The Delft3D-RGFGRID grid generator (Deltares, Netherlands) now has the capability of outputting a ROMS-compatible grid in NetCDF format.
If you choose the Cartesian coordinate system, the NetCDF file has coordinates as x_*,y_* where *=rho,u,v,psi and if you choose Spherical you get lon_*, lat_* which are as expected.
However, for either case, the curvilinear metrics dmde and dndx are not written into the grid NetCDF file and are missing from the NetCDF file. Has anyone else also found this to be true and contacted Deltares (Netherlands) regarding this?