How to use LWMViewer 2 for FS9 Landclass Editing
Oct 19, 2014 12:29:03 GMT -5
pimwa and lastivka like this
Post by Tom/CalClassic on Oct 19, 2014 12:29:03 GMT -5
Mike and I have found a program that we now use instead for our landclass projects (we used this to re-landscape the Hawaiian Islands, for example). It's called LWMViewer 2, and while it sounds like only a viewer, it can also create modifications. It's a GUI program - you can see all the landclass squares in an area, and then you can click on each square and change it. Very easy, once you get used to the interface. There is a short PDF manual, refer to Using the Class Editor for landclass information. BTW, it also has ModelConverterX type features as well (handling library objects), but I don't use that (I use Instant Scenery).
Download it here (you want version 2): www.jimkeir.co.uk/FlightSim/LWMViewer.html
A description of how I use it:
To set it up:
0. You must have FSUIPC installed. www.schiratti.com/dowson.html (FS9 version)
1. Open FS9 and move your plane to the area you want to work on. You can now minimize FS.
2. Start LWMViewer 2 and let it build/rebuild its database if needed.
3. Choose Edit/Preferences/Autoload and select LWM, VTP, Mesh, and Landclass. You may also need Waterclass in certain situations, but not until you need it.
4. Set up a folder to compile files to (or you can use your LWMViewer 2 folder if you wish)
5. Create new empty folders inside that folder for each area you want to edit. We used a different folder for each island in Hawaii, for example. You can do this later if you wish (see below).
6. You will need the program resample.exe from the Terrain SDK. The Terrain SDK can be downloaded from these links: support.microsoft.com/kb/555857
7. Install it into any folder you wish (a Terrain SDK folder in the LWMViewer 2 folder is fine).
8. Go to the Paths tab, press the ... button in the Path to SDK Tools section and specify the Terrain Tools folder inside your Terrain SDK folder. It will warn you that some tools are missing, but that's OK if you are only going to use the program for landclass editing. When finished, the path should be listed and the resample.exe box should be checked.
9. Press F3 (Control Palette) and set these items or check these boxes (all others unchecked):
Water Transparency about 3/4 to the right
Lightsource
Vector Textures
Class Textures
Spring
Extremely Dense
Autoload on Follow
Gridlines (mine is set to black color from the button)
LOD13
Elevation in Meters
Position in Minutes
Top Down
10. Close the Control Palette with the red X
To set up the screen:
1. If not done above, open FS9 and move your plane to the area you want to work on. You can now minimize FS.
2. If not done above, start LWMViewer 2 and let it build/rebuild its database if needed.
3. Choose FS2004/Center on Plane
4. Use the mouse wheel to zoom out until the area of interest is on the screen.
5. Use the up/down/left/right arrows to move around. Note that they work backwards from usual Windows convention.
6. For finer control, click on the screen to center your view at that point.
7. Press F7 to get the Files box; drag that to the left edge of the screen.
8. Press F2 to get the Information box; drag that to the upper right edge of the screen.
9. Press F4 to get the Landclass Editing box; drag that under the Information box. (All these boxes can be moved to where *you* like)
10. Note that if the focus is on one of the boxes you cannot open a new box - click the main title bar to get that back.
To use it:
1. If not done above, open FS9 and move your plane to the area you want to work on. If you want to just look at the program, I suggest going to PHNL if you have the classic Hawaii scenery installed as an example. You can now minimize FS.
2. If not done above, start LWMViewer 2 and let it build/rebuild its database if needed. Choose FS2004/Center on Plane.
3. In the Files box, click the + next to Landclass to open that section so you can see all of the current landclass files used in this area.
4. If more files are present than just the default (worldlc.bgl), uncheck/recheck each landclass file checkmark to see what file covers which area. You will see the landclass squares contained in that file disappear and reappear.
5. To remove objects from the screen, uncheck things like VTP (airport polygons, etc.) or Terrain (shadows in valleys, etc.)
6. As you move the mouse around on the main screen, the Information box will tell you the type of landclass under it.
7. To start editing landclass, in the Landclass Editing box click Create.
8. Next to Save To, click the ... button and browse to the folder where you want these files saved. It's best if you create a completely new folder for each landclass area you are editing. You could have done this in the setup section above, step 4, but you can also use the Make New Folder button on the browse dialog box if you didn't.
9. WARNING! This is something you must check carefully *every time you start to edit*, or you will be saving the files to the wrong folder!
