To achieve tile / data "centering" for EAW and the program;

Let me explain again that the so-called "centering" here is to achieve alignment for the TarSetDataMaker program.Specifically so you can edit with an accurate facimile of how your edits will appear in EAW.

The main facts to understand:
-When I refer to "base" ; I am refering to the editing record , Not an airfield / airstrip.An airfield / airstrip object location is coded by Tardata as an object for the 3d graphic.It is not coded in EAW (except rarely maybe by coincidence) specifically for the center of an X,Y location.

-Again, to make clear above; the real center of an X,Y World location would be seen by placing an object in Tardata at the @ center of 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  - but read on below as this alone won't align everything with EAW and the program.


-The editing area covered by the reliable coordinates for Tardata.dat as explained previous and also by Moggy is an area that covers the same distance as the width and height of 16 tiles (4 x 4) in the EAW World.

-Whether your edits will coincide with the EAW Terrain Tiles in that world is optional.But to easily use the design interface of my program (and thus save yourself much labor - especially for complex base editing!) you should align by "centering" as suggested.

-The alignment is achieved by editing the X,Y coordinates of the EAW base in Targets.dat.
By moving the Targets.dat coordinates (where the base appears in the "EAW World") all the objects in the Tardata.dat for the base will also move in the same aspect or relation.


-The width or height of a tile in the EAW World is equal to a value of 4 in the second large byte (the lesser value of the 2 major) of the Targets.dat EAW World coordinants.
So of course this means 1/2 of a tile is equal to 2.
(You can easily see this by a look at the pic on my website pages from aborted Project: Mission2 area named OAWP2area.html) 


-The coordinates for the location of the Tile any base / location is on in the EAW World can be found by entering Dom's "Line and Column" (decimal grid) data in Dom's Vertcon.exe program.That program will output the X,Y for the EAW World.That data is at the center of the specific tile your base appears on.
***You must adjust that data: The location we need to use is not for the center of the tile (in spite of me calling my suggested process "centering" .. lol!) -
we want the coordinates where that tile starts in the EAW World.This for all purposes is the Upper Left Corner of that tile in the EAW World *** This needed location alignment (or "centering")is @ where the location of 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 in the local Tardata.dat object coordinate system will appear once you have changed your Targets.dat X,Y..It for all purposes centers the Tardata object grid (thus the name).
Now the data in all aspects for the EAW World will coincide with the Terrain tiles.
So now you can edit with accuracy using the TarSetDataMaker.exe program ***-


((If you do not know the "Line and Column" (decimal grid) data for your base you can find that by entering the X,Y in Dom's Convert.exe program - that program will output the equivalent "Line and Column" (decimal grid) data for use with Vertcon.exe))


-By subtracting 2 (= 1/2 of a tile) from that height and 2 (= 1/2 of a tile) from that width - in other words; 2 from the X and Y data in Targets.dat we get the coordinates needed.

-The movement is easily checked by going into EAW and looking at an object placed at the center 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  (or any one of the "tile" corners)

 

-If you choose the another way of doing this you can just estimate by hand to edit your EAW World Targets.dat X,Y.Just be sure to zero "00 00" the small bytes of the X and Y.
 

-----AFAIK : no adverse effects seem to occur by relocating this way , regarding the Griddata.dat.
So you won't need to edit Griddata to adjust for this small movement.Let us know by a post at the SimHQ if you find otherwise!-----




-*Important!*-
--* Remember also that for EAW you need to edit the Airfield.dat location of the base to the same new X,Y as your Targets.dat AFAIK*-- 

-S!
RAF_Roy 
9/2004
 