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SBuilderX questions: Editing multiple items (i.e. multiple lines to be the of the same type, inability to copy/paste, etc)..)

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96
Country
us-washington
Hi all,

I am running SBuilderX 3.15 and I am working on a rather large scenery project involving 400 square miles around pre-1980 Mount St. Helens' landscape.

In the project, I'm working on "reviving" over 600 miles of pre-1980 Weyerhaeuser logging roads that snaked over the landscape. To do this, I imported some of the ESRI road data from ORBX's FTX PNW scenery, which incidentally matched the pre-1980 topography map the USGS prepared weeks before the May 18, 1980 eruption. These imported data included several hundred miles of old logging roads that used to belong to Weyerhaeuser in the 1980s, but don't show up well in the sim unless I've gone in and changed the line properties to "Dirt: Ten Lanes Undivided Median" with a width of 35 points, because presently most of the lines are unassigned "Line imported from a shape file..." markers.

The problem is, as things stand now, I have to go in and edit each line individually. There are over three thousand lines to edit, in a coverage area twice that of the 1980 blast zone. Surely, if one were designing a scenery development package, I would hope that there is at least some ability to edit multiple objects, yet I don't see that ability.

Does that ability exist, and am I just not seeing it? Or was that not considered and it doesn't.

Secondly, I have tried copying and pasting data into SBuilder from one SBuilder window to another, so as to consolidate my work into one SBuilder file. Currently, I have six of the same file going. One with scenery object files, one with road and shore data, the other with aerial map data, and still others with basic reference points that don't get used into the final project. In my efforts to do so, I have noticed that even within the same SbuilderX window, I don't have the ability to copy and paste. Even when an object, polygon or line is selected, I cannot copy and paste that object to create a duplicate of it. Adding this into SBuilderX would greatly improve the ability to make scenery design easier, especially when it comes to making multiple landclass polygons to match building footprints in a remote camp.

As things stand now, it's kinda frustrating having to edit line after line, without any ability to edit multiple lines into the same type to make things easier.
 

rhumbaflappy

Administrator
Staff member
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Messages
5,932
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us-wisconsin
This would be a problem if you didn't get permission from ORBX to use their data. Generally speaking, you can manipulate an exported SBX file, as it's just text. Each line has a width associated.
 
Messages
96
Country
us-washington
This would be a problem if you didn't get permission from ORBX to use their data. Generally speaking, you can manipulate an exported SBX file, as it's just text. Each line has a width associated.
To my knowledge, the road and vector data ORBX used is ESRI shapefile/vector data which is open source/public domain. I can actually download the same data straight from a USGS server I have an account with (the same one I actually used to download the 1 foot resolution aerial from 1972 for my terrain overlay).

However, those data files were obscenely large and covers more area than I want to for the purpose of my scenery. One file I checked had ESRI Shapefile data for the entire inland United States at less than 1 meter resolution.
 
Messages
7,450
Country
us-illinois
Hi Steve:

You will need to use the USGS or other public domain data instead of the OrbX FTX PNW derived data set version. :alert:

That data set will need to be extracted via a GIS application into a smaller sub-set for your area of interest.


Whereas SDK Resample sub-sets raster pixel data via directives in a *.INF file, SDK SHP2VEC cannot sub-set vector (linear point) data required for your task.

However, it is possible Arno's ScenProc may be able to sub-set vector (linear point) data.


You 'may' be able to load / edit large data sets in SBuilderX, (AFAIK, a maximum number of data points allowed per line 'may' still be 32767 in SBuilderX):

https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/79151-sbuilder-bln-import-question/


BTW: 400 square (statute) miles = 20 (statute) miles per side = 32.18688 linear Kilometers per side = less than a LOD-7 / QMID-9 quad in extent

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/flattens.425495/post-633002


If you are able to load / edit large data sets in SBuilderX, you may need to sub-set data into (2) or more linear LOD-9 / QMID-11 terrain quad Area extents.

A rectangular scenery data area may involve a 2 x 2 QMID-11 quad array.

IIRC, FS may not accommodate rendering high vector point density CVX BGLs that have greater than LOD-9 / QMID-11 extents.

Depending on how much content is packaged into each such CVX vector BGL, you may wish to separate data types into multiple BGLs (as UTX does).


Thus, if you are able to load large data sets in SBuilderX, you may be able to sub-set the data by utilizing SBuilderX' quad Grid feature and Line Tools:


Please refer to:

SBuilderX Help > {Contents} tab > Working with SBuilderX > QMID Grid

SBuilderX Help > {Search} tab > use 'Select' as query string > double-click: "Selecting" (draw a Pointer mode 'frame' to select discrete points on Lines)

SBuilderX Help > {Contents} tab > Working with SBuilderX > Working with Points, Lines and Polygons

You may be able to select points on lines within quad-sized Areas, "Invert Selection", then delete the points outside a (inverted) selected line point group. :idea:


Also, please refer to:

SBuilderX Help > {Contents} tab > Appendix > INI file Description > Lines, where it explains how to configure SBuilderX.ini file for newly created lines:

"Appendix - INI File Entries

[Lines]
- DefaultLineAltitude= 0 - The default altitude for newly created Lines.
- DefaultLineWidth=
5 - The default width for newly created Lines."


IIRC, you can re-assign the intended default line width from ex: 5 to 35 (meters) ...for lines derived from Appended *.SHP files.

As Dick stated, you may edit line width parameter values after exporting a SBuilderX *.SBX 'exchange' file format (it is ASCII text).


IIUC, the FSX / P3D default Terrain.Cfg "Road" attribute you intend to use with your Appended road vectors is:

// Roads - dirt / 10 lanes / divided median
[Texture.139]
Name=Roads_Dirt_10_Lanes_Divided_Median
Color=FFC00000
guid={54B44A8D-C22A-45D0-AC1E-620E4E376792}
LegacyId=1157
Textures=dirtroadsu.bmp,dirtroadhw.bmp,dirtroadsu.bmp,dirtroadsu.bmp,dirtroadsu.bmp,dirtroadsu_lm.bmp
Layout=7_PLUS_4
StripWidthMeters=30
Size=2
FlattenMode=flat
FlattenPriority=21000
LandClassRemapType=none
ExcludeAutogen=Yes
RenderToTexture=Yes
RenderPriority=100650
Water=No


Note that the parameter applicable to the road you intend to texture is:

StripWidthMeters=30


...so you may need to use 30 Meters in SBuilderX rather than 35 meters (unless there is transparency at the road texture edge), otherwise the 2D linear texture UV wrap tiling may not align properly at run time.


NOTE: Although ACES' Doug Matthews stated that the SDK SHP2VEC compiler could combine both Polys and Lines in a CVX BGL, SBuilderX (and some GIS applications) prefer to export those object types in separate files.

Thus, using SBuilderX, Lines will all be output in *.SHP files that are separate from polys ...which are output into other separate *.SHP files.


If you are insistent on trying to combine these discrete object types into a single CVX vector BGL, you may have to remove SBuilderX' *.SHP files for lines and polys (in 2 steps) immediately after each is output for compilation by SDK SHP2VEC ...into:

[SBuilderX install path]\Tools\Shapes\ sub-folder


Those *.SHP files may require manual editing to combine them and create a unified *.SHP for processing by SDK SHP2VEC. :alert:

GaryGB
 
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