Noobie Isle

[Guest rbrown3rd]

Ok, I know this is a slippery slope that starts with one small step. I want to create a small island (fictitious) with a couple of small hills on it. I created an appropriate simulation of the terrain in the Terragen package. I exported the file as a black and white raster image, 257 x 257 pixels. I then took it into Photoshop and did some tweaking and once again saved it as a non interleaved raw format raster file. After that I used GRISES50 to generate a .dem At least a file was created. I then used the Terrain SDK tools to create a bgl. Put the file in an addon folder in the scenery sub folder. Added it in FS9 settings. Restarted FS9 and saw the adding scenery status bar indicating a new file. So, I go to where I think the terrain might be and see nothing. Do any of you pros see any flaws in my process? I know there are a lot of places I could have gone wrong including the .inf parameters. This is the first mesh I have tried to create having spent all of my time in the landclass world. (Florida Landclass was mine and Joe Watson's contribution to that world) Any kind words of advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated. So far all I have done is learn how little I know.It would be nice if there were a tool for fictitious terrains similar to John Cillis' Landclass Assistant but I guess that is wishful thinking. Most mesh creation is probably to simulate real terrain not fictitious terrain.Bob

[LuisFelizTirado 33]

Hello Bob,There are not really a lot of differences between creating fictitious and real altitude meshes, except for the source.There are many possibilities when trying to find what went wrong, but it is always good to consider the most simple and obvious first. For example, are you sure that your coordinates are correct? Have you taken a look at the mesh in either the Micrososft TMFViewer or in Jim Keir's LWMView? This will show you right away if you have anything in the bgl and if it is in the right place.Please let us know how it all turns out.Best regards.Luis

[Guest rbrown3rd]

>Hello Bob,>>There are not really a lot of differences between creating>fictitious and real altitude meshes, except for the source.>>There are many possibilities when trying to find what went>wrong, but it is always good to consider the most simple and>obvious first. For example, are you sure that your coordinates>are correct? Have you taken a look at the mesh in either the>Micrososft TMFViewer or in Jim Keir's LWMView? This will show>you right away if you have anything in the bgl and if it is in>the right place.>>Please let us know how it all turns out.>>Best regards.>>Luis>Thanks Luis. I will take a look at the bgl with the tools that you suggest. I was not aware of the use of those tools. Thanks again. I will let you know what I find out.

[Guest rbrown3rd]

Luis,It appears that something worked. The shape of my island is certainly correct according to the attached image. This is what it looked like when viewing using tmfviewer. I am not sure how to interpret what I am seeing except that the shape and orientation seem to be exactly correct. I am guessing that I must have generated the bgl with no elevations. Any advice or guidance will be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.My inf file is below:[Destination] LOD = Auto DestDir = "C:TERRAIN" DestBaseFileName = "birdisland" UseSourceDimensions = 1 [source]Type = ElevS16LSBSourceDir = "C:TERRAIN" SourceFile = "birdisland.dem"CellType = S16LSBNullCellValue = -9999 Lat=56.25Lon=3.75NumOfCellsPerLine=257NumOfLines=257CellXdimensionDeg=0.0146484375CellYdimensionDeg=0.010986328125ScaleinMeters = 1.0Bob

[Guest rbrown3rd]

I regenerated the dem from my raw file with different parameters. Resampled and converted to bgl. Viewed the file with tmfviewer and I can see some terraced elevations. When I try to view it with LWMviewer I get an "unsupported file type" message. Still no visible terrain even when installed in FS9.

[Guest jimkeir]

Hi.Try changing the "Type" value to "ElevS16LSB" - you've got it as "S16LSB". Also, try using resample from the FS2000 SDK; the newer ones have occasional hiccups.Jim Keir

[Guest rbrown3rd]

Ok. Did that. The bgl generates ok. TMFviewer shows it. Still not visible in FS9. My .inf for resampler is below. Do I have to do anything to mask the land water surface to make this thing visible? [Destination] LOD = Auto DestDir = "C:TERRAIN" DestBaseFileName = "birdisland_mesh" UseSourceDimensions = 1 [source]Type = "ElevS16LSB"SourceDir = "C:TERRAIN" SourceFile = "birdisland_mesh.dem"CellType = S16LSBNullCellValue = -9999 Lat=56.54Lon=6.14NumOfCellsPerLine=257NumOfLines=257CellXdimensionDeg=0.0146484375CellYdimensionDeg=0.010986328125ScaleinMeters = 1.0

[bob.bernstein 0]

Have you placed the bgl in a subdirectory and added that subdirectory to the world library?B

[Guest rbrown3rd]

No. I was adding it like I would any other add on scenery in its own /birdisland/scenery folder. I will try that. Remember as I said in my original posting that I am totally new to this. I will try that.

