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How to find out and exclude default polygons used?

A

andrewlsummer

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10
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australia
Hi guys,
(Using ADE)
I am working on a scenery area and I have worked out that the default lake polygon can be excluded with specific 'hydro polygon default lake perennial' (or somesuch naming). However there is part of a nearby shoreline which I just can't exclude.
Can you firstly tell me what shoreline exclude polygons I should be trying?
Now, that other shoreline I want to exclude does disappear when I use general Water Polys and Waters Polys GPS exclusion polygons. However, this also converts the adjoining ocean area to land (it excludes the water completely).
So I know what the default base scenery file is (cvxXXX.bgl) and when I load it in TMFviewer it only tells me that the island with a lake has Water Polys and a shoreline, but it doesn't tell me exactly what exclusion polygon I will need to add to exclude the default scenery. (I replace it with my own DEM and water/ground masks).
Is there any program that can load a default base scenery to find out what particular polygons are used? This will allow me to use the correct exclusion without trial and error.
Thanks for your help!
A
 
TMFViewer will tell you the GUID, you just need to find a list of GUIDs to figure out what they all mean. I'm sure someone can point you at a list, but I just made a list using FSXKML, which allows you to view all the tags including GUIDs, and even open them in Notepad to save and search.
 
Hi Toprob,
Thanks for the post! Can I ask a dumb question?
How do you get TMFviewer to tell you the GUID?
I will investigate your FSXKML tip as I don't know how to use that (yet).
Thanks! A)
 
Hi Toprob,
Thanks for that - that helps, a little!
It says the land is a water poly gps, however if I use a general exclude water poly gps in ADE then it converts a huge rectangle of nearby ocean to a standard land class in FSX.
Is there a simple way to convert the cvxXXXX.bgl into some readable format where I can see what polys were used?

Also, knowing that the exclude water polys gps can exclude the terrain of the default shoreline, what is the most likely specific exclude I should use that won't have the effect of changing the default ocean poly to a standard ground with trees landclass?

Wow, thanks for your help Toprob - you are the Top rob!
Talk soon, A)
 
Look in the SDK help, Terrain and Scenery, The Shp2Vec Tool section, Vector Attributes.

It lists the Clip Level for each of the vector types. Water polys are clipped at QMid 11.

There is no way to decompile cvx files.
 
Hi Andrew:

A few links you may find helpful:

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/downloads.php?do=file&id=97

Once FSX KML 1.10 is installed, use a XML editor or Windows NotePad to examine a COPY of:

[FSX KML 1.10 install path]\fsx_kml_tags.xml


"Most" FSX SDK Vector properties and GUIDs are "documented" in:

[FSX SDK install path]\Environment Kit\Terrain SDK\vector shape properties guids.html

NOTE: In Windows Explorer, the above HTML file can be double-clicked to open in either FireFox or Internet Explorer browser.


BTW: Although the "Exclude__WaterPolysGPS" GUID {EA0C44F7-01DE-4D10-97EB-FB5510EB7B72} is listed "somewhere" in FSX SDK "documentation" (but not in "Vector Shape Properties GUIDs.html"), and appears as an option for use in the pick list of FSX_KML, as George discovered in an older thread here (after a disclosure by ACES team member Doug Matthews), "GPS Hydro Poly" reportedly can NOT be excluded individually:

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16237&highlight=Hydro+Poly


[EDITED]

PS: For a treatise on related concepts which can be used in various scenery design utilities including ADE, also see...

Terrain Design for Flight Simulator X by Luis Feliz-Tirado

http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?&DLID=141643

Once installed, refer to:

[Terrain_Design_for_Flight_Simulator_X install path]\Terrain_Design_for_Flight_Simulator_X.html, "Excluding Default Terrain"

[END_EDIT]

Hope this helps ! :)

GaryGB
 
Last edited:
An exclusion polygon will exclude all elements it touches, but only up to the QMID11 bounds.

To exclude water and shoreline, you only need to draw a small exclusion poly (perhaps a triangle) that intersects both (but only) the water and the shoreline, then use the tag that excludes all terrain elements... in ADE it would be under Exclude General / Everything. Tha water and the shoreline will disappear up to the QMID11 boundary.

You will then need to rebuild both the water and the shoreline.

For small areas near airports, ADE works just fine for terrain remodeling.

Dick
 
Thank you, thank you, thank you so much!
All your posts have solved my issues. The exclude general everything triangle trick worked a charm and I just repaired the ocean with a ocean perennial poly.
Wow. Even my new manually added shoreline works nicely too.
Thanks so much and this may well be the last time anyone hears from me again (on FSX forums that is)!
Have a great day!
A)
 
I hope this isn't the last time we hear from you. It was nice of you to visit, and let us know how your project works out in the showroom forum. :)

Dick
 
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