a visual problem with large areas of water with VTP1 polys...

[Grinseed]

I'm really enjoying using G2k, its a very versatile application, but I've hit a wee small problem. My continental body of water has gone incontinent.

For my WW1 project I have tried to recreate the area between Nieupoort and Dixmude, where in the last week of October 1914, over the course of a few days, the Belgians, taking advantage of fortuitous tides and winds and applying a complicated manipulation of floodgates and sluices of their canal system, flooded (on their second attempt!) the land around the Yser Canal, between Dixmude and the Channel for the rest of the war, preventing any possible large scale German operations there.

With G2k I created two versions of this flooded area using the VTP1 poly option. I made one version in a single section and then one in three sections. In both versions, as seen in the first pic, at a distance, 'creeks' appear leaking away from the sides of the 'lake', They disappear when you get closer, as shown in the second picture. I have maxed out my visual options in Settings and the 'creeks' persist.

Is there a solution to stop the 'creeking'? Oil on troubled waters perhaps?
Would it help to break down the area into smaller poly segments with G2k? which I would happily do if I could be reasonably certain the 'creeks' would disappear for the effort.

[Jean Bomber]

Hi Grinseed

the artefacts Creeks can be fixed with The Rhumba's vtp1 fix .I've not the direct link to dwnld it, but it's a necessary tool to fix all your future vtp1 poly and lines bgls ,I think that he will post it ;)
You said you have use vtp1 poly to make your flooded area ,have you try to change it as LWM poly in the dialog box :
poly with shore ---> LWM/poly water checked and for the line ,check the nedeed.
that will reduce the creeks ,that's not now a problem with vtp1 fix...,but you will get a flooded area with real water cause a vtp1 poly water don't allow to change the nature, land or water, of the ground .

JP

[Grinseed]

Hi Jean. I have Rhumba's vtp1 fix loaded in my G2k folder. All my additions created with the G2k utility have been automatically delivered to the BGL folder in that folder. I had assumed the vtp1 fix was involved in the process of creating all the bgls as I have had no problems with the roads, or canals, but I guess I might be wrong.
I didnt want a shoreline with this body of water because it starts in the north at the main tidal gates at Nieupoort. I didnt want a shoreline to show there, but I am certain I can get around this, now I have two versions of it.
Also I produced this water as a vtp1 poly and not a LWM poly because I wanted the lighter coloured water (this area was only six feet deep at most and generally only four feet deep)...did I miss something here? Is it possible to select the graphic tile for the water mask poly?

[Grinseed]

...I have missed quite a bit.
A simple re-read of the G2k for begginners tute has answered my questions and concerns regarding vtp1 polys.
I return happily to the drawing board armed with new tricks and blunder ever forward. Thanks Jean for your support.

[rhumbaflappy]

Hi Grinseed.

In CFS2, you can have VTP1 display over water, and still have water characteristics, by using VTP layer 0-3. So you can make an LWM waterpoly, and apply a texture with a VTP1 poly. The VTP1 low layer poly will clip itself at the LWM edges, so you can make the VTP1 texturing poly a bit larger than the water poly.

The VTP1 fix requires you get the ASM source from LWMViewer 1.3, apply the fix to the assembly code, and recompile the BGLs. It would be a last step before release.

LWMViewer, BGLC, and the last TMF macros:

http://webpages.charter.net/ludowr/LWMViewer.zip


Dick

[Jean Bomber]

Hi Dick

It's the LWM viewer version that we need to draw the coastlines with your new masks ,we can look them with a hight detail ,we have a grid for all the lod , we can edit bitmap with lwm or make screenshots from it if we want work on some cells and we have all positon infos needed to make g2k projects or with others tools.The Usual version show your masks with big square and the LWM2 doesn't work on my laptop...
I thought the vtp1fix was working also for the vtp1 polygones,I use it also for these.

Thanks Dick

[rhumbaflappy]

Hi Jean.

This LWMViewer ( LWMViewer 1.3 ) works for me for disassembly and bitmaps. I can't get LWMViewer2 to work right... and LWMViewer 1.4 is a little buggy.

The VPT1 fix simply changes all the x or y location zeros to 1 in the assembly source code. The default VTP1 lines ( and polys ) have no zeros for LOD13 area location. So each LOD13 area to the north and west have a gap... you can see this in TMFViewer.

In the defaults, LWM polys also have no zeros for locations... but they show no artifacts when zero is used.

Dick

[Grinseed]

Well ok, been checking things and trying the suggestions.
I found my visuals werent maxed out afterall. The 'creeks' are now no longer visible at any distance. All my roads and vtp1poly canals are still distinctly visible too, so I assume that the vtp1 fix in my G2k folder is still doing its job changing ASMs to BGLs.
Ive just started reading your LWM tute Dick which I'm sure will help me understand some of what I'm doing. Fortunately because Flanders is mainly flat and only involves roads railways rivers and canals with a single coastline at one end I'm getting by with my limited knowledge and experience.
I did create a LWM water poly and dressed it with a vtp1 poly texture, but still dont think I understand the advantage it has over a simple vtp1 poly. I better keep reading all I can find.

Thank you both for your help. My roadwork continues at a good clip, the roads and canals now reach from Nieuport to St Omer via Dunkirk, Dixmude and Bergues in their pre 1914 state.

[rhumbaflappy]

All my roads and vtp1poly canals are still distinctly visible too, so I assume that the vtp1 fix in my G2k folder is still doing its job changing ASMs to BGLs.
Here's the steps for using the VTP1 fix:

Find the ASM code... this is a text file with the file extension of either .asm, or ,bgs. If yuou don't have the ASM code, then decompile the BGL with LWMViewer to get the code.

Then run the VTP1 fix on the code.

Then recompile the ASM file to BGL using BGLC.exe and the TDFHeaders.inc and TDFMacros.inc





I did create a LWM water poly and dressed it with a vtp1 poly texture, but still dont think I understand the advantage it has over a simple vtp1 poly.The advantage of this over a simple VTP1 poly is this: With the LWM water, aircraft and boats will float/sink. Without the LWM watermask, the poly will just be land... and that may be what you want for shallow water.

Dick