[LuisFelizTirado 33]

Hello Bob,As I mentioned, it is often the simplest things that can cause trouble.You may not be aware that geographic coordinates use a Cartesian grid (x,y) with the zero point at the intersection of the Equator and the Greenwich meridian.This means that latitude above the Equator is positive and below the Equator, it is negative.In the same manner, longitude that is East of Greenwich is positive, while if it is West of Greenwich, it is negative.So, your mesh is probably showing up somewhere in the Eurasian continent at the moment.To remedy this, simply indicate your longitude with a negative sign (for example, -6.14).Let us know how it turns out. Screenshots are appreciated.Best regards.Luis

[Guest rbrown3rd]

Thanks Luis. My intention was for the island to be just west of the coast of Norway. I believe my coordinates may therefore be correct. My intended coordinates are Lat=56.54 Lon=6.14. The inf file I used to resample looks like this:[Destination] LOD = Auto DestDir = "C:TERRAIN" DestBaseFileName = "birdisland_mesh" UseSourceDimensions = 1 [source]Type = "ElevS16LSB"SourceDir = "C:TERRAIN" SourceFile = "birdisland_mesh.dem"CellType = S16LSBNullCellValue = -9999 Lat=56.54Lon=6.14NumOfCellsPerLine=257NumOfLines=257CellXdimensionDeg=0.0146484375CellYdimensionDeg=0.010986328125ScaleinMeters = 1.0I have surely done something wrong here somewhere. To try to find my lost island, if it exists at all, I used AFCAD2 to place a runway at that location and a start point. When I place my aircraft at that location I am on runway with nothing but water all around. I am totally new to this mesh business and sincerely appreciate everyone's patience with me as I try to gain the basic skills necessary to create some fictitious islands. To reiterate the process I used was:1. created raster grayscale image of terrain. 2. saved it as a 257 x 257, indexed color, non interleaved, raw format3. used GRISES50 to generate a dem usinggrises50.exe birdisland.raw birdisland_mesh.dem 100 04. resampled the resulting dem using the inf file above.5. placed the resulting bgl in an addon scenery folder and added it in FS9.6. rebooted FS9 and saw the status bar progress as it added new scenery.7. created a runway at the desired location using AFCAD28. restarted FS9 at that location9. result............no island mesh.Maybe it does exist somewhere but I have even flown search radiuses around the intended location but nothing shows up.Oh, and I verified the bgl using tmfviewer and it showed an island, (screenshot posted above in the thread.)Have mercy on this poor noobie and help him find his lost island. Just kidding. Thanks for your patience and assistance.

[Guest jimkeir]

Hi.If it's *just* off the coast, there's a chance it's being clobbered by one of the default files. Try loading it into LWMViewer, then point at the center of the island and select 'Load this area' from the popup menu. If your island gets hidden by LWMs, that's your problem.HTH,Jim Keir.http://www.jimkeir.co.uk/FlightSim/

[Guest rbrown3rd]

When I load the file in LWMViewer I get all blue. I guess that means that a default water file is overlaying it? What do I do now? Thanks guys. You are great for helping me out.

[Guest rbrown3rd]

I went throught the process from start to finish again to be sure that I had not missed anything. I found one small thing in the .inf file that might have been a problem when generating the bgl with resampler. the attached jpg. I still cannot see the island and suspect as Jim pointed out that it might be covered by default LWMs. While waiting for the answer on how to solve that I will ask another question. In the .inf file used to generate the bgl is the lat long in the source section the center of the terrain that is generated? ...and probably an even more basic question is how is the size of the island determined? Is that the LOD number? (please remember that this is my first terrain project)[Destination] LOD = Auto DestDir = "C:TERRAIN" DestBaseFileName = "birdisland_mesh" UseSourceDimensions = 1 [source]Type = "ElevS16LSB"SourceDir = "C:TERRAIN" SourceFile = "birdisland_mesh.dem"CellType = "ElevS16LSB"NullCellValue = -9999 Lat=56.25Lon=3.75NumOfCellsPerLine=257NumOfLines=257CellXdimensionDeg=0.0146484375CellYdimensionDeg=0.010986328125ScaleinMeters = 1.0

[Guest jimkeir]

Hi.OK, if you're getting all blue in LWMViewer with only your file loaded, then the file is being created OK but it's all between 0 and 1m elevation. If it shows up as various shades of green and only disappears once you select 'Load this area', it's being overridden by the default files. You can check this by switching off the LWM tickbox - your land should reappear.The lat/long in the .inf is the position of the top left pixel of your data. The LOD represents the Level Of Detail; higher numbers show more detail. The highest that's usable in FS2004 is ... uh ... 10 or 11, can't remember off the top of my head. However, judging by the CellX/YDimensionDeg values you're using, you'll get something like LOD5 which is roughly one point for every kilometer. You're redefining a 257x257 Kilometer area. I guess these are the values you were using for landclass?So there are a few different things to fix:- Check your RAW file contains the right numbers. If you're using an image editor that's capable of working in 16-bit grey mode you don't need to go through the long conversion process, just save as 16-bit grey, RAW, little-endian (PC). Depending on your editor, you may need to reduce the range of the image before saving. If your island goes from being totally flat to a vast tower with satellites dinking off the top, you've hit this problem.- You don't have to work in 257x257 chunks, the source data can be any size you want. This can lead to problems where the south and east sections of your mesh don't get generated, but there is a very easy workaround for this.- You can change the CellX/YDimensionDeg values to anything, so pick something that best matches the mesh you've drawn. They represent the width, in degrees, of a single pixel of your data; in other words, CXDD = (east long - west long) / pixels across etc.OK, sorry for the lengthy post but hopefully this should get you a step closer :) You'll probably hit the clipping problem but if you search this group there should be plenty of references to that.Cheers,Jim Keir