resolved YMML v3 - Black Area

[Seagull]

Hi all

First timer here.

Installed the Vector 1.45 patch the other day, upgraded YMML to v3, ran the auto Airport Elevation Correction in the FTX Global Vector Config Tool, then finally installed orbxlibs 160708.

Was running beautifuly before, but now I get a large black area around the terminal area (see pic). Have tried re-installing but no luck, and no one else seems to have a similar issue.

Set-up is FSX-SE, Windows 10 Home 64-bit, i7 920, 8GB RAM, Nvidia GTX660, Samsung 840 EVO 500GB

 

Any ideas?

 

Thanks

Seagull

Global BASE Order Number: FSS0383298

Global VECTOR Order Number: FSS0388080

Australia SP4 Download Order Number: FSS0447552

AU YMML Melbourne International v2 Order Number: FSS0447552

AU YMML Melbourne International v3 Order Number: FSS0510062

[Seagull]

By the way, other airports seem to be fine, only YMML is affected.

[John Dow]

Something's gone wrong.  Make sure you have Australia turned off in the last tab of the Vector Config Tool.

 

You might need to turn scenery layers on and off to see which one is causing this and work from there.

 

[Seagull]

Tried switching out the layers one at a time but it's still there.

The "I have FTX Australia installed" tickbox also makes no difference.

[John Dow]

Did you completely delete all traces of YMML, including the entries in the Scripts folder etc, before you re-installed.

 

Try this:  Delete the YMML folder from your ORBX folder.

 

In your main FSX folder in Explorer, search for all flies containing YMML.  Delete all the ones that appear in the ORBX folder, and move the rest to non-FSX folder on your desktop or similar.

 

Run FSX and confirm default Melbourne airport is OK.

 

Confirm you have OrbxFTXYMML300.exe and OrbxFTXYMML300.2 extracted to a folder ready for install.

 

Run the install and check that YMML is now working.  If not, return here for some more investigation.

[Seagull]

Thanks for the helping out John.

Deleted all the YMML files as advised and Melbourne Apt was fine again.

Downloaded and installed fresh version of YMML v3 - black was back.

Downloaded and installed fresh version of of ORBXLibs as well - again, no luck!

 

[John Dow]

I wonder if your download is corrupt.  Re-downloading won't help unless you remove cached copies from your computer.  If by any chance you can download to a friend's computer I would recommend that as corrupt downloads can hang around on ISP servers as well.

 

Either that or your graphics card can't handle the detail???  What I can't understand is the shape of the black square, doesn't line up with the airport textures that I can see.

[Nick Cooper]

You might check your FSX\Scenery\World\Texture folder for detail.bmp.

[Seagull]

No detail.bmp but there's a detail1.bmp, which is just 100% black...

[Nick Cooper]

Sorry, yes, detail1.bmp.

Try this one, back yours up first

https://btcloud.bt.com/web/app/share/invite/DcvOMEv6ND

[Jon Clarke]

You say you ran the AEC configurator. Has it put YMML as Disabled? YMML should be disabled but sometimes the AEC does not put some airports in the right slot and you have to do it manually. This may not be your problem but something that needs to be confirmed by in the process of eliminating your problems cause.

[Seagull]

Replaced detail1.bmp with new version but same result.

[John Dow]

What size is your detail1.bmp?

 

[Jethro VH-JET]

53 minutes ago, Seagull said:

No detail.bmp but there's a detail1.bmp, which is just 100% black...

 

Hi Seagull,

 

I realise your picture shows a black area over nearly the entire YMML airport.

But I was wondering if as you say above "100% black", do you mean when Nicks "Detail1.bmp" is viewed in your windows explorer as a thumbnail, a preview picture shows as a black square (not a place holder icon - Win/default - orange flower).

(now I'm not saying this is the definitive answer to your issue, but merely a speculation as to the possible cause.

