Help with Ground2k4 and excluding scenery

[Guest TFLeonard]

I have been trying to learn Ground2k4 to create scenery for New Providence in the Bahamas.As you can see in the attachment, the default scenery is still showing through and I've got some odd terrain blocks showing up towards the left side of the image.You should be able to see my new coastlines if you look "inside" the default scenery's coastline.I put "exclude" blocks all over my scenery and even added extra as far as Ground2k4's grid allows.I put all the files generated by Ground2k4 in a folder in my Add on scenery folder i.e."Add on SceneryNew ProvidenceScenery*.bgl"I also copied the water class & Land class files in there too.What am I doing wrong?

[LuisFelizTirado 33]

Hello Leonard,You seem to have used Area Fills in order to get land. Is that what you have done?If so, please do not use Fills. Just draw your coast and be sure to assign land class values to any part that covers the default water.There is a guide for beginners in the AvSim library that may help you get started. Look for Ground2k for beginners. While it was written for an earlier version of the program, most of it is still valid.Best regards.Luis

[Guest TFLeonard]

I had added some area fills in the top part of the screen, but then I deleted them. At least they don't show up in Ground2k4 anymore. Is there something else I need to do?Also, why doesn't the exclude funtion prevent any default scenery from displaying?Can I put all my BGL files in the same scenery folder or do some i.e. exclude and LC, WC belong somewhere else?

[LuisFelizTirado 33]

Hello Leonard,If you deleted the Fills, then you will not see the square land. Since you still see square land, then you have not yet deleted the Fills. Or, you still have a previous bgl with the Fills in your scenery folder.Terrain Exclude bgls only exclude VTP (Vector-Based Textured Polygons), not L/WM (Land/Water Masks). To cover default land or water, draw a new L/WM on top of it.Or, use Fills. But you should understand what a Fill is, first. A Fill makes the entire(!) Area (LOD13 grid) over into either land or water, depending on your selection. That is why you will see square land if you try to use Land Fills for a coast.How to use Fills? 1. If you are re-doing a coast, you can: - Fill the entire coast with Water (notice, I said Water!). This covers all the default coast (land); - draw a new coast as L/WM and select Land. This will cover the Water Fill with new land; - make sure to assign land class values (using the land class function - "LC" icon) to all of the new coast that extends beyond the default coast, or land will NOT show!2. If you are re-doing interior land (not coasts!): - Fill your workspace with Land. This eliminates any incorrect lakes or other bodies of water; - draw new lakes as L/WM and select Water. They will appear over the Land Fill; - assign new land class values if you wish.If you have a small project and if you name your exclude bgl correctly, there is no problem with placing all your bgls in the same scenery folder.Best regards.Luis

[Guest TFLeonard]

Thanks to your tips I have now eliminated most of the default scenery. However, as you can see in the attached file, I no longer see my lakes and harbors. I thought that I could use the Imbrication feature, but it makes no difference. I checked the polygons and they are all tagged as LWM no shoreline water polygons.1. How do I get my lakes and harbors to display?2. How can I remove the remaing default shorelines still visible in the right side ocean? Do I simply draw water polygons over them?3. The airport I created in AFCAD2 is partially hidden, it seems, below the terrain. Is there a flatten switch that I need to apply so that the runways become visible?Thanks for your help.Tim

[LuisFelizTirado 33]

Hello Tim,Again, I highly recommend that you read the Ground2K for Beginners guide, not just because I wrote it, but because it was made specifically for those who are starting out and do not yet understand all the concepts and techniques. (Since it was written for an earlier version of Ground2K, there have been some minor changes: 1. layer numbers have changed; 2. VTP1 is no longer valid, use VTP2 instead.) Of course, we are all happy to answer your questions, but you would save yourself some time by reading it.If your lakes and harbors no longer appear, then you probably have not paid sufficient attention to layer numbers.Default shorelines should be excluded using the exclude function.Runways have a special flatten that cannot be undone or modified in Ground2K4. If you have a problem here, then you have probably done something wrong in AFCAD, and should either consult the scenery design forum, or more likely the AFCAD forum.Please note that this is the mesh forum, and the denizens of this place probably look askance at this thread. Please post in the scenery design forum. Thanks.Best regards.Luis

[Guest TFLeonard]

Thanks for writing the tutorial, I have read it several times, and its basically what I have used to learn Ground2k. I will post my questions in the other forum.