MSFS MSFS Toolkit by Nool Aerosystems

[Christian Bahr]

Good morning, a little feedback from me

Your tool works perfectly, the results are very satisfactory:

The LIDAR data is so precise that it can be used to map the entire airport area. There are hardly any terraforming polygons/rectangles necessary. All data was derived from 1m LIDAR elevation data, which was available in ASCII format and processed into a 1.78GB GeoTiff file. A 5m-10m mesh is expected to be used for the 280m² urban area, and a 1m mesh is used for the airport as things stand.

The airport I am currently working at has a very steep natural gradient and it has an elevated GAT area. Almost everything can be left like this without post-processing:

The elevation profile of the runway. It is exactly as it is in reality

Before that, there were slight deformations in the runway (ditches/kinks). But now they're gone and the runway is perfect

@Paavo
At this point, a very big thank you. You are doing a great service with your work!

 

[Paavo]

Wow, this looks amazing!
I used to pass a runway almost daily and I always missed the slightly wavy look that real runways have.

 

[mottoth]

Some more (positive) feedback: I used both aerial and elev tools on this project. I already posted about the DEM correction, using not-so-hi-res SRTM 1" data to patch Asobo terrain.
I also re-done the aerial with more recent imagery, and played with the blend parameter: I set 200m (much over the 30m default setting), and the result is so good that it hardly needs color correction:

With some light color correction (greener), SRTM data, and ad-hoc terraforming polys/rectangles (airport has been built after the SRTM mission):

Thanks again for this powerful and much conveniant tool.

 

[Kelvin Richardson]

Hey Paavo,

I'm getting this error when processing a 1m tif file.

NZ DEM test
===========
Creates a DEM project, writes mesh files and compiles them into a MSFS package.

Required components:
* MSFS Toolkit by Nool Aerosystems (v0.45 or newer, installed and added to PATH)
* MSFS SDK

Press any key to continue . . .

Creating project...
=======================================================================================================================
MSFS PROJECT TOOL NOOL AEROSYSTEMS OÜ
Personal license - for non-commercial use only https://www.nool.ee/
=======================================================================================================================

New file: PackageDefinitions\noolaero-dem-nz.xml
New file: noolaero-dem-nz.xml

Task complete

Writing DEM...
=======================================================================================================================
MSFS AIRPORT ELEVATION TOOL NOOL AEROSYSTEMS OÜ
Personal license - for non-commercial use only https://www.nool.ee/
=======================================================================================================================

Collecting imagery
Found 1 images
Imagery has 1.0 m resolution
Output will be 1.0 m
Initializing grid
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "E:\msfs-toolkit-0.49\msfs_elev.py", line 342, in <module>
sys.exit(main(sys.argv[1:]))
File "E:\msfs-toolkit-0.49\msfs_elev.py", line 120, in main
rects = rect_grid.Cells(args.res)
File "E:\msfs-toolkit-0.49\noolaero\grid.py", line 280, in Cells
if intsc.IsEmpty():
AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'IsEmpty'

Could you let me know what I need to check.

File:

92N8P-92LJ0.zip

drive.google.com

Thanks in advance.

 

[Paavo]

Hey Paavo,

I'm getting this error when processing a 1m tif file.

NZ DEM test
===========
Creates a DEM project, writes mesh files and compiles them into a MSFS package.

Required components:
* MSFS Toolkit by Nool Aerosystems (v0.45 or newer, installed and added to PATH)
* MSFS SDK

Press any key to continue . . .

