FSX AGNDump

[rhumbaflappy]

Hi all.

The FSX Autogen SDK contains 'AgnDump.exe' It can be copied to another folder and will run just fine as a stand alone program. You can drag-n-drop AGN files onto it.

This program will create an xml file of your autogen (.agn ) file. Arno is working on an xml2agn program. We might even see abilities to have xml2shp and shp2xml to allow shp files of autogen... xml2kml... kml2xml?

Lots of designer possibilities if Arno can get the tools working ( and the time to make them ).

Dick

 

[arno]

Hi Dick,

I noticed that agndump fails when I assigned a custom building or row house texture in my AGN file. Can you check if that happens for you as well? If it doesn't support all features I might be tempted to create my originally planned txt2agn instead of the xml2agn. Or do you see advantages of XML above a simple texture format?

I think converting to SHP files should be possible as well, I'll have a look at that later.

 

[rhumbaflappy]

Hi Arno.

Can you zip and attach an example agn that fails?

Dick

 

[arno]

Hi Dick,

Here is one. I used a texture named checkerboard for the buildings, but get an error with agndump on this file.

 

[GHD]

It seems to display correctly in Annotaror. I assume the footprint is red because I don't have the texures.



It also displays in FSX, albeit without the walls.

 

[GHD]

The error in AgnDump is:

ERROR: Failed to process building texture name!

What was the name?

Edit. I see that it is "checkerboard" does it not need an extention?

 

[rhumbaflappy]

I get the same result. Not only is the texture missing in the sim, but it is invisibility!

When I change the rowhouse texture away from default in Annotator, I get the same result for that. I did place the texture in the texture folder, and I had one as a .dds, and another as a 24-bit .bmp... still doesn't show.

Does this mean that the named textures are not allowed in the sim, and that's why the AGNDump reject the AGN?

Dick

 

[Foxone]

Hi,
super I succeeded in recording me on the forum!
thank you Arno for your answer on the limit memory for “scenProc” aim for this subject of invisible texture I found this text in the SDK which apparently speaks about a method of use different from the tools “ImageTool”, I put the text below, perhaps that will be able approter a solution !

Use of Imagetool with Building Textures
To create custom building textures for Autogen, go through the following procedure:

The source textures used for the building layouts described above can be created as .psd, .bmp or .tga files. Use an appropriate art tool to create these texture files.
When the texture files are complete use the Imagetool utility to convert the files to the correct format (Imagetool is in the Environment Kit\Terrain SDK folder but is used in a number of areas throughout the SDK, in particular refer to Panel and Gauge Artwork and Texturing Aircraft Models). For the purpose of Autogen textures, use the following command line entry to Imagetool:

>imagetool -dxt1 -dds -mips filename

where filename is the full path and extension of the source texture file (or just the filename if Imagetool is in the same folder as the source file). Imagetool will create a file called filename.mip.
Rename the file from filename.mip to filename.dds.
The .dds files should be placed in the Microsoft Flight Simulator X/Texture folder.

Foxone

 

[arno]

Hi,

I did not read the SDK so detailed . It mentions the texture should go in the main texture folder, so I tried that but even then it does not show up in FSX.

Before I thought if I can specify it in Annotator it should work, but apparently that was wrong.

 

[arno]

It seems to display correctly in Annotaror. I assume the footprint is red because I don't have the texures.

No, all buildings show like that. The purple ones are row houses. In this tile I tested most types of autogen objects.

 

[arno]

I also tried to add a _LM texture, because sometimes missing textures can give disappearing parts. But nothing seems to help for the autogen buildings, so it seems that the custom texture does not work.

 

[GHD]

I also tried to add a _LM texture, because sometimes missing textures can give disappearing parts. But nothing seems to help for the autogen buildings, so it seems that the custom texture does not work.

I'm pretty sure they do. Earth Simulations use their own default.xml, AutogenDescriptions.spb and RoofDescriptions.spb together with a set of textures which include LM without the underscore but they have used default names such as HS_Rural_01.dds and HS_Rural_01LM.dds for the textures. The textures are referenced in the agn files.

Edit. Having said that, AgnDump also fails on their agn files.

 

[arno]

Hi George,

I am not talking about customizing the default.xml here. This is just the feature to define a different texture for autogen buildings from within the AGN file itself.

Time to do some more testing to see how it could work .

 

[arno]

Hi,

Found it now!

The textures need to go into the main texture folder. And the night texture is LM instead of _LM. A missing night texture will let the sides of the building disappear already.

Agndump still fails though on the AGN file.

 

[GHD]

The textures need to go into the main texture folder. And the night texture is LM instead of _LM.

That's what I said above.

 

[arno]

Yes, your comment made me think again. It's funny how they use a different convention for autogen textures and 3D objects.

 

[rhumbaflappy]

Yep. Main texture folder, LM ( without the _ ) and AGNDump fails... too bad on all counts.

Local folder would have been best, _lm would have been more consistent, and inclusion in AGNDump would have been quite nice.

Dick

 

[Sasa]

This program will create an xml file of your autogen (.agn ) file. Arno is working on an xml2agn program. We might even see abilities to have xml2shp and shp2xml to allow shp files of autogen... xml2kml... kml2xml?

Are there any plans to do the same for AGN to a BGLComp compatible XML later on? This would solve the issue with autogen being excluded in runway approach paths as discussed here.
Just tied AGNDump the first time to see what the resulting XML files look like. The result is far away from being readable for BGLComp but it would be something that can be used to convert AGN data to BGLComp XML files. The AGN filename (=coordinate range) is there, as are all other information like building sizes and their location.

Bests,
Sascha

 

[arno]

Hi,

How would you convert autogen to bglcomp scenery? The autogen for example contains polygons for vegetation, to work with bglcomp that would have to be converted to individual trees. So it is not a simple step to just change the format a bit.

And the rectangular autogen houses are not library objects, so they can't be represented otherwise easily.

 

[Sasa]

Hi,

How would you convert autogen to bglcomp scenery? The autogen for example contains polygons for vegetation, to work with bglcomp that would have to be converted to individual trees. So it is not a simple step to just change the format a bit.

And the rectangular autogen houses are not library objects, so they can't be represented otherwise easily.

Makes sense. I didn't think about vegetation when writing this and thought that autogen objects and generic buildings share the same textures (which apparently is not the case).

Bests,
Sascha