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dan
24 Nov 2005, 11:05
Hi All:

I'm fairly new to scenery design, and I'm tyring to add some lines for the apron "roadways" at the airport I'm making.

First, I tried making a basic line in FSSC. At first, one of the lines appeared in FS. I continued my work, and the lines would no longer appear! I recompiled the bgl many times and set the lines to be at a higher layer. No luck.

Then I decided to make a a narrow road to act as a line. I made a tiny texture for the lines, and then I get this error message:

Error in line 25
-> Bitmap( apronroadlines.bmp 0 0 0 0 )
-> in expression .. nes.bmp 0 0 0 0 ) ..
Error in line 40
-> Bitmap( apronroadlines.bmp 0 0 0 0 )
-> in expression .. nes.bmp 0 0 0 0 ) ..
Scasm compilation status: error(s) 2

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Dan
arno
24 Nov 2005, 14:18
Hi Dan,

The bitmap command can only use files with the 8.3 naming convention. Check your FSSC settings, it is probably set to Fs98. Else the LoadBitmap command is used, that has no trouble with longer filenames.
dan
24 Nov 2005, 14:45
Hi Dan,

The bitmap command can only use files with the 8.3 naming convention. Check your FSSC settings, it is probably set to Fs98. Else the LoadBitmap command is used, that has no trouble with longer filenames.

Even worse - it was set to FS95! Hopefully It'll work out now. Man do I feel dumb now!

Thanks Arno!
dan
24 Nov 2005, 14:51
OK.

The file compiled fine, but I still can't see the markings!

Thanks for the help so far,
Dan
dan
24 Nov 2005, 19:59
An Update...

I tried making the lines (yet again) and have made an interesting discovery.

When I first made them they were a bright read just to be conspicious. Then, I made them an off-white as they are in real life. After the color change they disappeared!
arno
25 Nov 2005, 14:15
Hi Dan,

Are you using a color on them? That does no longer work (since Fs2002 or so, can also be Fs2000, can't really remember). Try to use a texture on them.
dan
25 Nov 2005, 15:31
Hi Dan,

Are you using a color on them? That does no longer work (since Fs2002 or so, can also be Fs2000, can't really remember). Try to use a texture on them.

Well, yes and no.

I did use a color and have in the past (bright red) and I CAN see them. I can't see them as the light gray.

But I tried using a texture and it didn't work either.

Thanks,
Dan
dan
27 Nov 2005, 11:07
I think I've made somewhat of a breakthrough. For the heck of it, I made a road of normal width in FSSC, and it appears! The very narrow one did not. Is there some width restriction on roads?

The only other thing that I think my need changing is the scale setting in FSSC. Does this affect anything?

Thanks,
Dan
arno
27 Nov 2005, 11:20
Hi Dan,

It all depends on the scale used for the reference point if the line appears or not. The width is set as an integer value, so if the width is to small for a certain scale it ends up being rounded to zero.
dan
27 Nov 2005, 11:29
SUCCESS!

I changed the scale from 1.0m/pixel to 0.1m/pixel and now it works! Now I just need to make a better line texture.

Thank you for your help!
arno
27 Nov 2005, 11:33
Good to hear that :). One additional warning, don't make the scale very small, because you will trouble with long lines in that case. The maximum value of the coordinates of the lines are 32767. So if you make the scale 0.01 for example, you can have a maximum length of 327 meters.
dan
27 Nov 2005, 11:35
Good to hear that :). One additional warning, don't make the scale very small, because you will trouble with long lines in that case. The maximum value of the coordinates of the lines are 32767. So if you make the scale 0.01 for example, you can have a maximum length of 327 meters.

OK. I was planning to make many seperate roads, so is that fine, or is it a total amount?

The only other question I have is regarding texture. FSSC does have a transparency setting for color, but this doesn't seem to have an effect because of the texture - is there any way to get around this? I also need to find a beter line texture...

Thanks,
Dan
arno
27 Nov 2005, 11:38
OK. I was planning to make many seperate roads, so is that fine, or is it a total amount?

No, this is for each line. It is the distance from the reference point of the line that counts. If I remember correct, FSSC places this reference point at the center of each line. So it affects the line itself only, not all lines together.

The only other question I have is regarding texture. FSSC does have a transparency setting for color, but this doesn't seem to have an effect because of the texture - is there any way to get around this? I also need to find a beter line texture...

I think you would then have to use a texture that has an alpha channel to define transparancy. But I am not sure if transparant textures work on roads, it is a long time ago that I tried it, but I think they did not show.
dan
27 Nov 2005, 11:49
I think you would then have to use a texture that has an alpha channel to define transparancy. But I am not sure if transparant textures work on roads, it is a long time ago that I tried it, but I think they did not show.

I just tried it - it didn't work with an alpha channel on it. I'm just trying to find the right shade. Maybe I'll have to take a picture of a local road and use photopaste. :rotfl:

Well I'm glad I finally have this figured out. It took all five days of my Thanksgiving break, but I got it! Thanks Arno! I'll be sure to post screenshots of this project when the time comes. :)
dan
03 Dec 2005, 18:30
OK, I've hit another wall here.

I've been looking at some of the photo material that I have, and instead of a pure white line, it's a white line with black edges.

It seems that FSSC isn't the greatest at mapping textures. Is there a good way to do this?

Thanks!

Dan
arno
05 Dec 2005, 15:09
Hi Dan,

I would put effects like that in the texture. Just give your texture black edges and then should look fine on your line.
dan
05 Dec 2005, 17:29
D'oh! :banghead:

I feel stupid! Thanks again Arno for dealing with my dumb questions!
dan
24 Jan 2006, 15:50
OK, sorry to dredge this topic back up!

I've been making my lines, and I think that if my lines had rough edges they would look much more realistic. However, it seems that transparency cannot be applied to the road textures. Is there any way to get around this?

Thank you very much!

Dan
arno
24 Jan 2006, 16:23
Not that I know of. It indeed seems to be a limitation of the roads (old style) that you can not use transparancy on their textures.
dan
24 Jan 2006, 19:59
Not that I know of. It indeed seems to be a limitation of the roads (old style) that you can not use transparancy on their textures.

OK - That's was the answer I thought it would be.

I think I do have an idea though - I think where they should be transparent if I just put the color of the material they're supposed to be on the same effect will be produced.

Thanks as always Arno!