CBI Scenery Development: why bother?

[UncleTgt]

I thought some of you might be interested in an overview of the processes involved in making CFS2's scenery look a bit more "recogniseable".

Here's a map view of Kunming

& the airfield's late-WW2 approach chart

& this is what we have currently



No lake, & an airfield that looks too short for a fully- loaded C-47, nevermind a loaded C-87.

 

[UncleTgt]

So, here's what adding Rhumbas Region "S" textures bring -


Better, but still no water, & looks a little too "lush"...

 

[UncleTgt]

So, I fire up G2K & add some water LWM polys.

Then I fire up EZ-Landclass & make that water look like river delta water...



That's much better, now its starting to look like the map.

Alright, now back to G2K to start adding details:

- Shorelines
- Rivers
- Roads
- Railway tracks

 

[Hiede]

So, I fire up G2K & add some water LWM polys.

Then I fire up EZ-Landclass & make that water look like river delta water...

View attachment 171801

That's much better, now its starting to look like the map.

Alright, now back to G2K to start adding details:

- Shorelines
- Rivers
- Roads
- Railway tracks

I appreciate all your hard work UT.You have always answered my questions and helped whenever I had problems with installing you scenery.CFS2 is a whole new world because of you.

Hiede

 

[Captain Kurt]

Agree with Hiede

 

[Browncoat]

I will third what Hiede said!

I am just getting started on a CBI/Aleutians install.

UncleTgt, it has been incredible how you have really brought CFS2 to life.

 

[Hiede]

I will third what Hiede said!

I am just getting started on a CBI/Aleutians install.

UncleTgt, it has been incredible how you have really brought CFS2 to life.

I think there is campaign from the Japanese side called Dutch Harbor and done by TheBookie/it uses this scenery.He also had one from the US side but never released it.

Hiede

 

[UncleTgt]

Appreciate the comments, thanks.

After I've drawn some rivers & roads in G2K, I take a look around & see areas where the map source doesn't quite match the mesh.
Sometimes it's Roads climbing over a hilltop, when a slight adjustment would take it through a more gentle pass, most times it's rivers & streams parked up on a valley slope, rather than in the "notch".

A trick Jean Bomber taught me was to get an agile aircraft &, using FSUIPC to link to G2K, hand- fly the river course. You pause at each turn, & adjust/add points to the river line you've previously drawn in G2K.



It can take a lot of time to do a wide area properly, but the results are definitely worth the effort.

 

[aussie]

Good work UT, what an absolute work of art! That truly looks so much better than it did. Keep up the good work mate, it's really appreciated.

You've even inspired me to dust off my old version of EZ-Landclass and take it for a spin. Had an out of place lake that needed filling in and over sowing.

Cheers
Aussie

 

[msfossey]

absolutely amazing UT; I love the world you have been creating. Thank you for all your efforts.

 

[Hiede]

Agree with Hiede

Captain Kurt,
You keep forgetting I have no idea what I'm talking about,that's according to some people.

Hiede

 

[Captain Kurt]

 

[Airspeed]

I don't fly CFS, though I used to be right into combat sims way back. I know from modding scenery in FSX, how demanding it is. Congratulations on your work.

 

[mav]

....probably three reasons... if it hasn't been done ,if it can be done and if it has been done.... can it have been done better.

Yeh... sounds kinda done to me.

 

[Ludo]

Damn that must take a lot of work but the results are always great!

 

[UncleTgt]

Rivers & rail lines "hand-flown" & adjusted for the mesh.
A new Landclass patch made to reduce the size of Kunming city, & make the area generally less green jungle looking...


Then back into FSSC to make a new Kunming airbase...


Now all it needs is some gsl scenery & we're done.

 

[kdriver]

Great work John!

Do you find EZ-Landclass doesn't always change the textures to the ones you want? I was wondering if all the landclass options are available in CFS2. For example, the cultivated fields shown in the above picture of Kunming are used extensively in northern Australia in areas which should be forest or extremely barren terrain. I'm able to change those textures to forest but not barren land. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Kevin

 

[UncleTgt]

Kev,

The attached table should help. I compiled a listing indicating which "h" & "b" series textures displayed for a landclass patch made using EZ-Landclass.

Don't overthink it.

CFS2 doesn't use the landclass types for anything other than deciding which texture to display, so the whole lot are just a series of texture numbers. If you have the right texture, you could use any landclass value as the call to display it so long as you rename the textures to suit.

That's kind of what I did with the Aleutians snowy ground textures, IIRC I used the "002b" texture call-out, which is for sandy desert!, together with 006b & 013b. The textures look nothing like the originals, & don't match the EZ Landclass description, but CFS2 doesn't care, it's just using the landclass to tell it which texture numbers to display.

The b series textures are used for everywhere apart from the SWPTO, but I'm guessing parts of Northern Australia might be considered SWPTO by CFS 2, so you might need to be a bit cute with the choices, depending on where exactly you are?

Looking at the table, for barren land outside of the SWPTO I'd use 002b & 003b textures, with single cell patches of 131b or 137b for really bare ground. For rough, bare terrain, a brownish 006b set works, but I've also used 018b for a more rugged look. Heck, you could even replace the snowy rocks & use 001b, as within the Northern Australia area I guess you wouldn't have a need for such textures!!!

Inside the SWPTO area, you have a bit more choice & variety. 061h & 062h are usually bare ground textures, & you could always use 019h (the equivalent of 018b), & 131h & 137h for the really bare patches. But there are so many "tree" landclasses that use slightly different textures that you might even consider using one of those instead. Finally, you might just replace the snowcap 001h textures & use that landclass number.

 

[aussie]

Thanks UT, I was looking for the previous version of this you released but couldn’t find where I put it.

Cheers
Aussie

 

[kdriver]

Thanks for the information John. Yes, the "h" textures are being used in NW Australia. I was looking at the "b" textures. The 061h set does the trick.

Cheers,
Kev