Differences SBX Generic Building and in-sim Texture Mapping

[Bungo]

When creating warehouses and sheds as generic buildings in SBX (3.14 x64), the Bottom textures for the more industrial buildings line up OK vertically in SBX, but when compiled and opened in P3D v3.4, the textures seem to align halfway between 2 'layers' or textures on the texture sheets?

ie:

Producing XML as:

<!--TAS-SE-PRINCESS-WHARF-1_Obj_102-->
  <SceneryObject
    lat="-42.8860081"
    lon="147.3335774"
    alt="0"
    altitudeIsAgl="TRUE"
    pitch="0"
    bank="0"
    heading="184.2062"
    imageComplexity="VERY_SPARSE">
    <GenericBuilding
      scale="1"
      bottomTexture="151"
      roofTexture="10"
      topTexture="60"
      windowTexture="47">
      <RectangularBuilding
        roofType="RIDGE"
        sizeX="140"
        sizeZ="30"
        sizeBottomY="5"
        textureIndexBottomX="1777"
        textureIndexBottomZ="468"
        sizeWindowY="0"
        textureIndexWindowX="204"
        textureIndexWindowY="937"
        textureIndexWindowZ="236"
        sizeTopY="1"
        textureIndexTopX="0"
        textureIndexTopZ="0"
        textureIndexRoofX="512"
        textureIndexRoofZ="346"
        sizeRoofY="4"
        gableTexture="1093"
        textureIndexGableY="100"
        textureIndexGableZ="256" />
    </GenericBuilding>
  </SceneryObject>

If I change the texture to 121, I get a similar misaligned texture rendition in-game.

Also the gable textures are not the same texture at all.

I've read that FSX Generic Buildings have many 'quirks', and have read the PDF on Generic Building creation and the known issues documented there, and read Aspireman's post here. However AFAICT, this is slightly different.

I have a lot of sheds to make, so having them all be with textures out of vertical alignment will be painful to create as bespoke buildings.

Does anyone have a workaround for this?

Cheers

Braedon

 

[GaryGB]

Hi Braedon:

IIRC, since the days of FS2002, the texture mapping for "Gables" has had a bug in which the texture is either mapped out of alignment, or an entirely mis-matched texture is mapped into the position that should be occupied by the Gable texture.

Also, IIUC, there were reported instances where the Gable texture was mapped onto certain roof types, notably large flat ones.


IIRC, a few developers found a way to fix this in the days of FS9, and in the early RTM days of FSX.

The complications incurred with the fixes implemented by OrbX FTX are mentioned here:

http://www.simforums.com/forums/gex-europe-gable-rooftops-tree-count_topic32320.html


There are some suggestions by an end user in a discussion with Helli Hauck:

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/generic-building-placement.429542/

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/generic-building-placement.429542/#post-666895

Thanks for this thread, as it was the cause to find Helli's excellent tutorial and resolve most of my problems (as in here http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/gen-buildings.429496/)

Some remarks for the tutorial:

1. In fig. 11,12,13 the top layer (13) is not mapped to a texture number.
2. It is not mentioned that sizes are expected in integer numbers (I believe).

And two general remarks for generic buildings:

1. texture index Y seems not working as expected for Gables higher than 85 (or 1085). Although texture index Z is ok.
2. Gable 2037, when compiled in bgl, causes a FSX crash (g3d.dll). A couple of other 2xxx gables I tried work fine.

Conclusion: having the tutorial by your side, makes the use of generic buildings really easy.

There are also a few other suggestions by Luis Feliz-Tirado:

http://www.ptsim.com/forum/posting.php?mode=quote&f=22&p=6704

As mentioned in the SBuilder X Help file:

Here are some tips for creating buildings:

1. According to the World Coordinate System used in Flight Simulator, Width is the x coordinate and Depth is the z coordinate. Height is the y coordinate. It is easy to become confused.

2. The appendix indicates the texture numbers for different types of buildings and what seem the corresponding window, gable, and face textures that best fit the bottom and top textures. However, you are free to mix and match textures as you wish.

3. The buildings from before FS 9 will display mostly correctly in the preview window, but FS9/FSX hangar and terminal buildings follow a set of complex display rules and have a certain randomness built in, so the preview will not be exactly what you will see in FS.

4. The ACES artists created the textures so as to display best in FS when the height is set to 5 meters or a multiple of that number. Again, you are free to choose a different height.

5. The FS9/FSX terminals (textures 86-121) and hangars (textures 122-151) have double textures. That is to say that 86 and 87 are the same texture, but displayed differently, as are 88-89, 90-91, etc. Because of the complex rules concerning the display of these textures, it is impossible to preview them correctly, but SBuilderX will reverse the pair to alert you to the difference between them.

6. Some of the FS9/FSX hangar and terminal buildings will display the window texture (usually some sort of siding) on the depth side (z axis). Others, however, will use the same texture as the front with a door. To avoid having a door on the side of these buildings, use Z Tiling of 0.50 or less.

7. Multi-sided buildings have a Smoothing option - it is included in SBuilderX because of the requirements of compiler code, but it does nothing.

8. Like all objects, generic buildings should be placed on flat surfaces or they risk having parts of the building hanging in the air.

FS X injects a certain amount of randomness in the FS9 and FS X hangar and terminal buildings so it is impossible to accurately preview the results.

Other than these, I have not yet seen any conclusive guides on how to make use of Generic Buildings more 'predictable'; ACES intended them to be "randomized".

IIUC, that 'randomization' takes place via the run time scenery rendering engine regardless of whether the defined Generic Building is created and placed via:

* a BGLComp-XML BGL (either stand-alone placement type, or "Hybrid" with geo-locked scenery library object embedded MDLs etc.)

* the Autogen XML sub-system

NOTE: IIUC, the Autogen XML sub-system uses Default.XML and/or *.SPB Autogen description criteria when placed by Autogen annotation *.an.AGN files mapped to default or custom Land Class BGLs (including the SDK Resample-compiled custom photo-real aerial imagery land class BGL type).



BGLComp SDK XML code for creation / placement criteria are here:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc526978.aspx


BTW: Although ADE will import BGLComp XML placement code for these object types, AFAIK, Scruffyduck apparently concluded it is more practical not to pursue the original intended feature option to "create" them, and instead recommends use of the "80,000" scenery library objects (many of which are 'Generic Buildings' otherwise placed via the Autogen default XML and *an.AGN files).

http://www.scruffyduck.org.uk/ade_h...VFAAAAAAEAEAAAAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABAAAAAAAA


Some search results on Google:

https://www.google.com/search?sourc...0i22i30k1j33i22i29i30k1j33i21k1.0.Bx8DRbDAtdg


I am not certain whether Arno has had time to sort through these persistent 'known' texture mapping anomalies and implement a fix of his own via ScenProc; hopefully, if he has not already done so, perhaps he 'may' do so ...in the future.


Hope this helps !

GaryGB