Jump to content

No shadows under aircraft in flight - Why?


Morten

Recommended Posts

Not extremely important - but when taking impressive screenshots in order to show other curious people, it looks rather artificial when everything else do casts shadows except for your own aircraft.


The problem is not present if you go to any other non-addon airport in a FTX region. So a rather strange phenomena.. ???


Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am no expert, by I believe it has something to do with the fact that Orbx purposefully increases the ground texture elevation slightly in order to reduce/eliminate runway flickering at altitude but with the tradeoff of no ground shadowing. I guess you can't have both.


Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gday Morten  usually the only reason I get no shadows is using legacy FS9 aircraft or aircraft prepared with the fs9 sdk.  I looked at Cessnock and Alice and Jackson Hole briefly and all show aircraft shadows with FSX sdk aircraft. Is the no shadows at all ORBX add-on airports ? Not being rude but are you sure that you have the aircraft shadows option selected ? 


Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yep, shadow from aircraft is turned on!


 


Tried both FSX standard aircraft and addon aircraft - same issue. And yes the airports with this problem are all ORBX made - payware as well as freeware. BUT default airports within the ORBX regions do not have the problem.


 


Outside ORBX regions I haven't registered any problem at all. 


Link to comment
Share on other sites

Try going into your weather menu and selecting the theme "Clear Skies" at the top of the list. The intensity of the ground shadows are dictated by the visibility range in the weather menu, by selecting clear skies it will quickly show you if visibility range is the issue. If your weather theme has a visibility range of less than 20 miles the planes shadow on the ground is very pale and difficult to spot.


Link to comment
Share on other sites

Russ: not relevant, visibility here is set to 100 miles.


 


Alex: New discovery: Issue seems (so far) only relevant to the payware airports CZST and CYBD within the Pacific Fjords FTX Region. Default airports within this region don't have the problem - Nor has KJAC in the Gold CRM region this problem on my setup (similar to your test) 


Link to comment
Share on other sites

That is very strange behavior Morten, not seen an inconsistency like that before?


 


Can i start by asking you to check that your terrain resolution slider is set to 5m please, also can you tell me if there are any strange differences in terrain altitude in close proximity to the airports, such as little cliff's or trenches?


Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes 5m, as you can see from my settings. I haven't yet noticed any little cliffs or trenches - but I will look out for them henceforward.


As for CYBD add yet another mystery, at the parking places the aircraft shadow suddenly turns up the minute I leave the runway! But only with FSX standard aircraft - not with 3-party aircraft.


 


(FSX.cfg, LOD=6.5000)


 


FSXSettings_zpsdab21649.jpg   


Link to comment
Share on other sites

Correction..!!!


 


For CYBD it turns out that missing shadows for FSX standard aircraft is ONLY relevant from the beginning of RWY 05. Anywhere else there will be perfect shadows.


(For 3-party aircraft still no shadows at all)


Link to comment
Share on other sites

It would be nice to get to the bottom of this Morten, so lets keep looking for a culprit, it may not be possible for us to track it down on this occasion but i'd like to try. I will consult with the team again and get back to you, thanks for your patience on this one :)


Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes indeed interesting. I'll check it out here as well to night.


 


But as a matter of fact, if he can manage shadows with the same application and I can't, then it must be something to do with my installation/setup and not the application itself!


Only maybe a question of more or less sensibility regarding to the ability of showing shadows with this particular application, considering the fact that none of the other airport examples had the problem - at least not with the FSX standard aircraft fleet.    


Link to comment
Share on other sites

Morten,


I noticed you have your kcBY0.jpg  Checked in the screenie below, they are not necessary with FTX and can throw up some anomalies as well as negative impact on FPS, UnCheck this and see if this changes the shadows under your aircraft.


 


double check that you still have your  DE51f.jpg Check marked, its worth a try.


 


Cheers Jeff


 




Yes 5m, as you can see from my settings. I haven't yet noticed any little cliffs or trenches - but I will look out for them henceforward.


As for CYBD add yet another mystery, at the parking places the aircraft shadow suddenly turns up the minute I leave the runway! But only with FSX standard aircraft - not with 3-party aircraft.


 


(FSX.cfg, LOD=6.5000)


 


FSXSettings_zpsdab21649.jpg   



Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Jeff, indeed this may help.


 


Also, are the 3rd party aircraft you are using FS9 ports? as a number of aircraft ported over to FSX from FS9 carry some issues including shadow casting.


 


When you are on the runway, press the "Y" key to put you into slew mode, and then tap the "F3" key and then the "F2" key quickly after, this will raise your aircraft into the air above the runway but you will remain static, does the aircraft cast a shadow on the runway in this situation?


Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, here are some test summary of the latest suggestions with CYBD as example:


 


1. Uncheking "Ground Scenery Shadows" - Makes no change to the specific problem.


2. Changing zoom/viewpoint - Aircraft shadow turns up (only) at further distance and with viewpoint closer to the ground! (problem only relevant to the beginning of RWY 05)


3. Change to slew mode little above ground -  Makes no change to the specific problem. 


4. Only FSX based 3-party aircraft will cast shadows similar to FSX's own standard aircraft fleet - ported aircraft from earlier FS versions will not show shadows under no circumstances in this airport, but will in certain other payware/freeware ORBX airports within the ORBX Northamerica region.


 


Cheers   


Link to comment
Share on other sites

ok thanks Morten, it would be interesting to hear if other users of these airports have this same issue, it never came up in testing and it's the first time i have heard of it since their release which was over a year ago now. If it is a problem that affects a small number of users it might be explained by the distance between the ground poly surface and the hard surface being too small for the tollerance of some systems. Similar to the ground poly flicker issue difference in tollerence from system to system.


Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...