Problems with generating terrain with Microdem

flyingjeff

New member
Hello Folks,

I went through the tutorial on generating real world terrain with Microdem, Infranview and Hog. The first two maps I made turned out fine with the exception of the rail and road detail not showing up on the map. The third map I made, Seabeck, ran into problems. As you can see by the screen shot, everything is black. You can see the cursor in the middle of the screen and nothing else. I redownloaded the images from the US Gov. sight (Geocomm), converted to tga format, went through the tutorial again with the same result. I've noticed the hog program only runs through the compiling process once, when it used to compile twice. I assume it compiles the image and tiger file seperately when it is working right.
An interesting note though, when I reload the images from the first two maps, it works right. This would normaly tell me there is a problem with the images (dem and tiger). I redownloaded them again and compared them to the images that were working correctly. They were the same parameters as the first images that were working correctly. I even went so far as to redownload the Microdem, hog and infranview progams again and start from scratch to no avail.
The first pic is of Bremertonwest and the map was successful (with the exception of the track detail showing up on the board. The second pic is of Seabeck (where my troubles began). I am sure one of you pro's out there could tell right off the bat what is wrong. Any help would greatly be apreciated.

Best Regards,
Flyingjeff

Bremertonwest and Seabeck

Seabeck

For some odd reason can't get second pic to show up. Damn computers! I hope my description will suffice.
 
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Looks like you are skipping a step in HoG. You've told it to use the Tiger file for the minimap, you also need to point it to the same file to apply textures to the boards, called "layout texturing guide". For this to work you need to have the HoG texture files installed properly, which differs between TRS04 and 06.
 
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Tried that.

Thanks for the quick reply. I have done what you said. I chose the tga tiger image for the bottom three selections. I chose the tga dem image for the top selection. I have tried loading the maps in both Trainz 2004 and 2006. As you can see, the mine map works fine but doesn't draw the map on the ground. Any other suggestions? I wish I can upload the second screen shot of the dark map, I will keep trying.
 
One cause of black images would be not having the DEM or Tiger files in the correct folders. MicroDem needs them inside it's own file structure for the database to work. Did the files look ok in your image editing software when you converted them to TGA? Are you using the CMP explorer to place the HoG generated gnd file, making sure it has the .gnd extension?
 
One problem solved, another arises.

Hi Folks,

Well, I'v been working one my problem all day with the help of your kind advise and nothing worked. I still ended up with a black screen. On a whim I tried doing a map I had never done before and by golly it worked. I redid the maps that worked before and they still worked. Then I tried the maps that didn't work before and, you guessed it, it still didn't work. The only conclusion I can come to is there is something wrong with the Dem's I got from the websight. What this could be I have no idea but I can work around this to complete my layout of Kitsap County, Washington.
I have run into another problem while compiling gnd files for the other boards I am working on. Hog generates the gnd files fine, but when I open Trainz, only about 1/8 of the map is on the board. I am sure there is a way to fix this but I saw nothing on this in the tutorial (unless I am missing something). I've enclosed some screen shots below. Is there a way to increase the boards used in the game to acomodate the map.
I appreciate all the advice and I hope to see you guys on the rail some time.
Best Regards,
FlyingJeff

my.php


my.php
 
1st what's the size of the gnd file that gives the black screen? It sounds like HOG isn't creating any baseboards so Trainz has nothing to display.

The problem in your last post isn't a problem at all at least with HOG. You're asking for filtered boards that's what you're getting. Only baseboards containing the rr trackline and the default 2 additional each side (unless you specify somethingelse in the input) are created. Cyan color id's rr lines. This could be the problem with the black screen one also. If no cyan color at all in the tiger image file and you ask for filtered boards you won't get anything.


Bob Pearson
 
You hit the nail right on the head

Hello Bob,

I took your advise and it worked fine. I was unclear as to the purpose of the slider in Hog. I've also found you can "trick" the program by drawing a teal colored line every so often on the map. Hog then thinks it has tracks. Some of the boards surrounding my layout in fact didn't have tracks and that was the problem.
Thanks a bunch for the advice! Now my next learning project is merging maps. I think I've seen some posts on this in the forums.
Thanks again,
Best Regards,
FlyingJeff
 
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