A new land-water mask

[rhumbaflappy]

Hi all.

I've been working for a few months on a new land-water mask for CFS2. I've finally compiled a set that seems to work OK. It uses the data from the Global Surface Water project.

https://global-surface-water.appspot.com/download

I also used the OSM derived data to clean up coastlines.

http://openstreetmapdata.com/data/water-polygons


Default Water:


My older attempt:


My new LWM masks:



I still need to add area16n flattens for the ocean areas, and I'm working on a way to add coastlines, but no promises there. I could release the set "as is" and deliver the flattens later (they will take some time as there are 2431 files to work on). I also need to make excludes for the default shorelines, so we can just add the scenery folder to the Library and it will just work. Also, I'll need to add landclass files as some islands and coasts show as water.

I may also release a set for FS2004, as there has never been a global rework for that sim. That's still being tested. FSX and P3D already have an excellent set of masks made by ORBX. No need to go there.

The masking was made with Jim Keir's Slartibartfast. Slarti takes a black and gray image and turns it into an lwm assembly code file which can be compiled by BGLC.

I made the masks as LOD5 areas. They can all be in the same scenery folder. The size of the masks alone is about 1GB. I don't notice any FPS hit. Canada is pretty spectacular The data is 30 meter, so there won't be extreme detail.

Shorelines are still a problem. Ground2K is still the best route for making shorelines. Perhaps I can get some process working to make compilable ground2K files from the Slartibartfast BLN files. That's all for now.

[e.a.wicklund]

Looks really good! Can't wait to see the final result.

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Excellent work, sir!

[Worthless]

Hubba, hubba! I like it.

[Fibber]

...........drool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[voyager]

WOW!!!! It just keeps getting better and better!

[Ravenna]

Even without the coastal fringe it looks great. Thanks for all your methodical and detailed work Rhumba!!

[rhumbaflappy]

I have a request.

I lost my original CDs with CFS2 on them. Not really a big problem, as I have multiple cpoies on the harddrive, and saved to a dvd.

BUT.

The CFS2 I run has an altered file structure, and that is a problem when debugging the new GSW land-water mask set. What I'm asking is for someone to run the attached batch file in the CFS2 root directory and zip the resulting "Directory.txt" file... and attach it here to a reply. That will allow me to recreate the original file structure so I can continue debugging the new files. I just need the directory and file structure.

I am re-compiling the set as I found an odd error in the images I used, and it is merrily working away. In 2-3 days I'll have the corrected set, I've also made a new worldlc.bgl so all the islands will show. It is based on the FSX landclass set. I'm going to experiment with the Worldwc.bgl set as well, and maybe the base waterclass will be better.

Still thinking about how to produce shorelines and flattens for the lakes and oceans.

If we use these as base sets, either replacing the defaults, or low in the Library order, we should be able to use some detailed addons that others have made.

[kdriver]

Hi Dick,

I'm afraid I don't have a stock standard install of CFS2. However, all the original directories are there amongst the numerous added on ones, including all your files. I hope it might be of use.

Kevin

[Captain Kurt]

Pure stock install directory

Attachment 68242

[stuart277]

I have a request.

I lost my original CDs with CFS2 on them. Not really a big problem, as I have multiple cpoies on the harddrive, and saved to a dvd.

BUT.

The CFS2 I run has an altered file structure, and that is a problem when debugging the new GSW land-water mask set. What I'm asking is for someone to run the attached batch file in the CFS2 root directory and zip the resulting "Directory.txt" file... and attach it here to a reply. That will allow me to recreate the original file structure so I can continue debugging the new files. I just need the directory and file structure.

I am re-compiling the set as I found an odd error in the images I used, and it is merrily working away. In 2-3 days I'll have the corrected set, I've also made a new worldlc.bgl so all the islands will show. It is based on the FSX landclass set. I'm going to experiment with the Worldwc.bgl set as well, and maybe the base waterclass will be better.

Still thinking about how to produce shorelines and flattens for the lakes and oceans.

If we use these as base sets, either replacing the defaults, or low in the Library order, we should be able to use some detailed addons that others have made.

Hi Rhumba
I think I speak for all of the CFS2 community in thanking you for the brilliant work that you have done with the land and water class.
I have run the file through my system. Windows 10, C/program files (x86)/Microsoft Games/ Combat Flight Simulator 2.
The file is attached as a .rar file.
I hope it is useful to you.
Again, Thank you so much.
Cheers
Stuart

[rhumbaflappy]

Many thanks for the help. I've got sorted out!

[rhumbaflappy]

Almost ready with the masks. I just need a few days for viewing and testing. Also, I'm including a landclass to override the default, based on FSX. It should take care of islands that have water-look landclass instead of normal land.

I'm experimenting with a waterclass, but I need to sort out what the Aces gave us for CFS2. It is not very good. We might have to apply an alternate method to override the default. The textures are just not right.

[UncleTgt]

So looking forward to this - thank you so much for finding a way of doing all this - it's a huge undertaking and it is appreciated!

[rhumbaflappy]

The masks are ready. The size is big. It's 1GB uncompressed. The files can be in one scenery folder.

I'm not going to include a new world landclass or waterclass as that is probably better left to projects as needed. A set of shorelines is still a problem I'm working on. So for now, delivery of the set is the problem.