ReDEM and multiple BIL files

[TDHenderson]

OK, running into an issue and would like to solicit the community for ideas. Am trying to process multiple 1/9 arc second BIl files and am running into an issue where only one is processed.

1. Have five total .BIL files to process.
2. Have ReDEM set to:
a. Allow partial tiles.
b. Generate a total of 3558 tiles based on my marker set and generating 4 extra tiles from the marker file.
c. Do not overwrite tiles.
3. Run the first .BIL file and it generates all 3558 tiles from that set.
4. Each subsequent run of the next .BIL file generates no tiles at all.
5. Load the terrrain up and launch the editor. The terrain from the first .BIL ran is present, all other areas are flat.

At this point I am stumped because what I believe should happen is each run of a .BIL should add more tiles, generating for the area it includes, but it is not. No new tiles are being added or modified.

So, I then do the following.

6. Change the setting to overwrite tiles.
7. Starting from scratch, I start again with the first .BIL file generating 3558 tiles. Verify only that area is present in sim.
8. Process the next .BIL file. Since overwrite is set, it generates all 3558 tiles again. Verify that only the terrain from that .BIL is present in sim, terrain from the first .BIL is now flat.
9. This happens again, verified in sim, with each .BIL file. Only the terrain from in that .BIL is generated, all other terrain ran previously is now flat.

What am I missing?

Trevor

[hminky]

Have you tried MicroDem for combining all the "bil"s into one file?

I found that works better.

Harold

[TDHenderson]

I have, to the extent that Microdem throws me the virtual middle finger via an "out of memory" error when the result of combining the .BIL's is too large. I've combined all I can up to that point, and still have five separate files.

[hminky]

I have, to the extent that Microdem throws me the virtual middle finger via an "out of memory" error when the result of combining the .BIL's is too large. I've combined all I can up to that point, and still have five separate files.

Maybe ReDem is running out of memory also?

Harold

[TDHenderson]

No indication that is happening. My rig has 12GB of RAM, suspect the older code of Microdem is not using that.

[hminky]

No indication that is happening. My rig has 12GB of RAM, suspect the older code of Microdem is not using that.

How much ram is usually dependent on the program.

TransDem that is used with Trainz has a 3Gb/32bit and 4Gb/64 bit limit.

I am sure ReDem has a similar limit.

Harold

[TDHenderson]

I still don't think it's a memory issue with ReDEM at this point. Am still researching, but hope anyone here that has been able to sucessfully process multiple .BIL files with ReDEM can give their experiences. Hopefully that will guide me in the right direction.

[PapaXpress]

It could be a corrupt BIL.

[TDHenderson]

Yes but each .BIL processes correctly and the terrain is there in-sim. The problem is each run of a different .BIL file is generating all of the terrain tiles, overwriting another .BIL's area with "flatness". I thought the process of running multiple .BIL files would add to, not overwrite, the existing tiles the previous .BIL file created.

Clear as mud?

[TDHenderson]

To explain further, my five .BIL files are named A, B, C, D, and E. The marker file encompases all areas, and ReDEM says it is going to create 3550 tile files. I assume that each .BIL file ran would create approximately a fifth of the 3550 files, yes? Unfortunately each run creates all 3550, overwriting the previous run with flatness.

I run A, get A's terrain. I then run B, getting B's terrain, but A's is now flat. I then run C, get C's terrain, but now A and B are both flat. Etc, etc, etc.

Trevor

[PapaXpress]

OK, try this. Export each BIL to their own folder, then copy them all to one "master" folder. There should be little to no overlap of the files when you combine them.

[TDHenderson]

I will try that, but am beginning to think it may be my marker file. Each separate run is creating terrain for the entire marker "route", but only really should for the portion of the marker "route" that it holds the terrain for. I wonder if I need to create five separate marker files, each only having markers inside of the .BIL file boundaries. Then run the cooresponding marker file for A.BIL with that .BIL file, etc.

Will try your suggestion this afternoon and report back. I have a feeling I will end up with 3550 terrain files in each of the five output folders, not a fifth of the total in each, based on my experience so far.

Trevor

[PapaXpress]

No. ReDem will only process the terrain that it can from the BIL. I have run into similar issues that you are. Its been over a year though, so its not clear in my head what exactly I did to get it all working. I may have an old blog post on it... let me check.

[TDHenderson]

No. ReDem will only process the terrain that it can from the BIL. I have run into similar issues that you are. Its been over a year though, so its not clear in my head what exactly I did to get it all working. I may have an old blog post on it... let me check.

I agree that is how I understood it to work, but my experiment just proved differently, at least for me.

I processed each of the separate .BIL files into their own directory. Each produced the exact number of tiles. I loaded each set up separately and low and behold only the tiles represented by the .BIL files had terrain, all else was flat.

What I expect is each run of a .BIL file should only create tiles from that BIL, but what I see is the opposite. All tiles are created, but only terrain is present from that .BIL.

Frustrating!