Texture mapping problem on buildings

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Kurt240457
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 12:07 pm

Texture mapping problem on buildings

Post by Kurt240457 » Fri Oct 15, 2010 6:12 am

Good morning,

SBuilderX313 offers the possibilty to create and texture buildings using the basic shapes and texture templates provided by FSX. A nice function which I'm using quite frequently. But actually I am facing troubles there because of obvious texture mapping problems. The selected textures appear within the preview window and can be scaled and adjusted in the right way but when compiled to into bgl some of the textures won't show at all, some others are clearly displaced (e.g. the hangar door which was carefully adjusted to be in the center of the wall shows up completely uncentered). Especially the hangar related textures are hit by this quite uncomfortable effect. I'm not sure if this is an SBuilder issue or one of FSX or FSX-SDK.

Has anybody an idea how to work around?

By the way - SBuilder creates automatically a backup file for each project file. This is a nice feature as long as SBuilder is working properly. In my case Sbuilder showed up a warning window (... continue on your own risk) und closed seconds later. So far no problem, but SBuilder updated automatically both project files - the original as well as the backup ones - before shutting down. After this neither the orginal nor the backup could be opened any more and my complete project (it was a bigger one with about 150 objects) was lost (it just existed as bgl without any possibility to further work on it).
My suggestion: The backup file should only be created on demand by intentionally clicking a related button.

Kind regards
Kurt

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luisfeliztirado
Posts: 436
Joined: Sun May 15, 2005 9:15 am
Location: Santo Domingo

Re: Texture mapping problem on buildings

Post by luisfeliztirado » Fri Oct 15, 2010 1:05 pm

Hello Kurt,

As mentioned in the SBuilder X Help file:


Here are some tips for creating buildings:

1. According to the World Coordinate System used in Flight Simulator, Width is the x coordinate and Depth is the z coordinate. Height is the y coordinate. It is easy to become confused.

2. The appendix indicates the texture numbers for different types of buildings and what seem the corresponding window, gable, and face textures that best fit the bottom and top textures. However, you are free to mix and match textures as you wish.

3. The buildings from before FS 9 will display mostly correctly in the preview window, but FS9/FSX hangar and terminal buildings follow a set of complex display rules and have a certain randomness built in, so the preview will not be exactly what you will see in FS.

4. The ACES artists created the textures so as to display best in FS when the height is set to 5 meters or a multiple of that number. Again, you are free to choose a different height.

5. The FS9/FSX terminals (textures 86-121) and hangars (textures 122-151) have double textures. That is to say that 86 and 87 are the same texture, but displayed differently, as are 88-89, 90-91, etc. Because of the complex rules concerning the display of these textures, it is impossible to preview them correctly, but SBuilderX will reverse the pair to alert you to the difference between them.

6. Some of the FS9/FSX hangar and terminal buildings will display the window texture (usually some sort of siding) on the depth side (z axis). Others, however, will use the same texture as the front with a door. To avoid having a door on the side of these buildings, use Z Tiling of 0.50 or less.

7. Multi-sided buildings have a Smoothing option - it is included in SBuilderX because of the requirements of compiler code, but it does nothing.

8. Like all objects, generic buildings should be placed on flat surfaces or they risk having parts of the building hanging in the air.


FS X injects a certain amount of randonmess in the FS9 and FS X hangar and terminal buildings so it is impossible to accurately preview the results.

Best regards.
Luis

Kurt240457
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 12:07 pm

Re: Texture mapping problem on buildings

Post by Kurt240457 » Fri Oct 15, 2010 1:14 pm

Hi Luis,

hmmm .... I admit that I did not read the help file - please accept my appologies :oops: This is what happens wenn a skilled programmer designs a product which can be used in an intuitive way... Mea Culpa and thanks for your reply!

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