Deleting wave effect(s)

[hjwalter]

Hi Guys,

 

I've had the rather simple but beautifully made addon tropical JF Mitchell (TVSB) airfield in my collection for many years but have never actually gotten around to getting rid of the visible ocean wave effects right across this airfield.

 

The airfield itself is situated on a stroke of re-claimed land (at 14 feet) running more or less parallel to the default coastline .... BUT ..... the original wave effects remain visible right across the re-claimed part, most probably because the original coastline(s) have not been deleted or suppressed in the default HL931270.bgl file.

 

How can I get rid of only this stroke of default coastline, while leaving the new ones around the re-claimed land intact ?

 

Any help or suggestions will be strongly appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Hans

[jgf]

I have this issue at several coastal airports (such as Burke Lakefront) and was told you can disable the effect globally but not locally.

[defaid]

From memory again (lunchtime this time...)

 

Aren't the wave effects part of the vector coastline? If so, you should be able to pinpoint which coastline BGL you want to disable (TCalc2004 perhaps). You'll still have the same LWM so the shape of the land won't change -- you just won't have a beach.

 

Also, possibly, you could modify the relevant bgl in Sbuilder or make a replacement.

 

D

[SCM0616]

Some caribbean sceneries were developed to work with the Antilles2004 scenery which created new coastlines, mesh, etc and others for the stock scenery.  Some also had updates to work with the Antilles2004. You might check to see which version your TVSB was designed for.  

[hjwalter]

defaid,

 

De-activating the complete default HL931270.bgl file (= shorelines) does in fact remove ALL the island's default shorlines AND their related wave effects but that then leaves an even more unrealistic looking land/water transition for the whole island.

 

I've never done anything with the SBuilder program and therefore have absolutely no experience with it but is this the program via which it becomes possible to edit the default HL931270.bgl file ? E.g. to remove a small piece of default coastline ?

 

SCM0616,

 

Interesting answer but as far as I can remember the "Antilles2004" scenery actually messed up more than it improved, at least in my setup and that caused me not to keep it. However, if I can still find it I will certainly give it another go.

 

Regards

 

Hans

 

 

[hgschnell]

10 hours ago, hjwalter said:

I've never done anything with the SBuilder program and therefore have absolutely no experience with it but is this the program via which it becomes possible to edit the default HL931270.bgl file ? E.g. to remove a small piece of default coastline ?

Yes, it is and it has a great "Help" section with tutorials.

[hjwalter]

hgschnell,

 

Thanks for your reaction but the SBuilder "Help" tutorial only seems to highlight it's actual usage, how to begin making scenery, etc. but nowhere does it seem to say anything about editing an existing default scenery file at least, I could not find anything of that nature. I made a few (test-)polygons, just for fun and which actually worked but that was not (yet) what I was looking for.

 

I've had a program called "LWM Viewer" for many years and via that I was able to open my default HL931270.BGL file and to see exactly the small piece of shoreline I wanted to delete but frustratingly enough, that program is not meant for directly editing default files but only for de-activating and re-activating them, to see what they do within the program itself. Another one of it's very handy functions is to display exactly which default files are active in the area where your (test) aircraft is parked.

 

What I'm in fact looking for is a comparable function in SBuilder or in any other program, whereby such selective edits/deletes from default files can actually take place.

 

Another option would be the possibility to create some kind of a mask for my problem shoreline and in such a way that the wave effect "engine" can no longer "see" it.

 

Comments please.

 

Regards

 

Hans

 

 

 

 

 

[hgschnell]

Hi Hans,

 

try to "append" HL931270.bgl and edit the shore line to your need.

 

Select all and compile it with a higher priority than the default.

 

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/attachments/airport-background-tutorial-pdf.13311/

 

Perhaps here is another info

[hjwalter]

hgschnell,

 

I went through your "airport-background" tutorial a few times more and am now able to further edit (= improve) their terrains, in other words, to create VTPP files. Also works great for covering up default weeds, trees, etc. but sadly, not for any shorelines !!

