I can no longer see any airfield signs (designating taxiways and runways) at the default scenery airports in FS9. I have only just noticed the problem, but it may have existed for a while (as the airports that I fly to the most are third party payware addons and the problem does not seem to occur at these airfields). I haven't had any luck in restoring the signs by resetting the fs9.cfg file - although I suspect that this may be the cause of my problem, because after a previous deletion of the .cfg file I had to re-install the enhanced surface textures for the default airfields that I had previously installed. Does anyone have any ideas on why the signs are not there?? It may only be a small detail, but when you're used to using payware scenery (such as Mega Airport Heathrow with AES etc) - it's extremely aggravating! Cheers.

Does anyone have any ideas on why the signs are not there??

And more importantly - how can I restore the signs so that they appear on the default scenery airfields?

Simple things first - try turning up your scenery complexity slider, I think these don't show up at low settings.Hope this helps,Joe

Simple things first - try turning up your scenery complexity slider, I think these don't show up at low settings.Hope this helps,Joe

I've maxed all the sliders on the display options, so I don't think that's the problem unfortunately. Thanks for mentioning it though. Is it possible that I might have overwritten (or deleted) the required textures/meshes, when I added the Airport Environment Upgrade (v.7) texture files? If so, is there anywhere they can be downloaded from? (I have lost the first 3 installation disks for FS9, so a re-install is not viable)Many Thanks,Jon

Hmmm. ...don't think taxiway signs use textures, just colors. And if they did use textures that you deleted they would still show up as (probably) gray objects.So is this defined by a geographical area? Check some random airports around the world, airports you don't use and don't have addons for.Taxiway signs are spread out amongst several files so it would seem odd if they disappeared worldwide.I am no expert but I suspect a scenery addon has caused this.Joe

Hmmm. ...don't think taxiway signs use textures, just colors. And if they did use textures that you deleted they would still show up as (probably) gray objects.So is this defined by a geographical area? Check some random airports around the world, airports you don't use and don't have addons for.Taxiway signs are spread out amongst several files so it would seem odd if they disappeared worldwide.I am no expert but I suspect a scenery addon has caused this. Joe

I'm not sure if it is defined within a particular region; however, I first noticed that they were missing at Milas-Bodrum (LFTE in Turkey) and have since tried Blackpool (EGNH in the UK), Seattle-Tacoma (KSEA in the USA) and Avalon (YMAV in Victoria, Australia) - all of which use the default FS9 scenery. I've also checked Mega Airport Heathrow and UK2000 Gatwick Xtreme (the two payware airports that I use principally) and as far as I can see, there are no problems within any of the add-on sceneries that I use - so I'm sure that the issue must be confined to the default scenery.One thing that I noticed is that at default airports, although the 3d signs themselves are not present, the shadows for them are. If it's a conflict that has been caused by a scenery add-on do you think that it shall be possible to resolve without actually uninstalling the third-party software?Thanks for your suggestions so far.

Hmmm. ...don't think taxiway signs use textures, just colors. And if they did use textures that you deleted they would still show up as (probably) gray objects.So is this defined by a geographical area? Check some random airports around the world, airports you don't use and don't have addons for.Taxiway signs are spread out amongst several files so it would seem odd if they disappeared worldwide.I am no expert but I suspect a scenery addon has caused this.Joe

Is it likely that this could be a problem with Afcad otherwise?One other thing that I have changed apart from adding third-party scenery, is the default splash-screen that appears when FS9 starts and adding more realistic AI and user aircraft. When I reset the FS9.cfg file this remained the same . Thanks for your suggestions so far Joe, I'm thinking of biting the bullet and getting FSX as my PC is pretty knackered anyway - as I'm typing this, I've just witnessed it restart after BSOD.. Wish that FS was compatible with OS X, because I wouldn't even have a PC if i I could run it on my Macbook! Rant over...Cheers.

