FSX Editing BGL

[Tomt478]

How would I go about adding 2 BMP files to a BGL file? I have a Textured Poly created with SBX, for some reason though, the BGL only contains the POLY info, but it can't find the textures. I loaded the bgl up into MCX and it can't find the texture files, it don't show a path to the two files either, so I assume they were supposed to get compiled with the poly info but didn't. I can't edit the BGL file and simply change the directory where the 2 bmp files are because there is some data there that MCX can't read or compile. So since there doesn't seem to be a directory designation for the two files, I can only assume they were supposed to be compiled with the BGL but for some odd reason SBX did not include the two bmp files in the compile. So how can I either get SBX to include the 2 bmp files in the BGL, or simply just go in and add them myself to the BGL?

 

[GaryGB]

BGLs of the type you cite are likely SCASM / ASM compiled, and contain 'terrain' type objects, which do not contain actual textures.

IIRC, in FSX / P3D, only SDK Resample compiled BGLs contain textures along with placement and other terrain type info.

At most, such a "Terrain Polygon" type BGL may contain entries that 'map' textures onto the object by name, with a FS fallback path to a default FS folder, where such mapped textures are expected to be located by the FS scenery rendering engine.

Depending on what the code type of the BGL actually is, and what it's compiler was, one may load it into MCX and/or decompile it, to determine the texture file type and folder location that the object is mapped to by default in FS.

If you ZIP and attach the BGL and the textures you intended to be mapped onto the object it contains, someone may be able to reply with info pertinent to your specific scenario.

GaryGB

 

[arno]

What kind of BGL file is this? Are it ground polygons or terrain polygons?

If it is FS2002 style ground polygons MCX should be able to import and export the model. So then you can use it to change the textures.

But path information is never stored in BGL files. It always looks in the texture folder that belongs to the scenery folder where your BGL file is.

 

[Tomt478]

I played around with it and got it to work, had something to do with the name of the texture, SBX seems very particular about the names of your textures. Also figured out you have to put the textures in the addon/texture and the addon/scenery folders, don't know why, but it works. But I have one other problem, actually a question, do the shoreline vectors work on SBX? I put some in, but they don't show up at all. I usually don't have problems with lines working, but shorelines don't seem to display for some reason, I was just wondering if that's a FSX problem or SBX problem. I tried using shoreline vectors in ADE, but they don't match up with the added texture poly. I made sure all of my lines wwere perfectly lined up and aligned properly. I'm thinking just like utility vectors, they simply don't work in FSX for whatever reason.

 

[arno]

If you made ground polygons type will show over the shoreline, so are you sure it's not hidden under your ground polygons?

 

[Tomt478]

The only Poly I had was a textured poly, I made sure to place the shoreline just on the edge of the poly, but it still didn't show up. I've pretty much abandoned the attempt. I just didn't like the way the texture looked. It looked to "fake" compared to the actual Water Class I used in ADE, it looked almost like the poly was floating above the ground and could not get the shorelines to work. I tried adjusting the altitude of the poly, but then it just kind of flashes the ground underneath it as you fly over it, not acceptable. For now, I'll just stick with my Water Class polys. A lot of the problems are with my system, specifically the outdated GPU, it just can't handle detailed mesh and graphics. I may come back to this in the future when I can upgrade my GPU.

 

[GaryGB]

Tom:

Do you now have the "Modified Terrain.Cfg" file installed with your recent re-install of SBuilderX ?

Do you have installed, Ultimate Terrain X (aka "UTX") or add-ons like OrbX FTX or Global ...that add new entries for shorelines to Terrain.Cfg ?


I'll take a look at the KWR1 CVX vector BGL file in Terrain SDK TMFViewer later today to see which texture "should" be displayed in FSX.

If one right-clicks on the vector poly-line portion of the Polygon in TMFViewer, one can ID the vector texture type info.

Then we can backtrack to see if a layer, display priority, or overlapped vector "exclusion" issue may explain the non-display of the shoreline(s).

GaryGB

 

[Tomt478]

I don't have any of those. I only have the stock program that installed. No addons have been installed. I need to do that. Where can I get these addons so I can install them. You know, it's a real pain when you have to re-install stuff because of some stupid virus. Why do people get such a kick out of doing things like that? It wouldn't be so fun if it happened to the ones creating these viruses.

 

[GaryGB]

Actually, it may be best to wait until we sort out the current display issues for the shoreline object(s) before adding entries to Terrain.Cfg.


I reviewed some old info on VTP, LWM, and CVX vector to refresh my memory on potentially related methodology issues with this project.

Because you use FSX, you actually have more options than you would have in P3D or MSFS, which may merit testing to solve display issues for textured Polygons, and sloped flattens (perhaps this time using LWM3 vectors instead of CVX vectors).


I just this morning, discovered an updated link to the Modified Terrain Cfg package if you want to begin reading the ReadMe file:

https://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fsxscen&DLID=93289


For related info see: (download link needs to be updated for URL at AVSIM)

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/terrain-cfg-fix.3290/

GaryGB

 

[GaryGB]

I'll take a look at the KWR1 CVX vector BGL file in Terrain SDK TMFViewer later today to see which texture "should" be displayed in FSX.

