[cfs2autocoast] Test team bug reports

[blohmundvoss]

Curiouser and curiouser

Sander

I checked the texture files and confirmed that all the .bmps are present.

Currently, I am loading every edited LOD5 cell as a separate scenery layer to make it easy to manage them. Bearing that in mind, I changed the scenery precedence to put the 982170 cell 'above' 982180 to discover:

View attachment 92576View attachment 92577

As you can see, the problem disappears except for that small area of coastline.

Taking these thoughts a step further, I amalgamated the .bgls for the two cells in one folder and found the problem reappeared with some additional texture blotches.

View attachment 92578

By the by - a few days ago I created one folder to hold all the .bgls for Burma. When I tried to launch 'Free Flight' it took several attempts to achieve it and the sim seems to be producing poor resolution textures. I put that down to some eccentricity in my rig and am leaving it in peace for a while before I try again. Perhaps this is something similar. I would love to know if anyone else is having any similar problems dealing with bulk files.

Cheers
BuV

 

[Sander]

I suspect you have some non-default Landclass loaded. I suggest creating a clean install, and add just the cfs2autocoast stuff to it (all in a single folder should NOT be a problem), above the default scenery (for the Korean LOD5's you mentioned, obviously the default coastlines will still show through, but that's not the issue right now).
Or at least disable all Landclass related add-ons (Rhumbaflappy's Tropical set?)

 

[Sander]

Oh yeah, another thing: screenshots in Chase view are pretty useless for me to analyze this type of issue; please only use Top Down view.

 

[blohmundvoss]

No joy I'm afraid

Very weird.

I loaded the scenery into a clean install - original landclass, coastlines, textures etc with no other alterations/additions - and still see the same issue.

View attachment 92642

I also rebuilt/recompiled the 982180 files as well, given the apparent interaction, but to no avail.

Cheers
BuV

 

[Sander]

The only way I can reproduce the problem is by compiling 982180 with the CellFill type as Land... Did you by any chance compile any of the surrounding SBX's with the CellFill=Land option enabled?

 

[blohmundvoss]

The only way I can reproduce the problem is by compiling 982180 with the CellFill type as Land... Did you by any chance compile any of the surrounding SBX's with the CellFill=Land option enabled?

I've compiled all the cells so far with 'Default cell type fill' set to 'Land' as per your remark in the tutorial about this being the best way to stop LWM in lower layers from showing through.

If I've misunderstood something that would explain it.

Taking your earlier hint about neighbouring cells, I tried changing the scenery layer precedence and got more of the same issue.

View attachment 92763

Cheers
BuV

 

[Sander]

I've compiled all the cells so far with 'Default cell type fill' set to 'Land' as per your remark in the tutorial about this being the best way to stop LWM in lower layers from showing through.

If I've misunderstood something that would explain it.

Taking your earlier hint about neighbouring cells, I tried changing the scenery layer precedence and got more of the same issue.


Cheers
BuV

I've found a better way to do the DefaultCellFill; the next release will only paint the ground fill in the cells that are actually part of the LOD5 you're working on. This will prevent accidental Land Fills in the cells where the LWM files overlap, thus preventing this problem.

 

[blohmundvoss]

I've found a better way to do the DefaultCellFill; the next release will only paint the ground fill in the cells that are actually part of the LOD5 you're working on. This will prevent accidental Land Fills in the cells where the LWM files overlap, thus preventing this problem.

Great! I hope this does the trick since I would hate to think I couldn't help out with the conversion work because of some anomaly on my part.

By the by - the trick to texturing hills that you've introduced is terrific. Looking forward to the next release.

Cheers
BuV

 

[Sander]

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Current version is now Release Candidate 1 (RC1) Build 3.0.5004.18489

 

[blohmundvoss]

Landclass issue?

Hi Sander

I'm sure there is a blindingly obvious reason for this but . . . (1) after recompiling my SBX files for Korea using the new version (2) using the original textures folder from v.1 (3) on a clean install with no modifications . . . I see:

View attachment 93176View attachment 93177

Cheers
BuV

[edit] this is by dragging and dropping the SBX files onto the application just in case this is an issue

 

[Sander]

Hi Sander

I'm sure there is a blindingly obvious reason for this but . . . (1) after recompiling my SBX files for Korea using the new version (2) using the original textures folder from v.1 (3) on a clean install with no modifications . . . I see:

View attachment 93176View attachment 93177

Cheers
BuV

[edit] this is by dragging and dropping the SBX files onto the application just in case this is an issue

Because with this new version a Land Class file is also created, you need to make sure you have a complete terrain texture set in the texture folder, or move the 9****0_lc.bgl to a scenery folder where you have terrain textures.

