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Black and Red Hard Winter problem.

S

Sibs

Messages
39
Country
canada
I have been racking my brain here to the point I cant think straight now. Please help.
I have 2 photo real areas, one which is perfectly fine in winter. The other is black and red as in pic. I save them in photo shop the exact same way. In fact I redid the one that is fin just so make sure Im not missing something.
The airport one itself was fine befor but since painting out the unwanted cars , plane's and such its messed up. I even excluded the new layer of touch ups I did. Here are 3 pics. one is the sim, the other is photo shop, and the one of the town that's fine

The town I did is perfect, The first version of the airport works perfect, All I did the this version is create a new layer and paint out the unwanted shadows and vehicles.
Its only the winter texture, Swapped out _hw for _fa and its fine. So I have narrowed it down to the texture itself. For some reason it seems like its not displaying the _hw texture but showing the blend.
Could it be a setting in Photo Shop I have activated or turned off?
Thanks Al
 

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Take another look at your .inf files. There must be a mistake in there when one works and the other does not.
 
That was my first thought so I changed the the bmp of my .inf SourceFile = "L17X89258X89295Y89777Y89809_hw.BMP" to _fa and tried _sp dated to show in December , perfect with no issues. I even took the fall texture, took a white brush and just colored all over it with white. Saved it as "L17X89258X89295Y89777Y89809_hw.BMP", I thought it might be the winter texture , it showed black and red.
I took the winter texture from the town that works, replaced it with the airport winter bmp , so it would sit over the airport as a test. DELETED the airport bgl completely. When run thru the image tool I have a perfect town in winter directly over my airport.
So to me , my files inf files ok or switching the season abbreviation at the end of the bmp would have caused same issue.
For some reason when I add white to a layer and save it as a bmp for this particular photo shop source file, It shows red, but when I first created it in feb, all seasons displayed fine.
I ever re saved it as a bmp with an older version CS5 of photo shop to see if maybe there was something active in CS6 I didn't notice. I have pretty well tried everything I can think of.
 
I still think it is the .inf file.
Do you have all the months in the (winter) variation?
Just adding _fa or _hw does not tell the resampler when to use the bmp.
 
Here is my .inf . Maybe you will see something here that I am over looking. If you do I would love to know as I am stumped.
[Source]
Type = MultiSource
NumberOfSources = 5
[Source1]
Type = BMP
Layer = Imagery
SourceDir = "."
SourceFile = "L17X89258X89295Y89777Y89809_su.BMP"
Variation = June, July, August
Channel_BlendMask = 5.0
NullValue = 255,255,255
SamplingMethod = Gaussian
ulyMap = 49.2238758275705
ulxMap = -57.4227905273437
xDim = 5.36441802978443E-06
yDim = 3.50457806877312E-06

[Source2]
Type = BMP
Layer = Imagery
SourceDir = "."
SourceFile = "L17X89258X89295Y89777Y89809_sp.BMP"
Variation = May
Channel_BlendMask = 5.0
NullValue = 255,255,255
SamplingMethod = Gaussian
ulyMap = 49.2238758275705
ulxMap = -57.4227905273437
xDim = 5.36441802978443E-06
yDim = 3.50457806877312E-06

[Source3]
Type = BMP
Layer = Imagery
SourceDir = "."
SourceFile = "L17X89258X89295Y89777Y89809_fa.BMP"
Variation = September, October, November
Channel_BlendMask = 5.0
NullValue = 255,255,255
SamplingMethod = Gaussian
ulyMap = 49.2238758275705
ulxMap = -57.4227905273437
xDim = 5.36441802978443E-06
yDim = 3.50457806877312E-06

[Source4]
Type = BMP
Layer = Imagery
SourceDir = "."
SourceFile = "L17X89258X89295Y89777Y89809_hw.BMP"
Variation = December, January, February, March, April
Channel_BlendMask = 5.0
NullValue = 255,255,255
SamplingMethod = Gaussian
ulyMap = 49.2238758275705
ulxMap = -57.4227905273437
xDim = 5.36441802978443E-06
yDim = 3.50457806877312E-06

