Satellite textures not appearing in Bulldozer

[CHKilroy 0]

I've been having no luck trying to get my satellite images to appear in Bulldozer. As far as I can tell everything seems to be set up correctly, but there must be something I've done wrong.

Currently the contents of my layers.cfg are:

class layers
{
class grass_green
{
	texture="terrain\data\grass_green_co.png";
	material="terrain\data\grass_green.rvmat";
};
};

class legend
{
picture="terrain\source\maplegend.png";
class colors
{
	grass_green[]={{0,255,0}};
};
};

And the contents of my grass_green.rvmap are:

ambient[]={0.89999998,0.89999998,0.89999998,1};
diffuse[]={0.89999998,0.89999998,0.89999998,1};
forcedDiffuse[]={0.02,0.02,0.02,1};
emmisive[]={0,0,0,0};
specular[]={0,0,0,0};
specularPower=1;
PixelShaderID="NormalMapDiffuse";
VertexShaderID="NormalMapDiffuseAlpha";
class Stage1
{
texture="terrain\data\grass_green_nopx.paa";
uvSource="tex";
class uvTransform
{
	aside[]={10,0,0};
	up[]={0,10,0};
	dir[]={0,0,10};
	pos[]={0,0,0};
};
};
class Stage2
{
texture="terrain\data\grass_green_co.paa";
uvSource="tex";
class uvTransform
{
	aside[]={10,0,0};
	up[]={0,10,0};
	dir[]={0,0,10};
	pos[]={0,0,0};
};
};

All of the respective images being referenced exist, and everything seems to get generated into P:\Terrain\Data\Layers correctly, but none of the textures appear when I look at the terrain in Bulldozer. Right now the entirety of my mask_lco.png is RGB(0,255,0), so the mask isn't missing the color or anything. However all of the M_###_###_lco.png images in P:\Terrain\Data\Layers are solid black, unlike what I see in P:\a3\map_stratis\data\layers with its M_###_###_lca.paa images. Is the issue related to that blackness, and how my images are still PNGs instead of PAAs, or is it something else?

I'm utilizing a section from Mondkalb's guide for this step of the process.

[bushlurker 45]

[quote]class layers
{
class grass_green
{
	texture="terrain\data\grass_green_co.png";[/quote]

This path should point to the appropriate surface "_MCO" file, or an equivalent...

texture="terrain\data\grass_green_mco.png

or a basic parameters-based one like...

texture=#(rgb,1,1,1)color(0.5,0.5,0.5,1,cdt);

all of the M_###_###_lco.png images in P:\Terrain\Data\Layers are solid black

Regardless of the colours you chose to use on your mask, when you feed it to Visitor, it slices it into individual tiles - then it analyses the colours on each tile individually - if it finds more than four (PER TILE!), it'll get confused...

Assuming it doesn't get confused, the very next thing it does is change those colours - on a per-tile basis - to RGBA - literally, red, green, blue and black.

So the colours you see on any Data\Layers\masktile are the "Visitor equivalents" of the colours originally on the mask. Visitor may well have chosen "Black" to represent your "Original Mask Green", and since all your mask is solid green, that would make all your mask tiles solid black...

unlike what I see in P:\a3\map_stratis\data\layers with its M_###_###_lca.paa images

BI have "sneaky extra tech" which allow them to push this "per-tile colour limit" to six colours - that involves Extreme Sneakiness, plus Alpha Channels - that means their Data\Layers\masktiles are 20% bigger file-size-wise and also require that telltale "_lca" tag - "a" for "alpha".

Don't worry too much about that - later on once you're up and running you can start to realise that it actually IS "4 colours per tile" - NOT "per whole terrain"... in the adjacent "tile" you could have 4 different colours - 4 different surfaces...

(Well, there's overlap, so one common colour is required, but generally speaking, you can cram in a lot more colours than four..... but - later)

how my images are still PNGs instead of PAAs,

When you "Import Sat & Mask" in Visitor, it cuts the Big .png files up, into smaller .png files... However, when you launch buldozer for the first time after that procedure, a DOS window should open and you should see all your .png tiles being converted to .paa tiles - which buldozer requires before you can view the scene for the first time.

If that DOS box isn't appearing then there could be an issue with your tools... Have you done any of the basic tutorials? - did their layers tiles convert to .paa automatically when you ran buldozer? Did a DOS window appear listing what was happening?

.rvmat looks OK - no issues there I don't think.....

