Results of Emma Beta Testing

[falcon409]

Phew! If this airport were to sit anywhere south of Washington State this wouldn't have been near the task it turned out to be. Partly for the experience I lack in the finer points of working with terrain mesh and partly because of what Orbx throws into the mix.

Anyway, here is what I've found for compatibility sake:
1) FSX/SP2, FSX/Accel, FSX_SE in their basic forms, the scenery works perfectly
2) The above with FTX Global Basic and Global Vector, the scenery works perfectly
3) Global Basic/Global Vector with any airport addons for that immediate area (Cushman Meadows/Bear Gulch, Diamond Point, Vashon Island) and the ground textures and terrain begin to change, introducing a slight elevation increase at the outter edges of the scenery.
4) Pacific Northwest Scenery introduced and there is a massive increase in autogen vegetation that autogen excludes seem to have no effect on, so adjusting your density sliders will be the key.
5) Emma Field must remain at the top of the Scenery Library. Moving it down (for whatever reason) to any other position produces random autogen on the parking ramps and rwy and they cannot be removed.

************************************************** ************************************************** **

A few words on some things that came up during testing:
1) The grass no longer causes a crash. I have never used crash detection, but I know some find it essential, so taxi away!
2) There is some flickering on at least one hangar. It seems that my modeling style is partly to blame and it's not something I care to fix at this time.
3) A forest is made up of trees. Emma is set in a forest. Trees will be a hindrance when landing and taking off at Emma, lol. Because of the various options for combinations of scenery in Orbx. . .if the trees bother you, adjust your sliders when flying into or out of Emma.

************************************************** ************************************************** **

I have included the following seasonal changes:
1) There are ground textures for Spring/Summer, Fall and Hard Winter (Snow).
2) There is also a night texture (Buildings include interior lights)

************************************************** ************************************************** **

I believe that covers everything. I'll package this up, get the readme written and included and get it posted sometime today.

[DaveB]

Excellent Ed:encouragement: Looking forward to the release version:applause:

ATB
DaveB:)

[rdaniell]

Falcon409, I do believe that sounds like a plan :running: . Great :applause: job, my friend.

RD

[falcon409]

On hold for a bit. I discovered a difference between what SBuilderX outputs as seasonal changes and how Orbx does it (there's a surprise). So I'm waiting for an answer on the Orbx forum about how their seasons are broken out.:dizzy:

I'm not going to hold this up any more. No answer on the Orbx Forum and the one tidbit I did locate gave me information that, after checking it in the sim, turned out to be wrong. Hard Winter is the culprit and here's why. . .Orbx says it's Hard Winter is December/January. The Hard Winter ground texture for Emma is set for January. When I set Orbx for Winter/December. . . .no snow. Set it for Winter/January. . . .no snow, I have snow. Set it for February. . . .Orbx has snow , I don't.

I'll be posting this in about an hour. Maybe the seasons will meet somewhere in the middle, have a conference and decide among themselves how they'll work it out. I'm done.

[falcon409]

Uploaded. Should be ready later this evening.:wavey:

[chet twowolves]

Ed. Emma is going to be outstanding. Thanks for your hard work.

[donnybalonny]

Uploaded. Should be ready later this evening.:wavey:

where :teapot:

[Roger]

where :teapot:


http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/local_links_search.php?action=find&catid=-8&tabid=446

[sidler]

Just installed EMMA Field....Mikey love's it!!


Dick

[donnybalonny]

Thanks a lot Ed.:applause:

I installed your Emma Field in P3Dv2.5 with Orbx PNW. It looks and blends great. I had a few touch and goes in the Fairchild 24 and taxied around to see the intallation.
Very nice. The trees are not to bad. On runway 20, its actually better than the original Emma Field.

Keep up the good work.

[rich12545]

Hi, I have your other Emma Field installed and it's nice. (I don't use orbx). What makes your new one better? Just wondering if it's worth it to uninstall the old and install the new.

