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FSXA How to LOD with numerous objects in a single .BGL?

K

Kack911

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unitedstates
Hello all,

My scenery project is progressing very nicely, but I've come to a point where I'm not sure how to proceed.

I have several .BGL's for my scenery, one for my background image tiles, one for my pavement, one for my runway markings, and another for my buildings and structures.

I have at least 150 buildings spread across the airport, with some being separated by nearly 4 miles. I've created the buildings at a "medium" level of detail, but I want to creat many small details that appear when close to each building.

It occurs to me that if I create more detailed models as various LOD's, then the entire airport will increase/decrease detail as an aggregrate. Obviously, this is not the desired effect. I'd like each building to increase/decrease detail based on my distance from only that object, not the reference point for the whole scenery.

How do I maintain a single .BGL file, but specify LOD models for each building?

All of the buildings have been carefully placed within 3DS Max to coincide precisely with the background imagery. I fear that I won't be able to be as accurate (not to mention the workload) of placing hundreds of individual .MDL's using OPT or some other tool.

Anyone care to share your techniques on dealing with this problem?

Thanks!

Nick
 
Hi,
the LOD is refering to the angular size of the object in the sim. The object means the gmax (3ds) project. So you cannot have "local" LODs in a global project.
You must subdivide your project.
Furthermore, to avoid display issues you should care that each sub project is centered on the reference point.
 
Hi Alain,

I was afraid of that.

I assume the display issues you mention only come into play when using LOD models correct? As it stands right now, with all of the buildings in a single .BGL, and the reference point (Scene Origin) at the threshold of one of the runways, everything displays just fine.

Anyway, surely I won't be required to have hundreds of .BGL files...one for each structure, right? That doesn't seem too efficient.

Nick
 
Hi
I mean if you divide your project into several zones without centering each one on the reference point, you might experience issues in drawing order wether you lod or not.
 
Oh, I misunderstood! :o

That makes perfect sense. I'll try dividing my scene into quadrants as opposed to making each building a separate scene.

Thanks, Alain.

Nick
 
Hi Nick,

Each object will have to become its own MDL file, with the origin locally at the center. Even without using LODs, so in your current situation, that would be better for the performance. With everything in one MDL file FS has to draw everything or nothing. With separate MDL files it can be decided per object.

Having a lot of MDL files does not mean having a lot of BGL files as well. You can put them all in the same scenery library BGL. It is quite common to have one library and one BGL for the placement of the objects.
 
Thanks Arno,

I guess I'm just upset that I'm going to have to manually place several hundred objects when I had already done that work once (in 3ds Max).

I'll get over it...

Several additional questions though:

What tool do you guys use for object placement? The OPT from the SDK?

How does one create a single .BGL containing numerous .MDL's using this tool?

What is the process for getting an .mdl out of 3ds Max 8? (I've been exporting my scenes as .x and using the FS2002 MakeMDL to create .asm files which are then compiled into .bgl's using BGLC.)

Is there a tutorial for exporting .mdl's that contain LOD's?

Thanks everyone.

Nick
 
Hi Nick,

Kack911 said:
What tool do you guys use for object placement? The OPT from the SDK?
Click to expand...

I use WishPlacer most of the time, the OPT has a terrible GUI.

Kack911 said:
How does one create a single .BGL containing numerous .MDL's using this tool?
Click to expand...

I usually make a library BGL out of the MDL files. You can use the Library Creator XML tool for that. Then I make a second BGL file that does the placement, you are referring to the objects in the library BGL in that case. If you mix placement and the MDL files in one BGL they become geo-locked, which means you can not call them elsewhere. Sometimes this might be OK, but in general I prefer to have a library with only objects and no placement code.

Kack911 said:
What is the process for getting an .mdl out of 3ds Max 8? (I've been exporting my scenes as .x and using the FS2002 MakeMDL to create .asm files which are then compiled into .bgl's using BGLC.)
Click to expand...

The right way is to export as X file with the FS plugin. Then you compile that X file with XtoMDL into a MDL file in the FSX format. This MDL file can then be put in the library or placed.

Kack911 said:
Is there a tutorial for exporting .mdl's that contain LOD's?
Click to expand...

The exporting it exactly the same, you just need to be sure that the LODs are named correctly. See the Modelling SDK for details.
 
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