 

However, I'm still looking for a method/procedure to edit (= get rid of small pieces of shoreline in) my HL931270.bgl file. Could you therefore please explain a little further by what you mean by "append" this file. Could this possibly be a function hidden away somewhere within SBuilder ? If so, I havn't been able to find it ........ yet.

 

I also tried to dis-assemble my HL file via the SCASM program but this only produced a "BGLAnalyze MFC Application has stopped working" appcrash message, containing a lengthy and seemingly abruptly ended "asm" file. Trying to (test) re-compile this file, via the SCASM compiler and without any edits, only produced a message that a basic DOS method should be used. However, this didn't work either.

 

My last resort is now to delete this whole TVSB airfield and any programmed flights to and from it but before I actually do so I would certainly like to learn how to edit default files in general and specifically my now hottest HL931270.bgl one.

 

Regards and thanks in advance for any help you could be able to supply.

 

Hans

 

 

[Tom Gibson]

You do NOT remove shorelines from the default file, but instead create an EXCLUDE that prevents them from displaying in a certain areas (it excludes square by square).  Then you create shorelines of your own, if you like.  This is all done in SBuilder - look up exclude in the manual or a tutorial.

[hgschnell]

Tom is right of course,

 

you are on a good way!

[hjwalter]

Thanks Tom and Hgschnell,

 

For me this is a fresh and very logical sounding direction for me to look into because I could find nothing in SBuilder itself in any way related to editing default files. It will certainly keep me off the streets and out of sleasy bars, at least for the forseeable future (LOL) and I'm already looking forward to the final solution to my into a test case elevated problem. 

 

Thanks again Guys and I'll let you know how I fared.

 

Hans

 

[hgschnell]

Here is an example of SBuilder exclude polygon.

"8" is necessary for coast lines

 

 

[hjwalter]

Hi Guys,

 

Thanks for all your help.

 

After many hours of messing around with SBuilder I finally succeded in deleting (or subduing) the necessary shorelines and with them, their wave effects on my (test) TVSB airfield. However, I must admit that at this point II don't really know how I did it because during much of my "trial and error work" they had quite suddenly and unexpectedly disappeared, although hgschnell's above diagrams evidently did get me going in the right direction. Now to repeat the procedure a number of times in order to "get the hang of it" for possible later use at other airfields with the same problems.

 

What I did notice though was that my SBuilder exclude polygon, although much smaller in size, in fact excluded the shorelines in a far greater area but that could have something to do with the default scenery "blocks" about which I have been reading elswhere. Anyway, I'm certainly very happy with this intermediate result and will now make attempts at re-drawing the shorelines, which now end too far away from the airfield.

 

Bernard,

 

Your suggestion also sounds very good and I will certainly try it, especially if it can be done locally ...... via one of those SBuilder exclude polygons.

 

Thnaks again Guys,

 

Hans

 

[eriksleu]

This is probably too much tech talk, but indeed: excludes affect all the elements of the selected VTP layers in the LOD13 cell(s) that the exclude shape touches. In SBuilder, you display these blocks with F3. It might give you an idea of the affected area.

 

So you are correct Hans, it has to do with those default scenery blocks.

 

If you really want to suppress a single or just a few element(s) like part of a shoreline this way, it can be done but it takes several steps. Basically you would, via an import, recreate a small piece of default scenery but without the(se) element(s) and use that as an add-on.

 

About the effect, I think this will be a global change to your sim in the case of the waves, but Bernard knows for sure.

 

Erik

 

[hjwalter]

Wel Guys,

 

This SBuilder program did open a whole new world of possibilities for me but as far as shorelines and their directly related wave effects are concerned, the program does seem to create a "playground" for technical diehards and I'm certainly not one of those ......... yet.

 

However, my wave effects on TVSB's apron etc. have now been taken care of and I've strongly "tropicalised" (= masked) the whole island by planting palm/coconut trees and mangrove-like strokes along all the island's shorelines/beaches and where they used to be. Too bad for beach loving tourists but great for VFR flying !!

 

Erik,

 

Yes, I have also found out that getting rid of wave effects can only be done for the whole world and not locally.

 

Thanks to all of you for your kind help and always remember: Never drink alcohol while flying because sooner or later the earth will suddenly rise up to kill you !!

 

Hans