10. Once you click the Create button you are now in Landclass Edit mode. Note that the mouse cursor has changed shape. If you click the screen now, you will create new landclass squares, using the class type listed in the LandClass Edit box.
11. If you want to center the screen by clicking the mouse, press F4 to remove the Landclass Editing box, click the screen, and press F4 to start landclass editing again.
12. To use a landclass in the displayed area, click the Pick button and move the mouse to that area on the screen, then click. That landclass type will now be listed in the box.
13. If not, select the landclass type from the drop down boxes; they are segregated by type (Bare, City, etc.).
14. If doing large areas, you can click one of the square size buttons along the top of the box.
15. The button at the far right is the airbrush, which will drop landclass squares in a random pattern (only useful for large areas).
16. Now left click a spot on the screen where you want that landclass to appear. A square will be displayed.
17. If you don't want that landclass there, right click it and it will disappear. Note you can only do this with the landclass squares that you placed, not in other files.
18. If you go beyond a standard landclass boundary, more file(s) may appear in the Files box. This is OK. You will end up with multiple BGL files for this area in this case.
19. After you have finished your landclass work, check again that the Save To box contains the correct path, and click the Save button. It will ask if you want to compile it - say yes.
20. This session has been saved as a RAW file. If you want to edit this area again after quitting the program, you can use the Load button to load this RAW file again and continue editing.
21. Now go to the folder where this has been saved and compiled to, and you should find at least 5 files there (4 for each area listed in the Files box, plus a .bat file).
22. They are:
.BGL file: This is the file (or files) that you need to move into an active FS scenery folder. NOTE: on some computers these landclass BGL files MUST be in a separate scenery folder (separate scenery layer in the Scenery Library) without any texture subfolder in it. So we always place it into a separate folder - we use the CalClassic Landclass folder for that. It should be placed into the scenery subfolder. WARNING! You should rename this file with a name that will make sense to humans. I keep the current file name, and add something that tells me what the file covers. For example, the landclass file around Honolulu airport would be renamed from LC0524.bgl to LC0524_phnl.bgl. THEN I move it into the CalClassic Landclass/scenery folder.
.EZL file: This is used by the program EZ-Landclass. I don't have it.
.INF file: This is used by the resample.exe program to compile a BGL file.
.RAW file: This contains the information used by the LWMViewer 2 program to reload your work for re-editing.
LV2_Compile.bat file: This is used by LWMViewer 2 to tell resample.exe how to compile the RAW file(s).
23. If you want to edit (or examine) a new area, you must quit LWMViewer 2, move your plane in FS, and restart the program. Now start the process over from step 3. It will not display everything correctly if you don't.
Hope this helps,
Download it here (you want version 2): www.jimkeir.co.uk/FlightSim/LWMViewer.html
A description of how I use it:
To set it up:
0. You must have FSUIPC installed. www.schiratti.com/dowson.html (FS9 version)
1. Open FS9 and move your plane to the area you want to work on. You can now minimize FS.
2. Start LWMViewer 2 and let it build/rebuild its database if needed.
3. Choose Edit/Preferences/Autoload and select LWM, VTP, Mesh, and Landclass. You may also need Waterclass in certain situations, but not until you need it.
4. Set up a folder to compile files to (or you can use your LWMViewer 2 folder if you wish)
5. Create new empty folders inside that folder for each area you want to edit. We used a different folder for each island in Hawaii, for example. You can do this later if you wish (see below).
6. You will need the program resample.exe from the Terrain SDK. The Terrain SDK can be downloaded from these links: support.microsoft.com/kb/555857
7. Install it into any folder you wish (a Terrain SDK folder in the LWMViewer 2 folder is fine).
8. Go to the Paths tab, press the ... button in the Path to SDK Tools section and specify the Terrain Tools folder inside your Terrain SDK folder. It will warn you that some tools are missing, but that's OK if you are only going to use the program for landclass editing. When finished, the path should be listed and the resample.exe box should be checked.