[falcon409]

Hi, I have your other Emma Field installed and it's nice. (I don't use orbx). What makes your new one better? Just wondering if it's worth it to uninstall the old and install the new.
It's personal preference really. If you like what you have, keep it. If you want to take the time to look over the new one, that's fine too. Comparing would be quite simple really, install the new one, activate it in the scenery library and deactivate the old one. Fly around the new one and see if it's worth keeping. All major buildings in this latest release are custom built. In the older version everything was default.

[dexthom]

Thanks Ed, Works fine in P3Dv2.5 and Win 10.

[jschall]

It's beautiful! Thank you, Ed.

No anomalies seen so far. Running FSX:SE, DX10, Orbx Global/Vector, Cushman Meadows, Vashon, PNW airports.

[rich12545]

Falcon fyi I think the new one is nicer so I kept that.

[ejoiner]

Hi all, I installed the new Emma Field tonight and had a quick flight from Bremerton over to KEWL. very nice work, but I now notice that there is a land mass near Emma that splits the hood canal in half in a triangle shape. I use both ORBX PNW and the global vector software. There appears to be some conflict?

Eric

[falcon409]

Hi all, I installed the new Emma Field tonight and had a quick flight from Bremerton over to KEWL. very nice work, but I now notice that there is a land mass near Emma that splits the hood canal in half in a triangle shape. I use both ORBX PNW and the global vector software. There appears to be some conflict?

Eric
Eric I encountered the same problem. I can't see a way that Emma would be the cause as it covers a relatively small area and some distance from the Canal. I was wondering if it was a problem with the Orbx combinations in place (Global Vector with PNW?)

[GaryGB]

Hi all, I installed the new Emma Field tonight and had a quick flight from Bremerton over to KEWL. very nice work, but I now notice that there is a land mass near Emma that splits the hood canal in half in a triangle shape. I use both ORBX PNW and the global vector software. There appears to be some conflict?

Eric




Eric I encountered the same problem. I can't see a way that Emma would be the cause as it covers a relatively small area and some distance from the Canal. I was wondering if it was a problem with the Orbx combinations in place (Global Vector with PNW?)


Hello:

If you would please be so kind as to post a screenie (or several screenies) of the suspected problem area in that nearby location, I would welcome the opportunity to see what you reported above.

Thanks in advance for your consideration ! :mixed-smiley-010:



PS:

Ed: We could start a troubleshooting thread on fixing this type of anomaly over at FSDeveloper if you wish. :engel016:

GaryGB

[falcon409]

Well, this is just splendid. It is Emma Field that is causing the problem. Below is the extra section of landmass that appears when Emma is activated and disappears when Emma is removed. Grrrrr!
NOTE: Emma Field is just visible in the bottom center of the first image.

[falcon409]

Well, this was something I considered a non-problem but has reared it's ugly head to become a major problem. If this airport was another 3 miles inland from the Hood Canal it would have gone unnoticed. . .but nooooo, it has to be just close enough to cause THIS!! Also, this has nothing to do with Orbx as I just checked P3D which is currently stock scenery only and it's there as well.

[Dimus]

Ed, it looks like you have added a water polygon exclude and the square of land that resulted affected the canal. If you do not need to exclude water polygons, changing the type of exclude will save this, otherwise you have to redo the water polygon and shorelines in the affected area there.

[falcon409]

Ed, it looks like you have added a water polygon exclude and the square of land that resulted affected the canal. If you do not need to exclude water polygons, changing the type of exclude will save this, otherwise you have to redo the water polygon and shorelines in the affected area there.
I have the poly's that show in the SBuilderX image below. The larger poly is a flatten and the smaller black poly's are "AB_ExcludeAutogen". Nothing related to water poly's anywhere in the scenery.

[Dimus]

Strange... I just figured a water poly exclude would do something like this.

[Meshman]

nvm, 10 characters

[falcon409]

Hello:
If you would please be so kind as to post a screenie (or several screenies) of the suspected problem area in that nearby location, I would welcome the opportunity to see what you reported above.
Thanks in advance for your consideration ! :mixed-smiley-010:

PS:
Ed: We could start a troubleshooting thread on fixing this type of anomaly over at FSDeveloper if you wish. :engel016:
GaryGB
Gary, one note of interest, the change in the SbuilderX "ini" file is what affects the outcome:
Leaving the properties for the flatten as AB_Flatten. . . . .
"AddToCells=False. . . .the extra land tile shows up. . . .but the airport surface looks great
"AddToCells=True. . . .The land tile is no longer there. . .but the airport becomes a maze of high's and low's.

