Creating a new theater based on SRTM data

Terrain / Theater editing

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Creating a new theater based on SRTM data

Post by Blueprint » 2007-04-09 11:39:23

NOTE: Due to real life issues, I am unable to provide this service any longer. Sorry.


Creating a new theater based on SRTM data
------------------------------------------------------
Warning:
It may not be possible to create good data for certain theaters. Also, consider that SRTM data is only availabel between 56°S and 60°N.
Image
(Image by NASA)

Compatible:
- SP4, OF, FF3, possibly others

Step 1:
- Follow the Ultimate Theater Tutorial on PMC (http://www.pmctactical.org/f4/docs/theater_tutorial.php) until you get to Part 2.
- Now you should have the following information: dem2terrain theater center coordinates (lat/lon) and theater size (64 or 128)

Step 2:
- Create a new email to me
- Set subject to "Theater SRTM Create [Theater name]".
- Put the theater center coordinates and the theater size in the text.
- Send the email.
- Wait for my reply.

Step 3:
- You will receive a download link for a compressed file which contains a new 2-byte L2/O2 file and your personalized BaZT - SRTM Theater installer which needs a couple of extra steps to get working.
- Now continue in the theater tutorial with Step 2 but use the L2/O2 files from me.
- ...Create your theater...
- All theater objectives must have been placed at their final positions.
- Use Pathmaker to create new .thr and .mea files
- When your theater is almost done, you have to prepare some more data for the SRTM installer to work.

Step 4:
- Copy falcon4.ocd from your theater's objects folder to BaZT - SRTM Theater\objectives\
- Copy falcon4.fed from your theater's objects folder to BaZT - SRTM Theater\objectives\
- Open TacEdit.
- Load the TE/campaign file that holds all of your theater's objectives.
- Select Objectives > Export Objectives and save the file as "objectives.csv"
- Copy your exported objectives.csv to BaZT - SRTM Theater\objectives\
- Run "BaZT - SRTM Theater Objectives.exe" and press "Parse .csv" button. This can take a long time to complete.
- Now your SRTM installer is ready.

Step 5:
- You can run BaZT - SRTM Theater.exe from your theater installer using special command line parameters (quotation marks are required and the path must end without a '\':
Parameter 1: "The users's F4 dir", example: "c:\microprose\falcon4"
Parameter 2: "Your theater dir", where the terrain and texture folders are, example: "c:\microprose\falcon4\spain"
Parameter 3 (optional): -sptinstall
This will create all terrain Lx/Ox files from an L2/O2 file before starting the SRTM update. Then you only have to include the L2/O2 in your installer which saves a lot of space.
Last edited by Blueprint on 2009-01-12 16:32:43, edited 6 times in total.

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Post by Closter » 2007-04-09 11:45:09

Yes! Thank you, Blueprint!
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Post by T_Rex » 2007-04-09 12:15:24

Expect a Cuba request. :D

Not sure if that theater project is alive, but it ain't quite dead yet, either. :D
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Falklands

Post by ranger822 » 2007-04-10 03:56:44

Blueprint -

I could use some advice. Falklands128 is still somewhat unfinished. I am looking at three different objectives.csv files and am not sure if any one of them is the best choice. Since the campaigns haven't been finalized I am unsure at this point if we have all the objectives we need to run things. If we need to delete objectives will that have any adverse affect? Simliarly, if we need to add objectives would we need to rebuild the SRTM? Would you suggest treating Falklands SRTM as a new theater instaed of building from existing dem? Otherwise I have our package ready . . . to send either way.

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Post by Blueprint » 2007-04-10 08:54:02

You can follow the procedure to create the BaZT objective files any time you want. You can also choose not to create these file in which case BaZT will NOT make flat areas around the objectives. In either case there is no need to rebuild the SRTM data. The terrain mesh is modified for objectives at install time.

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SRTM for Falklands

Post by ranger822 » 2007-04-10 13:35:54

OK - If I understand correctly then it really doesn't matter what objectives set I use - it can be changed. Also it sounds like for objectives, we don't need to level the airbases - sounds like BaZT will level everything.

I think what I will do is go with Peled's last campaign save2.cam file - he had things working with that. He removed a lot of objectives that were not necessary to game play. I suppose I can always go back and recapture all the objectives that Snakeman had in the original beta he made for CCC.

I wlll put another package together like just did for Israeli theater.

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Post by Sherlock » 2007-06-29 16:23:32

Has the BaZT-SRTM theater installer been tested on AF falcon4.ocd and falcon4.fed files for compatibility?

