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FSXA Placing objects + groundpoly which share the same ref point - displacement problem

Thunderbolt

Thunderbolt

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germany
Hey there,

I'm still working on converting San Pedro de Atacama for FSX.
The source data I'm working with is the same I used for FS9 which worked fine back then.

All objects are in a single gmax-file (groundpolys, buildings, different objects).
They all share the same ref-point (0,0,0) and for FS9 I simply exported them and changed "lat + lon" in the xml-file to the correct ref-coordinates, which means I have a ref-point in GMAX and one in FS9 -> no placement problems, no placing by hand, everything fits accurate to the millimeter together...

For FSX I replaced all the old materials with new FlightSimX-materials and exported as usual.
But for the groundpoly (using MCX wizard) I needed to convert the coordinates into another format:

lat="-22 54.7285" lon="-68 10.1167"

=> -22.912142 -68.168612

the groundpoly shows up nicely in FSX but every other object (and the AFCAD) I'm placing with the same coordinates as the groundpoly via MCX doesn't fit to each other anymore (~10m displacement)! And I'm not getting it...
Is there a problem with the ref-point in GMAX?

I even compiled a xml using the old coordinate system (one normally uses in makemdl.exe) to see what I get.
The displacement of the objects on the groundpoly isn't that huge anymore (~1m) but its still there.
I think the reason for this could be that the conversion between the coordinate formats isn't that accurate!?
But if that is the case: Why do objects placed with MCX show up that displaced using ONE and the same coordinate system for each single object?


:confused:

Or do you have suggestions for a completly new way of object placement for me?

Any kind of help is greatly appreciated, I really got stuck here...finally...
 
Hi,

Two things come to mind here.

Recently I increased the amount of decimal places you can specify in ModelConverterX. That should help a bit to keep it more precise, but that won't matter 10 meters.

Another thing is the curved earth in FSX. The ground polygons are adjusted for this curve of the earth. But if you would export all your buildings as one MDL file as well, they will not line up with the ground polygons, since they are not adjusted for the curve. The further you get from the reference point, the bigger the offset will become.
 
Thanks for your input arno, this helps.
I'm gonna keep testing how all this could fit together.

But how do you adjust a fence to fit the curve of the earth in FSX for example? The one I designed is pretty long and it is noticeable that it doesn't "touch" the ground anymore the farther away I'm from the ref point.
 
I think it is easiest to just split it into different models.
 
Thunderbolt said:
Thanks for your input arno, this helps.
I'm gonna keep testing how all this could fit together.

But how do you adjust a fence to fit the curve of the earth in FSX for example? The one I designed is pretty long and it is noticeable that it doesn't "touch" the ground anymore the farther away I'm from the ref point.
Click to expand...

Hello:

You may wish to consider using FenceBuilder Pro by Don Grovestine (aka "gadgets") published by FSAddon:

http://secure.simmarket.com/fsaddon-fencebuilder-pro.phtml


"FenceBuilder Pro is one heck of a program for the beginning amateur scenery builder, as well as for the pro's. It will help you be a lot more productive AND you can add your own objects to build all sorts of row-like structure. Think of hedges, rows of lamp posts, railway tracks even. And why not, ski lifts !

So we thought of many names for the product, because it does so many things. Object placement, sound placement, effects placement. And we're even working on further enhancements and expansions.

But really, the one thing it does that NO OTHER software can is BUILD fences and walls that slope to match the terrain.

That's right! It actually makes them HUG THE GROUND!

So you can have a hilly country; your wall will automatically follow the terrain! Your fence will stick to the undulations. And your lamp posts will not float along the road.
Anything you build will stick to the ground, no matter the height and no matter the bumps."

Hope this helps ! :)

GaryGB
 
I'll take a look at fencebuilder pro for 'hilly' future projects, thanks for the hint!

I'm gonna test splitting the model into different parts but it lifts only ~10cm from the ground which isn't really visible, there are more important things to do right now.
Thanks for your help guys :)
 
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