Simviation Forum - Newbie With Scenery Texture Woes

Aug 7^th, 2004 at 12:50am

cessna172se Offline
Lieutenant Colonel

Posts: 5

Using:WinXP, FS9, GMAX 1.2, BGL Compiler, FS9/GMAX SDK
I can successfully create a simple object in gmax, export it, and place the compiled BGL file in the "FS9/ADDON SCENERY/SCENERY" directory. And all works well. As soon as I try and add a texture to it and repeat the above steps, the object disappears from view in FS9. The jpeg image is 256x256x16million colors. I have put the texture in several file locations but none seem to work. Do I need to make any changes to the XML file before compiling it? Any suggestions appreciated. Thanks.

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Reply #1 - Aug 7^th, 2004 at 9:36am

JBaymore Offline
Global Moderator
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hombuilt cockpit!

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Cessna172se,

Hi and welcome to SimV.

Unfortunately I really don't have an answer for you on this problem... just wanted to say "Hi".

I also think this question might get some better responses if it were posted in another section that is frequented more by folks that are really "up to speed" on stuff like GMax scenery editing and so on.

I am the moderator of the "Homebuild Cockpits" forum.... not his one...... so I can't move this posting to a more appropriate location....which would be likely either "Aircraft and 3-D Design" (cause of GMax) or "Scenery Design". But I'll let one of the other mods know and see if they think it would do better elsewhere.

I am sure given a little time that you will get an answer........ SimV has a lot of "talent" hanging out here. Good luck.

best,

...................john

Intel i7 960 quad 3.2G LGA 1366, Asus P6X58D Premium, 750W Corsair, 6 gig 1600 DDR3, Spinpoint 1TB 7200 HD, Caviar 500G 7200 HD, GTX275 1280M, Logitec Z640, Win7 Pro 64b, CH Products yoke, pedals + throttle quad, simpit

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Reply #2 - Aug 7^th, 2004 at 11:33am

cessna172se Offline
Lieutenant Colonel

Posts: 5

Thanks John. I will wait a couple days to see if this post gets moved. If not I will just repost in one of the other forums. Thanks again.

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Reply #3 - Aug 7^th, 2004 at 12:55pm

ziliu Offline
Colonel
I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Posts: 30

uhm... cessna172se, is it a jpeg file that you are placing in the addon scenery\textures folder? I don't think that'll work, you'll have to convert it to bmp.

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Reply #4 - Aug 8^th, 2004 at 4:39pm

cessna172se Offline
Lieutenant Colonel

Posts: 5

Thanks Ziliu. I am one step closer.

Now if the texture would show up on the object all would be fine. The object has a gray color. I have seen a couple of posts about using DXTbmp but I am not sure what to do there. I have Paint Shop and have used it to do some basic stuff but have not worked with channels or anything like that. For all I know, I could be headed in the wrong direction. Grin

So again I ask, if anyone can help, please?

PS: I copied the BGL file into the "AddOn Scenery/scenery" directory and the texture into the "AddOn Scenery/texture" directory.

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Reply #5 - Aug 8^th, 2004 at 5:05pm

ziliu Offline
Colonel
I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Posts: 30

cessna172se, I'm a beginner in scenery design myself, but I'll tell you what I know. And I use FS2002, but I think the basic principles are the same.

You'll want to have two texture files. One is for use in gmax and one in FS. The one you already have is the gmax one. It's the FS version that needs to be in addon scenery\textures .To create the that one, you'll need a program called imagetools.exe

I have it on my hard drive, but I can't remember where I got it, I think it comes with one of the SDK's from microsoft, not sure though.

Anyway, start the program, and open your current texture file.
Then choose the program to change the encryption algorithm to DXT1 or DXT3 or whatever, I really don't know what the difference is, or which one is appropriate to use, maybe someone could enlighten me? I think it doesn't matter too much if you choose the "wrong" one really, only maybe FS will have slightly less performance.

Having choosing an appropriate encryption algorithm, you probably will want to create mip-maps. There is an option for this somewhere in the menu.

Now choose Save As. Save your new file and let it have the same name as your first file. Just make sure you don't overwrite your first file.

Get your DXT-ed and mip-mapped texture file in addon scenery\textures. Voilà, now it should work. Not sure if this will work though, never came this far myself Tongue

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Reply #6 - Aug 12^th, 2004 at 6:24am

Glitch Offline
Colonel
aka IRAF_Paddy
Birmingham, Alabama

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Posts: 464

Try placing a copy of the texture .bmp in the main texture file. I had a simular prob in CFS2 and I think that solved the problem. And make sure the .bmp is not a 24bit .bmp, when I try to use a 24bit with FSDSv2 for fs2k2 I get a notice prompting me to convert to 16 or 32 bit .bmp. Hope one of these suggestions help.

glitch

Pendercafts.com Downloads for Lost in Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Land of the Giants, addons for FS2002 and FS2004 and videos too

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Reply #7 - Aug 14^th, 2004 at 11:04am

cessna172se Offline
Lieutenant Colonel

Posts: 5

Thanks Glitch! I converted the bitmap to 16 bit and all works well! Grin

I appreciate all the help from everyone. I think I will hold off trying to use photographs for now.... Wink

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Reply #8 - Aug 14^th, 2004 at 1:22pm

Stratobat Offline
Colonel
To fly... Or not to fly?

Posts: 1165

Welcome to the forum, Cessna

You can use photo's in your textures, but just make sure that they're bitmaps Grin

Might be a good idea to take out the mip maps though, some guys have problems with them Lips Sealed

Regards,
Stratobat

&&&&'If the literal sense makes good sense, seek no other sense lest you come up with nonsense'

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Reply #9 - Aug 14^th, 2004 at 4:15pm

cessna172se Offline
Lieutenant Colonel

Posts: 5

Okay, that one went over my head Shocked

, what's a mip map?

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