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MSFS20 MSFS projected mesh looks ugly

D

DeltaTango

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34
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germany
Hi there,

I am working on a small air stripe - most of the models are 80% ready - meanwhile I would like to begin also with ground texturing. For a plaster I have a nice pbr texture.

1608286880945.png


The plaster I have applied as projected mesh. But it looks very worst. The underlying ground shines through and there is also no pbr effect.

Are there other possibilities, or what I could have made wrong?

Desktop Screenshot 2020.12.18 - 11.11.25.25.png
 
Are you using jpg? And what are the sizes of your textures?
 
WOW. That should be a sharp image. Hopefully someone has a solution.
 
Aprons\Projected meshes currently have a limit of ~15cm\px. It's a pity..

Screenshot_133.jpg



Also note (cut from the msfs dev forum) :

Ground materials ( those that in the Material Library ) textures are different than regular PBR materials, in the way they don’t have separate Normal and Metal/Rough/AO textures, but a single texture with Normal and Roughness combined this way:

R = Metalness ( not used, so just set it completely black )
G = X component of the normal
B = Roughness
A= Z component of the normal

-- Finn
 
Finni said:
15cm\px. It's a pity..
Click to expand...

I don't understand that correctly, then for example with the pavement it would mean that a stone is a pixel? You can't really use that. The problem is that I would also take a normal object, but the ground is slanted, so I would have to reproduce the object exactly like that. Are there no other possibilities at the moment?

Thank you for the hint with the different assignments of the ground texture. But if the resolution is so bad, the whole mesh project is cancelled. :eek:

Where is the MSFS dev forum?
 
You could make the stone area as an object. A flat plane, or even as some depth to the object like the stone tiles would have. Place it a tiny bit above the ground.
 
Unfortunately the terrain is very unflat so this don't work - I have tried to make an own material with the same plaster texture - with the same results - it seems also as material you have the less resolution - very dissapointing -are there no other solutions? How do you make a patch on sloping surfaces?
 
Hello:

In prior versions of FS, what MSFS-2020 calls a "projected mesh" would be a custom CVX vector land class polygon (or LWM vector textured polygon aka "VTP"), which has either terrain mesh-clinging- or terrain mesh modifying- attributes,

[EDITED]

In MS-FS (AFAIK, all versions), vector textured polygons always have a internally limited resolution when created / used as terrain object.


IIUC, what Dick refers to would a classic "Ground Polygon" (aka "G-Poly") made as a 3D model (...in MSFS: a 'extended' glTF).

In theory, in all FS versions, a G-Poly has no practical limit to the texture resolution we map onto it. :scratchch

[END_EDIT]


The G-Poly can be made in the same shape as the terrain surface of the local ground in MSFS-2020, thus it must be placed slightly Above Ground Level (aka "AGL") with a "biasY" attribute to minimize / eliminate Z-Buffer fighting / Moiré patterns between the G-Poly and underlying ground surface. :idea:

Assuming the current resolution of MSFS-2020 terrain mesh is approximately 19.2 Meters per pixel, in theory we may:

* Download a segment of ex: 1 Arc-Second / 30 Meter SRTM / ASTER GDEM source projected in a non-warped GIS file format such as EPSG:3857

* Import it into a 3D modeling application

* Apply the desired high resolution texture image Material(s)

* Export as a 3D model format that MCX can import

* Import that 3D model export file into MCX

* Assign PBR and "biasY" attributes with MCX

* Export as a glTF with MSFS-2020 extensions

* Place the 3D model G-Poly as MSFS Scenery, slightly AGL


PS: Dick: if we use FSUIPC version 7.x for MSFS, is TCalcX still able to read ground surface elevation at aircraft datum position ? :rolleyes:

www.fsdeveloper.com

TCalcX

Included is TCalcX_003. The compilation should work for 64bit systems, as it is compiled as x86. It also uses the RTM SimConnect, so it should work with all versions of FSX. Included is the source code ( Visual Studio Express 2008 ). This...
www.fsdeveloper.com www.fsdeveloper.com

GaryGB
 
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Me too I am struggling with ground Material Combined textures for bump and normal effects. I got some experiments working but when the light is low, the texture turns purple or blue...
 
