Fs2002 Ground Poly disappear

[Bugstomper]

Hello, i've finally managed to export ground polygons using the 2002sdk but i have little problem.
The polygons are displayed correctly in FS, except when viewing the airport from certain angles they disappear showing the afcad taxiways below.
Here's a couple of screenshots. In the first one the polys are displayed correctly, in the second one i've rotated the viewpoint few degrees.
Just to be clear, the polys are tweaked with the ADDCAT technique.

 

[Thomas]

Hi,

You can try to increase the 'viewing distance'. When you export from Gmax with the FS2002 SDK, you can see the distance parameter. By default this value is 10000m. Try to increase this value to 30000m for example.

The second thing you can do, is change the texture type in the _0.asm file. You can find a post about this here:
http://www.scenerydesign.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1732

Thomas

 

[Bugstomper]

Hi Thomas,

thanks for your suggestions but it didn't work.
I've already changed the texture type in the asm from Aircraft to Building but the problem is still there. Same thing for the viewing distance

 

[arno]

Hi,

Sounds like the v2 value is not correct. Are you placing the polygon directly with the GMax generated BGL file (including the tweaks) or do you use an object library and macros?

In both cases you might want to check the value of your v2 RefPoint parameter. If it is too low, you will get dissapearing polygons from certain angles.

 

[spotlope]

Sorry to bring this up again, but...

Hi,

Sounds like the v2 value is not correct. Are you placing the polygon directly with the GMax generated BGL file (including the tweaks) or do you use an object library and macros?

In both cases you might want to check the value of your v2 RefPoint parameter. If it is too low, you will get dissapearing polygons from certain angles.

I'm having a similar problem with some FS2002-style Gmax ground polys. I was going to try changing the V2, but then it occurred to me... I don't know where it is in the code! Can anyone provide an example of where the v2 param resides in an FS2002-style asm file?

thanks,

 

[arno]

Hi Bill,

In BGLC the RefPoint command is called SCALE_AGL. You find an example from one of my objects below:

SCALE_AGL   OBJECT_0_RETURN, 20000, 725, 131072, 00059DE21h, 09F27h, 004FFA569h, 063DEh, 0, 0

The parameter after the 20000 (which is my v1 value) is the v2. So in this case it is 725.

 

[spotlope]

Thanks for the info, Arno. I was afraid that was the variable, as I'd already tried tweaking it. I'm not sure why I'm having this problem with this particular set of ground polys -- I don't recall it being an issue before. The ground is flattened appropriately, the three layered BGLs have all been generated properly using the FS2002 MakeMDL, yet the bleed-through persists from a certain angle. I'm inclined to agree that it's a V2 problem, as the bleedthrough stops once I've gotten within a couple hundred metres of my refpoint, but expanding the V2 significanty has absolutely no effect on the problem. Looks like I'll have to keep researching.

By the way, all the problems I was having with EZ Scenery have vanished in version 1.01. Now if I could only get rid of this ground poly issue, I'd be cooking!

thanks,

 

[arno]

Hi Bill,

How far are your ground polygons from the RefPoint? When I tried to put all ground polygons for a certain airport in one RefPoint I got problems like this as well. The ones furthest from the center dissapeared from some angles. I guess they were just to far out of the RefPoint (I am talking about a few kilometers in that case).

 

[spotlope]

I think you're right about the refpoint being too far away. It was offset, although only by about 500m from the center of the poly. That seemed to be enough to mess it up, though. I just repositioned the layout so that I could center the ground poly on the refpoint, and everything else seems to have resolved itself. Thanks for taking the time to help out with this. I think it's working now.

thanks,

 

[Bugstomper]

Hi guys, thanks for your replies.
Sorry for the dumb question but i have some confusion about the refpoint definition. If i'm correct is it supposed to be the pivot point of the polygon?

 

[arno]

Hi, there are no dumb questions .

The reference point is always the 0,0 point of GMax. That is also why you should design every object around that point and not add the entire airport to one big GMax file.

