Multiple ProjectedMesh

[BMW969]

The last update caused problems with the ProjectedMesh. Has anyone got a response from ASOBO? How to fix it ?

 

[manwlo]

So it seems I 'm not alone anymore .
This is very weird. I managed to place a maximum of two projected meshes without having a crash. Sometimes if the polygons are more complex and/or with more materials it either crashes or not showing after the package build.
I also noticed the following.
This is how a projected mesh entry looked like before the last update:

<ProjectedMesh priority="0" drawOrder="APRON" surface="ASPHALT" groundMerging="FALSE">
<!--SceneryObject name: asphalt01-->
<SceneryObject lat="35.53169899511140" lon="24.14974258575504" alt="0.00000000000000" pitch="-0.228149" bank="0.303937" heading="-179.950008" imageComplexity="VERY_SPARSE" altitudeIsAgl="TRUE" snapToGround="TRUE" snapToNormal="FALSE">
<NoShadow/>
<LibraryObject name="{8F01E3C1-F198-4C92-A2B5-C1478CBF1B94}" scale="1.000000"/>
</SceneryObject>
</ProjectedMesh>

If a projected mesh is added after the last update this is how it looks like:

<ProjectedMesh priority="0" groupIndex="1" drawOrder="APRON" surface="ASPHALT" groundMerging="FALSE">
<!--SceneryObject name: asphalt01-->
<SceneryObject lat="35.53169899511140" lon="24.14974258575504" alt="0.00000000000000" pitch="-0.228149" bank="0.303937" heading="-179.950008" imageComplexity="VERY_SPARSE" altitudeIsAgl="TRUE" snapToGround="TRUE" snapToNormal="FALSE">
<NoShadow/>
<LibraryObject name="{8F01E3C1-F198-4C92-A2B5-C1478CBF1B94}" scale="1.000000"/>
</SceneryObject>
</ProjectedMesh>

However, If more than one projected meshes are added in the scene then one of those does NOT have the entry groupIndex="xxx" in it's code (i.e for six entries there are five with and one without).
Adding it manually does NOT solve the problem and causes a CTD either during package build or load in editor.

Maybe someone could figure out if this is where the problem is or if it is something more complex

-=Manwlo=-

 

[clements]

It looks like the groupIndex entry is added to all objects in the scene with 0.10.0.0. It starts with "1" and increments by 1 for each object in the scene. It appears that the values need to be sequential with similar objects. In my file ProjectedMesh gets the first groupIndex values, then TaxiwayPath, TaxiwaySign, Runway, Helipad, Apron, TaxiPoint, etc. My last groupIndex value is 358. I tried manually adding a ProjectedMesh tag to my file and set the groupIndex to 359 and I got a CTD. If changed the value to 5 (following the last ProjectedMesh with a groupIndex of 4) and commented out the object with a groupIndex of 4, the file loaded just fine. So, each groupIndex needs to be renumbered which, of course, is very difficult to do manually.

 

[rhumbaflappy]

Projected Mesh gave me a CTD from the Dev Mode Editor. Broken.

 

[manwlo]

There are some new buttons at the dev mode (up and down arrows) that define hierarchy.
Is it possible that they do the sequential count for us if we move the entries with them?
I will try it later

-=Manwlo=-

 

[Christian Bahr]

I could no longer load one of my projects. It was due to the number of projected mesh.

I had CTD's in the Scenery Editor when loading the assets (load this asset group), if I had more than 3 projected meshes. I solved it by combining all ground polys into a single 3-D model and exporting them as a single glTF file. Before that I had loaded several glTF models in the scenery. The Scenery Editor no longer crashes and the project could be created without any problems.

So the problem seems to be projected mesh when more than 3 projected mesh's are to be loaded in the scenery editor.

 

[BMW969]

I could no longer load one of my projects. It was due to the number of projected mesh.

I had CTD's in the Scenery Editor when loading the assets (load this asset group), if I had more than 3 projected meshes. I solved it by combining all ground polys into a single 3-D model and exporting them as a single glTF file. Before that I had loaded several glTF models in the scenery. The Scenery Editor no longer crashes and the project could be created without any problems.

So the problem seems to be projected mesh when more than 3 projected mesh's are to be loaded in the scenery editor.

How do you assign the polygon overlay hierarchy within one file?

 

[manwlo]

How do you assign the polygon overlay hierarchy within one file?

My question too. I also managed to merge to one 3D model and it worked.
I made the material decal so that the material order is effective.
Despite that, the runway lines were above the skids.
I placed asphalt as 0 lines as 1 and skids as 2. Do I miss something? If the higher number means lower priority then I should see only asphalt (it is opaque) but everything was there in the wrong hierarchy

-=Manwlo=-

 

[Christian Bahr]

How do you assign the polygon overlay hierarchy within one file?

I usually set the order in the material settings. But in this case I didn't need to set a priority, as the layout just consists of the ground markings like taxilines and boundary lines. In the Scenery Editor, the ProjectedMesh has the lowest priority 0.