Of course this also counters the reason this change was made (to fix the elevation anomalies at Emma) so we end up with a nice ground surface at Emma but a rogue land tile in the middle of the Hood Canal, lol.

[PRB]

I wonder if the fix for this will also fix the giant dirt pile in the middle of the runway I see on my install. Hope so!

[falcon409]

I wonder if the fix for this will also fix the giant dirt pile in the middle of the runway I see on my install. Hope so!
Yes it did actually Paul (I saw it also once I loaded Orbx). . .if you downloaded the release version, it should be gone. . . .however now we have this whole new set of problems, lol.

[GaryGB]

Gary, one note of interest, the change in the SbuilderX "ini" file is what affects the outcome:
Leaving the properties for the flatten as AB_Flatten. . . . .
"AddToCells=False. . . .the extra land tile shows up. . . .but the airport surface looks great
"AddToCells=True. . . .The land tile is no longer there. . .but the airport becomes a maze of high's and low's.

Of course this also counters the reason this change was made (to fix the elevation anomalies at Emma) so we end up with a nice ground surface at Emma but a rogue land tile in the middle of the Hood Canal, lol.


Indeed, we overlooked what happened 3 miles away down the hill behind all those autogen trees ! :pop4:

I am researching an alternative solution, and will post a PM to you ASAP. :mixed-smiley-010:

GaryGB

[jschall]

@falcon409, @GaryGB -
This is such an excellent scenery. I don't mean to hassle you chaps, but is there any hope of getting rid of the unwanted land in the Hood Canal?

[falcon409]

@falcon409, @GaryGB -
This is such an excellent scenery. I don't mean to hassle you chaps, but is there any hope of getting rid of the unwanted land in the Hood Canal?
Unfortunately, that's beyond my scope of understanding. I am at a loss as to how a postage stamp sized airport and flatten can have that effect on a land mass a mile from the scenery. Gary was looking into it but I haven't heard from him.

[Terry]

I'm not that concerned with the added land, it's not near as bad as my AI aircraft mowing down 50+ trees on the way out. One can take this entire sim to seriously, after all it's just for fun. :ernaehrung004:

[donnybalonny]

I like it and accept it the way it is. When I cross the Hood canal, I look the other way:mixed-smiley-010:
Its a nice addon in a classic place

[rhumbaflappy]

Gary, one note of interest, the change in the SbuilderX "ini" file is what affects the outcome:
Leaving the properties for the flatten as AB_Flatten. . . . .
"AddToCells=False. . . .the extra land tile shows up. . . .but the airport surface looks great
"AddToCells=True. . . .The land tile is no longer there. . .but the airport becomes a maze of high's and low's.

Of course this also counters the reason this change was made (to fix the elevation anomalies at Emma) so we end up with a nice ground surface at Emma but a rogue land tile in the middle of the Hood Canal, lol.

Hi Ed.

Gary pointed this thread out to me.

The extra land over the river is fixed by 'AddToCells=True'.

The runway 'hump' is caused by ORBX: a small pond with a surrounding 'park' polygon near the runway. By using a small exclude for the water, and a small exclude for the park, I am able to restore the runway and surrounding area to the flatten. I'm attaching the PNW (ORBX) fix, so you can use 'AddToCells=True', and restore the river shape.

29245

Dick

[GaryGB]

Unfortunately, that's beyond my scope of understanding. I am at a loss as to how a postage stamp sized airport and flatten can have that effect on a land mass a mile from the scenery. Gary was looking into it but I haven't heard from him.

Hi Ed:

I had planned to perform what I hoped would be a final testing series today using the most recent such file I had received via a PM thread troubleshooting these issues with Richard Ludowise (aka "rhumbaflappy").

