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CFS2 Rhumba's watermasks

Can the old 'pacxxxxp.bgl' files

just be removed from the SCENEDB/world/scenery folder and placed in a file outside of CFS2 as apposed to renaming the *pac.xxxxp.old and leaving them in the SCENEDB//scenery?

I did this to lighten CFS2, then I added the new watermasking after installing the LOD8 files. Now I have no coastlines whatsoever anywhere.

Does anyone know what has happened here by any chance? Just doesn't make any sense to me. If you change a files extension it renders the file useless so it doesn't matter where those files are moved to correct?

Thank you for the LOD8 updated mesh files Rhumba as they look great on my 1.7 laptop! .
 
If by coastlines you mean beaches... yes, they need to be removed because they are all misplaced... so are the roads and streams. Haven't I written about this before?

All the default land/water masking ( LWM BGLs) and beaches, roads and streams ( VTP1 BGLs ) are grossly misplaced/distorted in the sim.

The watermasking I made just replaces the LWMs.. not the VTP1s. The VTP1s will need to be added by developers using accurate sources.

If relative accuracy doesn't matter to you, then don't use the new mesh and watermasking... and enjoy the old data. And there's nothing wrong with that, but some of us would like the sim to be a bit more accurate.

In truth, most of the planet doesn't have sparkling beaches along the shores, or single-width streams instead of rivers, or crooked muddy roads.

I don't see their loss as a big deal. Unless adding these lines somehow aides in orientating the pilot towards an airfield or target of opportunity, they really aren't that important in a combat sim. The shapes of islands, lakes, large rivers, and coastal formations does aid the pilot.

They can be added back by terrain developers... but you could count the number of terrain developers for all the FS sims using your fingers and toes... and the number of CFS2 terrain developers could be counted on the fingers of one hand... with digits left over.

Dick
 
Yes you have written about this before I am sure but written word vs. pictures are two different quantities especially considering I am new to the inner workings of CFS2 at this level other than an added scenery here and there.

All I needed to know was that this greenery/water is what it is supposed to look like. After loading the LOD7, LOD8 and the new watermasks I wound up with what Dog1 posted in pics in another post; errant white wide meandering "beach" looking land not following the coastline. I removed all the older files outside CFS2. All I needed to know is what I have now, no beaches, is what I am supposed to have and that the greenery/water is normal now that's all. I don't care about roads and streams as I didn't have that before nor are they important to me in a combat sim. Thank you for your time.
 
rhumbaflappy said:
If by coastlines you mean beaches... yes, they need to be removed because they are all misplaced... so are the roads and streams. Haven't I written about this before?...
Click to expand...

Why yes, ...yes, ...you have...

Hey RF, ...

Because you could fit the sum total of my scenery development knowledge into a thimble, ...and still get yer finger in it...

What would it take to fix the "beaches" to conform to the new mesh?

Does it have to be hand edited in some .bgl file, ...and if so, ...how?(Reader'sDigest version, ...please)

...or can some clever dicky write a prog that says, "wherever there is a water edge(mask), ...put a beach on the other side.." (coastline/shoreline)

Thanks RF.
 
Blue Devil said:
Why yes, ...yes, ...you have...

Hey RF, ...

Because you could fit the sum total of my scenery development knowledge into a thimble, ...and still get yer finger in it...

What would it take to fix the "beaches" to conform to the new mesh?

Does it have to be hand edited in some .bgl file, ...and if so, ...how?(Reader'sDigest version, ...please)

...or can some clever dicky write a prog that says, "wherever there is a water edge(mask), ...put a beach on the other side.." (coastline/shoreline)

Thanks RF.
Click to expand...

Hi Blue Devil.

Ground2k is the only program that can draw beaches. They would have to be redrawn from scratch... can't be fixed. Some of the process might be automated. There's some tutorials about for that.

The real problem is this:

My masks aren't yet detailed enough... as the posts about Darwin show. A next level of detail is needed, and it would take a lot of man-hours. I made masks for about 27 (?) of the 96 "CST" areas of the world. It took me about 2 months ( at 10 hours a day! ). Lucky for everyone else, I am laid off from work.

The next level of detail would be LOD5 areas, of which there are 6144. Even if I could make one a week, the world would take me a few years.

There's probably about 1000 LOD5 areas in the combat areas that would need work, and maybe only 300 of real importance....

The good news is Sander DeCocq did automate some of the processes. But as always, finding the right data is the true problem. In some cases it doesn't exist, and in others, it can be extracted, but very tedious work. Sometimes it's just a matter of hand-drawing the lines.

So new detailed scenery packages need to be made, with landclass, waterclass, masking, beaches, roads, streams. the logical place to start might be around the default airfields first, then branching out to other areas that are popular in missions and campaigns.

I might start by compiling a list of these areas, sort them to LOD5 regions, and see just how many LOD5's we're talking about.

Dick
 
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