 

[manwlo]

I usually set the order in the material settings. But in this case I didn't need to set a priority, as the layout just consists of the ground markings like taxilines and boundary lines. In the Scenery Editor, the ProjectedMesh has the lowest priority 0.

View attachment 69358

Do you know if the order is like FSX or P3D? Higher number means higher or lower priority?
Regards,
-=Manwlo=-

 

[Christian Bahr]

Do you know if the order is like FSX or P3D? Higher number means higher or lower priority?
Regards,
-=Manwlo=-

You mean the draw order in the material settings? I'm not so sure anymore whether this function also applies to projected mesh. The documentation for Draw Order states:

"Render parameters
Draw Order
Material types: decal, windshield, glass.

This value modifies the sorting order. The value can range from from -999 to 999. This can be used to avoid rendering artifacts such as flickering when multiple transparent or decal material types are on top of eachother in the rendered output."

So it may well be that this function applies to Decals. I am not sure though.

 

[614NLV]

Higher number means higher or lower priority?

higher
a polygon with priority=1
has priority than a polygon with priority=0

 

[manwlo]

higher
a polygon with priority=1
has priority than a polygon with priority=0

It didn't seem to affect the priority but I will do another check since there are more than one materials.

Thanks a lot

-=Manwlo=-

 

[Sasa]

Always good to know if you're not alone.
Initially I was a bit puzzled when seeing that some other 3rd party sceneries weren't suffering from the same problem. Apparently they are working with only one projected mesh, which works just fine.

So in my case I wend ahead and had to order the materials (inside a sub-material) in 3DS to match the ordering I wanted and then everything was fine again (strangely the "draw order"field inside the materials didn't work at all for me, not matter which way around I put in the numbers, the only thing that seems to work is the ordering of the materials itself). Important: Everything had to be into merged ONE object for the ordering to work.
Which is of course a lot more complicated if you have the same materials used on various layers. You can just copy/paste them but this will likely result in additional draw calls and thus having a slight impact on performance.

 

[manwlo]

Always good to know if you're not alone.
Initially I was a bit puzzled when seeing that some other 3rd party sceneries weren't suffering from the same problem. Apparently they are working with only one projected mesh, which works just fine.

So in my case I wend ahead and had to order the materials (inside a sub-material) in 3DS to match the ordering I wanted and then everything was fine again (strangely the "draw order"field inside the materials didn't work at all for me, not matter which way around I put in the numbers, the only thing that seems to work is the ordering of the materials itself). Important: Everything had to be into merged ONE object for the ordering to work.
Which is of course a lot more complicated if you have the same materials used on various layers. You can just copy/paste them but this will likely result in additional draw calls and thus having a slight impact on performance.

So you mean attach them all together to make ONE editable poly and apply the texture to each element?

 

[Sasa]

So you mean attach them all together to make ONE editable poly and apply the texture to each element?

Basically yes. Merge them together in either one editable poly or one editable mesh and manage the materials by submaterial numbers (with the lowest numbers having the lowest priority).
Worked for me.

I was a bit perplexed to see that all addons from the MS Store I checked didn't have this problem.
So it might be one of the checks that MS does before accepting one addon to their store (with not using multiple projected meshes being a requirement). But that is just a wild guess at the moment.

Downside from what I can see though is that you can only apply one material type (e.g. asphalt) to each individual projected mesh.

 

[manwlo]

If you already have a compiled .bgl it works fine. If you need to open the asset group with the projected mesh or create a new one then there is a problem.

My project consists of 20 different editable polys with one material in each. I m trying to merge them with the attach button but this function creates several multi object materials. Is there a way to merge them and each polygon keeps it's material?

Regards,

-=Manwlo=-

 

[Sasa]

My project consists of 20 different editable polys with one material in each. I m trying to merge them with the attach button but this function creates several multi object materials. Is there a way to merge them and each polygon keeps it's material?

Not that I know of. You need to copy/paste the existing materials in a newly created list of submaterials. Then assign that multimaterial to your objects, select all polygons of an object and apply the respective material ID to the object. Once that is done you can merge them. As they will all use the same material slot (the one with the sumaterials), they will all keep their assigned materials.

Here's how it's done:

• If not already the case, you need to switch to "compact material editor" for following this.
  
  
  
  
  
• Choose an empty slot or one you don't need anymore. Click on "Standard", then create multimaterial:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Discard old materials when prompted.
  
  Now you have a list with submaterials:
  
  
  
  
  
• Choose the material you want to copy. Then right click on the "FlightSim" (assuming it's a Flightsim material)
  
  
  
  
  
• Then paste into a submaterial slot of your choice (right click on "none", then paste).

Once you have all materials in your list, you can assign them to the objects and assign the appropiate material IDs to the polygons.

 

[manwlo]

thank you very much for the detailed description and for your time!

-=Manwlo=-

 

[manwlo]

Hi there

One object with one multi-material works fine for me too. The hierarchy of the textures is being reflected from the sub material number. The higher the number the higher the priority.
I also tried standard or decal materials with more than one objects (in one projected mesh) and it did NOT work.

-=Manwlo=-