Global Max Textures in FS9

[Bill A 68]

Hi all, what does Global Max Textures do in fs9 under the hardware tab? I have mine set to Massive.Thanks,Bill

[moss1 11]

Hi Bill, Global Max Texture is the texture mapping system in FS9. It basically controls the overall textures in the sim. It allows your system to process up to 1024 size textures. If set lower, it caps them at 512. If I'm wrong, someone else may be able to explain better. You will notice if you slide it from max one notch to left to the high setting, your VC textures will get fuzzy in some models. I have mine on max as well. It might help performance not being maxed, but the trade off is worse looking textures. If your system works well, I would leave it set where it is. I hope this helped.

[lliaudais 2]

Hi Bill,Jeff was right on!here's an AI tail (Alaska) with each of the settings from 64x64 to 1024x1024; slider max left to max right. I normally use Massive except when in serious distress: around ATL and such with 400+ flights in the area it gets dropped to 512...Loyd.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/160239.jpg

[Bill A 68]

Thanks Loyd for the example, and I also been hooked since FS4. Thanks to my grandma for buying that software.Bill

[scott967 62]

I think theere are a couple points: 1 is that "massive" really applies to just those objects that use 1024 size textures, not all do. 2d is that the idea is to limit the amount of texture memory required to hold the textures. With a 256mb card, that shouldn't be an issue. 3rd, with a modern card, the textures can be stored in DXT3 compressed format, rather than 32 bit, which reduces texture memery requirements, even for "massive" textures (though DXT3 vs 32 bit might affect "blurries"). One thing I'm not sure of, is if a 1024 texture is stored without mips (some people do to prevent bluries) and the global textures are NOT set to massive, what happens?scott s..