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FSX annotator and Tile numbers

Helli

Helli

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germany
Hello,

I am coming back to the original question, namely Richards "TCalc" for FSX.

I loaded the "TCalcX002" and it works fine.
What I miss however, is - in conjunction with the FSX Annotator - TCalc's capability to show the tile-number (and its neighbours) of the actual crosshair position.

Is this already available from Richard or from somebody else?

kind regards

Helli
 
Hi Helli.

I started a new thread for this.

I haven't used the Annotator for FSx yet, so I don't know if there are tiles still used. If I get time this week, I'll look at it.

Dick
 
Annotator still uses the same tile numbers as FS9 but photo-real scenery files each contain 64x64 tiles. I have a program to identify the scenery file for the Horizon Generation-X scenery using FSUIPC. I guess it should work for other areas assuming they use the same naming (numbering) convention.

George
 
Thanks Dick and George!

I presently use the Annotator for FSX autogenisation of sceneries in Switzerland-Pro.
It works all right, since FSX displays this photo-scenery and since the numbering system is the same.

What is the tile size in FSX? (different from FS9?)

George how do you use FSUIPC to show the tile number over the crosshair position in FSX?

with kind regards

Helli
 
Helli said:
What is the tile size in FSX? (different from FS9?)
Click to expand...

The agn tile size in FSX is exactly the same as in FS9. The difference is that the textures are contained in bgl files and not bmps. Each bgl contains 16x16 agn tiles:




How do you use FSUIPC to show the tile number over the crosshair position in FSX?
Click to expand...

I just convert the lat/long to a QMID15 reference:



George
 
Great answer George ! Thanks a lot.

It gets clearer.
But a question remains:

My tile information is still based on the 15-digit BMP-number
(i.e. 011223202112121su.bmp), by which I can call (open) with the Annotator the desired tile for processing.
The old TCalc could produce that number from the AC position (crosshair in birds view) in FS9 when being connected to it.
The new TCalcX does not.
Can FSUIPC do that?
Or do you know of a utility which converts Long/Lat in tile number?

Thanks for your patience.

By the way, what is "QMID15 reference"? (15 is also "my" digit number - coincidence?)

kind regards

Helli
 
Last edited:
OK Helli,

Here is a small program to identify the bitmap in FSX. It is based upon Dick's original TCalc2004 but uses FSUIPC:

You need to install FSUIPC4 into FSX, it is available from:

George
 
Last edited:
Hello George,

thanks for the IdentifyTile-link. --- another small step towards perfection!
(the FSUIPC4 I had already installed earlier).

IdentifyTile does the job very nicely on the 15bit-BMP-files, just as TCalc does in FS9, but in comparison only shows the central 3x3 BMP-windows.
For the missing Long/Lat-presentation of the position one can use of course the new TCalc X.

My IdentifyTile-picture looks different from yours, both in logo and in content, but the latter must be due to your different tile-identification system (is this GeneX ?). I wish I could show here a picture, but I have not yet mastered the picture insertion function in this forum here.

By the way you mention (and I saw it also in the SDK-docs, where I also found the explanation on "QMID"), that "The difference is that the textures are contained in bgl files and not bmps".
When loading the FSX-Annotator with a BMP-Tile number and after adding some autogen stuff, it saves the result again as an AGN-file to the same directory where the BMP came from. Whether also a BGL-file is produced I could not verify - if it was, I would not know where to find it.

I will test it soon by using a Microsoft-autogen-tile from FSX\scenery\World\texture. But they are also BMP-files! You see the BGL-stuff still puzzles me.

However, since FSX can read the AGN-files, I can now continue with updating experiments to FSX.

As I wrote above - one little step after the other, and much is due to your help

Many thanks from a grateful
Helli
 
Hi Helli,

The program shows only the tile over which the user aircraft is positioned and the 8 surrounding tiles. I saw no reason to display the lat/long.



As I said earlier, in FSX, custom autogen is stored in .agn files (albeit in a slightly different format from FS9), however, it will also read FS9 format .agn files.

The reference to .bgl files is for photoscenery created with the FSX SDK, Annotator optionally uses these to extract the textures (aerial images).

George
 
Last edited:
Hello George,

I was not aware, that you are G.M. the author - I am honoured to be helped by one of the best.
Your image above is identical to what I get, so that is cleared.

Well concerning the Long/Lat feature it only shows again what habits can do to the mind. Whenever I needed Long/Lat in the past, I used TCalc - because it was the only tool on my desktop which provided it - and Paaaangggg - I "accuse" IdentifyTile not to have it.
Sorry George!

I guess that's it. But I am afraid that my never ending curiosity will make our paths cross again.
At least I hope so.

All the best from Southern Bavaria

Helli
 
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