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FSX ADE GPs not snapping to curved earth

Soarfly Concepts

Soarfly Concepts

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unitedkingdom
Hi,
I have had a few issues with ADEs ground poly tools but none of them too major, I have however noticed that when making taxi lines in FS9 they are perfectly flat and have never been an issue. But in FSX the closer you get to the ARP the custom GPs dissapear under the scenery and the further away from the ARP you get the higher the GPs get. So you can imagine the ARP being at the far South East end of say KLAX, and a custom taxi line running the length of runway 25R/7L at the end of 25R the line will not be visible due to it being covered by scenery (the ground) but at the end of 7L it will be flirting with the underside of the aircraft.
I have tried the ARP elevation settings and the Local Elevation settings but nothing seems to successfully clamp the GPs to the ground and apply curve correction

Is there a way to get these custom GPs to be on the ground not under or over it?

The image is just an example I wouldn't put a hold short the length of a runway normally.
Screenshot_36.jpg
 
ADE GPs are based on pre FS9 technology and compilers so I think they are going to be flat. However I don't really know much about how they work so perhaps someone else can give a better answer
 
Try setting the Group Size value to 100-500m when compiling the GPs. This may keep them closer to the ground.
 
This is not a usual problem. Are you sure your flatten and ARP elevations are identical?

Don
 
Yeah all the altitudes are identical to the decimal point. I have tried the group size value at 100-500 but that makes the polys sink for some reason, they peel away as the user aircraft's view point get closer and they are below the surface.
At this point in time I am using ADE to create lines and shading on the ground but with the floating issue I have, I am having to rip open the bgl and render them out from 3DSMax so they stick to the ground when I convert them to GPs.
I don't mind doing this but it would be a lot easier if I could do the whole job in ADE.
As I said before it is only an FSX issue (I can't speak for P3D) but the lines are perfect and on the ground in FS9
 
ADE-GP has no control over elevation at which GPs are displayed. They are automatically displayed at the elevation of the terrain. Since the GPs appear to be displayed several feet above the runway, it would seem FSX "thinks' that is the terrain elevation. I suspect you've got two flatten files controlling ground elevation at that point, the one for which you confirmed the elevation is the same as the ARP and another one at a higher elevation and at a higher priority.

Don
 
Thanks Don, but I don't think that's the problem, the above image was at default KLAX. I Have had the issue you pointed out in the past but only once and it was fixed by moving a scenery layer higher in the library.
The issue is the GPs are perfectly flat and in FSX the earth is really not. I don't know if it's just me but ADE is giving me flat GPs and thanks to a spherical world they get noticed.
Can someone try it?
Just place a simple GP line down a runway and see if you get the same problem.
 
I Have had the issue you pointed out in the past but only once and it was fixed by moving a scenery layer higher in the library
Click to expand...
.Looks like you've got it again! The GP is clearly displayed well above the runway. I strongly doubt this has anything to do with round vs flat earth.

In any case, all GPs/lines are partitioned into 100m segments in FSX - unless you specify smaller sizing - to accommodate round earth. If the effective flatten height is the same as the ARP elevation, the GPs should be displaying on the ground, not 1M above it. Try moving this airport - including its flatten - to the top of your Scenery Library

Don
 
It is at the top of the scenery library.. I don't know what to do haha..
Would reducing the altitude of the flatten slightly have any effect do you think?

Thanks for the replies.
 
Don, if you read his first post he is saying that the center of the GP (at the ARP) is below the scenery while the ends are above it, suggesting there is either a problem with his flatten (the ground is not all the same height) or a problem with the 100m breaking of the GP's to follow the round earth. I don't really know which...
 
This problem occurs at all airports large enough to notice the earth curvature, the screenshot I posted in my first post was taken at default KLAX but I have had the same issue at every airport I have worked on.
I don't mind making custom lines the slightly slower way that I am using at the moment but before I start laying the custom lines at Barcelona I just wondered if there was something I could do to put these issues to rest and speed up it's release.

Thanks for all the advice so far everyone it is very appreciated :)
 
I'm afraid I don't see a problem.

Added a "zebra crossing" to Rwy 07R at KLAX:





Top-down in FSX:



Rwy 07R threshold:



RWy 07R mid-point:



Ah, I've just realised that you are talking about GP lines. The above is a GP polygon, but lines should be created the same way.
 
Thanks for the demo, George.

Soarfly, I am at a loss to explain what is happening. I am travelling and away from my development system, so unable to experiment. As I said earlier, when you compile or FSX or P3D, lines and polys are broken up into 100m segments - a length over which the earth's curvature would have no effect. Each segment is drawn as a horizontal plane at the elevation of the terrain at the reference point - which is normally the ARP. ADE-GP does not exercise any direct control over the elevation at which a poly/line is displayed.

don
 
George, thanks for the demo. The only thing that I am doing differently to you is I have my GP layers set in 4s (16, 20, 24, 28, 32 ect..) but apart from that everything is the same.
Maybe it just has a special "Mark Bug" haha
Anyway thanks for the help, I will look through FSX and see if the problem lays there because ADE doesn't seem to be giving anyone else the same issue so with that in mind it has to be a scenery layer or something inside FSX causing it..
I will find the source..
 
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