B

[CHKilroy 0]

Oh okay, I went ahead and made a greyscale MCO of grass_green, and updated layers.cfg to point towards it instead.

I get a loading bar during the generation of my Layers files, but I don't see a DOS window open when connecting to Bulldozer on my first run. I downloaded and loaded up the sample terrain of Rahmadi that BI released some years ago, but that too lacks textures when viewed in Bulldozer, and I don't see a DOS window at any point either. The M_ files are still PNGs in its Layers folder.

When I was setting up my tools, I downloaded BI Editing Tools 2.5.1, ran Mikero's Arma3P.BETA.cmd to DePBO and transfer Arma 3's PBOs to my working directory, copy-pasted Arma3.exe and related DLLs to my working directory for an Arma 3 version of Bulldozer per instructions I read in a thread here, and then I updated my System Preferences to reference P:\Arma3.exe as Bulldozer's location. My system environment is Windows 7 64-bit, if that matters. Is there something I forgot, or some way I can troubleshoot why the PNG-to-PAA conversion DOS window isn't opening and doing its thing?

[m1lkm8n 410]

Currently arma3 buldozer lacks the ability to convert the pngs to paa file formats. You just need to manually convert then with the pal2pac.

Just open pal2pac and drag n drop your layers folder on it and it will do the job. Once finished launch buldozer. Remember to run pal2pac on the layers folder whenever you make changes to the sat or layer mask.

[PepinKr 3]

Currently arma3 buldozer lacks the ability to convert the pngs to paa file formats. You just need to manually convert then with the pal2pac.

Just open pal2pac and drag n drop your layers folder on it and it will do the job. Once finished launch buldozer. Remember to run pal2pac on the layers folder whenever you make changes to the sat or layer mask.

Are you sure ? Because it's working with me.

[CHKilroy 0]

Manually dropping my Layers folder onto ..\BinMake\Pal2PacE\Pal2PacE.exe produced a bunch of PAA files from the PNGs, but did not fix the problem from what I can see. The terrain is still untextured when viewed through Bulldozer.

Edited August 26, 2013 by CHKilroy

[m1lkm8n 410]

Are you sure ? Because it's working with me.

Well I should say at least when I was working with it , it did. Of course it may have changed now. Either way I would use pal2pace with a command line to run multiple threads at once. It totally speeds up the conversion process. Turn a 45 min process into 10 :)

Manually dropping my Layers folder onto ..\BinMake\Pal2PacE\Pal2PacE.exe produced a bunch of PAA files from the PNGs, but did not fix the problem from what I can see. The terrain is still untextured when viewed through Bulldozer.

Also again when I was working with a3 you needed a copy of your project folder and the a3 folder that mikeros arma3p creates in your steam a3 root folder. Try that and see what happens.

[Sealife 22]

The terrain is still untextured when viewed through Bulldozer.

your positive you saved the pew after creating the sat mask images ?

Load your map up again and buldozer and goto here your arma.rpt is , if its a3 then local apps arma3 if a2 then local apps A2 , here it wil tell you what where why is wrong , if nothing there then you havent saved pew after image making

[CHKilroy 0]

For what it's worth, M1lkm8n, that didn't seem to help with the PNG-to-PAA issue, but I think I figured out what it was when Altis' release today reminded me of something: The issue seemed to have been that my P:\ and Arma3.exe Bulldozer files were set up using the development branch as reference, and not the stable build. Once I reverted back to the stable and set everything up using the stable files instead, my Bulldozer was able to properly convert the PNGs to PAAs on its own.

However now I have a different issue: My Bulldozer window is entirely black and I can't see anything in it. Upon launch I get a Windows dialog about No entry 'config.bin.tooltipDelay' and then once in Bulldozer I get an in-game dialog that says No entry 'config.bin/CfgInGameUI/Cursor.known_target'. I looked across Google and found this thread with a similar all-black Bulldozer issue, but I can't find the option they found in their Nvidia Control Panel. My graphics setup is somewhat esoteric, which leads me to believe that it could possibly be related; I have both an Nvidia GTX 670 and an Nvidia 560Ti inside of my desktop. The GTX 670 is used for everything except for CUDA, with the 560Ti doing CUDA instead since its capabilities in that area are superior to the GTX 670's.

Sealife: Yes, I have saved my PEW, but my Arma3.rpt is filled with various config.bin errors. The entire thing is much, much too long for the forums to let me post it, so here's a very heavily cut down version that retains the unique warnings and errors.

It essentially looks like it rolls through a list of every config.bin thing.

