dead grass problem in Australia

[minititan]

Hello.

Have just started using FSX, but have discovered the grass textures for here in Queensland Australia are dead grass all year round.

Far north is OK and southern Australia is OK.

Does anybody know what to change [ex scenery cfg files or textures changes] to spread the same textures over this dead grass area
as far north or southern Queensland/new South Wales?

Just to make Queensland and central Northern Territory green grass for summer would be sufficient please.

Thanks.

see attachment;[thanks George]

 

[GHD]

It's a good thhing that I didn't copyright those screenshots

 

[rhumbaflappy]

If you would like the areas to display spring textures, rather than a dry summer texture, you could make a season bgl. Alternately, you could make a region bgl to make the area the same as the more northerly Queensland ( which might be better ).



You could copy this image, then paint in RED, the exact area you would like as region 24 ( the same as the northerly peninsula ). Then I could make a new region BGL for you, and show the process here for anyone wanting to learn this.

Add that to an active scenery folder, and you change the region, and thereby the texture display.

Dick

 

[GaryGB]

I'm not the OP for this thread, but have long wanted to fix FS seasonal attributes of parts of upper Michigan and Wisconsin to be more like what I see when I visit the "Upper Peninsula" (aka the "U.P.") several times a year.

That area is very much like upper Canada and Alaska, and comparable to pictures I have seen of Finland and portions of Siberia, with Spruce / Birch forests, "arctic" climate types of thinly tapered conifers, mixed Pines and the occasional more temperate colorful Maples etc. interspersed with muskegs, marshes and sloughs.

And as you may know being a resident of Delavan, Wisconsin, the U.P. is a beautiful place that's fairly accessible to folks in the USA Midwest, and a great place to vacation.


I'm hoping from such tutorials as you describe, I might learn some more ways to adapt my copy of FSX to make my local "cabin fever relief flights" in the dead of Winter even more realistic, and more in keeping with what I experience up there in the real world... during warmer seasons.


I'd greatly appreciate an opportunity to see a walk-through tutorial on this process, Dick !


Thanks,

GaryGB

 

[minititan]

Thanks Very much rhumbaflappy.

Thats all I need.

I will send your Australia image back to you soon with the area I would like green grass in.

A season[summer] bgl would be fine for now, using the texture from north Queensland would be fine.
In this country, Summer is our wettest most green grass season here.

Compared to other countries, Australia [mostly] only has 2 main seasons; [generally speaking]
Summer--wet in northern half of Australia
dry in southern half of Australia

Winter---dry in northern half of Australia
wet in southern half of Australia

Across the whole of central Australia[east coast to west coast] however can get rain anytime.[as does southern Australia]
Only northern Australia stays true to dry winters[mostly]

I will try to follow your texture making and changing instructions[what program do I need] , and try to improve the others later.

The default regional setting for Queensland now is very unlike any season here.
Even our dry winters are still really a lot greener than that, partically in Queensland
and central Northern Territory.

The northern part of Western Australia and Central Australia is roughtly about right.
And the southern part across Australia is also reasonable.

Thanks.

Regards.

 

[minititan]

Hello rhumbaflappy.

This area will do fine if made the same textures as far north Queensland.

see attachment;

You can make it for any season bgl that suits you.
What ever is easiest and quickest.

Thanks.

Regards.

 

[rhumbaflappy]

I did get your message, but I can reply here in the forum.

From the image you attached, I did make a region BGL.

The original image I provided was from TMFViewer ( part of the FSX SDK, available with the deluxe or gold version of FSX ).

The red grid-lines were LOD5 markings, and I used those as a guide to make a selection copied to a new image in my PaintShopPro. I then made a greyscale image of the area needed as region 24 ( same as northern Queensland ) as gray value 24, with white ( value 255 ) as the rest:



I saved this as a 8-bit RAW file from my paint program.

Because my original had the grid lines, and I trimmed it to some of the grid lines, I can determine the extents of the cropped image I made.

I used TMFViewer to view the FSX worldlc.bgl with the regions.bgl overlayed ( and some transparency ), just how I made the original. then I got latitudes and longitudes, and used LEC ( one of my programs ) to calculate the exact coordinates of the NW and SE corners.