Completely wild guess here.I yesterday posted in the painters forum how to hide the seats in VC view by using transparant textures. If you're getting shadows, then obviously the signs are being draw. I'm pretty sure signs do use a texture (where would the writing on them come from?) but if that texture were seen by fs to transparant, yuo'd see straight through it. Dont see hoe it could happen without a texture change though. Dave

Completely wild guess here.I yesterday posted in the painters forum how to hide the seats in VC view by using transparant textures. If you're getting shadows, then obviously the signs are being draw. I'm pretty sure signs do use a texture (where would the writing on them come from?) but if that texture were seen by fs to transparant, yuo'd see straight through it. Dont see hoe it could happen without a texture change though. Dave

Thanks Dave. I guess that explains why I can't see them; have you got any idea about how to restore the default textures?Cheers,Jonny

Hi Jonny,The textures you need I think are: ag_Signs.bmp, ag_Signs_LM.bmp in the scenery\generic folder sm_sign.bmp, sm_sign_lm.bmp in the scenery\name folderSorry, cant tell you which disk they're on though. Is it cabdir.exe to extract stuff from there?Dave

Unlike AFCAD2.21 which did not have the ability to modify taxi signs, there are tools out now that can.I suspect you have an addon that has been written (in part) with one of those tools.I suggest you uncheck all your addon scenery areas in the Scenery Library (including Addon Scenery) and check the sim. Depending on your addons you may see some weird issues, that's OK we only want to look for the signs.If they return, add back half of your scenery areas and restart the sim.If they are still there add in half of the remaining areas, if they disappear uncheck half of the active scenery areas.Using this process you will narrow down the culprit rather quickly.Once you know what addon is causing the issue, you can use this process to determine which file is causing it.If you deactivate all your addons and the signs are still missing you may be looking at a re-install, but I think this is addon related and not a texture issue.If you think about all the possible taxi sign combinations and the textures required, there would be a bunch of texture files somewhere and I can't find them.Hope this helps, and keep us posted,Joe[edit]Dave posted while I was typing. Don't bother with those files. I looked at them with ImageTool and they have nothing to do with taxi signs[/edit]

Stupid of me. Gave the texture names off the top of my head there.Just took a look and I it looks like it should be "aptsign.bmp" under Flight Simulator 9\Texture folder you need. Can't think why they should have turned transparent though. Joe may have the answer there, but like I said, if the shadows are showing, Fs is tryiing to draw them - always get a shadow (if turned on) even from transparent textures.Daveeditand joe posted while I was typing LOL - take a look Joe, I think thats the one

Well I'll be. Hadn't seen that one.Dave, I stand corrected. That does look like the texture file for taxi signs. Jonny, before you try my suggestion regarding scenery entries try this.On you FS disc #2 you will find this file in MSGAME3.cab.You can extract it by right clicking on it in Windows Explorer.Extract it to your desktop and copy it to ...\Flight Simulator 9\Texture.Might want to back up what you have first.Then check the sim and see if your signs are back.It is possible this file was replaced by a texture addon and since it is DXT1 it could have the Alpha switched on making them invisible.Hope we have it figured out and good catch Dave,Joe

Well, I knew I'd seen the bu**er somewhere - teach me to put my head in gear before posting. :( Dave

Jonny,I just re-read the whole threas and noticed you don't have your discs.Try this instead.Go to this link - http://download.microsoft.com/download/4/f...n_sdk_setup.exeThis will download the Terrain SDK onto your computer.After you run the .exe file you will have an app named ImageTool which is handy for viewing texture .bmps.Use ImageTool to open "aptsign.bmp" found in ...\Flight Simulator 9\TextureAfter you open it look on the right pane where the file data is.It should readFormat: DXT1Alpha: NoneIf it does then try the scenery checks as I posted above, if it says something else, post here what you see.thanks,Joe[edit]As an alternative, you can also use DXTBmp if you have it.[/edit]

It seems that the texture file was missing and so it was a relatively simple fix in the end; I haven't tried many of the default airports yet, but the taxiway/runway signs are definitely back at Seattle (default) and in the addon scenery for Toronto (where the signs were also missing) . Thanks for the advice you both gave me (and for sending me the file Dave).Cheers,Jonny