If one right-clicks on the vector poly-line portion of the Polygon in TMFViewer, one can ID the vector texture type info.

Then we can backtrack to see if a layer, display priority, or overlapped vector "exclusion" issue may explain the non-display of the shoreline(s).

GaryGB

OK, here is the info for the shoreline of the "Island" on which you want the "Hill" built as a sloped flatten with a top AB flatten.

ADE XML data view:

<shoreline>
<guid>
{7b3229d8-18ed-4f4d-ae22-12660862aba1}
</guid>
<coordinates>
-105.04497508645,24.9259967484206,0
-105.018193974766,24.9343168470908,0
-105.004393497211,24.9590191853144,0
-104.981613870788,24.959049809838,0
-104.977697197915,24.954555628058,0
-104.958724366921,24.9629690194841,0
-104.935592428803,24.9711972973089,0
-104.940578904698,24.9676296545565,0
-104.944109611492,24.9633377900986,0
-104.946155083094,24.9608580803047,0
-104.954784867997,24.9503884520404,0
-104.937047287258,24.9436661816744,0
-104.935125623331,24.9429360584769,0
-104.935041244359,24.942814576785,0
-104.973358259213,24.9421775866958,0
-104.984993944349,24.9386946425001,0
-104.9875061484,24.9379263399835,0
-105.000437081741,24.9334554763463,0
-105.000333980657,24.9014832716775,0
-105.02279495477,24.9014832716775,0
-105.040443219933,24.9056249638735,0
-105.044992922354,24.9260132162418,0
</coordinates>
</shoreline>


GUID {7b3229d8-18ed-4f4d-ae22-12660862aba1} correlates with:

https://www.prepar3d.com/SDKv5/sdk/world/terrain/vector_shape_properties_guids.html

Vector Shape Properties GUIDs​

Shorelines_Generic_Lake {7B3229D8-18ED-4F4D-AE22-12660862ABA1}


FSX 'default' Terrain.Cfg entry:

// FSX shorelines - generic lake shoreline
[Texture.112]
Name=Shorelines_Generic_Lake
Color=FFC0C000
guid={7B3229D8-18ED-4F4D-AE22-12660862ABA1}
Textures=l_tanrock_ns.bmp,l_tanrock_ns_hw.bmp,l_tanrock_ns.bmp,l_tanrock_ns.bmp,l_tanrock_ns.bmp
Layout=3_PLUS_4
StripWidthMeters=10
LandClassRemapType=natural
ExcludeAutogen=Yes
RenderToTexture=Yes
RenderPriority=90000
Water=No


I must now depart for a while, but plan to look in on this again later today.

GaryGB

 

[Tomt478]

Ok, I have no idea what to do with any of that information. I'll wait for further instruction before fooling around with anything.

 

[GaryGB]

Hi Tom:

I survived my "Shop 'Til You Drop" day on the road.

I inspected the compiled BGLs from the latest 02-14-2025 KWR1_ADEX_TT.AD4 both with / without PROJECT_TEXP.BGL.

The "island" shorelines are are all present and accounted for on each edge of the island.

However, some shorelines are misaligned with edges of land and water polys as seen in prior builds of this project.

The island land class textures, also show various anomalies as seen in prior builds of this project.


Is there a particular set of Geographic coordinates in your project that you can post here, where you saw shorelines missing ?

GaryGB

 

[Tomt478]

The shorelines I was speaking of were the ones I was trying to add to the replacement water texture off to the west where there is a small lake. The shorelines around the island work fine. Sorry, I think you got it confused. Remember I was trying to make a Textured Poly to replace the water textures of the lake to the West. I managed to make the texture, but it looked too fake and flat, plus I could never get the shorelines to show up. Remember I was trying to do it with Sbuilderx? I was having trouble making the replacement textures and you told me to make a textured poly with the texture I wanted to use. I did all of that and didn't like the look of the textured poly. I decided to abandon that idea for now. Plus the added texture caused severe FPS hits and a lot of flashes of the mesh graphics. I couldn't get shorelines to work, I think they might have made it look better, but because of the FPS hit problem, I can't do it until I get a better GPU. No, the shorelines around the island are fine, yeah, they are slightly out of line, but I intend to go in a fix that. I drew them without zooming in and they came out slightly off. It's just a matter of me going in and adjusting the vertices of the shorelines to straighten them out. Not a big task to do which is why I haven't made it priority. they show up fine though.

 

[GaryGB]

The shorelines I was speaking of were the ones I was trying to add to the replacement water texture off to the west where there is a small lake. The shorelines around the island work fine. Sorry, I think you got it confused. Remember I was trying to make a Textured Poly to replace the water textures of the lake to the West. I managed to make the texture, but it looked too fake and flat, plus I could never get the shorelines to show up. Remember I was trying to do it with SBuilderX?

Indeed, I do recall that; I just wanted to clarify which shorelines had issues as I had only inspected those on the island.

