Bad Flickering

[Guest rjbikeracer]

I just purchased ActiveSky. I have followed the installation correctly as well as start up and have FUIPC 3.7 at default level and have the proper settings in FS9. I have a P4 3.2 GHZ processor with NVidia 5900 Ultra 256 mb card and 1gig of memory. I have virtually no problems maxing my settings and getting no lower than 15 fps in the most taxing environment (normally). I went to fly tonight after installing Active Sky and noticed severe flickering in the cockpit. I discovered (after changing the time to daylight) that low level clouds and/or fog is flickering severely on the ground and appears to be in panels of white rather than in smooth cloud-like textures. It blinks the entire screen bad enough to sometimes cause the sim to freeze for two minutes. It looks like the same effect that generates when an area isn't flattened correctly and bleads through an add-on mesh only this appears to be ground fog and/or visibility conflicts. What did I do? I tried replacing all cloud textures going to and from original textures. I tried FSW textures also. I went back into FSUIPC four times as well as FS9 to confirm I have both set properly. The only thing I can figure is that I have some sort of conflict in the option settings in Active Sky but I don't think I changed anything from the default settings. I even tried going to "simple clouds" to try and trouble shoot and although it dimisihes some what the problem is still very much there. What did I do wrong? Do you have any ideas how to fix my problem? Thanks. Robert

[Guest bunchie]

Robert,Try turning render to texture off in your FS9 display settings.Also I've turned off fog layer generation off in the AS2004.5 options as I believe this looks awful for whatever reason.Hope this will help.Stu

[Guest rjbikeracer]

Well I tried disabling "Render to Texture" but regardless of whether that was disabled or not, Now FS9 crashes to desktop every single time. After another hour and a half of troubleshooting the only thing I can figure is that there must be some conflict with using AirNav's "FSLive" program which generates live traffic via the internet, though I may be completely wrong about that. Last night when I was trying to solve the bad flickering problem I did not bother to reconnect to FSLive after restarting FS9 each of the twenty some odd times I did. This morning that was the only added factor. Now I will say that last night the flickering went completely away when I stayed in the windows mode rather than full screen, so apparently there is alot of resources being used even on my high end computer. This morning I didn't even get off the taxi-way...windows mode or not. I am completely frustrated with this product and will probably ask for a refund. I'm going flying now with good old reliable FS9 weather and I'm going to try hard not to think of what I may be missing. If there is any other idea of what I am doing wrong, I would definately appreciate it. Thanks for the feedback Stu. Robert

[Guest bunchie]

Robert,I'm probably teaching you to suck eggs now... but have you the latest graphic card drivers? I run a ATI 9800 pro with the latest drivers and I have no probs unless render to textrure is on, and even then just an odd flicker when the weather updates (activesky).Jim from ActiveSky will be back from holidays soon, but I'm sure Damien or any member of the AS team can offer more detailed help.Be patient, ActiveSky is well worth the wait... I never fly without it.Stu

[Damian Clark 1,227]

Hi,Flickering is caused by older graphics drivers during wx updates.. an FS9 issue. A graphics card update should solve the problem.If the problem persists, RENDER TO TEXTURE can be turned off, to prevent the problem, BUT you must be using a 32 bit cloud set (i.e. default FS9 or FSW 32 bit set). Otherwise you will get the dreaded CTD.Let us know how you make out..

[Guest rjbikeracer]

Damian, Thanks for coming to my rescue (not to diminish Stu's contribution). It appears updating just one generation of drivers for my Nvidia 5900 worked! Also the CTD was as you noted due to a pesky DXT file I somehow missed in cloud textures. I just knew it was something really ridiculously simple that I missed in my frustration (also a few glasses of wine late on a Saturday night just may have been a factor). Anyway, I had a flawless flight from KATL to home at KRSW even with "render to texture" on and full settings. The only thing I compromised with was that I still stayed in a window mode. I will give full screen another shot tomorrow but I'm so happy right now with the realism of "ActiveSky" along with all my other add-ons and tweaks I am afraid to get let down. Anyway, thanks for the expert input! I'll follow up on "full screen" later. -Robert

[Guest bunchie]

Nice one Robert.Happy flying.Stu.

[Guest rjbikeracer]

Final update: OK, I put my system and FS9 in full screen mode and flew from KRSW to KATL with scattered clouds and limited visibility at FL30. Worked perfectly!! Not one complaint. I even kept the full settings and had a tolerable frame rate on final at KATL with traffic at 100%! BTW another product I definately recommend and now is confirmed to work perfectly with ActiveSky, is FSLive. Yes they do use "My Traffic" aircraft wih very limited LOD but unless you're on the taxi-way who cares how detailed AI are up close. I have to tell you, that one compromise is well worth the realism of flying with live traffic and now accurate weather. It can't get better than this...until FS10 with 512 mb video card that is. Keep reaching! I am an absolutely satisfied customer.

[Guest allblack]

Hi Damian, heard from Jim? Enjoying his holiday (think you guy's call it a "vacation" ) I trust? Hope he gets good weather....Just a comment to your post above about "32 bit cloud set"...and CTD's.I'm getting CTD's, so natuarally am curious about this. Unfortunately, I'm a technical git, and was wondering if you could elaborate on this "32 cloud bit set" comment. i.e. what it is, where do I go to find if I have it, and to change it if needs be.I'm assuming from your comment that it's set in FS9, not AS?Look forward to your reply - basic, please!ThanksTim

[JSkorna 137]

Hi Tim,Yes, we are back! Had near perfect weather in Florida. This week it's been pretty nice in Michigan also!You are correct, this is an FS thing, not a AS thing. Not a real expert here, but there are two basic classes of textures: 32 bit and d something something.In the early FS04 days there were conflicts between Render to Texture and certain textures where RtT would need to be turned Off. With some of the latest video drivers this issue may be lessened. You may want to set your RtT the opposite to what is is now and see what happens.Chris is the real expert here and maybe he'll be around to add more.Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Sales and Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004proudsupporter.jpg

[Chris Willis 8]

HI, Normaly when using DXT clouds format and your render to texture is disabled, you won't able to start fs2004, fs2k4 will stop at 77%I tested with the latest nvidia driver, and the same issue is produced, fs2k4 stop loading at 77%. With latest Ati driver video cards, they may works with render to texture disabled but not sure if this can trigs CTD during a flight.Anyhow to be sure you don't have problems with clouds format and DXT, use all 32 bits cirrus and cumulus01, you can reset the default 2004 clouds with fsw2004 or install them with the fs2004 CD. On some system spec, DXT clouds can degrade performance, you need render to texture enabled, and can cause flicker etc. The standards format for clouds are in 32 bits.Hopes it's help :-)ThanksChris WillisHiFi Simulation Software Team Developerhttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004betateam.jpgFreeware Addons for FSW GROUP