Scott Harmes Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 Hi. I have been having this problem with a few products, and have spent a lot of today trying to solve the problem myself. The problem is really bad flickering or flashing of runways when flying above them, or past them or toward them. I don't seem to notice a problem when I am on the ground. The two products I can think of which are most affected are YBAS and YMML(V2). I'm pretty sure because of this the gmax ground poly is the problem. While searching for a solution, every topic I looked at was with people running DX10 having a flickering or flashing runway problem. This is not my case, as I never use DX10. I also think that the problem is that the ground polys are at exactly the same height as the ground texture, hence the flickering between the two conflicting surfaces. Here are some pictures: I have tried re-installing the Aus Holgermesh, and also both YBAS and YMML, but can't get them to stop flickering. I also noticed a post in another forum (or maybe another topic in this forum), about the order of files in the scenery.cfg. After running the scenery file validation in FTX central, the order (of the files I am concerned about) is: [Area.211] Title=FTXAA_YBBN Local=ORBX\FTX_AU\FTXAA_YBBN Layer=211 Active=TRUE Required=FALSE [Area.212] Title=FTXAA_YBAS Local=ORBX\FTX_AU\FTXAA_YBAS Layer=212 Active=TRUE Required=FALSE [Area.213] Title=FTXAA_ORBXLIBS Local=ORBX\FTX_AU\FTXAA_ORBXLIBS Layer=213 Active=TRUE Required=FALSE [Area.214] Title=FTXAA_HOLGERMESH Local=ORBX\FTX_AU\FTXAA_HOLGERMESH Layer=214 Active=TRUE Required=FALSE [Area.215] Title=FTXAA_AIRPORTS Local=ORBX\FTX_AU\FTXAA_AIRPORTS Layer=215 Active=TRUE Required=FALSE [Area.216] Title=OZx_NA Local=OZx\OZx_NA Layer=216 Active=TRUE Required=FALSE [Area.217] Title=OZx_LIB Local=OZx\OZx_LIB Layer=217 Active=TRUE Required=FALSE [Area.218] Title=OZx_AUS Local=OZx\OZx_AUS Layer=218 Active=TRUE Required=FALSE According to this other post, the Holgermesh should be below everything else, but it obviously isn't. The same post also stated that the OzX_LIB should be at a higher priority than the OzX_Aus. But this is the order that FTX Central automatically puts them in. Even if I try and change them manually, eventually they will automatically be put back in this order. I'm not sure if this order is the problem with these runways, taxiways and aprons, but I don't know what else it could be. I fly with mesh complexity set to 5m, and apparently YBAS includes a 5m mesh for the area. The strangest thing is, I don't think I've always had this problem with YMML. However it's a problem I've had for along time now, and it obviously detracts from an enjoyable flight. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks. Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Harris Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 Hi Scott, I just edited your title to include the ICAOs of the products you have an issue with, as this will bring it to the attention of the developers responsible FTXcentral automatically sorts the scenery library order for you, so no need to ever alter that As long as you have the AU Holgermesh installed, and your mesh slider set to 5m, it should work fine One thing that comes to mind are 3rd party APX files (airport afcad) normally from an 3rd party AI product, best way to find if thats the case is to search your main FSX folder for 'YBAS' or 'YMML', and look for anything with those ICAOs that is not within the ORBX folder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Harmes Posted February 26, 2013 Author Share Posted February 26, 2013 Hi Tim. Thanks for the reply. I'm pretty sure I don't have any other afcads for these airports, but I'll double check. I did actually re-read the manuals for YMML and YBAS and in the YBAS one I did notice it was mentioned that the large ground poly may flicker at high zoom levels, and suggested flying with zoom between 0.3 and 0.5. Unfortunately this isn't really an option for me as I had to increase my zoom from 0.7 to 1.0 to solve problems with running three monitors, mostly the "fisheye" effect. Maybe this is why I'm only now noticing the flickering runway at YMML. I will keep searching for a solution, and I will reply again if I find any duplicate afcads. Thanks. Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry Smith Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 Gday scott I think you may be right in that it is the GP at YBAS at higher zooms. But it shouldn't be a problem till somewhere around 300ft agl at that zoom, I tried hard to allow a circuit without the flicker. There is no easy fix to this issue and as alluded to in the manual it is a trade-off situation. I have tried to resolve this issue and at this stage do not have an answer. I am sorry that I cant provide much more than that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Routley Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 At normal zooms, as used for flying, the groundpolygon surface should sit just fine. The screenshots look highly zoomed, which will create a problem with FSX native surfaces, because ground surfaces and terrain "coarsen" in different ways. At high zoom, you have low detail terrain and mesh, and higher switched LOD on geometry and ground surfaces, so the two no longer match. Another issue occurs in "top-down" view, where there is a total switching mismatch between terrain and 3D geometry. There is no way to fix this view. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Harmes Posted February 26, 2013 Author Share Posted February 26, 2013 Hi. Thanks for the replies Jerry and Ian. First let me say, I am still hugely impressed with YBAS, despite the flickering. It has a really great atmosphere and the work done with the surrounding photoreal and the town are incredible. I actually can't remember if I zoomed in to take those pics. The pics are cutout from a larger 5820 * 1080 image. Also, the reason the pics looks so dark is because for some reason my cockpit windscreen iced up at that altitude. I don't want to be presumptuous (if that's how you spell it), but would it be a possibility to raise the ground poly by either 1mm or 1cm above the ground level. I ask this because I recently made a very small ground poly for the concrete floor of an open terminal I made, and when placing this ground poly, I had the same type of flickering. To solve this I lifted the ground poly 1cm above the ground surface. I'm sure it would be more complicated with your much larger and more complicated ground poly and scenery, but I am just wondering. Edit. Ignore everything in the above paragraph, apparently my GP is still flashing from a height also. In any case I will try flying with a smaller zoom level, and see if things improve. Thanks again for your replies, and for the brilliant scenery. Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry Smith Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 Gday Scott I honestly wish it was as simple as raising it 1mm off the ground, that would have saved me at least two months in development time. Unfortunately it needs to be raised at least 30 cm off the ground which means that due to the round earth you have a very large gap and it gets worse at the edges. In brief the GP has been curved to the earth surface and LOD's added that will raise above the ground when you get further away. The issue you have is that at higher zoom it thinks you are closer to the airport and hence displays the LOD that is closer to the ground and the ground and GP do the flicker fight. Cheers Jerry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Harmes Posted February 26, 2013 Author Share Posted February 26, 2013 Hi Jerry. No worries, I didn't think so, even as I was writing that I thought it couldn't be that simple. Thanks for the further info, you guys have been very helpful. Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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