Creating project...
=======================================================================================================================
MSFS PROJECT TOOL NOOL AEROSYSTEMS OÜ
Personal license - for non-commercial use only https://www.nool.ee/
=======================================================================================================================

New file: PackageDefinitions\noolaero-dem-nz.xml
New file: noolaero-dem-nz.xml

Task complete

Writing DEM...
=======================================================================================================================
MSFS AIRPORT ELEVATION TOOL NOOL AEROSYSTEMS OÜ
Personal license - for non-commercial use only https://www.nool.ee/
=======================================================================================================================

Collecting imagery
Found 1 images
Imagery has 1.0 m resolution
Output will be 1.0 m
Initializing grid
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "E:\msfs-toolkit-0.49\msfs_elev.py", line 342, in <module>
sys.exit(main(sys.argv[1:]))
File "E:\msfs-toolkit-0.49\msfs_elev.py", line 120, in main
rects = rect_grid.Cells(args.res)
File "E:\msfs-toolkit-0.49\noolaero\grid.py", line 280, in Cells
if intsc.IsEmpty():
AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'IsEmpty'

Could you let me know what I need to check.

File:

92N8P-92LJ0.zip

drive.google.com

Thanks in advance.

There is nothing wrong with your file.

I ran this command and it produced a valid mesh:

msfs elev -imagery "92N8P-92LJ0.tif" -border "border.shp" "mesh.xml"

Attached is the border I used (just a random box over the imagery).

 

[elysion]

Hi there, I always get the same error. I tried different Aerial sources, but to no avail. thanks

 

[Paavo]

Are all the input TIFs 3-band RGB images?
File names suggest that some of them are single-band elevation files.

 

[elysion]

Are all the input TIFs 3-band RGB images?
File names suggest that some of them are single-band elevation files.

Hi Paavo
I dont know that. I just used data with geotiff content as it said in the description. From where can I get DEM data with 3-band RGB Tifs? Thanks
Stephan

 

[Paavo]

aerial tool is for placing orthoimagery onto the terrain and it requires standard three-band red-green-blue sources.
If you want to create a DEM, then use elev tool with single-band sources.

 

[elysion]

Ok thanks for the explanation, makes sense!
I used your tutorial for the aerial so I guess I should be using aerial 3-band RGB Tiffs then..cheers

 

[elysion]

aerial tool is for placing orthoimagery onto the terrain and it requires standard three-band red-green-blue sources.
If you want to create a DEM, then use elev tool with single-band sources.

So I tried now an elevation DEM geotiff off the Earthdata source website. Then I got this error message. The source is an ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003

 

[Paavo]

Check that you have entered a valid name for the output XML file ("mesh.xml" in this case), eg from a previous post:

msfs elev -imagery "92N8P-92LJ0.tif" -border "border.shp" "mesh.xml"

It has to be a file name, not a folder.

 

[Pasha]

Hi Paavo- Is it possible for your tool to create water transparency mask for tropical islands? The problem is while aerial imagery of the reefs are available inside sim, those are covered with default water/ocean. Somehow the water transparency cannot be edited from SDK or BGL. The only route to solve this (for now) is creating hundreds of thin strips of water so it remains transparent enough - very much labor intensive. After much searching I came into a file named WaterBlurMasks.cgl inside fs-base-cgl folder, and further confirmed by a post I found that particular file is responsible for water masking. I don't really understand of CGL structure, but I think you already dig much deeper into CGLs So is it possible to tweak transparency parameter of water polygon/mesh using your software. Thanks!

 

[Kenny Chen]

Hi Paavo- Is it possible for your tool to create water transparency mask for tropical islands? The problem is while aerial imagery of the reefs are available inside sim, those are covered with default water/ocean. Somehow the water transparency cannot be edited from SDK or BGL. The only route to solve this (for now) is creating hundreds of thin strips of water so it remains transparent enough - very much labor intensive. After much searching I came into a file named WaterBlurMasks.cgl inside fs-base-cgl folder, and further confirmed by a post I found that particular file is responsible for water masking. I don't really understand of CGL structure, but I think you already dig much deeper into CGLs So is it possible to tweak transparency parameter of water polygon/mesh using your software. Thanks!

wow, I also have such request. I read another thread the author have successfully made water mask but his way is to replace those asobo files with his own edition. If your way is good enough and no performance impact, I think the possible temporary solution may be let us define shape file for shallow water and Paavo’s tool can use it to create numbers of strips water based on the shape for us. It’s not a perfect solution but may be a good temporary one.

