Re-Routing Traffic in SBuilderX

[falcon409]

Yea, I know, go ask the folks in the SBuilders forum, lol. I was asked not to come back a long time ago and it's been long enough now that I forgot my login info, lol. So I'll ask here and see if someone has a speedy answer.

I am working on a scenery request and I had to redo the main highways around the airport because the default roads cut right across the airport rather than going around it as they should. I have rearranged the roads and eliminated the default roads, but the actual traffic still tracks the old highway system. How do I go about getting the traffic to pick up the new highway routing?

 

[Meshman]

There is Exclude_All_Roads (IIRC) and then just below it is Exclude_All_Freeway_Traffic, so two exclusion polygons. Traffic is handled on a much smaller QMID/LOD basis, so it may take out more than you want if the polygon isn't a smallish rectangle that clips where the traffic flows. You might also run into needing more than one exclusion for the traffic if it the area happens to border two or more QMID/LOD boundaries.

 

[falcon409]

There is Exclude_All_Roads (IIRC) and then just below it is Exclude_All_Freeway_Traffic, so two exclusion polygons. Traffic is handled on a much smaller QMID/LOD basis, so it may take out more than you want if the polygon isn't a smallish rectangle that clips where the traffic flows. You might also run into needing more than one exclusion for the traffic if it the area happens to border two or more QMID/LOD boundaries.

Ouch, lol, I see part of my problem then. I was trying to use one exclude to take out both types and judging where the excludes should go based on where the intersections where, not what QMID section they were in. This'll take some doing then because this is a complicated intertwining of major roads in 4 different directions that all need to be re-routed. Thanks!

 

[falcon409]

Ok, at QMID 14 it would really require an exclude the entire length of the traffic route and a second exclude the entire length of the freeway to do what I wanted to do. This small airport enhancement isn't worth the trouble. I'm just going to cut out the roads and traffic from the interior of the airport and leave it at that. Trying to re-route the traffic is way more than I need for this. Thanks for the assist Lance!:salute:

 

[Meshman]

I think (?) it was mentioned that traffic is excluded on a QMID 15 cell, where other items, such as roads are taken out at QMID 11. Or maybe it's LOD 11? Been a while since I've been working inside SBX. But traffic and roads are two different things, mutually exclusive, if you will. Much like shorelines and wave actions, they seem as one, but are two different things to work on.

 

[scott967b]

I think roads and traffic both are excluded by piece as determined by a bounding box around the piece and the exclusion (if the bounding boxes intersect the piece is excluded). Now as far as default roads/traffic, a piece will always end at the QMID 11 boundary for road and QMID 14 for traffic (assuming the feature crosses the boundary) , but they could be smaller.

My SBX method for roads is to trace the road as a line. Then I create 2 copies. The first copy I set the width to something around 30 meters, then "convert to poly". I set this poly to "airport background masklandclass excludeautogen" and drag it so it matches up over my road.

The 2d copy I set the width to the distance apart of the traffic (maybe around 12m or so for 2-lane). I then convert to poly and place the poly over the road. Then I "make line from poly" and delete this poly. The line that's created I set to freeway traffic. I delete the small "cross-traffic" segment at each end. So when all is done, I have a road line, a poly of "encasement", and two parallel lines of freeway traffic. For extra credit place extrusion bridges over any streams (set the surface to "hard" so the traffic will use the bridge).


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[falcon409]

Thanks Scott. As a general rule I never mess with roads. I found myself in a situation where the road system ran right through the center of an airport boundary and was totally out of sync with everything else. I thought I could simply exclude the sections that were a problem and draw in new road sections and be done with it. Obviously not, so I just excluded everything that entered the perimeters of the airport boundary. Finished. To be honest, I would never endeavor to go to the extent that you describe. None of the scenery I do is worth that much intense effort, I would work around a road if at all possible and if not "exclude" and continue on with the scenery.

Having said that, the information is excellent and possibly someone else reading this has just learned how to fix a problem they've run into before. So many thanks for that.:salute:

 

[GaryGB]

Interesting discussion !

Although I've yet to tinker in any detail with FSX Highway or Freeway Traffic vector content compiled via SHP2VEC to CVX BGLs, I thought it might be of interest to some here to consider what Doug Matthews of ACES wrote about FSX rendering engine QMID "Clip" levels for these types of scenery objects:

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/showpost.php?p=23527&postcount=8

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/showpost.php?p=23565&postcount=12


FYI: LOD + 2 = QMID level, so LOD-9 = QMID-11, and LOD-13 = QMID-15


Many thanks to Lance and Scott for sharing their insights here ! :mixedsmi:


PS: Ed, some of us see great potential in you, and are likely to keep encouraging your progress with FS Scenery Making !

GaryGB