg = 9.0625631768953068592057761732852e-5BaseValue = -31[Destination]LOD = AutoDestDir = "."DestBaseFileName = "tutuila"UseSourceDimensions = 1---Is my way wrong here, or are the coastlines from MS a bit out of order? I think my mesh must be a bit more west and south to fit the FS world!? I would be very happy if someone could help me here!Holger

[Justin Toposim 16]

Hi Holger,In a nutshell, the MS default coastlines are grossly inaccurate. There are a variety of somewhat clunky methods afoot to deal with it, but the whole world's coastlines need to be replaced with accurate data. No one to date has come up with a quick and practical method of doing this.-------Justinhttp://www.fsgenesis.netHigh Quality Scenery for FS200x

[Guest schlucke]

Thanks Justin,so my problem is that I have to do an accurate coastline afoot with a tool like Ground2k? There is no problem with my mesh?Oh god, perhaps I start flying again ... if that is my problem I start moving everything on that island :(Holger

[Justin Toposim 16]

HI Holger,Yes, a small area surrounding an island should be pretty easy to do with Ground2K.Your best bet is to probably replace the whole LOD5 area, and not just your island's coastline. That way you can just rename the default file(s) and replace it/them with yours.I'm sure the "other" Holger :-) will be along shortly for a more detailed explanation of the process, since he's more intimately familiar with it than I am these days.-------Justinhttp://www.fsgenesis.netHigh Quality Scenery for FS200x

[Guest schlucke]

Thank you very much! I'll wait for the "other" Holger for more details. Good news is that I have a very detailed coastline for the island Tutuia, bad news is that it is a binary format (ESRI shape file) I can't use directly. If I could convert it to an ASCII text file, perhaps a little program produces SCASM or (new) XML output ;)Holger (2nd)

[Guest schlucke]

Hi, it's me again!I've learned a lot during the last weeks, but it seems that it is not enough to finish my project :(After fixing my projection problem (UTM vs Lat/Lon), extending the source DEM to have enough data for resample.exe (yes, one island isn't missing land at the south anymore) the islands are still a bit misplaced in the FS9 world. OK, I started working with ground2k for the coastlines, rivers and roads and have the first success, but I still think that I'm doing something wrong here...Didn't want to get on anybodys nerves, but still have some questions:1) As source I have a GeoTIFF and different programs (MicroDEM, GlobalMapper) have different opinions about the data. One says NAD83 projection, the other says WGS84. Who is right?2) I've read in a forum thread that FS9 is the first version where all airports have the correct location in LAT/LON WGS84. Is that right or are there still any MS projection errors.3) What to do if my mesh projection is right and one of 4 default MS airports is located in the water, regardless what to do? I've read that it is better not to touch the airport or move it, because that will cause many more problems for simmers than it solves. 4) Can it be that it is damn difficult to do an island in the middle of the ocean as first project? Is it more easy to start at mainland first, because you didn't see the errors there?Rookie calling for help! Didn't wan't to give up, but all this stuff is more complicated than expected. On the other hand I have a lot more respect for the work of all scenery designers :)Holger

[Holger 0]

Hi Namensvetter:first of all, do "celebrate" your progress; I'm sure you've learnt a lot and most of your remaining issues are due to the fact that the answer to your Question 4 is an unqualified YES! Welcome to the land of misplaced coastlines.Re the other questions:1. Trust GlobalMapper! MicroDEM has some unfortunate quirks, and the "lazy" header reading function (i.e., it doesn't really read the header info, or so it seems, it just makes assumptions) is one of them. At least, that's my experience.2. Bah! There are still plenty of airports that are misplaced both spatially and with respect to their RW direction. I don't necessarily blame the FS design team, as they just used what was availabe to them, both with regards to airport and to geographic data.3. You'd have to rebuild the airport from scratch; it's possible to exclude or move a default airfield (using LWMViewers decoding option and the new scenery SDKs) but it's not recommended. My approach has been to accommodate incorrect airport placements in my Ground2K4 work as much as possible, i.e., give it a peninsula if it needs one.There is an alternative to dealing with misplacements, if they are more or less systematic. You could measure the mesh offset in FS or TMFViewer and adjust the .inf Lat/Long fields accordingly. That way you can force the mesh to fit into the default coastlines.Cheers, Holger

[Guest schlucke]

Guten Morgen nach Canada(?),your comments are very appreciated, even if they confirm my misgivings. I will concentrate on GlobalMapper (1), never trust a geographic projection or airport location I didn't do myself (2) and will never touch an airport in FS (3) - I don't won't to start with airport design also!Since the airport/runway misplacements are not systematic, I'll have to extend the land to the south. If I try to let the mesh fit the coastlines, the runway will cut a hole in the hills. Playing with the coordinates in the ini file is the last thing I wanna do, because that will cause big problems for the next step: Ground2K4. I would have to deal with adjusted lat/lon coordinates, how could I do that with my background maps!?http://home.arcor.de/holger.schluckebier/munu1.jpgThis is how it should be in reality:http://home.arcor.de/holger.schluckebier/ofu_ap.gifThe next image shows a better runway placement but a totally wrong coastline. The island of both screenshots are located 60 miles apart, but the source DEM is the same (one piece). So I think it isn't a projection error, it is more a MS problem.http://home.arcor.de/holger.schluckebier/munu2.jpgHolger, I would like to "fudge" as you suggested - make a small land extend to the south on the first island. Is it in any way pissible to have more than one background image in ground2k4? Or do I have to merge my maps and a LWMViewr output via Photoshop to one image?Oh no ... more and more questions ;)Holger