9. Press F3 (Control Palette) and set these items or check these boxes (all others unchecked):
Water Transparency about 3/4 to the right
Lightsource
Vector Textures
Class Textures
Spring
Extremely Dense
Autoload on Follow
Gridlines (mine is set to black color from the button)
LOD13
Elevation in Meters
Position in Minutes
Top Down
10. Close the Control Palette with the red X
To set up the screen:
1. If not done above, open FS9 and move your plane to the area you want to work on. You can now minimize FS.
2. If not done above, start LWMViewer 2 and let it build/rebuild its database if needed.
3. Choose FS2004/Center on Plane
4. Use the mouse wheel to zoom out until the area of interest is on the screen.
5. Use the up/down/left/right arrows to move around. Note that they work backwards from usual Windows convention.
6. For finer control, click on the screen to center your view at that point.
7. Press F7 to get the Files box; drag that to the left edge of the screen.
8. Press F2 to get the Information box; drag that to the upper right edge of the screen.
9. Press F4 to get the Landclass Editing box; drag that under the Information box. (All these boxes can be moved to where *you* like)
10. Note that if the focus is on one of the boxes you cannot open a new box - click the main title bar to get that back.
To use it:
1. If not done above, open FS9 and move your plane to the area you want to work on. If you want to just look at the program, I suggest going to PHNL if you have the classic Hawaii scenery installed as an example. You can now minimize FS.
2. If not done above, start LWMViewer 2 and let it build/rebuild its database if needed. Choose FS2004/Center on Plane.
3. In the Files box, click the + next to Landclass to open that section so you can see all of the current landclass files used in this area.
4. If more files are present than just the default (worldlc.bgl), uncheck/recheck each landclass file checkmark to see what file covers which area. You will see the landclass squares contained in that file disappear and reappear.
5. To remove objects from the screen, uncheck things like VTP (airport polygons, etc.) or Terrain (shadows in valleys, etc.)
6. As you move the mouse around on the main screen, the Information box will tell you the type of landclass under it.
7. To start editing landclass, in the Landclass Editing box click Create.
8. Next to Save To, click the ... button and browse to the folder where you want these files saved. It's best if you create a completely new folder for each landclass area you are editing. You could have done this in the setup section above, step 4, but you can also use the Make New Folder button on the browse dialog box if you didn't.
9. WARNING! This is something you must check carefully *every time you start to edit*, or you will be saving the files to the wrong folder!
10. Once you click the Create button you are now in Landclass Edit mode. Note that the mouse cursor has changed shape. If you click the screen now, you will create new landclass squares, using the class type listed in the LandClass Edit box.
11. If you want to center the screen by clicking the mouse, press F4 to remove the Landclass Editing box, click the screen, and press F4 to start landclass editing again.
12. To use a landclass in the displayed area, click the Pick button and move the mouse to that area on the screen, then click. That landclass type will now be listed in the box.
13. If not, select the landclass type from the drop down boxes; they are segregated by type (Bare, City, etc.).
14. If doing large areas, you can click one of the square size buttons along the top of the box.
15. The button at the far right is the airbrush, which will drop landclass squares in a random pattern (only useful for large areas).
16. Now left click a spot on the screen where you want that landclass to appear. A square will be displayed.
17. If you don't want that landclass there, right click it and it will disappear. Note you can only do this with the landclass squares that you placed, not in other files.
18. If you go beyond a standard landclass boundary, more file(s) may appear in the Files box. This is OK. You will end up with multiple BGL files for this area in this case.
19. After you have finished your landclass work, check again that the Save To box contains the correct path, and click the Save button. It will ask if you want to compile it - say yes.
20. This session has been saved as a RAW file. If you want to edit this area again after quitting the program, you can use the Load button to load this RAW file again and continue editing.
21. Now go to the folder where this has been saved and compiled to, and you should find at least 5 files there (4 for each area listed in the Files box, plus a .bat file).
22. They are:
.BGL file: This is the file (or files) that you need to move into an active FS scenery folder. NOTE: on some computers these landclass BGL files MUST be in a separate scenery folder (separate scenery layer in the Scenery Library) without any texture subfolder in it. So we always place it into a separate folder - we use the CalClassic Landclass folder for that. It should be placed into the scenery subfolder. WARNING! You should rename this file with a name that will make sense to humans. I keep the current file name, and add something that tells me what the file covers. For example, the landclass file around Honolulu airport would be renamed from LC0524.bgl to LC0524_phnl.bgl. THEN I move it into the CalClassic Landclass/scenery folder.
.EZL file: This is used by the program EZ-Landclass. I don't have it.
.INF file: This is used by the resample.exe program to compile a BGL file.
.RAW file: This contains the information used by the LWMViewer 2 program to reload your work for re-editing.
LV2_Compile.bat file: This is used by LWMViewer 2 to tell resample.exe how to compile the RAW file(s).
23. If you want to edit (or examine) a new area, you must quit LWMViewer 2, move your plane in FS, and restart the program. Now start the process over from step 3. It will not display everything correctly if you don't.
Hope this helps,