[Source5]
Type = BMP
Layer = None
SourceDir = "."
SourceFile = "L17X89258X89295Y89777Y89809_B.BMP"
SamplingMethod = Gaussian
ulyMap = 49.2238758275705
ulxMap = -57.4227905273437
xDim = 5.36441802978443E-06
yDim = 3.50457806877312E-06

[Destination]
DestDir = "."
DestBaseFileName = "CYDF_PH1"
DestFileType = BGL
LOD = Auto
UseSourceDimensions = 1
CompressionQuality = 85
 
Last edited:
Hi,

If this is the .inf file for the area that is not OK, then I must confess that I cannot find anything wrong in it (unless you saved the _hw texture in a different directory).
It cannot be the blend mask either because it works fine in other seasons.
Therefore, the only thing that I can think of is that something is wrong with the _hw.bmp (like you already presumed).
Question: why add a white layer? Have you flattened it afterwards? But why not just convert to grey scale and invert black and white?
 
Yes I tried flattening the layers.
This is the way I make my winter texture.

What I do is use the Alpha in channels to do color out my water.
highlight it, invert it so all my white is now paintable.
go to my blend layer I now paint out all the water in black.Than paint out all image I dont want the sim to see.
Save it as blend
Save my hw,sp,su and fa individually plus the alpha as my seasonal bmp,s
I learnt it for this link

I did try doing my project using a white layer and a blend as in this link but ran into a problem after doing a few projects where the water from my aerial image was bleeding thru in the scenery, so I had re revert back the the way I do it as it works.
I don't know what you mean about adding a white layer as the only white layer would be my winter texture itself.
I don't understand what you mean about converting to gray scale. Please explain or send me a link.
Below shows what I am doing.
Al
 

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  • Blendmask.jpg
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  • Winter texture.jpg
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I started fresh. Whole new project. CCD2 Springdale. Has a few ponds for water.
Using the default aerial .bmp its perfect.
Created a channel alpha map and removed the imagery over the ponds.
Create my winter.bmp this is what I get.
The blend mask is showing everywhere I removed the aerial imagery in winter.

TEST I DID.
1 I took Deer Lake town which is perfect in winter.
I swapped out the winter texture for the one for Springdale and re compiled Deer Lake.INF.
Springdale winter texture worked perfect over Deer Lake with using the Deer Lake .INF Looked funny but it was fine.
Than I put back the proper Deer Lake winter BMP in the INF and swapped out the Deer Lake Blend .bmp with the Springdale blend map.
Again ran the Deer Lake.INF thru the imagetool. The blend map caused no black or red images except where the Springdale blend and the Deer Lake winter were outside each others borders. That made sense.

So in conclusion, I have confirmed that each being the winter aerial bmp and the blendmap cause no problems on their own. Yet put them together and the blend shows black rather than removing the unwanted winter parts of the aerial map.
Yet all is fine in every other season.
Leaving the question. WHY NOW... is the Blend conflicting with the white in the winter texture. when I had no issues before.
Man this is driving me nuts
 

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  • CCD2 blend issue.jpg
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I do not get it either, sorry. I have not ever had this problem.
What is this alpha for water for? You already have the photoreal water blended out by the blend mask.
What I mean by converting to grey scale is that you take your summer texture, convert it to grey scale and then invert the remaining white, greyish and black colors left.
Do you want the water to stay water in winter or do you want to turn it into ice?
This is my .inf file for Lake Lola/Lac Lola in Quebec:


[Source]
Type = MultiSource
NumberOfSources = 8

[Source1]
Type = BMP
Layer = Imagery
SourceDir = D:\FSZIP\utilities\FSEarthTiles\work\LacLola
SourceFile = Area_Lp1_SnapOff_N045444092_N045435607_W076111395_W076095856HIWIW.bmp
Lon = -76.1872100830078 ;for top left and bottom right is: -76.1662530899048
Lat = 45.7447099685669 ;for top left and bottom right is: 45.7322323322296
NumOfCellsPerLine = 1465 ;Pixel is not used in FSX
NumOfLines = 1163 ;Pixel is not used in FSX
CellXdimensionDeg = 1.43051147460938E-05
CellYdimensionDeg = 1.07288360595703E-05
PixelIsPoint = 0
SamplingMethod = Gaussian
Variation = January,February,March,November,December
Channel_Blendmask = 8.0


