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FS2004 Terrain Elevation Issue w/Flatten

S

sfrenchie

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us-northcarolina
I'm not so sure how to explain my problem so I'll use images.

Here is the Google Earth image. The ocean is at 0 ft/m and the apron is at 12 ft/3.65m.

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Opening the AB, FL & HL files in SBuilder show a flatten as shown here:

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And in FS this is how it looks from altitude, pretty much what I would expect:

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Taking a look from zero elevation though is a different story:

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The flatten comes very close to the water and the apron rests on it as it is supposed to however the terrain is not so I can see under the apron.
To make it worse the buildings are 1/2 way over/under the apron since they rest on the terrain.
It's a bit hard to see in the snapshot so I made a drawing of what is happening, seen in a cut view:

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This is straight out of default files XX927190.
So what am I supposed to make out of all that?
It's yet another FS undocumented feature?
I'm missing something in the picture?
There is no solution?
Flattens are inefficient near water?

I'm ready to hear anything. I'm out of thoughts and solutions, I've tried several that didn't help. So please pitch in with your thoughts about the issue.
All I need is to have a 12 ft. slope/drop off from the edge of the flatten (covered by the apron) to the ocean, not a slow slope starting several yards away.

Thanks,
 
The apron seem to be modeled, if you place a polygon with an apron below(Ade), this will level the terrain. or a simple flatten, but the little coast will be like a little cliff, it's for sure.
 
In FSX, the scenery tab of the settings display.

Set mesh complexity to 100. Set mesh resolution to 1 meter. This now allows the flattens to behave at maximum resolution. Flattens are tied to mesh resolution.

Dick
 
I wish I could say, "Excellent" however that is not the case:

Dick: This is for FS2004 (mentioned in title). Terrain settings are set to max.

Bernardo: This apron is a regular apron, not modeled, just an improved texture.
You say, "place a polygon...or simple flatten".
Polygon,what kind? Are you talking about airport background poly. LWM, VTP? There is one in the default file, you can see it in yellow in image #2.
In the same image you also can see a flatten in gray.

Thinking about it and based on what Dick said about flattens relationship to mesh, I think I made a mistake while interpreting what I'm seeing.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong...I'm thinking the flatten is doing its job by connecting 2 elevations following a mesh with crappy resolution (default) thus it's stretching the slope on a way too long distance. In order to get what Bernardo refers as "little cliff" would require a mesh with higher resolution so that the slope could be projected on a very short distance (i.e. 1 meter as Dick said).
As for the apron "floating" on thin air my thought is that aprons have to be drawn flat and can't be slanted, reason why we are using flattens are airports.

Am I correct in my latest analysis of the issue?

If I am then I'm stuck with no solution to fix the problem since I don't have a replacement mesh, so my next question is: what would you do if you were in my shoes? I'm looking for an elegant solution to cheat the system.
A friend suggested to forget about the real coast line and just push it back farther out to sea. What say you all?

Thanks,
 
Sorry about the mixup.

For FS2004, you need to set the fs9.cfg to have TERRAIN_MAX_VERTEX_LEVEL=21

In the display settings|scenery tab, make sure Terrain Mesh Complexity is 100.

It just allows more mesh points, which allows the flattens to have more precision...same concept as FSX.

Dick
 
rhumbaflappy said:
Sorry about the mixup.
Click to expand...

All good, I was just picking on you for not seeing it :D

Now let's have a few words :rolleyes:
I don't know how to thank you enough for this tip, you are my salvation.
I had been thinking and working on and off on that for a long time :banghead:.
You come along and basically fix the problem in one line, you are the :wizard: of terrain I can see.
I clicked on your link in your profile and visited your web site. I can't say I understood anything about it so someday when I'm not busy designing buildings I'll set some time aside to get to the heart of terrains and may ask you a million questions.

I am very excited now walking through my scenery and getting the feeling that I am at the ocean. It "almost" look like the real thing (let's pretend).
My aprons, buildings, lights, etc. stand where they should and at the correct elevation.
My peers are under water LOL, flooded and I have some big 12 ft. waves but that is something I'll easily fix by changing the water line VTP.

Again, Dick, you have all my gratitude.

async
 
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