DEM2Terrain

Convert Digital Elevation Mesh to Falcon 4 terrain.

Takes into account spherical mapping of the world and allows certain resolutions and sizes to be tinkered with. Will generate:

• Produces L2/O2 data format from DEM's (spherically corrected)
• Process E00 data files for airport, road, drainage, coast lines, railways and towns, with preview picture.
• Will produce .TDF files from this data
• Will produce .MEA file from the data
• Will produce .MAP file from the data
• Will produce .TXT file with description of theater in
• Large/small terrain format (2byte/4byte)
• Supports different theater sizes and resolutions
• User configurable colour and output display
• Preview window
• Can load several theaters at the same time.

Dem2Terrain utility is very useful when creating the initial terrain files (L2). The first perl script only used non-spherical conversion but now we can do spherically converted terrains with this util. It is also very fast and nice to use.

Rules.OBR File

This file defines how DEM2Terrain is to read the DCW data to create the objectives.csv file generating some additional objects. It can create by user specification new factories, sam sites, radar sites, army depots and so on.

When you want to use this configuration, you need to specificly load it up from Data → Load Objective Rules menu option, then its activated and the objective are created accordingly.

The “Ids” are the objective IDs that TacEdit will show. These are the Objectives in the 3D database such as airfields, bridges, cities, towns, etc. Using LODEditor you can view the CT numbers (which are 100 LESS than the number in TacEdit). So don't forget to do the math when comparing objects between TacEdit and LODEditor.

In our forum Sherlock posted a nice rules.obr file for Iran theater creation. Its here:

# Iranian Theater rules 

IgnoreNoNames 1 

# AEPTTYPE  (taken from maddogmcewan post at: 
# http://forums.frugalsworld.com/vbb/showthread.php?p=1312166#post1312166 ) 
# Aeronautical point type. Airport feature in Codes 1 through 4 were derived from the
# DMA Digital Aeronautical Flight Information File (DAFIF). Where this file was 
# incomplete, data were added from the ONCs (primarily in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union). 
# 
# Code Definition for <theater>-AIRPORT.TDF file parsing by DEM2Terrain 
# 
# 1 = Active civil 
# 2 = Active civil and military 
# 3 = Active military 
# 4 = Other 
# 5 = Airport location added from ONC source when not available in the DAFIF 

# Don't forget to add 100 to the CT numbers you got from LODEditor to get 
# the objectives correct OCDID number for placing into this file as the "Ids"! 

Type Airport-1 
# Double runways 
Ids   216, 219, 225, 978, 979, 980, 1497, 1499, 1516, 1779, 1805, 
Priority 50 
Generates SAM_Site 0-1 
Generates Factory 0-1 
Generates Radar_Station 0-1 

Type Airport-2 
# Double runways 
Ids   216, 219, 225, 978, 979, 980, 1497, 1499, 1516, 1779, 1805, 
Priority 50 
Generates SAM_Site 0-1 
Generates Army_Base 0-1 
Generates Factory 0-1 

Type Airport-3 
# Single runways 
Ids   216, 1509, 1772, 1773, 1774, 1775, 1776, 1777, 1778, 1780, 1781, 1782, 1783, 2065, 
Priority 30 
Generates Headquarters 0-1 
Generates Factory 0-1 

Type Airport-4 
# Single runways 
Ids   216, 1509, 1772, 1773, 1774, 1775, 1776, 1777, 1778, 1780, 1781, 1782, 1783, 2065, 
Priority 30 
Generates Depot 0-1 

Type Airport-5 
# Single runways 
Ids   216, 1509, 1772, 1773, 1774, 1775, 1776, 1777, 1778, 1780, 1781, 1782, 1783, 2065, 
Priority 20 
Generates Power_Plant 0-1 


# Villages and Towns 
Type LABEL-1 

# New Towns 
Ids   1932, 952, 953, 1554, 1555, 1558, 1569, 1570, 1572, 1573, 1574,#Village Ids 
Ids   1923, 1159, 1160, 1161, 1162, 1163, 1174, 1175, 1176, 1177, 1178,#Town Ids 
Ids   1179, 1180, 1334, 1335, 1336, 1337, 1480, 1486, 1540, 1542, 1543,#Town Ids 
Ids   1576, 1577, 1578, 1580, 1584, 1585, 1586, 1587, 1588, 1590, 1591,#Village Ids 
Ids   1544, 1545, 1546, 1547, 1548, 1549, 1551, 1583, 1596, 1599, 1601,#Town Ids 
Ids   1603, 1605, 1628, 1640, 1641, 1907, 1916, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922,#Town Ids 
Ids   1592, 1593, 1594, 1595, 1917, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931,#Village Ids 
Ids   1924, 1925,#Town Ids 
Priority 11 
Generates Army_Base 0-1 
Generates Factory 0-1 
Generates Refinery 0-1 


