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Portion of Terminal Building is Underground

Also, please confirm whether you placed your G-Poly using Instant Scenery and not with L-M's P3D SimDirector at all times in the history of that placement BGL.

Additionally, please confirm whether you placed your G-Poly using Instant Scenery and not with Arno's MCX object placer at all times in the history of that placement BGL.


PS: Please attach the mapped textures for your new terminal 3D model (they are missing in the original attachment above) ...so I can see it properly for testing purposes. ;)



GaryGB


In addition to the above, other questions yet to be answered, includes:

* Where in the FS Scenery library layer stack is your placement BGL for your replacement G-Poly of the "Ramp" / parking area under the location of the new KCLT terminal ?


If your placement BGL for your replacement G-Poly of the "Ramp" / parking area under the location of the new KCLT terminal is in [FSX install path]\Addon Scenery\Scenery:

* What layer 'Priority' number is the [FSX install path]\Addon Scenery\Scenery folder assigned in your FSX Scenery Library GUI stack of layers


If your replacement G-Poly of the "Ramp" / parking area under the location of the new KCLT terminal was created / assembled in MCX G-Poly Wizard:

What VTP layer number was it assigned (this assumes it was made as a SCASM / ASM G-Poly and not a FSX SDK MDL-based G-Poly) ?

Was that G-Poly made for P3D and then copied / ported for use in FSX, or was it instead made for FSX and then copied / ported for use in P3D ?


To assist my further analysis of scenery objects and files in the area to see whether terrain mesh or a G-Poly is involved in this:

* What is the name and folder path of the FSDT G-Poly MDL that creates the textured ground surface of the parking area under the location of the new KCLT terminal ?

* Do you have any other 3rd party add-on scenery installed in the KCLT area such as OrbX FTX Global Base / Vector / LandClass or any terrain mesh product covering KCLT ?

GaryGB
 
Hi Gary,
I not sure if you wanted these questions answered or not, but I'll answer them just to be sure. They were in the grayed out section


Also, please confirm whether you placed your G-Poly using Instant Scenery and not with L-M's P3D SimDirector at all times in the history of that placement BGL.

Yes, I used IS3 to place the G-Poly ramp in FSX, not in P3D. I have not used LMs P3D to place any of these files, even in the past.


Additionally, please confirm whether you placed your G-Poly using Instant Scenery and not with Arno's MCX object placer at all times in the history of that placement BGL.

I used IS3 to place the ramp, not the object placer in MCX. If I remember correctly, I exported it as an mdl file in MCX. Then I used the Library Maker to convert it to a bgl and placed it in a folder named KCLT_New Reamp in the Scenery subfoler of the Addon Scenery folder, and added it to the scenery library.





In addition to the above, other questions yet to be answered, includes:

* Where in the FS Scenery library layer stack is your placement BGL for your replacement G-Poly of the "Ramp" / parking area under the location of the new KCLT terminal ?

The KCLT New Terminal is at priority 2 and the KCLT_New Ramp is priority 1. But I don't see how these would make any difference since I'm not replacing either one.



If your placement BGL for your replacement G-Poly of the "Ramp" / parking area under the location of the new KCLT terminal is in [FSX install path]\Addon Scenery\Scenery:

* What layer 'Priority' number is the [FSX install path]\Addon Scenery\Scenery folder assigned in your FSX Scenery Library GUI stack of layers

Priority 1


If your replacement G-Poly of the "Ramp" / parking area under the location of the new KCLT terminal was created / assembled in MCX G-Poly Wizard:

What VTP layer number was it assigned (this assumes it was made as a SCASM / ASM G-Poly and not a FSX SDK MDL-based G-Poly) ?

Was that G-Poly made for P3D and then copied / ported for use in FSX, or was it instead made for FSX and then copied / ported for use in P3D ?

It was not created using the MCX Wizard.