 

[Pasha]

wow, I also have such request. I read another thread the author have successfully made water mask but his way is to replace those asobo files with his own edition. If your way is good enough and no performance impact, I think the possible temporary solution may be let us define shape file for shallow water and Paavo’s tool can use it to create numbers of strips water based on the shape for us. It’s not a perfect solution but may be a good temporary one.

That solution is also plausible, but the drawback is light reflection isn't uniform, much like zebra pattern. Actually what I have in mind is, whether Paavo's tool can generate the CGL like Asobo did with some water masks that only change water properties to transparent for a pre-defined polygon (handmade polygon). Asobo did create water masks manually but I don't know what extra tool they have to make this possible. I can't dig deeper into the file since I don't understand much after this point. If anyone can decompress the water mask CGL then we can learn more about terrain system. When someone can conquer this roadblock, 3rd party devs can do many great things

 

[Kenny Chen]

That solution is also plausible, but the drawback is light reflection isn't uniform, much like zebra pattern. Actually what I have in mind is, whether Paavo's tool can generate the CGL like Asobo did with some water masks that only change water properties to transparent for a pre-defined polygon (handmade polygon). Asobo did create water masks manually but I don't know what extra tool they have to make this possible. I can't dig deeper into the file since I don't understand much after this point. If anyone can decompress the water mask CGL then we can learn more about terrain system. When someone can conquer this roadblock, 3rd party devs can do many great things

After quick test of your method manually for coral reef, it really not an ideal way I have to admit. Looks like CGL solution is still the ultimate goal.

 

[Paavo]

Create an account and give your vote to this topic on MSFS developer support platform:

Proper water exclusion and ocean transperant masking (water mask tools) - MSFS DevSupport

Enterprise solution for all your Social Q&A needs.

devsupport.flightsimulator.com

Currently, even the basic land/water masking appears broken, otherwise I would have provided a tool long time ago.

 

[Kenny Chen]

Create an account and give your vote to this topic on MSFS developer support platform:

Proper water exclusion and ocean transperant masking (water mask tools) - MSFS DevSupport

Enterprise solution for all your Social Q&A needs.

devsupport.flightsimulator.com

Currently, even the basic land/water masking appears broken, otherwise I would have provided a tool long time ago.

Vote and reply done. Wish Asobo can solve this.

 

[Pasha]

Create an account and give your vote to this topic on MSFS developer support platform:

Proper water exclusion and ocean transperant masking (water mask tools) - MSFS DevSupport

Enterprise solution for all your Social Q&A needs.

devsupport.flightsimulator.com

Currently, even the basic land/water masking appears broken, otherwise I would have provided a tool long time ago.

Done, this is certainly possible proven by Asobo can create water masks with transparent water texture. I don't believe this is hard to do (for Asobo), just when they will release this inside SDK. This particular thing alone will make the sim/addons multiple times better. Well for now we can only wait

 

[Paavo]

Version 0.50 is now out:

Releases · noolaero/msfs-toolkit

A collection of content creation tools for Microsoft Flight Simulator. - noolaero/msfs-toolkit

github.com

Before v0.50, runway profiles were intended for use with high resolution sources like 5 m LIDAR data, which does not need interpolation. Raw values were read directly from elevation values and it gave good results. When used with low resolution sources like this 100m example, it created a stepping effect and noticable bumps along the runway:

With the interpolation introduced in v0.50, the same 100m source gives this result:

It is surprisingly close to what you can get from a 1m source:

On top of that, v0.50 contains experimental watermask tool. Feed border shape and water polygons into the tool and will output terrain shapefiles that you can directly copy to your project and use as a watermask to alter where water and land appear.

Below are golf courses near EEPU with custom aerial imagery + custom watermasking that matches the imagery very closely:

A detailed example will follow in a few days.