=====================================================================
== p:\arma3.exe
== "p:\arma3.exe" -window -buldozer -addons=p:\V3addons.txt -connect=pipe\1B14A6,8EDB

Exe timestamp: 2013/08/26 16:48:28
Current time:  2013/08/26 18:35:44

Type: Public Beta
Branch: Stable
Version: 0.76.109065

Allocator: Windows
=====================================================================

Splash window: Unable to load config file: dta\splashwindow.bin
Warning Message: No entry 'config.bin.tooltipDelay'.
Warning Message: '/' is not a value
String STR_XBOX_DIFF_REGULAR not found
Warning Message: No entry 'config.bin/CfgDifficulties/Regular.CancelThreshold'.
Warning Message: '/' is not a value
Warning Message: []: '/' not an array
Cannot evaluate '' - no file
Warning Message: No entry 'config.bin/CfgDifficulties/Regular/Flags.ExtendetInfoType'.
String STR_XBOX_DIFF_VETERAN not found
Warning Message: No entry 'config.bin/CfgDifficulties/Veteran.CancelThreshold'.
Warning Message: '/' is not a value
Warning Message: No entry 'config.bin/CfgDifficulties/Veteran.DivingLimitMultiplier'.
Warning Message: No entry '.HDR'.
Warning Message: No entry '.PPAA'.

==== Loaded addons ====

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Arma 3\dta\bin.pbo - unknown
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Arma 3\dta\core.pbo - 0
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Arma 3\dta\languagecore_f.pbo - 54765

=======================

Warning Message: No entry 'config.bin/CfgInGameUI/MPTable.colorCaptionBg'.
Warning Message: Size: '/' not an array
Warning Message: Size: '/' not an array
Warning Message: No entry 'config.bin/CfgInGameUI/MPTable.colorBgAlt'.
Warning Message: Size: '/' not an array
Warning Message: Size: '/' not an array
Warning Message: No entry 'config.bin/CfgInGameUI/MPTable.captionSpace'.
DX11 - Initializing DX11 engine.
DX11 - Detecting best GPU adapter.
DX11 - Detected best GPU adapter 0 : "NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670", benchmark result = 70.8573, level coef = 1, total result = 70.8573
DX11 - Using DXGI adapter 0.
   - adapter description : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670
   - adapter vendor ID : 4318
   - adapter device ID : 4489
   - adapter subsys ID : 644888642
   - adapter revision  : 161
   - dedicated video memory : 2091581440
   - dedicated system memory : 0
   - shared system memory : 2147479552
Warning Message: No entry 'config.bin.CfgSoundEffects'.
Warning Message: No entry 'config.bin.CfgSoundEffects'.
Warning Message: No entry 'config.bin.CfgSoundEffects'.
Error: CoInitilizeEx (XAudio2-1st trial) return 80010106
Warning Message: No entry 'config.bin/CfgDefaultSettings.defaultObjectViewDistance'.
PhysX3 SDK Init started ...
PhysX3 SDK Init ended.
Warning Message: No entry 'config.bin.PhysXMaterials'.
Warning Message: No entry 'config.bin/CfgCoreData.textureTIConversionDX11'.
Warning Message: '/' is not a value
Error: Name of the TIConversion texture was not specified
Warning Message: No entry 'config.bin.CfgLensFlare'.

I had no logs from before I rolled everything back to the stable build, so I completely deleted and reinstalled Arma 3 along with my P:\ drive. However now that I've done that I still get the config errors, and my Bulldozer screen is still completely black.

[Shockley 3]

No entry 'config.bin/CfgInGameUI/Cursor.known_target'

I manually depbo the dta\bin.pbo and core.pbo again with elitness and replace the existing in the P: drive as well as derap the core\config.bin that usually solves the issue for me. Might want to give that a go.

Edited August 27, 2013 by Sig [USMC]

[1para{god-father} 105]

;2481213']I manually depbo the dta\bin.pbo and core.pbo again with elitness and replace the existing in the P: drive as well as derap the core\config.bin that usually solves the issue for me. Might want to give that a go.

Agree had the same issue - when I done them manualy it solved that error for me , I also had to do (languagecore_f)

[CHKilroy 0]

Sorry for the late reply!

I just tried both your suggestions and I'm still getting issues. I'm going to shelve this for a bit and work on other things, but thanks for your guys' time and help. I don't want to frustrate myself with these tools too much right now since everything's somewhat tangibly still in flux; I'll return to this project of mine in a few months, and work on models or something instead in the mean time.