[Source2]
Type = BMP
Layer = Imagery
SourceDir = D:\FSZIP\utilities\FSEarthTiles\work\LacLola
SourceFile = Area_Lp1_SnapOff_N045444092_N045435607_W076111395_W076095856coladj.bmp
Lon = -76.1872100830078 ;for top left and bottom right is: -76.1662530899048
Lat = 45.7447099685669 ;for top left and bottom right is: 45.7322323322296
NumOfCellsPerLine = 1465 ;Pixel is not used in FSX
NumOfLines = 1163 ;Pixel is not used in FSX
CellXdimensionDeg = 1.43051147460938E-05
CellYdimensionDeg = 1.07288360595703E-05
PixelIsPoint = 0
SamplingMethod = Gaussian
Variation = May,June,July,August
Channel_Blendmask = 7.0
Channel_LandWaterMask = 6.0

[Source3]
Type = BMP
Layer = Imagery
SourceDir = D:\FSZIP\utilities\FSEarthTiles\work\LacLola
SourceFile = CYP4photospringfall.bmp
Lon = -76.1872100830078 ;for top left and bottom right is: -76.1662530899048
Lat = 45.7447099685669 ;for top left and bottom right is: 45.7322323322296
NumOfCellsPerLine = 1465 ;Pixel is not used in FSX
NumOfLines = 1163 ;Pixel is not used in FSX
CellXdimensionDeg = 1.43051147460938E-05
CellYdimensionDeg = 1.07288360595703E-05
PixelIsPoint = 0
SamplingMethod = Gaussian
Variation = April,September
Channel_Blendmask = 7.0
Channel_LandWaterMask = 6.0

[Source4]
Type = BMP
Layer = Imagery
SourceDir = D:\FSZIP\utilities\FSEarthTiles\work\LacLola
SourceFile = CYP4october.bmp
Lon = -76.1872100830078 ;for top left and bottom right is: -76.1662530899048
Lat = 45.7447099685669 ;for top left and bottom right is: 45.7322323322296
NumOfCellsPerLine = 1465 ;Pixel is not used in FSX
NumOfLines = 1163 ;Pixel is not used in FSX
CellXdimensionDeg = 1.43051147460938E-05
CellYdimensionDeg = 1.07288360595703E-05
PixelIsPoint = 0
SamplingMethod = Gaussian
Variation = October
Channel_Blendmask = 7.0
Channel_LandWaterMask = 6.0


[Source5]
Type = BMP
Layer = Imagery
SourceDir = D:\FSZIP\utilities\FSEarthTiles\work\LacLola
SourceFile = Area_Lp1_SnapOff_N045444092_N045435607_W076111395_W076095856coladjnight.bmp
Lon = -76.1872100830078 ;for top left and bottom right is: -76.1662530899048
Lat = 45.7447099685669 ;for top left and bottom right is: 45.7322323322296
NumOfCellsPerLine = 1465 ;Pixel is not used in FSX
NumOfLines = 1163 ;Pixel is not used in FSX
CellXdimensionDeg = 1.43051147460938E-05
CellYdimensionDeg = 1.07288360595703E-05
PixelIsPoint = 0
SamplingMethod = Gaussian
Variation = Night
Channel_Blendmask = 7.0
Channel_LandWaterMask = 6.0

