Flatten and Autogen Exclude in FSX

[GHD]

Thank you pascal you were exactly correct.

George

 

[GHD]

I've now successfully created a flatten for a particular airport in the file cvx0501.bgl. However, there is now a dilemma, what happens if someone else creates another flatten in area 0501 and creates a file of the same name? This seems somewhat reminiscent of JABBgl which modified the FS9 default AP files.

George

 

[rhumbaflappy]

Hi George.

The shapefiles can be any name with the correct prefix. Just rename your sourcefiles.

FLXMyFavoriteFlatten.shp

shp2vec . MyFavoriteFlatten -ADDTOCELLS

cvxMyFavoriteFlatten.bgl

So the name is not a problem.

Dick

 

[GHD]

Thanks again Dick, that's what I hoped to hear.

George

 

[rhumbaflappy]

Hi George.

You can also rename the BGL to anything you like.

Dick

 

[DougMatthews]

If you don't delete the file next time the program will append a new polygon to the existing ones. The file is then processed by the BLN2SHP to generate the shapefiles. This program from Jim will generate the shape files for:
Flattens
Water
Excludes
For example to move an airport it's necessary to generate two bln one for exclude and one for flatten. For José Maia's LPPM
Exclude BLN
5,0
-8.57656109189718,37.1484595750709,0
-8.57522879813038,37.1517926392944,0
-8.59057847700597,37.1562364062361,0
-8.59209814353938,37.1524347909654,0
-8.57656109189718,37.1484595750709,0
Flatten BLN
7,0
-8.58914104411232,37.1497320267933,0
-8.58863146000601,37.1510068742555,0
-8.57879773548187,37.1485011743058,0
-8.57957547273566,37.1465554032613,0
-8.58263552028804,37.1473351530205,0
-8.5823747148501,37.1479876440765,0
-8.58914104411232,37.1497320267933,0

To produce the shapefile
BLN2SHP.exe LPPM_EX.bln EX
BLN2SHP.exe LPVL_FL.bln FL
then use the shp2vec with -ADDTOCELLS In this case the output is 0502.bgl since it is in Portugal

José

It seems the tool you are using to generate the Shapefiles might only produce one flavor of polygon at a time. Be aware that by using the GUIDs provided below one polygon can have multiple attributes. A person could modify the DBF portion of the shapefile. Perhaps forwarding this information to the tool author might allow them to natively support.

6c0c6528-5cf1-483a-a586-2c905cf2757e ExcludeAG
47d48287-3ade-4fc5-8bec-b6b36901e612 Flatten
5a7f944c-3d79-4e0c-82f5-04844e5dc653 Flatten + MaskClassMap
1f2baab1-4132-416e-8f6f-28abe79cd60b MaskClassMap
46bfb3bd-ce68-418e-8112-feba17428ace Flatten + MaskClassMap + ExcludeAG
18580a63-fc8f-4a02-a622-8a1e073e627b Flatten + ExcludeAG
594e70c8-06a5-4e3f-be6e-4dbf50b49d11 MaskClassMap + ExcludeAG

-Doug

 

[jack_h]

Where does the .bgl go?

George,

Please tell me where this file; cvx0501.bgl, should got to effect the flatten.

Many thanks,
Jack

 

[DougMatthews]

Hi Michael,

I did the new poly with Ground2k4, placed the grass poly at layer 7. This is for the exclude

I then did an LWM mask, and made it a flatten at the altitude I want.

I discovered, however, that the flat isn't entirely flat, there's a 0.1, 0.2 feet diference within the airport. Maybe the round earth problem.

Kindly,

Blazer

Problem / feature... that pesky round earth thing.

You are correct.

-Doug

 

[GHD]

It seems the tool you are using to generate the Shapefiles might only produce one flavor of polygon at a time. Be aware that by using the GUIDs provided below one polygon can have multiple attributes. A person could modify the DBF portion of the shapefile. Perhaps forwarding this information to the tool author might allow them to natively support.

6c0c6528-5cf1-483a-a586-2c905cf2757e ExcludeAG
47d48287-3ade-4fc5-8bec-b6b36901e612 Flatten
5a7f944c-3d79-4e0c-82f5-04844e5dc653 Flatten + MaskClassMap
1f2baab1-4132-416e-8f6f-28abe79cd60b MaskClassMap
46bfb3bd-ce68-418e-8112-feba17428ace Flatten + MaskClassMap + ExcludeAG
18580a63-fc8f-4a02-a622-8a1e073e627b Flatten + ExcludeAG
594e70c8-06a5-4e3f-be6e-4dbf50b49d11 MaskClassMap + ExcludeAG

-Doug

I have the source for the program and it uses the "Flatten + MaskClassMap + ExcludeAG" GUID. I also have only a single polygon per file.

George

 

[DougMatthews]

I have the source for the program and it uses the "Flatten + MaskClassMap + ExcludeAG" GUID. I also have only a single polygon per file.

George

If that's the flavor of polygon you desire, great! Just want people to know that it is possible to get any combination of those behaviors depending on the GUID that is used. Seems like I'm seeing posts stating they are creating two polygons where one would do. I'm not familiar with Bln2Shp but it might be nice if the user could specify what they were desiring to avoid editing the Shapefile's dbf file.