GaryGB said:
In MS-FS (AFAIK, all versions), G-Polys always have a internally limited resolution when created / used as terrain object.
Click to expand...
Very bad news!

GaryGB said:
Assuming the current resolution of MSFS-2020 terrain mesh is approximately 19.2 Meters per pixel, in theory we may:
Click to expand...
Ok, I have 20m and 1m resolution data - I have made the same airfield with 1m resolution data in XPlane (Ortho4XP) - so that the runway is as in reality - the runway has deformations in longitudinal and transverse direction and is very special!

Maybe I can use for the complete airfield the 1m resolution, so that also the runway would be perfect, but then I am landing on an object without special runway data (roadmaterial switched on) - but so I can perfectly work on the ground texture :)

Unfortunately up to now there is no import option for high resolution DEM data. So when I use the 1m data I have problems to match the surface of the terrain data from MSFS.

I think I have an other solution - I will try out and show you the result when I am finished. But the runway problem still keep.
 
Finni said:
Aprons\Projected meshes currently have a limit of ~15cm\px. It's a pity..


Also note (cut from the msfs dev forum) :

Ground materials ( those that in the Material Library ) textures are different than regular PBR materials, in the way they don’t have separate Normal and Metal/Rough/AO textures, but a single texture with Normal and Roughness combined this way:

R = Metalness ( not used, so just set it completely black )
G = X component of the normal
B = Roughness
A= Z component of the normal

-- Finn
Click to expand...

How does one separate the X and Z component of the normal?
 
GaryGB said:
In MS-FS (AFAIK, all versions), G-Polys vector textured polygons always have a internally limited resolution when created / used as terrain object.
Click to expand...

DeltaTango said:
Very bad news!
Click to expand...

OOPS ! :oops:

My apologies ...I overlooked a copy-and-paste error while editing my post; I now have corrected that originally incorrect info above: :coffee:

You 'should' find that resolution of mapped texture Materials for G-Polys has no practical limit in MSFS-2020, but bear in mind that the LOD shown at the camera distance from such objects must be congruent with the LOD for other Z-sorted objects displayed in the scene, thus MIPMAPs must be used. :pushpin:

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/msfs-projected-mesh-looks-ugly.450563/post-868384

GaryGB
 
Last edited:
I'm not really sure if I can follow correctly... So G-Poly would be the way to go for custom ground Textures?
If so how does that work with FS2020, I've never heard about this before...

I'm having the same issues with ground texture resolution in my scenery, so would be very interested in a solution aswell :)
 
Hi again:

Indeed, G-Polys have been around since FS-2000 and probably since even earlier versions of FS, although the coding methods used to create these 3D models for the several versions of MS-FS that were released since year 2000 have varied over time.


["Blast from the past" digression:]

IIRC, old SCASM docs pertaining to FS5 era cited "Synth Tile" as a type of Ground surface or 'Platform', (IIUC, it was texture map-able). :scratchch

http://atatan.com/~s-ito/new_wakwak/123/FS/Making/Dynamic.html

http://www.scasm.de/doc/sca_cmd1.htm#area

[END_"Blast from the past" digression]


Most FS Developers use totally flat / level airport surfaces so that AI / Ground Vehicle Traffic can work without disruption.


Now we have the option of sloped airport surfaces / objects, so we can make sloped 3D G-Polys and textured vector terrain objects.


Arno's "Ground Polygon Wizard" in MCX, and Don Grovestine's "GP Editor" for ADE, work in pre-MSFS-2020 versions of FS / P3D.

The concepts and work-flow are comparable, except now we must convert final 3D model output to glTF with MSFS extensions.

GaryGB
 
Last edited:
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