I was having trouble making the replacement textures and you told me to make a textured poly with the texture I wanted to use. I did all of that and didn't like the look of the textured poly. I decided to abandon that idea for now. Plus the added texture caused severe FPS hits and a lot of flashes of the mesh graphics. I couldn't get shorelines to work, I think they might have made it look better, but because of the FPS hit problem, I can't do it until I get a better GPU.

It still merits testing later with a different type of water class object, as IMHO the FPS hits may be from streetlight 3D objects.

Rather than 3D objects, it may be possible to use rhumbaflappy's "LightPoint" library objects or Fx Sprites in rows along Roads .

No, the shorelines around the island are fine, yeah, they are slightly out of line, but I intend to go in a fix that. I drew them without zooming in and they came out slightly off. It's just a matter of me going in and adjusting the vertices of the shorelines to straighten them out. Not a big task to do which is why I haven't made it priority. they show up fine though.

That can be done in SBuilderX or Sketchup via a "Snap-To" vertex feature; I thought ADE had such a feature but I cannot find it.

More to come with sloped terrain tests on the "Hill" after segmenting the big 1-piece Airport Background (aka "AB") flatten.

GaryGB

 

[Tomt478]

Well, when I removed the textured poly, my FPS returned to normal, so I'm pretty sure that was the cause. My GPU just can't handle much. So far the streetlights haven't caused any problems, and I have a lot of them in there. I haven't noticed any hits on FPS with the lights in place neither during the day or at night. I thought it had something like that too, but can't find one. I'll try later on with the textured poly. I do still want to replace certain water textures with a custom one, but it's going to take a bit of work to figure out how to do it properly and make it look nice. I also want to produce some "flood" waters over a couple of roads going to a couple of "important" places to make them inaccessable. This is a "game specific" thing, so it's not going to be permanent. I don't need them right away, so I have time to play around with it. Now that I know how to create custom polys in SbuilderX , I can work on it without too much help. I may have a question or two as time goes on about SbuilderX, but for now, I think I can handle it for now.

 

[GaryGB]

Well, when I removed the textured poly, my FPS returned to normal, so I'm pretty sure that was the cause. My GPU just can't handle much.



So far the streetlights haven't caused any problems, and I have a lot of them in there. I haven't noticed any hits on FPS with the lights in place neither during the day or at night. I thought it had something like that too, but can't find one.


I'll try later on with the textured poly. I do still want to replace certain water textures with a custom one, but it's going to take a bit of work to figure out how to do it properly and make it look nice.

Possibly your VTP Polygon was made as a Class type requiring all Seasonal textures present in \Texture or it affects FSX FPS.

In FS9, a VTP Polygon Class type loaded without all Seasonal textures present in \Texture may crash the sim after a long 'search'.


Ground2K scenery utility from FS9 era uses VTP type polygons for terrain land class or objects

Luis Feliz-Tirado's tutorial explains them:

https://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fs2002sd&DLID=33724

Ground2K_for_beginners

See: Create a textured polygon



Ground2K info on- and output of- VTP objects may be correlated with that in SBuilder for FS9 (aka "SB205-rev.6"):

https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/249001-sbuilder-205-revision-06-full-install/

https://library.avsim.net/search.php?CatID=root&SearchTerm=sbuilder&Sort=Downloads&ScanMode=0&Page=4


Prerequisite file downloads to install / run SBuilder for FS9 (aka "SB205-rev.6"):

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/create-flattens.459472/post-930010

www.schiratti.com/files/dowson/FSUIPC.zip


Scruffyduck's tutorial on textured polys using SBuilder:

TUTORIAL: USING TEXTURED POLYGONS

https://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fs2004misc&DLID=77980

I also want to produce some "flood" waters over a couple of roads going to a couple of "important" places to make them inaccessible. This is a "game specific" thing, so it's not going to be permanent. I don't need them right away, so I have time to play around with it.

Now that I know how to create custom polys in SBuilderX, I can work on it without too much help. I may have a question or two as time goes on about SBuilderX, but for now, I think I can handle it for now.

As I conduct sloped terrain tests on the "Hill" after segmenting the big 1-piece Airport Background (aka "AB") flatten, I need to clarify this:

IIUC, the area surrounding the island, which has shorelines, is supposed to be water, but currently is not configured to be water.

AFAIK, that is due to an incomplete Polygon consisting of ~2 poly-lines not "joined" yet, correct ?

GaryGB

 

[Tomt478]

The area around the island is water, at least it is on my end. Most of the shorelines should have been fixed. I went in and aligned all of them, so they should be connected and straight. If not, let me know which ones and I will go in and fix them. As far as the surrounding area around the island, that is all water. Now the extra road I put in there will be changed to be a bridge, but I'm working on building that bridge , so right now I just left it as a road and put an apron under it to make for a solid surface to drive over without sinking. I'm in the process of building the bridge, just having a little trouble getting my solid surfaces to work on it. I'll probably for temporary purposes, just use a stock bridge that already has a solid surface. I think I have a problem with my model for my custom bridge, still learning to use Sketchup. It's pretty easy, but if you don't get your model just right, MCX won't place the solid surface on it. Ongoing project for me. Now, I used a water class for the water around the island, yours may show up differently because I have different water textures in place on my sim.