FSX GMax Ground Poly floating when far from ref. point

[Hory1989]

Hi Guys!

I'm modelling a scenery of an airport for few weeks now. I've decided to introduce runway, taxiways and aprons ground poly as well. Right now, I'm modelling ground poly from scratch, as my gmax file went corrupt (oops, more backups are made now), but I had absolutely the same problem in the previous version. Let's get to the point...

As you can see on the first picture, I've decided to have the reference point at one of the corners of the runway (bottom right). RWY is approx. 2140 metres long, 30 m wide. The runway poly consists of plane divided to 22 length segments to have it around 1segment/100m.

The poly is perfectly matching to the surface at the reference point. When going further from the ref. point, vertical gap between the ground (afcad runway) and my ground polygon appears and becomes bigger by distance. I assume I did something wrong, as FSX engine just does not stick the ground poly to the surface (I hate round Earth now). You can see the gap on the second picture.

Here's my workflow with tools I use. I hope someone finds out, where the problem is.

1) Create ground poly in Gmax (FS2004 gamepack)
2) Export selected poly (rwy surface, without photo underlay) to MDL (FS Scenery Object)
3) Import MDL file to ModelConverterX, then export as FS9 MDL object in order to get X file
4) Compile with MakeMDL FS2002 (8.00.020403.01) to get ASM files and set other stuff
5) Tweak ASM to set layer, remove shadow and assign DDS texture
6) Finaly compile with BGLC_9, dragging the first ASM file over it

 

[rhumbaflappy]

I suspect your problem is is step 1.

The FSX round earth needs the poly split into sections of less than 100 meters. Why not zip your untextured gmax file from step 1 and we can see what might help.

Dick

 

[Hory1989]

Sure, here it is...

 

[hcornea]

I suspect the problem is the location of your ref point ... but i could be wrong.

Regardless, it still seems odd that it is elevated if the ADDCat tweaking has been done correctly.

 

[arno]

Your procedure sounds fine. 100 meter slices always work for me. Although I would always put the reference point in the middle, not at a corner.

Does it float more depending on the distance to the reference point?

Which sp of fsx are you using btw?

 

[rhumbaflappy]

I also suspect the refpoint being so far away from the center of the runway.

First:

Back up all files!

ModelConverterX allows you to move the refpoint... Transform Object Menu|Move Object

I would press Center Button, then uncheck "Ignore Z" and apply 0.01, to raise the whole thing a bit, to completely eliminate flicker.

Then apply it.

When you place the runway, it's heading should still be OK, but you'll need to tweak the lat-long to get it where you need.

Dick

 

[Hory1989]

I've moved the refpoint more to the center of the runway. But, both ends of the runway keep floating

Does it float more depending on the distance to the reference point?

Which sp of fsx are you using btw?

Yes, floats more when further.
I'm running FSX SP2.

I would press Center Button, then uncheck "Ignore Z" and apply 0.01, to raise the whole thing a bit, to completely eliminate flicker.

I can only set XYZ coordinates under the function. Nor "Ignore Z", nor "center" options are there... Anyway, flicker is not my problem as I use ASM tweak technique.

Regardless, it still seems odd that it is elevated if the ADDCat tweaking has been done correctly.

Sure, I'm always changing ADDOBJ to ADDCAT, layer 8.

 

[rhumbaflappy]

Hi Hory1989.


I made an example using my recommendation and it seemed to work just fine...

Then I made an example using your method. It also works fine.

So there is a dilemma here. I'm attaching a zip file that has the x file and the altered ASM files and the BGL. See what they look like in your FSX. They look fine in mine.

Dick

 

[Hory1989]

It may look crazy, but even your BGL doesn't work fine in my FSX I've tried many things - disabling all sceneries, all object in my scenery (to make it default), also changing all scenery options... Adding extra flatten to AFCAD...

Well, what's wrong then? I've also tried to have look at few sceneries which use ground polys, but absolutely no problems there...

 

[rhumbaflappy]

It may be the problem is in your system.

To verify that, can you make a similar bgl we can view... and maybe include the asm files you used in the zip. No need for textures in the materials... whatever is handy. Just something that is a problem for you and may not be for us.

No need for more screenshots as we can see your problem.

Also, could you include a copy of your FSX.cfg file in the zip? And if you right-click on the FSX.exe program, select properties, version tab, file version :

Dick

 

[Hory1989]

I've just reset the FSX.cfg file. Problem persists (plus it has completely messed up all textures...).

Anyway, here is the CFG file and the runway files.

PS: I have exactly the same FSX.exe version as you do.

 

[rhumbaflappy]

This BGL lays flat in my FSX. I'm a bit stumped.

I even used your CFG file.

Dick

 

[hcornea]

What Mesh resolution settings do you use?

 

[atorque]

Rich

If you are editing an existing airport, then please ignore this reply.

This might sound crazy especially since im new here at the community and i have only been developing for a short time but here is my take on the situation. I had the same problem when I created my first custom runway as per Mr. Womack's wonderful tutorial. My problem was rather simple. I was working on a fictional airport....and I placed my tower too close to the runway....which for some strange reason made the ends of my runway stick up. I am not saying this is your problem, I am only mentioning it because I had a similar problem. Try removing the tower first just to see if that is the problem. Back up your original file so u can replace the new one if it doesnt work.

If my reply is useless, please dont brand me as simple. I just thought any input might possibly be useful.

 

[Hory1989]

Well then. It seems the problem is somewhere inside of my FSX. Now, as I have ref point in the middle of the runway, the floating is not so bad. I will keep up working on the poly and reinstall FSX later.

What Mesh resolution settings do you use?

76 is the lowest resolution FSX allows me. When I try to select lower res (152 or 305m) it switches itself back to 76m.

If you are editing an existing airport, then please ignore this reply.

Yes, it's already existing airport. Anyway, thanks for the note.

 

[rhumbaflappy]

I'm thinking atorque may have found an answer.

I think there is another object that may be messing up the groundpoly's ability to cling to the earth... either that, or you might have low-end computer hardware that is having a timing problem with it.

Could you try this at another location, and see if that is a problem... pick a bare spot on the earth ( Sahara desert? ), make a flatten, then place a groundpoly. Does it hover there?

Dick

 

[jtanabodee]

It is quite frustrating problem.
I think you have to disable other bgl files, just leave the bgl of the runway alone and see if this helps.
If that is true, try to move bgl back one by one and see what causes the problem.

What I usually do: I separate suspected files into two groups and move one group at a time back to scenery and see which group of files causes problem. If I'm lucky enough, there will be only one problem bgl file. I can spot which group and I move bgl files in "clean" group back to scenery. Then I do that again in "suspected" group. Separate them into two groups and move those files in each groups back to scenery. Finally you can spot which file cause problem.

Have you done light by Scasm.exe ? The level of the light does not match the level of ground poly can cause that. It happened to me once and took me almost a week to find what caused that.