I was traveling this weekend, and upon my return, my main FS testing system had a partition crash on one of my storage drives, AT&T ADSL internet bandwidth slowed to the speed of molasses on a "hard winter" day (perhaps due to disruption by a competing UVerse signal over the same "copper" wires running from the corner "AT&T box"), then SOH forum posting would not work with my "Smart Phone" (you know... the one with a 'low IQ'). :dizzy:

Good thing I don't have a dog, or he might have chewed through all of my power cords today ! :banghead:


So I had to resort to the use of a borrowed I-Pad via the Safari browser to post this status report.



I haven't been able to test the file Dick attached above to see if it is a different version than the last one I downloaded from our PM troubleshooting thread at FSDeveloper.


The outstanding issue I had anticipated resolving before posting a fully working solution to you, was an ongoing failure to flatten the terrain (aka the hump of ground overlying the RWY and some shallow depressions in the ground) at various locations within the "Little Em" area which are intended to be flattened by a standard SDK-compliant airport background flatten polygon CVX vector BGL.

Once that is resolved, IMHO, we should be "over the hump" ! :)


AFAIK, Dick was testing this on FSX SP2 or Acceleration with the OrbX FTX PNW "Demo" of the Olympic Peninsula installed.

My test installation is FSX Acceleration with payware OrbX FTX PNW and Cushman Meadows packages installed.

I also use the "Modified Terrain.Cfg" incidental to installing SBuilderX for FS development work.



FYI: When testing Dicks last version of the file above from our PM thread at FSDeveloper, if FTX Central version-1 is set to "North America", the terrain will not flatten as described above on my test system; but the Hood Canal "land class bleed-through" anomaly was resolved.


Many thanks are due to Dick for sharing his time and extensive expertise with us in an effort to troubleshoot this curious scenario.


IMHO, it would be helpful at this point in time to open this up to all interested parties for testing Dick's attached file above, and then reporting how it works for them, along with a statement of whether they have tested the above file in MSFS or P3D, and whether they have:

* FTX Central ver.-1 or ver.-2 set to "North America" and not default ...if FTX Global is NOT installed

* FTX Central ver.-1 or ver.-2 set to "North America"/ Hybrid mode and not default ...if FTX Global IS installed

* OrbX FTX PNW "Demo" of the Olympic Peninsula is installed

* OrbX FTX PNW Cushman Meadows is installed



Hopefully I will be able to remove the crashed storage drive and resume MSFS testing of the above file later today.

I also hope to see some replies from others here, who have tested the above file and reported their results with their MSFS and/or P3D installation configuration status for any OrbX FTX software.


I anticipate being "back in the game" soon <...oops, used that "G-word" again ! > :mixed-smiley-010:

Regards,

GaryGB

[GaryGB]

Hi Ed (aka "falcon409"):

I posted a message for you in our PM thread at FSDeveloper. :wavey:


GaryGB

[jschall]

I'm attaching the PNW (ORBX) fix, so you can use 'AddToCells=True', and restore the river shape.

29245

Dick

@rhumbaflappy:

Which scenery folder is that CVX_PNW_fix.bgl file supposed to be placed in?

[GaryGB]

@rhumbaflappy:

Which scenery folder is that CVX_PNW_fix.bgl file supposed to be placed in?

Hi Jeff:

Sorry for the delay; more tests of a fix are still in process; we hope to have an alternate solution soon.

I'm still awaiting a reply by Ed; has he "gone walkabout" this last week ? :running:


GaryGB

[GaryGB]

[EDITED]

I have updated my post and attachments below to fix a few more anomalies discovered during further testing this afternoon


FYI: The attached BGL was again updated at 11:20 PM ZULU on September 24, 2015; be sure you have the newest file ! :icon_idea:


GaryGB

[END_EDIT]


Hi Jeff:

I've received a reply from Ed, and he will be busy for a few weeks.

I have discovered that the Emma_Main.BGL in the package currently posted for download by Ed was not yet re-compiled by SHP2VEC using "-ADDTOCELLS".

So, to get something out there for eager users to 'test', I have attached a re-compiled version of that BGL which should now work compatibly without a need to load the CVX_PNW_fix.BGL generously provided for testing by Richard Ludowise.