To assist my further analysis of scenery objects and files in the area to see whether terrain mesh or a G-Poly is involved in this:

* What is the name and folder path of the FSDT G-Poly MDL that creates the textured ground surface of the parking area under the location of the new KCLT terminal ?[/QUOTE

I believe this is the correct one. The file name is FSDT_KCLT_SF01.mdl. The folder path is C:\Addon Manager\Simobjects\Misc\FSDT_KCLT\model.FSDT_KCLT_SF01. This one is for FSX. The other folder, FSDT_KCLT_SF01P3D is for the LM. The thing I don't like about this model is that it's way too dark, and is nothing like the FSDT_KDFW.


* Do you have any other 3rd party add-on scenery installed in the KCLT area such as OrbX FTX Global Base / Vector / LandClass or any terrain mesh product covering KCLT ?

No.

The textures for the KCLT New Terminal is attached below. They're DDS so all you have to do it place them in the Texture folder.

Ken.
 

Attachments

Hi Gary,

The FSDT airport file is flattened with no change in elevation. The FSDT airport model mdl is not. It varies in altitude, depending on where you're at. Within the model, there is as much as 0.4 meter change in altitude. If you remove the model or mdl, you'll have the flattened airport, and the entire ramp will be visible with no anomalies. Let me warn you that removing the mdl from the FSDT_KCLT_SF01 folder will cause the couatl engine to stop running and you will get that error message. But you'll see that the KCLT ramp is perfectly laid out and practically right on the ground. This occurs only in the default airport. I don't think one can just simply place a bgl file and it work perfectly with an airport scenery that uses an mdl model with textures, like FSDT. My ramp will have to be added to the model, just as I did with my project in the C39 decals at KDFW. I did the same thing with that airport, trying to place a C39 bgl on top of the C32. It simply would not work perfectly, and that was not the correct way to do it. The correct way was to edit the mdl and it worked perfectly. Of course, I've had some other issues that came up but got them corrected. I think the same applies here. The ramp will have to be added to the mdl, or I could use the textures and repaint them in Gimp and that would work. But I was having a problem making the textures the correct size so that they match. I've imported the model into Sketchup and saved that file. I just wished I had clicked "yes" when it asked me if I wanted to flip it because the model is along the blue axes instead of the green and red axes. I don't understand why some developers do that, but I guess there's a reason for it.

Ken.
 
Hi Gary,
I figured out, which I think is the correct way to make the updates to my airport ramp. Here's a screenshot:


KCLT_Ramp 1.jpg



This is not the final product because I still need to complete the other texture sheet, which completes the other half of the ramp area towards the terminal. Either I need to find a texture called "detailed texture" that I can use to mark the squares you see in the original. or, I need to find out how to adjust the size of the texture sheet so that it matches perfectly with the rest of the ramp you see around the terminal area and still show good detail without the distortion or a fade in detail. There are other maps called mipmaps and I wonder if that's what they're used for. If so, I need to find out which ones because there's quite a few of them. I used the original texture sheet and painted the area with the new ramp. But it still needs better detail. It lays right on the ground and it's also mapped in the original model when I look at it in MCX. Here's another image:


KCLT_Ramp 2.jpg
 
Hi Ken:

Looks like you are making further headway with your inquiry. :)


IIUC, you are planning to substitute an edited copy of 1 or more Materials ex:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Addon Manager\Fsdreamteam\KCLT\texture\KCLT_DETAIL.dds

...and/or:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Addon Manager\Fsdreamteam\KCLT\texture\KCLT_detail_02.dds

...mapped onto:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Addon Manager\Simobjects\Misc\FSDT_KCLT\model.FSDT_KCLT_SF01\FSDT_KCLT_SF01.mdl


AFAIK, if the edited copy of the mapped texture image retains identical Material Properties / Functionality, Pixel dimensions, number of MipMaps etc. and file name as seen in MCX Material Editor, you may be able to merely 'substitute' the replacement copy of the above edited *.DDS texture file(s) for the original(s) in your sub-folder:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Addon Manager\Fsdreamteam\KCLT\texture\

...without manually re-mapping the texture image Material(s) onto the above MCX-exported 3D model ...in ex: Sketchup.


