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TMFviewer?

macklinbob

macklinbob

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unitedstates
Does anyone know how to make TMFviewer work.

It will open the sample file but no other files.

Bob Macklin
Seattle, Wa.
 
Open it, navigate to the main FSX scenery folder, and open up the base folder, then i usually use the worldlc.bgl file to find my location, then reading the numbers at the bottom i pick what folder other than the base folder i need, and pick the file. in each folder there is also a dem####.bgl file, that is a more zoomed in preview of that QMID 4(i think) grid.
 
it will open only vector and resampled bgl files.

It will not open airport / placement or other files.

... just in case that's what you were doing.
 
I can open the demo file. But any other file in the secnery directory gets an error message that it cannot open the file.

I tried reloading the SDK package and that did not fix it.

But the problem that got me trying to use TMFvewier was fixed by reinstalling the other program that was giving me problems.

Bob Macklin
Seattle, Wa.
 
so everything is all fixed?

About not opening it, i think you can only open the cvx files, not the apx and obx.
 
I did not know how to use it and I could not find any information from MS on it.

On top of that it is not easy to use.

One thing I wish ADE could do is show the background landmass.

Bob Macklin
Seattle, Wa
 
i opened a .BGL with TMFViewer and its grey scale, so i'd like to see the elevation data.

i played with Elevation Color Ramp option but it doesn't seem to do anything.

what i'm really trying to do it go from elevation data to a mesh so i can tweak the mesh, but have a starting point which closely matches the terrain. i'm sure GaryGB has an answer

thx
 
Hi Steve:

Indeed, FSX SDK TMFViewer can show terrain mesh files from either FS9 or FSX format BGLs, and adjusting the elevation color ramp parameters may be needed to configure the elevation values (in Meters relative to MSL) in order for the terrain to be visualized better (...or at all).


AFAIK, MSFS terrain mesh is essentially raster HeightMap data packaged inside a BGL within the Quad Matrix Grid system, with as many LODs as were assigned to be created via the parameters submitted to FSX SDK Resample in the INF file.


Besides making a terrain mesh with ex: more than LOD-12 (aka 9.6 or "10" Meters between elevation datapoints) with what LIDAR data sets may be publicly available, which aspect(s) of the terrain mesh might you wish to "tweak" ? :scratchch



FYI: LIDAR point cloud source data sets are massive, and require special GIS / 3D CAD software to work with them. :alert:

However, MSFS terrain mesh can easily be modified via ex: "sloped flattens" in CVX vector type BGLs using source data created by either of several FS utilities. :idea:


GaryGB
 
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its not important really, i'm just not 100% happy with my El Cap model yet. i'd like it to conform a bit better to the under-laying terrain so it blends in better, around the edges, because tweaking in blender, making BGL loading into FSX, flying, takes forever (if you do it 200x per day)
 
Hi Steve:

For inspection during FS Development, you may wish to set FSX GUI menu sliders for Terrain mesh at 100% complexity and the resolution of the terrain mesh file to be used with the custom scenery ex: 10 Meters between elevation data points on the ground for either of the OrbX payware / freeware packages (or less ...depending on what custom terrain mesh BGL you personally intend to create and supply).

Also, since you are loading the OrbX Yosemite freeware which uses photo-real textures, be sure to save your inspection flight scenario, and tick the check-box to make it the "default flight", so that FSX will work with the Windows pre-fetch and caching sub-system ...to expedite faster re-loads of FSX (usually seen by the 2nd or 3rd re-load after activated). ;)

Having a SSD drive helps things load much quicker, too. :cool:

But otherwise, one can also speed up this inspection process without fully exiting FSX by opening the FSX scenery library and simply clicking "OK" to force a re-fresh of a flight scenario; if files are "locked" one can usually instead go to the FSX menu while updating ex: BGL files, then re-load ones saved flight from there. :idea:

In some cases, use of "Unlocker" can help with replacing persistently locked files without having to fully exit FSX.

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/compiling-without-closing-fs.22667/

GaryGB
 
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i had a quick look at terrain sculptor, but i'm happy using blender now so still trying to create mountains in blender. i've got it working good except for the blending into underlying scenery is still very tiresome and not very accurate doing it by trial and error

i looked at MeshYosemiteValleyHD.bgl with tmfviewer and can see the data i need to get into blender is in there, i just can't figure out how

i don't need polygons, just a bunch of points will be enough to use as a guide for manipulating the mesh i get from sktechup

is there a way to convert that .bgl file to something that can be imported into blender?

BTW, i figured out a very perverse way doing it. i can write a script to move the mouse automatically, then screen capture the status bar, then OCR the numbers, then put in a .obj file or something like that

still working out the details but i'm sure its possible
 
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gadgets said:
No, there is no disassembler for FSX terrain .bgls.

Don
Click to expand...

Actually there is Don. There is a thread here about the CVXConverter which can decode CVX files which include FSX terrain
 
That's for vector data (compiled using shp2vec), though. @steveh2112 is interested in raster data (compiled using resample).
 
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