Also, what effect does running CATE after the L2/O2 is built by the BaZT installer have on the terrain? Is that a no-no or is it okay?
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Post by Blueprint » 2007-06-29 22:13:16

Sherlock wrote:Has the BaZT-SRTM theater installer been tested on AF falcon4.ocd and falcon4.fed files for compatibility?
AF is unsupported. Use at your own risk.
Sherlock wrote:Also, what effect does running CATE after the L2/O2 is built by the BaZT installer have on the terrain? Is that a no-no or is it okay?
CATE is used to change the texture information in the terrain L2. If you're creating a new theater, you'd run CATE after the terrain L2/O2 have been created by me.

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Post by Sherlock » 2007-06-29 22:46:49

Blueprint wrote:
Sherlock wrote:Has the BaZT-SRTM theater installer been tested on AF falcon4.ocd and falcon4.fed files for compatibility?
AF is unsupported. Use at your own risk.
Sherlock wrote:Also, what effect does running CATE after the L2/O2 is built by the BaZT installer have on the terrain? Is that a no-no or is it okay?
CATE is used to change the texture information in the terrain L2. If you're creating a new theater, you'd run CATE after the terrain L2/O2 have been created by me.
Thanks.
Guess I'll be the Guinea Pig and try it for AF. :)
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Post by Sherlock » 2007-07-02 06:21:00

Blueprint,

I think I found a possible bug in the BaZT-SRTM Theater Objectives.exe. It appears it will error out when an objective has a X or Y value less than 10 (i.e., a single integer value, 1-9). I took all my objectives out that had values of 1-9 for X and the objectives.csv ran fine then.

BTW, it does appear to run to completion successfully on Allied Force .ocd and .fed files but see next question...

Also, what is the "output" suppose to look like when runing the "BaZT-SRTM Theater Objectives.exe" so I know if it is performing everything correctly?

Thanks.
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Post by Blueprint » 2007-07-02 11:30:21

Sherlock wrote:Also, what is the "output" suppose to look like when runing the "BaZT-SRTM Theater Objectives.exe" so I know if it is performing everything correctly?Thanks.
As output it produces 2 files: objectives.regions and objectives.xy
These are used during the actual installation of the BaZT terrain to create flat ground below objectives so they don't float in the air.
If you don't create those files with the objectives program, the fix will not be applied.
Regarding the crash, see email.

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Post by Sherlock » 2007-07-02 16:27:51

Blueprint wrote:
Sherlock wrote:Also, what is the "output" suppose to look like when runing the "BaZT-SRTM Theater Objectives.exe" so I know if it is performing everything correctly?Thanks.
As output it produces 2 files: objectives.regions and objectives.xy
These are used during the actual installation of the BaZT terrain to create flat ground below objectives so they don't float in the air.
If you don't create those files with the objectives program, the fix will not be applied.
Regarding the crash, see email.
Thanks for the quick response!
I've tracked the problem to my objectives.csv file. I had pieced it together from two other TacEdit export csv files and I guess it didn't like it. It must have been some sort of data error.

I regenerated a new one from TacEdit and it ran just fine. Got the two files needed. This was on the Allied Force .ocd and .fed files too! It's looking good so far to be compatible with AF files...but jury is still out until we see what it looks like in-sim.
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Post by Sherlock » 2007-07-02 22:32:55

Blueprint,
If I have to adjust areas on L2 using CATE (such as ocean areas that are above sea level) will the accompanying data you send like the "terrain.dat" file undo my CATE changes when the theater installer runs?
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Post by Blueprint » 2007-07-03 04:46:00

Sherlock wrote:such as ocean areas that are above sea level
There are none. All ocean areas have elevation 0.
But yes, the elevations from terrain.dat will overwrite those in the L2 which should only be used for tiling.

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Post by Sherlock » 2007-07-03 04:52:22

Blueprint wrote:
Sherlock wrote:such as ocean areas that are above sea level
There are none. All ocean areas have elevation 0.
But yes, the elevations from terrain.dat will overwrite those in the L2 which should only be used for tiling.
Ok, I found the problem. I had forgotten to add the reference square of ocean in the lower left corner of the theater so when I converted from 2Byte to 4Byte using LODFixer, it was elevating my ocean areas again (so it wasn't the BaZT data :) )

Thanks!
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Post by Sherlock » 2007-07-09 19:42:49

@Blueprint:
I'm having an issue with an ocean level (Caspian Sea) that won't stay at 0 ft.

In the original L2 you sent me this is what it looked like with TerrainView Small:
Image

I used CATE to lower the ocean level (using a bmp image) which works fine BUT when I run your SPTInstall process to make the final version of the terrain I think you said it is using the "terrain.dat" file which you provide with the original L2/O2 pair. So what it does is return that area of the Caspian Sea back to 3 feet altitude (where it started before I ran CATE on it).

Here is what it should look like (and what it looks like after running CATE to lower that region back to 0 feet altitude:
Image

If I send you the CATE massaged L2/O2 can you remake the "terrain.dat" file to have the correct elevations for the Caspian Sea?