MCX Material Editor will likely be the best place to verify / assign Material attributes cited above, and IIRC, it may automatically create 9 MipMaps (internally via SDK ImageTool) for each of your edited copies of ex: the above cited 1024x1024 texture images, so that you do not have to create them yourself separately in SDK ImageTool. ;)

GaryGB
 
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IIUC, you are planning to substitute an edited copy of 1 or more Materials ex:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Addon Manager\Fsdreamteam\KCLT\texture\KCLT_DETAIL.dds

...and/or:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Addon Manager\Fsdreamteam\KCLT\texture\KCLT_detail_02.dds

...mapped onto:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Addon Manager\Simobjects\Misc\FSDT_KCLT\model.FSDT_KCLT_SF01\FSDT_KCLT_SF01.mdl

Well, when I said detailed texture, I wasn't referring to the KCLT_DETAIL.dds nor the detail_02.dds, although I may use the KCLT_detail 02.dds for making parking numbers because they're not marked as they are in the rail world. I was watching a video about ground poly sceneries, and the person said that some people like to use the photo ground textures for their sims. But the problem with that is when you're sitting on the ground, there's no detail, and the photo is not sharp and crisp at all. So, to make the ramp area look more realistic, and since the square pavement doesn't show with good detail, he would use some type of texture that had the shape of those square blocks on the ramp, and being transparent so that the photo shows through, and the lines marking the squares are opacke and are more detailed. He called it a detailed texture but he didn't say where he got it or if he created it himself, which he probably did. That's what I was referring to .


MCX Material Editor will likely be the best place to verify / assign Material attributes cited above, and IIRC, it may automatically create 9 MipMaps (internally via SDK ImageTool) for each of your edited copies of ex: the above cited 1024x1024 texture images, so that you do not have to create them yourself separately in SDK ImageTool. ;)

It seems like for what I'm trying to do, I would do all of the editing in Gimp. Let me explain what I'm trying to do. Look at the image below:


Square Blocks.jpg


This is the ramp area just before entering the taxiway. See all of the square outlines on the ramp? These squaraes must be represented by the texture below:




KCLT_ASPH_03.jpg



At first, I've tried to clone this texture onto the KCLT_SF1.dds texture file below around the parking deck area:


kclt_sf1.jpg




But as you can see, it's way too large. I don't know how accurate it is, but I used the FinneyGround to measure the size of the squares, and they would measure 47 feet based on the 4 squares in KCLT_ASPH_03.dds texture sheet. So, each square is 23.5 feet. From one end of ramp to the other, there are about 95 or 96 of these squares, so there must be around this number over that distance to make them the correct size. The problem is that every time I make the texture smaller, I lose more detail in that texture, and they will have to be scaled down a lot to make them correct. The original texture size is 2048 X 2048 pixels, but I did reduced its size to 1024 X 1024 for the image posted. The parts that appear white and gray in the texture sheet such as the runways, taxiways and ramp area, I believe are alpha, and are created in the mdl. When I import the model in MCX, the model is so dark that I can't make it out. Why is it so dark? If I hit the shader button in MCX, it lightens it up. But I know to leave this off when I export it. And when I import the model into Sketchup or Gmax, there are so many lines going every which way that it's hard to find anything.

Ken.
 
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Hi Ken:

You have successfully identified why your Ramp G-Poly intended to replace the FSDT G-Poly under the new KCLT terminal was displayed under the FSDT G-Poly.

The latter new tasks above involving texturing your G-Poly with replacement customized / edited Materials, IMHO, should be a subject for another new thread. ;)


If you scale the texture image of tiled concrete slabs in a graphics application (and then manually tile clones of parts of the scaled image) to make a new texture image to replace a FSDT original mapped onto the G-Poly as a Material, that might prove to be easier, and could be discussed in a new thread here:



Otherwise, manually mapping and scaling a 'self-tiling' texture image of tiled concrete slabs in Sketchup to make a new texture image to replace a FSDT original mapped onto the non-flat / non-level G-Poly as a Material, might prove to be more complex, and could instead be discussed in a new thread here:



NOTE: AFAIK, MCX will consolidate multiple clones of the same scaled texture image areas mapped as Materials into a single texture image Material.

GaryGB
 
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