Now to my real question.  Have you ever converted resized or used any conversion tools on your FSX textures?
As there are great many textures contained within the simulator texture folders that are multi-layer textures, if they are unwisely converted to reduce size or sim loading, you can loose the transparent layer/s. The resulting texture file will show in your Windows explorer as a single layer picture having been stripped of the transparent layer, and would be corrupt for use within the sim. (my speculation on the big Black square at YMML & the detail1.bmp 100% black image when viewed in Windows explorer)

 

Normally "detail1.bmp" along with many other multilayer textures will not show an icon image or preview (only a place holder icon - Win/default - orange flower - not a picture of the texture). Other single layer type textures will show preview and image icon as actual picture of the texture.  ( .dds textures also only show as placeholder icon - Win/Default - icon white page with picture of 2 orange flowers). Multilayer textures should not be resized or converted/altered without using special tools such as "DXTbmp"  "Photoshop" or GIMP, for specific editing purpose. Using these tools you are able to view each texture layer and the texture image as it might appear within the Simulator environment. Layered textures would need to have all layers resized and compiled together un-orphaned, so as to keep transparency, mask, and actual image, the same size within the .bmp or .dds texture file for use within the sim.

 

[Jethro VH-JET]

.........???? Forum has gone dingbats again. Only pressed the button once ended up with 3 posts.

[Seagull]

My original detail1.bmp was 683kb but the one p[opsted by Nick is only 11kb.

Interestingly, I see a black image when using my default viewer, FastStone Image Viewer 5.7.

But other image viewing programs like the Photos app in Win10 or MS Paint or can't open the file.

 

[Seagull]

And no I haven't used any resizing or conversion utilities.

[Jethro VH-JET]

Hi Seagull,

 

1 hour ago, Seagull said:

Interestingly, I see a black image when using my default viewer, FastStone Image Viewer 5.7.

But other image viewing programs like the Photos app in Win10 or MS Paint or can't open the file.

Understood, as I said in my post it was mere speculation on my part, and an attempt to rule out one possibility, the "detail1.bmp" texture file itself is a multilayer transparent type .bmp  the Alpha layer should be "White"  not Black

 

FSX default detail1.bmp = (DXT1) :1024x1024 - 16bit - white or no Alpha.    682kb

Nicks default detail1.bmp = (DXT1) : 128x128 - 16bit - white or no Alpha.   hence, the size difference 11.5kb

 

The black colour of the texture in FastStone Viewer is odd, as any image that might be produced will look similar to the (picture below).

Detail1.bmp's job within the sim is to create dimension to the visible textures by overlaying a pattern looking similar to small pebbles, giving the ground some 3D textural quality.  If you were using the "FTX Aero" Detail Bump Map's (detail1.bmp) there are choices (Default, Coarse, Fine, Soft, Cracked) all having a filesize of 682kb each.

There have been cases in the past where a corrupt detail1.bmp will show a large black area within a sim. I suggest you revert to your saved default 682kb detail1.bmp in your Scenery\World\Texture folder. Open FTX Aero from FTXCentral  Settings > Tools > FTX Aero  choose one of the Detail Bump Maps (Coarse looks nice) click "Apply" close FTXCentral - Recheck the YMML airfield. 

If there are no improvements then further investigation of your YMML installation folders & files will be needed, you may be missing files or have an incomplete installation.

 

 

[John Dow]

23 hours ago, Jeff Gilmour said:

.........???? Forum has gone dingbats again. Only pressed the button once ended up with 3 posts.

 

my detail1.bmp is 683 KB in FSX and 11 KB in P3D.

 

Here is a shot with the file disabled in FSX.  I doubt it is creating your problem.  Maybe you need to look at objectflow or the version of .NET framework?

 

 

 

[Nick Cooper]

Nevertheless, it was the answer to another customer's similar problem

at a different location and was worth a try.

 

[Jethro VH-JET]

Hi Seagull,

 

This might be another longshot question, since you most likely aren't running (Turkish language PC) but worth a look anyway.

Can you open the active "scenery.cfg" located in C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\FSX  Check the config line entries [General] all the way down to [Area.003] last line. (as seen in the sample below) The entries should match exactly (pay special attention to the entries marked here in RED) There is no real reason to suspect these entries have gone awry but anything is possible. Don't worry about the entries further down the list at this point as they are unlikely to create the strange black issue.

If you can copy this scenery.cfg - post it here for checking. If you see discrepancies in these lines of your Scenery.cfg and wish to correct them yourself, Please make a safety backup of this Scenery.cfg before editing. Save in a separate folder somewhere.

If you find these lines match the sample below, then please let us know, so it too can be eliminated from troubleshooting.