-Doug

 

[GHD]

Thanks again Doug,

I have been in touch with the author and his main computer will be out of action for a couple of weeks. He does know of the problem and I'm sure he will provide a solution given time.

George

 

[GHD]

I'm afraid there are further problems. The FSX default and coastlines are not particularly accurate. At Cardiff, Wales, I have created a more sensible flatten but the default extends beyond the coastline and is not overridden by mine. The only solution I can see is to inhibit 0501 base.

Flattens:



0501 base enabled:



0501 base inhibited:



George

 

[DougMatthews]

I'm afraid there are further problems. The FSX default and coastlines are not particularly accurate. At Cardiff, Wales, I have created a more sensible flatten but the default extends beyond the coastline and is not overridden by mine. The only solution I can see is to inhibit 0501 base.

Please don't disable the default scenery!

You need to use a vector exclusion (EXX) to suppress the default flatten. It will live in the same BGL file as your new flatten.

Please see Terrain SDK Example 2 which replaces a default flatten. It is EXACTLY what you need to do here (but at a different airport).

-Doug

 

[GHD]

Ahh, thanks for that Doug. Presumably the polygon height doesn't affect the exclusion so I can just enclose the default AB at height zero?

George

 

[DougMatthews]

Ahh, thanks for that Doug. Presumably the polygon height doesn't affect the exclusion so I can just enclose the default AB at height zero?

George

Vector Exclusion polygons don't need elevation (the example does have it because I was lazy and used a flatten Shapefile as a template) - Shp2Vec will ignore it.

Vector Exclusions are entirely done with bounding boxes (for runtime perf). If the bounding box of the exclusion polygon intersects the bounding box of a vector feature of the target type it will exclude.

Keep in mind that the Vector shapes are clipped on level 11. Look at the shape(s) you desire to exclude using TmfViewer. If they have been clipped, your exclusion polygon's bounding box needs to intersect all of the sub-pieces.

And remember that Vector Exclusions only apply to scenery lower in priority than the file containing the exclusion.

-Doug

 

[GHD]

Thanks again Doug, that's perfectly clear.

George

ps. It worked perfectly:

 

[osman]

Hi,
this is indeed much better than it was in FS9. I know of many places in the FS world where the flattens of the original MS scenery produce very ugly effects, so there is now a good way to get rid of them. And this seems to be true not only for airport flattens, but for misplaced coastlines too, whereas in FS9 you could move the coastline by doing corrected water lwm polygons, but that left a land surface at level 0 where there had been water before. And again: there are apparently quite a number of places in FS X where you find strange effects because the mesh is in the correct place, but the coastlines are not, and thus you get cliffs above the shoreline where in reality there is a smooth slope form the hills to the shore. One of the worst cases known to me is Istanbul in Turkey, which is looking very strange in FS X because of this effect.

 

[A319]

Hi guys and gals (are there any?),

I don't know if eveybody knows this, if not great, if the do sorry for double-posting.

The only way I managed to flatten the FSX ground was using an LWM flatten in Ground2k. I don't know about SBuild as I do not have it.

Also the only way I managed to exclude the autogen was creating a new VTP2 Poly.

I don't know if it's the only way, if not please post other ways to do this task as I'm sure interested in learning all ins and outs of the FSX engine.

Kindly,

Blazer

Hello Blazer. How does one go about creating a VTP 2 Poly? or an LWM flatten? Where can I find Ground 2K. Sorry for the simple questions, but I am relatively new to scenery development and am trying to learn as much as possible. I am designing my own airport in FSX and will need to exclude the autogen trees (everything else has already excluded), and flatten the area, as the terrain is rather hilly. Thanks for your help. Roman

 

[bertvk]

Exclusion and Autogen in FSX Please EXplain?

I have done the FSX AUTOGEN QUICK FIX
(using the FS9 default.xml instead of the FSxorginal)
Here is my report and conclusion:
I have attached 4 screenprints of my own cityscenerydesign
made for FS9(incl a excludefile) and just linked in the FSXscenerylibrary.

BEFORE the Autogen Fix:
1.FSXwithFSXautogen Autogen-SliderZero.jpg (24.5F/s)
Here you see exactly my design.

2.FSXwithFSXautogen Autogen-SliderParse.jpg (15.1F/s)
Here you see that in FSX the exclusionfile form FS9 DOESNOT work here.Buildings are interfering.

3.FSXwithFSXautogen Autogen-SliderFull.jpg (14.8F/s)
The same remarks as 2.

AFTER the Autogen Fix:
4.FSXwithFS9autogen Autogen-SliderFull.jpg (16.5F/s)
NO autogen trees and not so nice autogen"block"buildings.
Framerates only 2 F/s improved...

BUT another thing i haved noticed and which is more important at the moment (as long as i cannot produce a good working exclusionfile for FSX):
The original FS9exclusionfile seems to work here; no more
interfering from the buildings.
I cannot understand why this exclusionfile did work after
the Autogen Quick Fix operation and not before.

Is there a SceneryDesignGuru who can explain me why/how

this works; I really like to know how FSX works.
Thanks in advance.
Bert

 

[rhumbaflappy]

Hi Bert.

You'd have much better luck starting your own thread concerning this.

Also, the "FSX AUTOGEN QUICK FIX" has no meaning for most of us. There are at least half a dozen "fixes", some are not very good at all. So give us some more info and links in your new thread, and we can go from there.

Dick