Autogen annotator is fun but seems not to work as well as in FSX. Maybe there's a slightly different procedure for P3D.
I always use the "autogen annotator" myself when necessary, but many people also swear by "scenProc" from Arno.
The trouble I have is trying to find the right one - ocean perennial, etc that will work.
Hopefully, I have caught the right spot where the ship gets stuck.
Then I'll get started...
For a better understanding I always add a picture.
- Start P3D and select the airport of Macao (VMMC).
There we start with our work.
- Switch P3D to slew mod and move the plane with the quick adjustment to the place (bridge) where there are the problems with the boat.
In slew mod the plane does not sink into the water either.
- Start SBuilderX (version 3.15).
The SBuilderX is the better choice for the project.
Start a new project in SBuilder and connect it to the P3D.
- In the P3D, outline the problem area with the plane using a rectangle.
The airplane moves simultaneously in the SBuilder, where we simultaneously trace the rectangle as a polygon (four corner points) and save it for later.
For support and orientation you can switch on the background image, but you don't have to.
- Move the mouse pointer to the four corner points of the rectangle.
For each corner point, write down the data from the bottom line (Lat /Lon / Dir / File).
- Now the entries Dir=0903 and File=7824 are interesting for us to find the right entry for the water.
The coordinates are only used to check and find the location.
It should be mentioned that the P3D world is divided into several tiles.
See picture from the SDK...
In green our searched tile.
- This means...
We open the Scenery folder in the P3D root directory.
There we search the folder 0903 and open it.
There we open the scenery folder and look for the file cvx7824.bgl...
This BGL contains the data we are interested in.
At this place we find however only the correct BGL, if in this area no AddOn is used, which affects the terrain.
An example for such an AddOn would be the area AddOns of ORBX.
- The cvx7824.bgl is now opened with the TMViewer.
At the bottom right we find again our data Dir=0903 and File=7824, which we know from SBuilderX.
So we are on the right tile.
Move the mouse over the image in TMViewer, the coordinates will change in the lower left corner.
If we have found our coordinates approximately or recognize the place immediately, click on this place (left mouse button).
Now this place jumps into the center of the image section of the TmViewer.
The center of the image always jumps to where the mouse (left mouse button) is clicked.
With the plus key on the keyboard we can now zoom in the image (centered at this point) until the surrounding area is clearly visible.
- Now we move the mouse pointer to the desired position and right click.
Afterwards a window opens, where we click on "Identify Vector Features" with the left mouse button.
- The "Identify" window opens.
We see it is a WaterPolyGPS...
It's flat and has an elevation of zero, because the slope values are at 0.00....
And we see the GUID number of the terrain used....
This GUID is the target of our desire, so we note this GUID number.
- If we follow the path C:\ProgramData\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v4 we will find the terrain.cfg....
This cfg file is opened with an editor (Notepad++) and we search for the GUID number.
The name of the water polygon we are looking for is "Hydro_Polygons_Generic_Ocean_Perennial".
We need this name now in the SBuilderX...
- So we open again in SBuilderX our project with the rectangle.
A right click on the border of the rectangle and the properties window opens.
Select the tab "Vector Polys"...
And then scroll down on the right side until we find the name "Hydro_Generic_Ocean_Perennial".
- This is the water polygon you are looking for...
Confirm with OK and compile.
Give the generated BGL a meaningful name and register it in the P3D as an independent AddOn.
Finally start the P3D and check the result.
I hope the procedure is somewhat understandable.