 

Here's the topic in the FAQ section describing a similar issue and fix (Black texture) which should only present in Turkish language PC's.

http://www.orbxsystems.com/forum/topic/74392-texture-errors-with-turkish-windows-fix/

http://www.orbxsystems.com/forum/topic/34336-black-textures-everywhere/?hl=texture_id#entry296164

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[General]
Title=FS9 World Scenery
Description=FS9 Scenery Data
Clean_on_Exit=TRUE

 

[Area.001]
Title=Default Terrain
Local=Scenery\World
Texture_ID=1
Layer=1
Active=TRUE
Required=TRUE

 

[Area.002]
Title=Default Scenery
Local=Scenery\BASE
Layer=2
Active=TRUE
Required=TRUE

 

[Area.003]
Title=0000 Base
Local=Scenery\0000
Layer=3
Active=TRUE
Required=FALSE

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Seagull]

Thanks everyone.

Ok, so after a not-very-scientific troubleshooting exercise, in fact just random toggling of settings...

looks like turning off 'Preview DirectX 10' fixes the problem (not sure what it does for resolution of the scenery though!)

[Jethro VH-JET]

Interesting! Seagull,

From looking at your first picture the tell-tail indicator of Preview DX10 potentially being involved was a curveball not considered by me at the time (I'm assuming on your PC is without Steve Parsons DX10 fixer) The picture was not showing the predicted Black boxes (FTXGlobal lights) all over the road network as should be the case. The issue relating to the large black area strange as it was, indicated something else besides DX10 being at the heart of the problem.

 

Preview DX10 all on its own is an unfinished shader platform, having numerous graphical and other glitches for those who would choose to use it in an unfinished state.
I suppose we can now include "Large Black areas" into the Preview DX10 mode of possible issues as well. (Can we see a picture please)
With the installation of the Steve Parsons DX10 fixer and proper configuration as per the available guides, DX10 is 97% fixed, and well worth the money, there is a freeware version at Avsim but it is not as comprehensive as the Payware version. (97% I always leave 3% for development & improvement).

 

Not having DX10 enabled will mean you are using the DX9 default mode, your Sim performance will decrease depending on the performance level of your hardware, but will not affect the resolution in sim just a few of the eyecandy components available with DX10.
Personally I use FSX DX9 suited to my hardware performance, I have most slider settings to the right in FSX setting, I don't need shadows or fog and can manage a very nice water texture using FSWC. Frames are smooth resolution is (DSR 2.0x 2715x1527 1080p, 16xAA 16xAF 4xSS-Trans Vsync ¹/₂ refresh) Locked frames 32 = 28-32FPS mostly. I nolonger have the vision to read cockpit gauges and some of the smaller elements on screen but enjoy the higher resolution scenery in this setup and am able to continue my flying hobby for the time being. 

 

Anyway I'm glad you found the answer through random toggling, happy flights from now on.

[Seagull]

Just noting that my strong preference is to use DX10, which gives a noticeable quality improvement (for me anyway).

BTW, I had the freeware shader release 3.2.3 already installed.

It was all playing well with YMML v2 (35-55fps), until the install of v3 of course.

So, reverting to DX9 on account of one airport is not an option, especially as it happens to be my 'home' field!

Would appreciate any other thoughts on resolving this please.

 

Meanwhile I'll keep plugging away!

[Jethro VH-JET]

Hi Seagull,

 

As you have discovered the freeware fixer is not as comprehensive as the (Payware version - no longer available for purchase), afaik. But for those lucky ones who were able to purchase, there have been quite a few improvements and version updates.

The problem you have with the "Black area" over YMMLv3 seems related to the use of Preview DX10 and the less featured Freeware DX10 SceneryFixer. 

The Payware version would be the answer to your Black area, but I have no idea where one would purchase the DX10 Scenery Fixer by Steve Parsons, or if it has found a new vendor, exactly where it is listed I cannot know.

Maybe others might know the answer to this vexing issue. For the unlucky ones, then its either Black area DX10 free version OR No Black area DX9 or P3D/DX11. 

FSX Preview DX10 mode, is not worth using without the fixer either freeware or payware.

[Nick Cooper]

The fixer is for sale here

However, I have done some tests here and a virgin copy of FSX in Preview Direct X 10

mode does not show the black square.

However, as soon as I added the freeware shader fix, the black square appeared.

It seems that the freeware fix fixes the lights but breaks the airport background.

[Seagull]

So, following Nick's suggestions, I "uninstalled" the freeware shader fix and confirmed that the black area has gone.

Of course, now the little black boxes are back where the lights should be.

Finally, installed Steves DX10 Scenery Fixer v3 and.... all's well in the world again.

Thanks Nick, Jeff and John for all your help!