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FSX Custom terrain?
- Thread starter jaacck
- Start date
Hello:
Certainly there could be a number of reasons for the stuttering, but 1 cause could be too many platforms in one's scenery area.
Have you considered using an available / making a custom FS terrain mesh BGL for the area of your scenery project ?
What is the resolution in meters between elevation data points that you would like to achieve with a terrain mesh for the area of your scenery project ?
IMHO, it is best wherever possible to use a terrain mesh for the ground and drape the default land class terrain texture tiles or a custom photoreal land class terrain texture over that, as the FS rendering engine is highly optimized to display those millions of mesh vertices better than it is able to render a textured custom 3D ground polygon... especially if it also has an associated platform.
GaryGB
Certainly there could be a number of reasons for the stuttering, but 1 cause could be too many platforms in one's scenery area.
Have you considered using an available / making a custom FS terrain mesh BGL for the area of your scenery project ?
What is the resolution in meters between elevation data points that you would like to achieve with a terrain mesh for the area of your scenery project ?
IMHO, it is best wherever possible to use a terrain mesh for the ground and drape the default land class terrain texture tiles or a custom photoreal land class terrain texture over that, as the FS rendering engine is highly optimized to display those millions of mesh vertices better than it is able to render a textured custom 3D ground polygon... especially if it also has an associated platform.
GaryGB
Hi Jaack:
Taking quick look at the site in Google Earth via a "3D tilted view", one can see that the Ellenville, NY terrain is certainly more hilly there than in Middletown NY, and might perhaps be made 'somewhat' more detailed than the default FSX terrain mesh renders out to.
Additionally, there should be freely accessible USDA NAIP aerial imagery which you could use for some photorealistic custom land class ground textures to drape over the mesh.
Although I'm a lover of highly detailed terrain when I fly, on a practical basis I'd suggest first looking at the Ellenville, NY site in FSX with default terrain mesh complexity set at 100 % and using a terrain mesh resolution of 10 Meters to see if there would really be a need to make a 'custom' terrain mesh, as the area does not appear to have that many sharp prominences and sudden changes of elevation that it would necessarily require a custom (read: higher resolution and detail) terrain mesh to adequately model the terrain morphology there.
If you have a 3rd party add-on mesh (ex: FSG etc.) that is based on the later US DEM source data of 10 Meters resolution, that would more than likely give a sufficiently detailed rendering of that area, and could save you a learning curve working with the FSX Terrain SDK.
Hope this helps !
GaryGB
Taking quick look at the site in Google Earth via a "3D tilted view", one can see that the Ellenville, NY terrain is certainly more hilly there than in Middletown NY, and might perhaps be made 'somewhat' more detailed than the default FSX terrain mesh renders out to.
Additionally, there should be freely accessible USDA NAIP aerial imagery which you could use for some photorealistic custom land class ground textures to drape over the mesh.
Although I'm a lover of highly detailed terrain when I fly, on a practical basis I'd suggest first looking at the Ellenville, NY site in FSX with default terrain mesh complexity set at 100 % and using a terrain mesh resolution of 10 Meters to see if there would really be a need to make a 'custom' terrain mesh, as the area does not appear to have that many sharp prominences and sudden changes of elevation that it would necessarily require a custom (read: higher resolution and detail) terrain mesh to adequately model the terrain morphology there.
If you have a 3rd party add-on mesh (ex: FSG etc.) that is based on the later US DEM source data of 10 Meters resolution, that would more than likely give a sufficiently detailed rendering of that area, and could save you a learning curve working with the FSX Terrain SDK.
Hope this helps !
GaryGB
Last edited:
thanks for the help i was wanting to make mesh so i could have sloping runways and place the scenery over it and place some platforms to make it concrete not grass. using sketchup i have created a model of the terrain for other airports but when i place platforms it became very fps hungry as it is simply a large building. I guess i was trying to find an alternate way to create sloping runways. I know the flatten trick with sbuilder but smoothing it into the surrounding mesh is very time consuming.
Hi Jaacck:
The "ground" in FS is rendered by the terrain mesh, and is already 'hardened', so one need not make platforms to keep user-controlled and/or AI aircraft traffic and/or ground vehicles / SimObjects from "falling through" the ground, regardless as to whether it is covered by a texture for a RWY, Taxiway, Apron, Grass, Dirt etc..
If you wish to have a sloping runway (aka "RWY") in FS, you will forfeit the ability to have AI aircraft traffic and/or ground vehicles / SimObjects move over the terrain, as they require a perfectly flat surface.
Personally, I don't use AI aircraft traffic and/or ground vehicles / SimObjects very often, and enjoy maneuvering over unpaved, 'sloped' airport surfaces as an enthusiast of GA VFR "bush" flying.
FYI: It is not difficult to drape either a default FS land class texture or a photoreal custom land class texture over the terrain mesh as a "mesh-clinging" textured polgon... to create the image of a RWY, Taxiway, Apron etc.
Most of that type of scenery enhancement can indeed be done by creating terrain "polygons" in ADE or SBuilderX via a GUI with terrain type pick-lists, and example images of terrain textures etc.; so, if that were part of what you'd like to achieve, I'd say look further into those utilities.
BTW: Both ADE and SBuilderX can do "sloped flattens", and both also have a reasonable amount of documentation available in their manuals and/or online help to implement 'textured terrain polygons', sloped flattens, and most other features which end users may wish to use for airport enhancements.
Hope this helps !