 

[Bugstomper]

Hi Arno
I haven't designed the airport as a huge gmax file. All the buildings are inside separate bgl files, as well as the runway, etc.
The ground polys are inside the same bgl, tweaked with the addcat technique and placed at layer 9. I did a little test, to exclude that some other bgl was causing that effect, and i have removed all the blg files from my scenery except the ground but the problem is still there.
I also had no luck increasing the V2 and recompiling, or changing from TEXTURE_AIRCRAFT to TEXTURE BUILDING in the _0.asm

I dont know if can be helpful but, attached to the message, you will find the two asm files i'm using.

 

[Thomas]

Hi,

You should change the texture type to TEXTURE_GROUND instead of _BUILDING. Another strange thing is that you use the ADDCAT command and the ZBIAS command in 1 file. You should only use ADDACT for your FS2002 polygons.

This is probably caused by your materials in Gmax. You probably named the materials zbias_1_texturename. There are 2 options to remove the ZBIAS command. First option is to remove the zbias prefix from your gmax materials and then export your scene again. Second option is to remove the ZBIAS lines from your _0.asm file.

So change this (for every polygon)

...
MATERIAL 0,0 ; <255,255,255,255> MAPPA_LAYERS_1X1.BMP;;;
    BGL_ZBIAS 1
    DRAW_TRI_BEGIN 0, 4
    DRAW_TRI    3,   2,   1 ; poly=2 part=0
    DRAW_TRI    0,   1,   2 ; poly=1 part=0
    DRAW_TRI_END
    BGL_ZBIAS 0
...

Into this:

...
MATERIAL 0,0 ; <255,255,255,255> MAPPA_LAYERS_1X1.BMP;;;
    DRAW_TRI_BEGIN 0, 4
    DRAW_TRI    3,   2,   1 ; poly=2 part=0
    DRAW_TRI    0,   1,   2 ; poly=1 part=0
    DRAW_TRI_END
...

Regards,
Thomas

 

[Bugstomper]

Hi Thomas,

you are right, the zbias stuff wasn't supposed to be in the asm, i must have missed something in gmax materials names.
Btw, i've corrected both the TEXTURE_BUILDING label and the zbias prefix in the asm and recomplied, unfortunately the probem is still there.
There is one curious think...i've installed the scenery in my notebook and tested...the ground polygons do not disappear. At this point i have to consider the possibility that there is nothing wrong with the polygons and, maybe, could be a graphic card issue?

 

[arno]

Could it also be that you have another BGL file or another scenery installed that has an influence, while that file is not on your laptop?

 

[Bugstomper]

Hi guys, sorry to bring this post up in the list but i thought it was necessary to explain where the problem was. Arno, you were completely right, it was a bgl from another scenery, i've removed it and the problem disappeared
Thanks you all

 

[Amengol]

Sorry about bringing this old topic back, but I have the very same problem and have tried everything on the topic but nothing worked at all. In my case, everything compiled with FS2002 SDK disappear from certain angles.

The problem occurs or not in certain situations:

If I’m start a flight in a short radius of the reference point, but with it not on visual, the problem occurs, and everything compiled with FS2002 SDK disappears if I’m not looking to the area of the reference point and appears again if I look at it.

If I start a flight little far from the reference point or near, but with it on visual, the problem do not occurs at all.



Does anyone have any idea about what could be causing that?

Tks.

 

[arno]

Hi,

First thought would be to check the v2 value in the ASM file, but GMax should always calculate that right. I assume you did not tweak the main ASM file (apart from the ADDCAT tweak)?

How far are the polygons from the origin of your GMax scene?

 

[Amengol]

Hi,

First thought would be to check the v2 value in the ASM file, but GMax should always calculate that right. I assume you did not tweak the main ASM file (apart from the ADDCAT tweak)?

How far are the polygons from the origin of your GMax scene?

I don't know exactly, but if I start the flight very near it, but without it on visual, the problem occurs.

Every object, even 3D objects, compiled with fs2002 SDK shows that problem.

A attached an example of the high res. polygons.