Kelti, some flatten testing...

[Rami]

Stefano,

I had some spare time this afternoon, so I did some testing of the flattens you sent me a while back for England and France. I wanted to share the results with you.

For England...

Flatten.0=72, N53 8.52, W0 12.80, N53 9.25, W0 9.58, N53 8.37, W0 8.93, N53 7.47, W0 11.85
Flatten.1=6, N51 21.90, E1 17.24, N51 21.90, E1 19.60, N51 20.41, E1 19.60, N51 20.41, E1 17.24
Flatten.2=204, N51 27.50, W3 24.35, N51 27.50, W3 21.00, N51 26.00, W3 21.00, N51 26.00, W3 24.35
Flatten.3=250, N50 59.49, W2 16.74, N51 0.70, W2 14.04, N50 59.88, W2 12.84, N50 58.28, W2 15.54
Flatten.4=165, N53 20.45, W0 35.02, N53 20.45, W0 31.77, N53 18.56, W0 31.77, N53 18.56, W0 35.02
Flatten.5=220, N49 27.16, W2 37.36, N49 27.16, W2 35.40, N49 26.08, W2 35.07, N49 25.90, W2 37.36
Flatten.6=475, N55 21.39, W2 0.07, N55 21.39, W1 56.92, N55 16.92, W1 56.92, N55 16.92, W2 0.07
Flatten.7=65, N53 5.90, W0 11.17, N53 6.65, W0 7.92, N53 4.79, W0 6.53, N53 3.95, W0 10.23
Flatten.8=210, N50 54.30, W2 45.53, N50 54.30, W2 42.26, N50 53.46, W2 42.26, N50 53.46, W2 45.53
Flatten.9=35, N51 28.93, W0 0.40, N51 28.61, W0 0.04, N51 28.71, E0 0.62, N51 29.07, E0 0.55

Flattens 0 and 7: Coningsby and Woodhall Spa. I could not find a need for either of these.
Flatten 1: Ramsgate - This had no display issues in MB, and the area around it is fine.
Flatten 3: Manston - This had no display issues in MB, and the area around it is fine.
Flatten 5: Guernsey - This had no display issues in MB, and the area around it is fine.
Flatten 6: Outston - This had no display issues in MB, and the area around it is fine.
Flatten 8: Yeovil - This had no display issues in MB, and the area around it is fine.

Needed...

Flatten 2: Cardiff (This one is needed)
Flatten 4: Scampton (Something is wrong with this airfield, it may have to be redone...)
Flatten 9: London Docks (This one is needed)

So this is what I have left...

Flatten.0=204, N51 27.50, W3 24.35, N51 27.50, W3 21.00, N51 26.00, W3 21.00, N51 26.00, W3 24.35
Flatten.1=257, N51 38.65, W0 34.34, N51 38.65, W0 32.12, N51 37.65, W0 32.12, N51 37.65, W0 34.34
Flatten.2=35, N51 28.93, W0 0.40, N51 28.61, W0 0.04, N51 28.71, E0 0.62, N51 29.07, E0 0.55

Flatten 0: is Cardiff
Flatten 1: is Northolt (This one I had to add)
Flatten 2: are the London docks.

For France...

Flatten.0=180, N49 55.87, E2 54.70, N49 55.87, E2 57.42, N49 54.14, E2 57.42, N49 54.14, E2 54.70
Flatten.1=285, N48 00.37, E2 42.84, N48 00.37, E2 45.15, N47 58.86, E2 45.15, N47 58.86, E2 42.84
Flatten.2=335, N46 36.85, E0 18.86, N46 36.85, E0 21.83, N46 33.73, E0 21.83, N46 33.73, E0 18.86
Flatten.3=0,N46 09.60, W1 13.34, N46 09.60, W1 12.50, N46 09.31, W1 12.50, N46 09.31, W1 13.34
Flatten.4=54, N44 54.89, W0 25.81, N44 54.89, W0 28.01, N44 53.70, W0 28.01, N44 53.70, W0 25.81

Flatten 0: This is Corbie (for the 20th FG)
Flatten 1: This is Montargis (for the 20th FG)
Flatten 2: This is Poitiers (for the 20th FG)
Flatten 3: This is La Rochelle (Tobob)
Flatten 4: This is Bordeaux-Merignac (Added by me)

 

[kelticheart]

Hi Andrew!

I did a good chunk of those flattens to push back the cliffs that often surround airfields which were designed with the faulty stock CFS2 mesh. Once Rhumba's mesh is in place, the old elevation is either too low or too high. Unrealistic, hideous cliffs surround the airfield, sometimes the airfield sits on top of a "mesa".

Some of those looming cliffs are quite bad, forcing steep climbs after takeoff and preposterous finals. Even if they do not affect the airfield scenery directly I put them in place and figured I shared them with you anyway. In one instance, which I do not remember the airport name (but I do remember it's the RAF Sqdn. 617 "Dambusters" home base!), the nearby British Cathedral VFR scenery looked as half of the cathedral was sitting in thin air. A small flatten switch placed the church on a flat surface.

If you tested that location, you might have not seen the need for it, unless while taking off you had noticed the weird spot the church was laying on.

Some other flattens were done to cure a hidden, yet insidious, mesh problem experienced only when taxiing out of, or on, the runway. I don't know if you ever noticed aircrafts either "falling" or "hopping onto" the runway, as if there were a tall step between the runway and the surrounding surface. In real life this event is impossible, in CFS2 I found out it happens when the scenery flatten height is only a few inches different than the mesh height, so I came to the conclusion that the scenery flatten height affects only the runway and this happens only when such difference is almost negligible. Visually, nothing looks out of place, so one thinks everything it's ok until the aircraft, taxiing on or off the runway, goes .

In several cases I had my aircraft hitting, or falling from, that step so hard that it exploded. The scenery flatten height can be found in airfield.dat entry for any given scenery. I determined the flatten height dragging my mouse pointer off and on the runway in MB, while reading at the bottom left how the height changes in comparison to the height pre-set by the designer. Then I set the flatten at the same height, +- one inch, set in the airfield.dat entry for that airport and the trick is done.
In this case as well, the difference before and after is quite hard to notice, but it makes a big difference nevertheless.

Please, don't ask me which flatten switch does what and where because I do not remember. You'll have to experiment to find out, but I assure you that every flatten I did has its own reason to be.

As it was pointed out several times here, the proper solution would have been editing each scenery *.bgl and entering the correct flatten data, but I see that over the years no one tackled the problem in this way or, at least, whoever did it, if they did it, never uploaded the corrections.

As to me, I haven't got the time to learn *.bgl editing and it's beyond my current skills. Yes, flattens are quick and dirty but often time they get the job done.

One day we will, perhaps, see the results of the application Sander announced last year, which should have cured all of CFS2 mesh ailments when Rhumba's mesh is installed. I think we'll have to live forever with the bugs Microsoft left in CFS2......

Cheers!
KH