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FSX KML 1.05 released

M

MatthewS

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australia
v1.05 has been released.

Please see the WIKI for download instructions and manual
http://fsdeveloper.agerrius.nl/wiki/index.php?title=FSX_KML#Downloading_FSX_KML



=== v1.05 Beta - 21st Jan 2007 ===

New features and issues resolved:-

* Added "Automatically Reverse Points In Polygon Holes" build option. This option will auto reverse points for polygon holes when creating the shape file. Apparently Google Earth always writes polygons in a clockwise fashion to the KML file irrespective of which way they are actually drawn in Google Earth. This option simplifies the creation of polygon holes because you no longer need to manually reverse point order in FSX KML. Option is on by default.
* Added "Output Folder" build option. This lets you specify the folder where files are written during the build process
* Fixed error when loading the saved list of KML files and a KML file can longer be found.

=== v1.05.1 Beta - 21st Jan 2007 ===

* Fixed bug where directory would not be changed prior to running the batch file
 
Last edited:
Hey Matthew.
Just a quickie. I didn't know if this deserved a new topic, so here it goes. Before I forget, thanks for the version - that was fast!
I just found a very tiny bug, but which can cause some headaches. The batch file generated by FSXKML (for my scenery) is this:
Code: 
@echo off
"C:\Games\SDK\SDK\Environment Kit\Terrain SDK\Shp2Vec" "." "RSRSX" -ADDTOCELLS
copy "cvxRSRSX.BGL" "C:\Games\FSX\Addon Scenery\Scenery"
pause

Problem is, this process is started by FSXKML.exe and, at least in my system, starts in the same path of the FSXKML exe. So, unless someone specified the same folder as FSXKML for output, it will fail.
My suggestion? Just put a line after the @echo off, containing a "CD {absoulte output path}". This would guarantee that the compilation will work and that the BGL file is generated at the same folder as the output shapefiles.
Sorry to bother you and thank you very much for everything.

Rafael
 
Rafael said:
Hey Matthew.
Just a quickie. I didn't know if this deserved a new topic, so here it goes. Before I forget, thanks for the version - that was fast!
I just found a very tiny bug, but which can cause some headaches. The batch file generated by FSXKML (for my scenery) is this:
Code: 
@echo off
"C:\Games\SDK\SDK\Environment Kit\Terrain SDK\Shp2Vec" "." "RSRSX" -ADDTOCELLS
copy "cvxRSRSX.BGL" "C:\Games\FSX\Addon Scenery\Scenery"
pause

Problem is, this process is started by FSXKML.exe and, at least in my system, starts in the same path of the FSXKML exe. So, unless someone specified the same folder as FSXKML for output, it will fail.
My suggestion? Just put a line after the @echo off, containing a "CD {absoulte output path}". This would guarantee that the compilation will work and that the BGL file is generated at the same folder as the output shapefiles.
Sorry to bother you and thank you very much for everything.

Rafael
Click to expand...



Thanks... I have be unable to actually test the build process, since I'm not at home and am making these changes on my laptop (which does not have FSX installed) :)

I've patched 1.05 (should now say 1.05.1 in help/about box).
http://www.innovasoftware.com/fsx/fsx_kml_105.zip

Rather than change the batch file, I made FSX KML change directory before running the batch file, and then restore the directory afterwards. Can you test and see if it's ok?

Did you find any other issues?

Thanks for all your help.

PS: It would be interesting to see a screen shot of your river and islands if you get the chance.
 
Wow. I never expected such a quick reply, not to mention such a quick fix.
My brief testing seem to show it's working fine. Thanks!
A screenshot of a part of my project is attached. This is just one of the islands that actually are in this river. The image definition in the screenshot doesn't do much justice to the complexity of the data used - much of these polygons are comprised of several hundred vertices, and FSXKML worked pretty well with all of them (I haven't managed to get an overflow error... yet :) ). Your program is really good (and let's not forget about shapelib too).
Thanks a lot, Matthew.
 

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Rafael said:
Wow. I never expected such a quick reply, not to mention such a quick fix.
My brief testing seem to show it's working fine. Thanks!
A screenshot of a part of my project is attached. This is just one of the islands that actually are in this river. The image definition in the screenshot doesn't do much justice to the complexity of the data used - much of these polygons are comprised of several hundred vertices, and FSXKML worked pretty well with all of them (I haven't managed to get an overflow error... yet :) ). Your program is really good (and let's not forget about shapelib too).
Thanks a lot, Matthew.
Click to expand...


Yes.. good old shapelib, thank heavens for that :)

Actually, I notice FSX KML is a little slow processing polygons with lots of vertices's. I try to optimize it next build.
 
Rafael said:
Wow. I never expected such a quick reply, not to mention such a quick fix.
My brief testing seem to show it's working fine. Thanks!
A screenshot of a part of my project is attached. This is just one of the islands that actually are in this river. The image definition in the screenshot doesn't do much justice to the complexity of the data used - much of these polygons are comprised of several hundred vertices, and FSXKML worked pretty well with all of them (I haven't managed to get an overflow error... yet :) ). Your program is really good (and let's not forget about shapelib too).
Thanks a lot, Matthew.
Click to expand...

Wow Rafael. Your polygons are very smooth. You used lots of points.

Microsoft ran their data through a smoothing program. I guess that's good if you're doing a massively large area. For us, I guess we can specify many many vertices instead.
 
That's a lot of points indeed, Rhett. That's because I imported many of these shapes from a highly detailed digital chart of the city. At first I intended to smooth these polygons out a little, in order to reduce the vertice count. But then I gave it a try using them the way they were and eventually that's how they stood. EDIT: I still may someday reprocess these polys - there's indeed a performance hit, but nothing unlike a detailed area in a default scenery city.
I am enclosing two screenshots, one shows clearly the difference in complexity between the areas which I imported from the charts ands the ones I digitized myself. The second one shows a more general overview, with all of the several islands. Even with that level of complexity FSXKML took just a little over a second to convert (in an Athlon XP 2700).
 

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That is good to know that you found a performance hit by using many many vertices. I have not done any testing in this regard but I will take your findings into consideration.

In my project (San Juan River, Nicaragua), I have tried to make things look smooth and natural and yet be accurate to the real world river. Sometimes that is difficult to do without resorting to massive numbers of vertices.

Still, in a remote region such as what I am working in, performance is not as big an issue, fortunately.
 
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