resolved Awful morphing textures

[rockliffe]

I am perplexed with the issue I am having. I have read many other reports of similar issues elsewhere on the forums too, so I don't think it's just me who is experiencing this issue. I think others have named the problem morphing, which I think probably describes the issue fairly well. It has got so bad I am now considering packing up P3d all together and go to XP. The example which is shown in the video is in addition to pretty poor terrain blurries. This is happening despite, rebuilding shaders and cfg, using several different cfg tweaks, using mininal slider settings and checking on conflicting mesh and vector products. When flying wherever there is terrain, I see this awful issue. It is simply unacceptable and not something I can tolerate. I have also posted this on the P3D forum, but I'm wondering if there is some Orbx issue with scenery layers or something. PS. I didn't get the co-oridnates, but it's about 50 miles SE of Rome. Orbx global, LC Europe and Vector installed, plus all the regions.

 

[Nick Cooper]

Hello,

Perhaps try deleting ORBX\User documents\Versions\FTX_OLC_EU.TXT

and FTX_OLC_EU1.TXT.

Run FTX Central and install Open LC Europe again.

FTX Central will check all the files but only download any that it needs.

[rockliffe]

2 minutes ago, Nick Cooper said:

Hello,

Perhaps try deleting ORBX\User documents\Versions\FTX_OLC_EU.TXT

and FTX_OLC_EU1.TXT.

Run FTX Central and install Open LC Europe again.

FTX Central will check all the files but only download any that it needs.

Thanks Nick. I'll try this. However, I feel it is a single example, albeit a fairly blatant one, of a bigger issue. I'll report back with this.

[Lawrence Hickerson]

Quote

I am perplexed with the issue I am having.

 

We have like machines.  I was using v3.4 since it's release.  Moved to v4 immediately.  I use a home version of WinX.  My v4 is maxed out on the sliders.  Only issue I have noticed with v4 and Orbx is AI aircraft causing a heavy load.  Once unclicked, no errors and any micro stutters disappeared.  Highly recommend v4 for a solution to many problems of the 32 bit flight simulator.

 

Regards

[Holger Sandmann]

Hi Howard,

 

good of you to post that video because it shows that it's not the typical "morphing" due to missing landclass textures or a corrupt terrain.cfg. Instead, what you're seeing is the higher LODs of terrain mesh data loading in as the user aircraft approaches, causing some of the slopes to become steeper, which in turn causes different landclass textures to load. Many agricultural and urban textures automatically switch to forest or rock on steeper slopes to avoid fields and houses creeping up those slopes.

 

In your case the issue appears particularly bad and there's also some odd grid-like pattern in the data. Thus, I'm wondering whether you're perhaps using a high-resolution third-party mesh that has some issues, either in this location or in general. Artificial oversampling of source data (or simply poor source data) can cause incorrect/regular patterns in the compiled bgl files.

 

Moreover, any mesh resolution slider setting higher than the 5m recommended by us is more likely to cause these issues because, with every slider step, you force the sim to display an additional "ring" of higher-resolution data near the user aircraft, with each change-over line between rings being a potential trigger for this type of morphing. If you experiment with that slider setting -- you can do this during a flight -- you should notice a difference right away.

 

Keep in mind that the mesh resolution slider setting does not affect the source data itself, only the maximum grid spacing displayed in the sim. Thus, if you spent good money for your "1-m mesh", even at a 5-m or 10-m setting you'll still see that same source data, just at a slightly lower displayed resolution but with less chance for that annoying "popping" or "morphing" of the landclass textures.

 

Cheers, Holger.

 

[rockliffe]

 

Hi Holger, I hope you're well. Sure, a mesh conflict was my first thoughts also. I do in fact have a third party Europe mesh, so I disabled it in the scenery library and then switched between different resolutions of mesh. Although there was a very slight improvement, the issue still remained.

[rockliffe]

Hi Holger, you were right! I don't understand what had happened, because I previously tried de-activating the third part EU mesh, but this time I deleted it from the library. Don't know whether this was the reason, but anyway, it now seems to be resolved. Thanks again for your help. As always, appreciated.

[Fabio Danesi]

I have the same problem (and also some blurries) in the same region..i will try to lower the mesh resolution from 5 to 10 m

Thanks

[Rob Ainscough]

Interesting post, I have seen this issue with PILOT's Mesh including the FTX Edition which I thought was supposed to be compatible with Orbx products?

 

FSW and FSX and P3D all have this "shifting" of terrain tiles which I think is a inherent problem per Holger's information ... to be honest, I'd rather see farms slightly climbing up the sides of a mountain than the terrain shifting like this.  It makes using any mesh beyond the "default" problematic and pending location can be fairly significant visual deterrent.  Shame, because when a good Mesh is working well, it does look fantastic, but when it's not working well at some locations it's positively a big "blind eye".

 

I had brought this issue up with LM some time ago (in several Beta cycles), but it seems the problem is inherent in the terrain engine and LM seem to NOT want to change it ... either due to breaking compatibility or just too complex to "fix" in any reasonable time frame.  Relative to other platforms (i.e. XP11 or AF2) this is definitely a "negative" visual for P3D.

 

Cheers, Rob.

[pmb]

Exactly to the point Rob, thanks. I have been one of the victims fighting (and reporting) this issue for years now, without success. I don't recall FSX, but, yes, I see it in FSW as well. While, as you write, it's "missing" in XP11 as well as AF2.

 

Kind regards, Michael