# Junctions and Cities 
Type LABEL-2 
Ids   215, 231, 859, 1049, 1070, 1103, 1187, 1338, 1339, 1534, 1535,#City Ids 
Ids   1536, 1537, 1538, 1539, 1550, 1566, 1567, 1568, 1571, 1575, 1579,#City Ids 
Ids   1340, 1341, 1342, 1343, 1556, 1557, 1559, 1560, 1561, 1562, 1563,#Junction Ids 
Ids   1581, 1582, 1589, 1597, 1598, 1600, 1602, 1604, 1606, 1623, 1624,#City Ids 
Ids   1625, 1626, 1627, 1629, 1630, 1631, 1632, 1633, 1634, 1635, 1636,#City Ids 
Ids   1564, 1565, 1609, 1610, 1611, 1612, 1613, 1614, 1615, 1616, 1617,#Junction Ids 
Ids   1637, 1638, 1639, 1906, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1915, 2170, 2171,#City Ids 
Ids   2172, 2173, 2174, 2175, 2176, 2177, 2178, 2179, 2180, 2181, 2182,#City Ids 
Ids   2183, 2184, 2185, 2186, 2187, 2188, 2189, 2190, 2191, 2192, 2193,#City Ids 
Ids   2194, 2195, 2196, 2197, 2198, 2199, 2200, 2201, 2202, 2203, 2204,#City Ids 
Ids   1618, 1619, 1620, 1621, 1622, 1897, 1918, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936,#Junction Ids 
Ids   2205, 2206, 2207, 2208, 2209, 2210, 2211, 2212, 2213, 2214, 2215,#City Ids 
Ids   2216, 2217, 2218, 2219, 2220, 2221, 2222, 2223, 2224, 2225, 2226,#City Ids 
Ids   2227, 2228, 2229,#City Ids 
Ids   1937, 1938, 1939,#Junction Ids 
Priority 49 
Generates Depot 0-1 
Generates Army_Base 0-1 
Generates Headquarters 0-1 
Generates Power_Plant 0-1 
Generates Factory 1-3 
Generates Radar_Station 0-1 
Generates Nuclear_Plant 0-1 
Generates Refinery 0-1 
Generates Chemical_Plant 0-1 
Generates SAM_Site 0-1 


Type Depot 
Priority 30 
Ids   233, 871, 1903, 1905, 2092, 2093, 2094, 2095, 2096, 2097, 2098, 
Ids   2099, 2100, 2101, 2102, 2103, 2104, 2105, 2106, 2107, 2108, 2109, 

Type Army_Base 
Priority 25 
Ids   227, 1680, 1681, 1684, 1685, 1686, 1688, 1902, 1904, 1908, 
Ids   2087, 2088, 2089, 2090, 2091, 

Type Headquarters 
Priority 35 
Ids   232, 2110, 2111, 2112, 

Type Power_Plant 
Priority 30 
Ids   241, 1459, 1463, 1465, 1868, 1869, 1870, 1871, 1872, 1873, 1874, 
Ids   1875, 2286, 

Type Factory 
Priority 30 
Ids   218, 230, 234, 872, 1344, 1347, 1348, 1349, 1350, 1351, 1352, 
Ids   1353, 1354, 1355, 1356, 1357, 1358, 1413, 1471, 1723, 1810, 1811, 
Ids   1812, 1813, 1815, 1816, 1817, 1819, 1820, 1821, 1822, 1823, 1824, 
Ids   1825, 1826, 1827, 1828, 1829, 1830, 1831, 1832, 1833, 1834, 1835, 
Ids   1836, 1837, 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842, 1843, 1844, 1846, 1847, 
Ids   1848, 1849, 1850, 1851, 1852, 1853, 1854, 1855, 1856, 1857, 

Type Radar_Station 
Priority 30 
Ids   2113, 2114, 2115, 2116, 2117, 2119, 2122, 2123, 2124, 2125, 2126, 
Ids   2127, 2128, 2129, 2130, 2131, 

Type Nuclear_Plant 
Priority 30 
Ids   238, 873, 1420, 1427, 1428, 1433, 1730, 1731, 1732, 1733, 1734, 
Ids   1735, 1736, 1737, 1738, 1739, 1740, 1909, 2134, 

Type Refinery 
Priority 35 
Ids   1363, 1412, 1479, 1722, 1728, 1729, 

Type Chemical_Plant 
Priority 30 
Ids   245, 1451, 1725, 1726, 1727, 1814, 1818, 1845, 1910, 1441, 1451, 
Ids   1720, 1721, 1724, 

Type SAM_Site 
Priority 30 
Ids   1689, 1690, 1694, 1695, 1696, 1697,

This creates the villages, towns, and cities properly (based on the DCW data). It's the refineries, factories, Army Bases, etc., that there is too many of them and having to go back through and selectively delete many of them.

The only drawback in this whole process is that there are so many NoNames in the DCW data for towns and villages. It's a two-edged “sword” using the IgnoreNoNames 1 command. If you use it you don't have to deal with the NoNames but it can cut out some important towns or villages that you will need to add back in manually later. If you don't use it then you have to deal with the multitude of NoNames in the town and village data.

Official release topic here and reference topic here.