Thanks.
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Post by Blueprint » 2007-07-10 10:53:25

See email. :wink:

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Post by Snake Man » 2007-07-10 15:09:42

What ever the answer might be, I'd very much like to see public information about it :?
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Post by Blueprint » 2007-07-10 15:18:06

Here you go:
The thing is that the global water body database I used to repair the SRTM data classifies it as a lake and the repair program sets the elevation of the lake to the average elevation that it covers.
I have run the repair program again for this area with the instruction to set the Caspian Sea to elevation 0m. This could be done for other theaters as well.

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Post by Sherlock » 2007-07-11 21:08:09

@ Blueprint:

I've got this "cliff" at the northern boundary of my theater that I don't know what to do with (see picture).

I checked all 5 L2 files and they all show 0 elevation out to the edge of the terrain for the water at the Caspian Sea. Of course, there are the mountains to the east and west that butt up against the northern boundary. I don't know what is causing it (other than the mountains versus the sea elevation difference?). Any ideas how to get rid of it?

Image

It appears to be outside the area (normal terrain boundary) that I can change with TerrainView (or even CATE for that matter)
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Post by Blueprint » 2007-07-11 21:27:26

I think this is something all theaters have. I've seen this in stock korea too.

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Post by Sherlock » 2007-07-12 22:57:30

Blueprint,

Do you have the capability to regenerate the "terrain.dat" file from a manually fixed L2/O2 fileset pair?

The reason I ask is because I've found some coastal inconsistencies (high points off-shore and coastline placement) that I can correct with TerrainView but that would be discarded when using the pre-existing terrain.dat file when re-building the other L/O levels. Having a revised "terrain.dat" file that matches the manually fixed L2/O2 would correct that over-write problem.

Thanks.

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Post by Blueprint » 2007-07-13 00:01:42

No, the only way to fix it is in the source data.
Maybe I can do something there.

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Post by Zaggy » 2007-07-13 12:18:53

OK, if i remember right, F4 uses the Bottom Left hand Segment (or is it just the tile?!?! i think it could be just the 'tile' area) as the 'out of bounds' terrain... So ALL terrain OUTSIDE your 16x16 segs will be just this small area repeating over and over...

Wasnt the rule always to have the Bottom Left corner elevation 0ft and an ocean tile?

OR, it could be that the repeating area is the first area in the L2... Damn...

Sorry, this post is NO HELP!!!
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Post by Sherlock » 2007-07-13 15:24:50

Zaggy wrote:OK, if i remember right, F4 uses the Bottom Left hand Segment (or is it just the tile?!?! i think it could be just the 'tile' area) as the 'out of bounds' terrain... So ALL terrain OUTSIDE your 16x16 segs will be just this small area repeating over and over...

Wasnt the rule always to have the Bottom Left corner elevation 0ft and an ocean tile?

OR, it could be that the repeating area is the first area in the L2... Damn...

Sorry, this post is NO HELP!!!
Heya Zags, don't get worked up over this. That question was already solved here: viewtopic.php?t=19029

What I was talking about in my post above wasn't the problem you were thinking of. I am talking about just small "high" elevation portions off-shore that don't match the coastline data.
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Post by Zaggy » 2007-07-13 16:24:03

Ah no worries...

Yeah, im sure you'll run into a few of those types of issues; partly due to as you say, the coast lines not being the most accurate, AND the tiles having a limited scope of coverage... But yeah, you seem to know this... ;)

Again, this post is probably of NO HELP!!! ;)
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Post by Sherlock » 2007-07-13 22:06:56

Blueprint wrote:No, the only way to fix it is in the source data.
Maybe I can do something there.
Bummer (about me not being able to provide a revised L2/O2--that would be a sweet way to correct these issues since TV is easy to use).
What do you think you could do on your end to fix things?

On another line of thinking, do you think moving the coordinates of the theater south to do away with any of the Caspian Sea would help solve the terrain problems I've been having? Or not? :)
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Post by Blueprint » 2007-07-18 10:05:17

The new data I sent you should have these issues fixed ;)

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Post by Zaggy » 2007-07-18 11:59:44

Well Sherlock??? Has Bluey done it again???

What did you fix Bluey?
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Post by Blueprint » 2007-07-18 12:22:48

This picture shows the problem and the fixed version:
Image

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Post by Sherlock » 2007-07-30 17:47:42

Just to follow-up in this thread (I reported the solution in my other thread about crashing to desktop)...

My problems in CTDing were apparently related to bad objectives in the objective file. Once I deleted the bad objectives I no longer had the CTD problem. I am pushing ahead with theater creation! :)
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Re: Creating a new theater based on SRTM data

Post by fruscella » 2011-04-28 01:48:51

I placed a post how to import SRTM data from google earth

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Re: Creating a new theater based on SRTM data

Post by ZELEGEND » 2011-09-26 16:20:24

The links for part 1 of the tutorial lead to a service that has now been abandoned!

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