;North = -8.4375
;West = 120
;South = -30.9375
;East = 157.5
;Queensland_Region.bmp   676w x 429h
;yDim = ( ( 30.9375 - 11.25 ) / 428 ) 
;xDim = ( ( 157.5 - 120 ) / 675 )

[Source]
Type = Raw
SourceDir = "."
SourceFile = "Queensland_Region.raw"
Layer = Region
SamplingMethod = Point
SampleType = UINT8
ulyMap = -8.4375
ulxMap = 120.0
nCols = 676
nRows = 429
yDim = 0.045998831775700934579439252336449
xDim = 0.055555555555555555555555555555556
NullValue = 255

[Destination]
DestDir  = "."
DestBaseFileName  = Queensland_Region
DestFileType = BGL
UseSourceDimensions = 1

The above is the INF I used with the raw file I made. I drag'n'dropped it onto resample ( from the FSX SDK ), and out popped Queensland_Region.bgl

Try it out and see if it does the job you needed.

Dick

 

[minititan]

Hello rhumbaflappy.

That is just BRILLIANT.
Thank You Very Much.

It is even better than I hoped.
Especially inland past 50km inland, over the ranges[which run down parellel to the coast]
It makes the hills and flat country stand out very realistly.
I have flowen over a lot of this country for real and it is good.
Have not tried the extemes of the bgl yet.

Thanks for the intro on how to do it.
I only have FSX Deluxe.
Can I download and run SDK seperatly in it?
Or just run SDK seperately?

Thanks.
Regards.

 

[rhumbaflappy]

The FSX deluxe should have the SDK on the DVD. You probably need to open the DVD with Windows Explorer to find it. I think it's an installer program.

Dick

 

[scott967]

I'm not the OP for this thread, but have long wanted to fix FS seasonal attributes of parts of upper Michigan and Wisconsin to be more like what I see when I visit the "Upper Peninsula" (aka the "U.P.") several times a year.

That area is very much like upper Canada and Alaska, and comparable to pictures I have seen of Finland and portions of Siberia, with Spruce / Birch forests, "arctic" climate types of thinly tapered conifers, mixed Pines and the occasional more temperate colorful Maples etc. interspersed with muskegs, marshes and sloughs.

And as you may know being a resident of Delavan, Wisconsin, the U.P. is a beautiful place that's fairly accessible to folks in the USA Midwest, and a great place to vacation.

Right. 5 million biting flies and mosquitoes can't be wrong! Porcupine Mtns are nice though.

scott s.
.

 

[hcornea]

Hello.
Just to make Queensland and central Northern Territory green grass for summer would be sufficient please.

For what it is worth Orbx have completely re-done the Mesh / Coastlines / Seasons / Landclass and Textures for all of Australia as part of FTX Australia.

It is nice to learn to do it yourself, but if what you want to improve your flying experience then this would be a far more immersive way to do it, and cheaper by the hour!

[Financial Disclaimer: I do some work for ORBX, but have no financial interest in the FTX regions. I was a customer before becoming a developer!]

 

[minititan]

Thanks hcornea.

At this stage I'am quite happy with FSX as it is.

It was just the grass texture problem that stood out badly for this area.

I'll try SP1 SP2 some time.

Some 10m terrain mesh for this area is my priority now.

I had a friend in Tasmania who was into terrain mesh, but he has recently passed away.

Regards.

 

[hcornea]

I don't think that 10m DEM exists for Aus (only 76m and LIDAR in parts)

ORBX let you download the mesh component for free (Holgermesh) which really is all you need.

I'm not sure Ian Thatcher / Andy Weir compiled any FSX friendly mesh.

Holgermesh has been expertly put together by Holger Sandmann, and is what most people use.

 

[GaryGB]

I'm not the OP for this thread, but have long wanted to fix FS seasonal attributes of parts of upper Michigan and Wisconsin to be more like what I see when I visit the "Upper Peninsula" (aka the "U.P.") several times a year.