To test this "Release Candidate" for a fixed flatten at Ed's scenery location:


1.) Download "CVX_Emma_Main_Fix_v2_BGL.zip" attached below

a.) Un-ZIP the archived CVX_Emma_Main_Fix_v2.BGL into Ed's \Scenery sub-folder along with his other BGLs

b.) ZIP up a backup copy of Ed's original Emma_Main.BGL inside Ed's \Scenery sub-folder along with his BGLs

c.) Delete Ed's original Emma_Main.BGL or re-name it to ex: Emma_Main.OFF


2.) Re-start FS and see if the local scenery at KEWL or the nearby Hood Canal is displayed without terrain anomalies.



Please let us know (in this thread) if any ongoing or new terrain anomalies are apparent in that scenery area.


Many thanks to Ed Wells and Richard Ludowise for making their files available to the FS Community. :engel016:



NOTE: Ed may wish to modify the attached file, and issue a updated version of his downloadable scenery package.


Happy Flying ! :cool:

GaryGB


29383

[jschall]

Thank you! @GaryGB, that CVX_Emma_Main_Fix_v2.BGL ​file did the trick. Now the Hood Canal is open to navigation.

[jschall]

@Falcon409:

Have you had a chance to check out @GaryGB's replacement .bgl?

[Anneke]

Too much involved with Gnat's and Provost's :untroubled:

[falcon409]

@Falcon409:

Have you had a chance to check out @GaryGB's replacement .bgl?
This clears the Hood River problem. I have an elevation problem on the airport that I need to adjust. Whether that is a problem for others, unless they mention it to me via e-mail or here I have to assume that it isn't visible on their system or if it was, they fixed it themselves.

[GaryGB]

Too much involved with Gnat's and Provost's :untroubled:


I'm guessing that refers to results of some of Ed's other fine work rather than pesky insects along the Hood Canal ? :wink:



http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?96496-Simshed-Shorts-Tucano-T1





This clears the Hood River problem. I have an elevation problem on the airport that I need to adjust. Whether that is a problem for others, unless they mention it to me via e-mail or here I have to assume that it isn't visible on their system or if it was, they fixed it themselves.




Hi Ed:

Could you send me 1 or more screenies of the ongoing "elevation problem on the airport that I need to adjust" ...via a PM either here at SOH, or in our existing PM thread at FSDeveloper ? :icon_question:


I'd like to see if I may have missed something in the latest "CVX_Emma_Main_Fix_v2.BGL" cited above:

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?96194-Results-of-Emma-Beta-Testing&p=982198&viewfull=1#post982198


Thank in advance,

GaryGB

[falcon409]

I'm guessing that refers to results of some of Ed's other fine work rather than pesky insects along the Hood Canal ? :wink:



http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?96496-Simshed-Shorts-Tucano-T1







Hi Ed:

Could you send me 1 or more screenies of the ongoing "elevation problem on the airport that I need to adjust" ...via a PM either here at SOH, or in our existing PM thread at FSDeveloper ? :icon_question:


I'd like to see if I may have missed something in the latest "CVX_Emma_Main_Fix_v2.BGL" cited above:

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?96194-Results-of-Emma-Beta-Testing&p=982198&viewfull=1#post982198


Thank in advance,

GaryGB
Gary, it's an AFCAD elevation problem. the runway, parking ramps and turnouts are elevated. . .nothing else. That's easily corrected with an ADE adjustment.

[GaryGB]

Gary, it's an AFCAD elevation problem. the runway, parking ramps and turnouts are elevated. . .nothing else. That's easily corrected with an ADE adjustment.


Thanks for that clarification, Ed. :smile:

PS: I sent you a PM here at SOH and in our PM thread at FSDeveloper. :wavey:

GaryGB

[donnybalonny]

I dont have any elevation problems or dirt on the runway and I never had. Now with the new BGL file the hood canal is fixed as well.
I have P3D v2.5, Orbx PNW, Global package with Vector installed in that zone. Even though Emma lies in an Irbx region, I ran the Vector configuration tool just after installing.
Thanks for making this very nice addon. I really like it. Looking forward to the next one.
http://i1381.photobucket.com/albums/ah224/donnybalonny/emma_zpsalrvwcbe.jpg