Regions

[rhumbaflappy]

Hi all.

Regions can be made with 8-bit images... just like landclass. Here's the values as described in the SDK:

0 = A: Europe Germanic
1 = B: North America North
2 = C: North America Southwest
3 = D: South America East
4 = E: Africa Central
5 = F: Asia Central
6 = G: Australia
7 = H: Tropics Pacific
8 = I: Arctic
9 = J: Middle East
10 = K: Europe British
11 = L: Europe French
12 = M: Europe Russian
13 = N: Europe Mediterranean West
14 = O: Europe Mediterranean East
15 = P: North America South
16 = Q: South America West
17 = R: Tropics American
18 = S: Tropics Asian
19 = T: Africa South
20 = U: Asia Cold-Dry
21 = V: Asia Industrial
22 = W: Asia Indian
23 = X: Australia Red

... and Holger Sandmann indicates 2 more:

24 = Y: Australia Queensland
25 = Z: New Zealand


Regions affect the landclass and autogen. They do NOT affect the seasons... that would be for another project.

Here's an INF:

Type=GeoTiff
SourceDir = "."
SourceFile = "Region_924160.tif"
Layer = Region
NullValue = 254

[Destination]
DestDir = "."
DestBaseFileName = "AfricaInWisconsin"

The file ( "Region_924160.tif" ) was derived from an Sbuilder LC raw file ( 257x257 ) and georeferenced with GeoTiffExamine. Value 4 was used for the alteration, with value 254 as the transparent background ( NullValue = 254 ). I used PaintShopPro for making and saving the TIF.

Before:

After:

GeoTiffExamine is found here:

http://www.mentorsoftwareinc.com/freebie/free0699.htm

Dick

 

[HolgerSandmann]

Hi Dick,

nice work. I recently did the same to force a land class test scenery of mine (in northern Canada) to display as any region I want.

The only difference to your approach is that I didn't use the extra step of GeoTiffExamine. Instead, I copied the information from the .inf file that SBuilder creates directly into my region .inf file. For example:

[Source]
Type = GeoTIFF
SourceDir = "."
SourceFile="FSX_Replacement_Region_CEE8_A.tif"
Layer = Region
NullValue = 254
Lat= 53.4375
Lon=-112.5
NumOfCellsPerLine=257
NumOfLines=257
CellXdimensionDeg= .0146484375
CellYdimensionDeg= .010986328125

[Destination]
DestDir="."
DestBaseFileName="FSX_Replacement_Region_CEE8_A"


Cheers, Holger

P.S.: An interesting observation is that according to the FSX Terrain SDK the parameter names have changed. Thus, the values I list above should be coded:

ulxMap = -112.5
ulyMap = 53.4375
nCols = 257
nRows = 257
xDim = .0146484375
yDim = .010986328125

Yet resample appears to read the "old" parameter names correctly.

 

[aliditalia]

A Great Thanks for the clear explanations.

Go to design my scenery.

 

[aliditalia]

It has been two hours of work, and with the help of the complete explanations of Dick and Holger, now Italy in my Pc has the regions corrected.
The sim is strongly improved, now i may recognize the lands where fly.
Next step will be the seasons... what is the code of colours used by FSX?

Again a great thanks.

 

[HolgerSandmann]

Hi Francesco,

that's great news - congratulations!

As for the seasons:

0 WI grey
1 HW white
2 SP yellow
3 SU green
4 FA red

Source: Christian Stocks' document: http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fs2002sd&DLID=25267

Keep in mind that due to a mistake by ACES the start date of the months are now always on the 1st. In FS8 and 9 the start dates varied from the 15th to the 22nd.

And another tip: if you want to quickly generate elevation-dependent distributions of seasons (e.g., snow cover) you can use Jim Keir's Slartibartfast tool to auto-generate a land class file and then change the class values in the raw file to seasons.

Cheers, Holger

 

[archtx]

Holger, am I understanding your post correct that in FSX in the northern hemisphere, Spring is March 1st, Summer June 1st...etc, or does it shift the other way, April 1st and July 1st?

 

[HolgerSandmann]

Hi there,

in FS the spatial distribution of seasons is defined in 12 files (combined into one compiled bgl file), one for each month. Each file covers a specific area and contains the appropriate spatial distribution of the five possible season values. FS reads that file and for each location picks the corresponding seasonal texture. Maybe this thread will help explaining the system: http://forums.simflight.com/viewtopic.php?t=36767&highlight=season

FSX brings two changes to this system: (1) the season file now has the same spatial resolution as the land class file (LOD13), in FS9 it was much coarser; and (2) the start dates of the monthly files have changed as mentioned in my previous post.

In other words, there is no fixed change of seasons and the "Change Time and Season" menu in FS is often misleading. The menu switches to fixed dates when selecting a season but that doesn't mean that you'll see that season in the sim because it all depends on which season the current montly file prescribes for the location you're at.

Moreover, if in FS9 the switch from winter to spring at a particular location takes place on the 21st of month 3 then the same file in FSX will move the switch forward to the 1st. That's what I was trying to point out to Francesco.

Cheers, Holger