PS:
...See this post, Jaacck, for info on creating "sloped flattens" in both ADE or SBuilderX:
http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/showpost.php?p=117554&postcount=4
[EDITED]
There is an excellent new tutorial just posted by a fellow (who claims he's a "newbie" !
) over at Sim-Outhouse (aka "SOH"):
Design Tutorial for Sloping Runway Scenery
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforu...62-Design-Tutorial-for-Sloping-Runway-Scenery
...Download link (must login first):
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/local_links.php?action=jump&catid=4&id=4465
< Many thanks "Wally-Bob !
>
[END_EDIT]
GaryGB
The "ground" in FS is rendered by the terrain mesh, and is already 'hardened', so one need not make platforms to keep user-controlled and/or AI aircraft traffic and/or ground vehicles / SimObjects from "falling through" the ground, regardless as to whether it is covered by a texture for a RWY, Taxiway, Apron, Grass, Dirt etc..
If you wish to have a sloping runway (aka "RWY") in FS, you will forfeit the ability to have AI aircraft traffic and/or ground vehicles / SimObjects move over the terrain, as they require a perfectly flat surface.
Personally, I don't use AI aircraft traffic and/or ground vehicles / SimObjects very often, and enjoy maneuvering over unpaved, 'sloped' airport surfaces as an enthusiast of GA VFR "bush" flying.
FYI: It is not difficult to drape either a default FS land class texture or a photoreal custom land class texture over the terrain mesh as a "mesh-clinging" textured polgon... to create the image of a RWY, Taxiway, Apron etc.
Most of that type of scenery enhancement can indeed be done by creating terrain "polygons" in ADE or SBuilderX via a GUI with terrain type pick-lists, and example images of terrain textures etc.; so, if that were part of what you'd like to achieve, I'd say look further into those utilities.
BTW: Both ADE and SBuilderX can do "sloped flattens", and both also have a reasonable amount of documentation available in their manuals and/or online help to implement 'textured terrain polygons', sloped flattens, and most other features which end users may wish to use for airport enhancements.
Hope this helps !
PS:
Have you read the manual? The information you need is in there...
...See this post, Jaacck, for info on creating "sloped flattens" in both ADE or SBuilderX:
http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/showpost.php?p=117554&postcount=4
[EDITED]
There is an excellent new tutorial just posted by a fellow (who claims he's a "newbie" !
) over at Sim-Outhouse (aka "SOH"): Design Tutorial for Sloping Runway Scenery
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforu...62-Design-Tutorial-for-Sloping-Runway-Scenery
...Download link (must login first):
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/local_links.php?action=jump&catid=4&id=4465
< Many thanks "Wally-Bob !
>[END_EDIT]
GaryGB
Last edited:
Thanks for the link but now that i know more about it i guess i just want to know how to make the sloped flattens concrete or other paved surface as i like jets more and would like to make and international airport that is sloped. I dont like the bumpy grass effect without deleting the effect
- Messages
- 604
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I have the same problem! There is an unlisted airport in British Columbia that I am doing that has a paved runway. I can see that using hardened platforms will do the job (which is what Wally-Bob is promoting in his new "Design Tutorial for Sloping Runway Scenery") yet, as was mentioned near the beginning of this thread, too many platforms causes stuttering! Is there no other way to have a paved surface in FSX?
Regards, Mike Mann
Unless you don't do it with the ORBX approach (as they do it around the aprons with resample only), no.
There is no alternative to 3D platforms for runways if you want sharp textures.
This here is one of my projects using a platform and no one has every told me about serious stutters there, neither have I seen any:
http://www.limesim.com/products/fsx/freedownloads/wasserkuppe/index.html
Hello:
I'm wondering if we might clarify whether the terms "3D platform" and "hardened platform attachment" refer to the same thing, or if we are referring instead to a flat / planar textured custom ground polygon "aka "g-poly" as Arno often calls them (...which IIRC do not at all, or do not normally have an attached hardened platform).
IIUC, whenever there is a "hardened" surface used in a scene (other than the ground itself as a part of the highly-optimized FS terrain mesh engine), there is a FPS-hit... however small that may be.
I would like to direct the attention of those using "sloping runways / hardened platform methodology" to this thread for additional information on options to deal with eliminating the "dirt effect" and "bumpy ground roll" issues when using custom photoreal textures in scenery projects:
http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/showpost.php?p=234725&postcount=5
Hope this helps !
GaryGB
I'm wondering if we might clarify whether the terms "3D platform" and "hardened platform attachment" refer to the same thing, or if we are referring instead to a flat / planar textured custom ground polygon "aka "g-poly" as Arno often calls them (...which IIRC do not at all, or do not normally have an attached hardened platform).
IIUC, whenever there is a "hardened" surface used in a scene (other than the ground itself as a part of the highly-optimized FS terrain mesh engine), there is a FPS-hit... however small that may be.
I would like to direct the attention of those using "sloping runways / hardened platform methodology" to this thread for additional information on options to deal with eliminating the "dirt effect" and "bumpy ground roll" issues when using custom photoreal textures in scenery projects:
http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/showpost.php?p=234725&postcount=5
Hope this helps !
GaryGB
- Messages
- 604
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I don't think any of the methods outlined in the post above are going to work in my situation, they require an airport bgl whereas I have an unlisted airport which can't have an airport bgl or it would show up in the GPS and hence is no longer unlisted! 
Regards, Mike Mann
Regards, Mike Mann
- Messages
- 3,278
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About the sttuters, what can say people that use the ground poly to make the airports, there is a lot which use this method, and iit's almost the same thing. don't understand the "stutters issue" you say.