[Source6]
Type = TIFF
Layer = None
SourceDir = D:\FSZIP\utilities\FSEarthTiles\work\LacLola
SourceFile = Area_Lp1_SnapOff_N045444092_N045435607_W076111395_W076095856water2.tif
Lon = -76.1872100830078 ;for top left and bottom right is: -76.1662530899048
Lat = 45.7447099685669 ;for top left and bottom right is: 45.7322323322296
NumOfCellsPerLine = 1465 ;Pixel is not used in FSX
NumOfLines = 1163 ;Pixel is not used in FSX
CellXdimensionDeg = 1.43051147460938E-05
CellYdimensionDeg = 1.07288360595703E-05
PixelIsPoint = 0
SamplingMethod = Gaussian

[Source7]
Type = TIFF
Layer = None
SourceDir = D:\FSZIP\utilities\FSEarthTiles\work\LacLola
SourceFile = Area_Lp1_SnapOff_N045444092_N045435607_W076111395_W076095856blendtest.tif
Lon = -76.1872100830078 ;for top left and bottom right is: -76.1662530899048
Lat = 45.7447099685669 ;for top left and bottom right is: 45.7322323322296
NumOfCellsPerLine = 1465 ;Pixel is not used in FSX
NumOfLines = 1163 ;Pixel is not used in FSX
CellXdimensionDeg = 1.43051147460938E-05
CellYdimensionDeg = 1.07288360595703E-05
PixelIsPoint = 0
SamplingMethod = Gaussian
Variation = April,May,June,July,August,September,October


[Source8]
Type = TIFF
Layer = None
SourceDir = D:\FSZIP\utilities\FSEarthTiles\work\LacLola
SourceFile = Area_Lp1_SnapOff_N045444092_N045435607_W076111395_W076095856blend2.tif
Lon = -76.1872100830078 ;for top left and bottom right is: -76.1662530899048
Lat = 45.7447099685669 ;for top left and bottom right is: 45.7322323322296
NumOfCellsPerLine = 1465 ;Pixel is not used in FSX
NumOfLines = 1163 ;Pixel is not used in FSX
CellXdimensionDeg = 1.43051147460938E-05
CellYdimensionDeg = 1.07288360595703E-05
PixelIsPoint = 0
SamplingMethod = Gaussian
Variation = January,February,March,November,December

Please note that I use two different blend masks and a watermask.

Hope it helps.
 
I duplicate the summer image, Hit Threshold under Image/Adjust/Threshold. Drop the setting back from 128 to about 85. Than invert. Than I go to my layer, Normal/ soft color. Thats how I get my winter texture.
Honestly I have no idea how to convert to gray scale. I use to be heavily involved in scenery design with Flight Ontario but stopped around 5 years ago to enjoy just flying in the sim. I have just recently picked it back up. There is so much I had to remember and even more not to learn. I see your INF file is much more involved then mine.
I am not making my lakes ice in winter. I turned off ICE in my FTX stuff as it was causing my shores to have black cells all around lg lakes shorelines.
I would really appreciate any tutorials you know of that can help me. The post I listed above are what I have been going off.
Again, really appreciate you help so far.
Thanks AL
 
I found a solution. Might not be the proper solution but it works thanks to Jim Robertson on the AVSIM forum.
While reading threads I came upon a comment he made and thought , what the heck I will try it.
He suggested to remove red blotches from another guys work, Change the NullValue=255,255,255 in the .inf to NullValue=254,254,254. This changes the pure white to a very slight off white. It worked perfectly, No black blend showing thru, no red. I am so fricken happy right now. After a week of cursing I can now continue on and finish CYDF Deer Lake NL.
 
I understood that this problem was solved but I decided to comment anyway.
Resample reads alpha channels from the source images. Alpha channel 1 is watermask and Alpha channel 2 is Blendmask. I know you can do these separately and define them in the inf-file, but you could also handle these masks in source images' alpha channels as I just described.

Now, I suspect that there was maybe an alpha channel in that HW source image that resample read and got confused. (?)
 
Hi Tuta,
Not solved, just temporarily tweaked till I could solve the problem in the first place. I get what you are saying that I may have a alpha in my HW .bmp.
Would you know how I could check for this?
I would be happy to send you my .psd file to have a look at.
I would really like to know so I can avoid this in my future projects.
Thanks Al
 
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