ASN v3 black polygons in sky as clouds load?

[bobcat999 8,484]

I7 4790K at 4.6.  R9 380 not overclocked.  DX10 with Steve's fixer.

 

This is absolutely awesome for the weather and other effects - a real game changer.  I can hold 30 frames per second easily as well.

 

But...  I have it on a weeks trial at the moment, and the only thing spoiling it is the large black flashes in the sky as you rotate your viewpoint.  

It seems the high level clouds load slowly when they come in from the edge of vision leaving realy nasty black polygons for a second.  It really spoils the immersion.

 

Things I have tried...

 

1.  The material fix is in the swarm cloud shader file, so it is not that.

2.  I have ensured the DX9 and DX10 shader caches are being rebuilt at start up.

3.  I have tried it with bufferpools=0 and my usual bufferpools setting of about 4.5 mb.

4.  I have tried maximum water effects (2xhigh) with bufferpools at zero (this was known to fix a similar black flashing water texture square issue, although I never had it myself).

 

Any ideas guys?

 

 

 

 

[stans 703]

Black squares that eventually fill with the correct texture is usually a sign that your system is slow in loading the texture.  You might try reducing your cloud draw distance.  If that does not help, how many cloud layers are you using?  The more cloud layers, the more load on the computer to render all those images.

[bobcat999 8,484]

Hiya Stans.

 

Cloud draw is only 90, and just 2 layers in my test scenario.  It is definitely not an issue with my PC loading textures quick enough.  It is a top end machine and I have had no other issues at all, it is just in Active Sky.  The big black polygons can take 1 or 2 seconds to fill.

 

Reading around the internet, some people seem to suggest it is a Simconnect delay issue, but I am hoping there is a fix or a work-around, as this effect really spoils it.

[Damian Clark 1,262]

Hello,

 

Please open a support ticket at http://support.hifitechinc.com and we'll be happy to investigate this and try and find a resolution.  We have no current known issues related to ASN in this regard, so we'll need to collect some detailed information and also try to isolate things.  Have you tried resetting your options to default, and uncheck the Visual Fix options?

 

Here is an excerpt from the readme.rtf regarding DX10 fixer and other shader mods:

 

Using DX10 / DX10 Fixer / Shader Mods

 

If you are using "Steve's DX10 Fixer", or other shader mods, there are some special considerations regarding compatibility.

 

ASN provides for shader modification/enhancements within the "Visual Fixes" settings.  By default, these fixes are enabled and this will modify certain items within your shader files.

 

The DX10 Fixer application and other shader mods also modify shader files, and depending on options, can modify certain visuals that may conflict with ASN.  When using ASN and other such mods, please be aware of the following:

 

1) Using the "Disable MSAA" feature within DX10 Fixer can cause problems with ASN's in-cloud visibility reduction.  We recommend not using this option from DX10 Fixer when using ASN's in-cloud visibility reduction feature.

 

2) At any time you need to restore your shader files to pre-ASN status, please see the SwarmCloud.fx.BeforeASN and SwarmCloud40.fx.BeforeASN files within your simulator's ShadersHLSL\Misc folder.  Remember to clear your Shader Cache when making any shader changes in order to see the effects.

 

 

Hope this helps.

[bobcat999 8,484]

Thanks for the response Damian.

 

I disabled the cloud pop fix in the visual fix options, and then I checked that the new material use flag was set back to true in the swarmcloud.fx shader file.

I disabled MSAA in clouds in Steve's fixer, then flew around in my test scenario for 10 minutes. My shaders rebuild automatically when I start FSX due to a line in the FSX.cfg file at start up.

 

Anyway, it was frustrating at first as the weather was slightly different in my test scenario, with very few high level clouds, and I couldn't get any black flashes.

However, ASN started to draw in high level clouds in the distance eventually, and sure enough, I started to get black polygons pop up just before the high level cloud displayed.

 

It is a shame that trying your suggestions didn't work, as ASN is absolutely fantastic in terms of features and graphical enhancement. I am beginning to think I cannot go back, so I will have to live with the black flashes for now, but it would be great if they could ultimately be fixed.

 

The only other issue I have currently is with some slightly flickering roads of a night time in Ultimate Terrain X, which appears to be the illuminated circles of light underneath the lamp posts fighting to stay above the ground texture level. I have no other issues, and holding a really smooth 30 frames per second with ASN running, which is great stuff.

 

My specs are I7 4790K at 4.6 GHz, AMD R9 380 at standard clocking and 15.9.1 drivers, 16 Gb RAM, W7 64 bit, FSX:SE with latest update, REX with softclouds for the low/medium layer.

 

I will register and open a ticket soon.

[Damian Clark 1,262]

Please open a ticket so we can investigate.  It doesn't appear related to ASN at all, but perhaps something with the overhead/memory/graphics memory in cloud depiction, and we'd be happy to try and troubleshoot with you.

[bobcat999 8,484]

Hello Damian,

 

I have already decided I must convert from the trial license and buy a full ASN licence anyway, as it is simply too good to not have!

 

I accept what you say above.  I am holding off raising a ticket until I have undertaken some extensive trials over the next few nights.  I just want to make sure it is not my system or setup that is causing it.  I also have a few possible solutions that I want to try out first.  I will raise a ticket if I find I cannot eliminate or isolate the problem by other means.  Thanks!