 

[Sander]

I'm very curious to see if/how the Land Class modifications work in the H-band (south); I've only been testing N-America/Europe...

 

[blohmundvoss]

Success!

Phew! Not that you had doubts, I'm sure.

Not the best use of space, I suspect, but I have got around the immediate problem by copying my SCENEDB\World\texture folder into my Korean scenery texture folder - as you suggested. Having proved that it worked on my clean install I then did the same for my Korean War install.

I'm very curious to see if/how the Land Class modifications work in the H-band (south); I've only been testing N-America/Europe...

As you already know, I have PacTex in my Korean War install; here is a before and after shot, showing the differences using the new landclass files. Noticeable, if not dramatically so in just this one example - but they do work.


View attachment 93191View attachment 93192

Great stuff, Sander.

Cheers
BuV

p.s. the problems near Wonsan I mentioned in previous posts have disappeared as well.

 

[Sander]

Cool!

 

[rhumbaflappy]

I believe CFS2 follows the same rules as other sims in the FS series concerning landclass and waterclass textures. If so, then you only need the textures actually used by the lc bgl in the local texture folder... may save some disk space. This approach also allows each group to have it's own texture set. In this context, it may make sense to organize groups of LOD5 BGLs into regional areas, rather than as continents... something for the future perhaps, if we can derive a good set of regional textures, like FSX has.

Dick

 

[rhumbaflappy]

My working procedure

What I'm doing now is editing the SBX files LWM fills. Assuming the 'Land' cell designation, rather than transparent, I delete all the fills, then refill the water fills.

I start filling complete 32x32 fills using the LOD8 grid view. Then go to LOD9, LOD10... until all water fills are complete. It is a slow process for island areas and coastal areas, but it makes a good LWM BGL.

Dick

 

[Sander]

I believe CFS2 follows the same rules as other sims in the FS series concerning landclass and waterclass textures. If so, then you only need the textures actually used by the lc bgl in the local texture folder... may save some disk space. This approach also allows each group to have it's own texture set. In this context, it may make sense to organize groups of LOD5 BGLs into regional areas, rather than as continents... something for the future perhaps, if we can derive a good set of regional textures, like FSX has.

Dick

Yes, differentiation of the LC texture sets should follow different criteria then the regional separation of LWM/VTP's. Since CFS2's LClookup.bgl is a lot more limited than FS8/9's, we'll need more sets. For instance where in FS9, cities can be either "grid" or "non-grid" style, CFS2 uses the same textures for both.

 

[Sander]

What I'm doing now is editing the SBX files LWM fills. Assuming the 'Land' cell designation, rather than transparent, I delete all the fills, then refill the water fills.

I start filling complete 32x32 fills using the LOD8 grid view. Then go to LOD9, LOD10... until all water fills are complete. It is a slow process for island areas and coastal areas, but it makes a good LWM BGL.

Dick

That's exactly how I do it too.
I've done EURW and NAMW completely now. Gotta remember to make sure the Altitude is at 0.... made a bit of a mess-up near the Norwegian coast with that....

 

[blohmundvoss]

That's exactly how I do it too.

Me too. There's one thing I have noticed during this process - and it may explain an old phenomenon in EURW. Remember the thin white lines that sometimes used to appear in the sea? I remember Sander saying this may have been a side-effect of compiling but, working with the FS9 LWMs in SBuilder, I notice that some areas are incompletely filled i.e. very thin white lines at the edge. Sometimes these are not noticeable unless you zoom right in and in some areas there is no other obvious reason to do this. I only spotted it by accident.

I'm happy to be given my homework if you're ready to start cranking out the Cells . . .

Cheers
BuV

 

[Sander]

Me too. There's one thing I have noticed during this process - and it may explain an old phenomenon in EURW. Remember the thin white lines that sometimes used to appear in the sea? I remember Sander saying this may have been a side-effect of compiling but, working with the FS9 LWMs in SBuilder, I notice that some areas are incompletely filled i.e. very thin white lines at the edge.

That problem back then was caused by a bug in Ground2k where the VTP1 texture x,y started at 0 instead of 1. What we deal with now are LWM polygons that do not quite fill an area. The fix for that is to use a Fill in those area's.

I'm happy to be given my homework if you're ready to start cranking out the Cells . . .
Cheers
BuV

I think I'll start collecting the regions on Skydrive, so we can get the world together. To get a full SVN repository going turns out to be a bit of a challenge and take a bit longer (finding a suitable free hosting provider).
Considering Dick has SAME and OCEN, I started on EUR and NAM: ASIA and AFRI are up for grabs....