That area is very much like upper Canada and Alaska, and comparable to pictures I have seen of Finland and portions of Siberia, with Spruce / Birch forests, "arctic" climate types of thinly tapered conifers, mixed Pines and the occasional more temperate colorful Maples etc. interspersed with muskegs, marshes and sloughs.

And as you may know being a resident of Delavan, Wisconsin, the U.P. is a beautiful place that's fairly accessible to folks in the USA Midwest, and a great place to vacation.

Right. 5 million biting flies and mosquitoes can't be wrong! Porcupine Mtns are nice though.

scott s.
.

[INTERMISSION]
Hi Scott:

Uh-oh... looks like you may have visited there when US Forest Service released their purposeful "Black Fly Predator Plague" to help protect trees from Gypsy Moths and other pests; locals say it's a nuisance being outdoors for about 3 weeks at such times.

Thankfully I've been fortunate on all my visits there, aside from a single run-in one time in late July on the Lake Superior beach with "Mutant Sand Flies From Hell" (whose bites actually draw blood !).

BTW: Congratulations on your new location in Hawaii; couldn't ask for a nicer 'location to vacation' than that!

Hmmm... didn't you used to be in Louisiana near New Orleans (aka "mosquito capital of the USA" ?) !


I've attached a couple of pix I took overlooking a valley where I saw "Lake of The Clouds" in Porcupine Mountains on a fine Fall day.

[END_INTERMISSION]

GaryGB

 

[GaryGB]

Hi Dick:

Thanks for that great example !

It was also good to see another example of how well "Good Old PaintShop Pro" still gets so many jobs done for FS ...without spending lots of money on Adobe's products !


GaryGB

 

[scott967]

[INTERMISSION]
Hi Scott:


BTW: Congratulations on your new location in Hawaii; couldn't ask for a nicer 'location to vacation' than that!

Hmmm... didn't you used to be in Louisiana near New Orleans (aka "mosquito capital of the USA" ?) !


I've attached a couple of pix I took overlooking a valley where I saw "Lake of The Clouds" in Porcupine Mountains on a fine Fall day.

[END_INTERMISSION]

GaryGB

Family is originally from Waukesha County (Waukesha/Genesee/Eagle) and I grew up outside of Milwaukee. While at UW parents moved to NoLa and my Dad is still down there on the West Bank. Thanks to the USN I've lived around the US, wife retired at USPACOM on Oahu and we've stayed since.

Grandparents had a lake place in Forest County so spent a good deal of time in summers in northern Wis as a kid, getting up to Iron Mountain and some other UP places on occasion.

scott s.
.

 

[minititan]

Hello hcornea

I'am told Ian Thatcher/ Thomas Trewin, [Andy Weir]
made mesh for FSX of OZ.
Its on Simviation.

Does not say what resolution [guess its also apx76m]

I made some scenery for a Sim called; VSF
http://www.qualitysimulations.com/vsf/index.php

I found a bit of 10-20m meah for some of Australia.
But it costs a lot of money, so used 76m for my area.

Regards

 

[GaryGB]

Family is originally from Waukesha County (Waukesha/Genesee/Eagle) and I grew up outside of Milwaukee. While at UW parents moved to NoLa and my Dad is still down there on the West Bank. Thanks to the USN I've lived around the US, wife retired at USPACOM on Oahu and we've stayed since.

Grandparents had a lake place in Forest County so spent a good deal of time in summers in northern Wis as a kid, getting up to Iron Mountain and some other UP places on occasion.

scott s.
.

[INTERMISSION_AGAIN]
Hi Scott:

Nice area... I often go through there with my girlfriend on US-43 enroute to visit her family in Iron River/Stambaugh/Caspian via Rts.141 and US-2 through Iron Mountain.

During our visits there, we take her family on an occasional side trip to Porcupine Mtns., Marquette (through Michigamme Reservoir), Watersmeet, Rhinelander etc.; great environment compared to our current Northern IL state-line region.


I often wish I'd flown into East Troy with my colleague before we were grounded by his change in health; but who knows, as I learn more about FS scenery making, perhaps someday I'll make a version of 57C (...and maybe even Greenwood IL's Galt / "1-Zero-Charlie") !

[END_INTERMISSION_AGAIN]

GaryGB