HELP NEEDED!! Can't get rid of this nasty effect, however it's called...

[Kosta 122]

Take a look at the screenshot and gimme some ideas how to fix this please!! I tried differnet settings for AA and AF. None seem to affect this. This is PSS A340.Puter is: Intel 2.53GHZ, Radeon 9700, 512MB Ramhttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/51234.jpgMany thanks,Word Not Allowed

[Kosta 122]

Sorry bout the bad screenshot, this is a good one:http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/51235.jpg

[Kosta 122]

The thing to observe is the blue-green line that goes along. These steps. Usually AA should take care of it, but it does not obviously.Help plz.

[Guest yarvelling]

What kind of video card do you use? I have read in these forums that depending upon the way the painter produces the textures (alpha channels?), that ATI Radeon cards will not use AA on those types...Nvidia cards on the other hand, do....dependant on which setting of AA you use...I have a Radeon 9700 and have noticed tht same 'problem' on some paint schemes, but not all, I guess because some are using that alpha channel? Although this can make diagonal lines in a paint-job look a bit messy, it's also better for performance, in that not everything in the image is being anti-alaised; clouds apparently are not AA'd either by Radeons (because they contain alpha chanels), whilst Nvidia cards will suffer badly with a cloudy sky (apparently different AA settings with Nvidia will stop it from AA-ing alpha chanels).I hope I got that right, and that it helps your problem!

[Guest Paragon]

I get the same effect with the "steps". I'm also using a Radeon 9700Pro. Exactly what are you saying that could solve this problem, removing the alpha channel, but wouldn't that also mean a worse looking repaint?Mikkel

[Guest panda234]

LOL, I'm using a Radeon 9800 Pro and got that effect once on a custom paint job on a CS 727. Thought it was supposed to be there and thought it looked kind of cool. Although mine was green, hehebillg

[Michael Cependa 17]

Turn mips down to 4 in your FS9 display / hardware options.

[Bill Womack 7]

The problem with ATI cards not anti-aliasing the alpha channels really shouldn't make the sort of difference your seeing. This may be hard to follow, but the only way that the alpha channel would affect the stripe this way is if there was a sharp difference in the level of shine between the striped and non-striped areas. Most alpha channels that are there to provide shine to an aircraft aren't delineated this way. Indeed they shouldn't be unless the actual aircraft displays a great difference in shininess from one paint color to the next, which is hardly ever the case. That said, I've noticed that problem with my Radeon as well. However, I think it's more down to how the card anti-aliases straight lines that appear on a non-45 degree diagonal than any alpha channel issues. The problem with clouds not antialiasing properly is that the alpha channel is used there to define transparency instead of shine, so the edges that are supposed to be smoothly faded away appear to have a border instead.

[Kosta 122]

Hey, thank you all for the replys, I see now that I'm not the only one.Concerning the clouds, I've tried heavy clouds (Cold Fronts) with and without AA. I can say I noticed about 5 FPS difference. So I wouldn't say that it definitely doesn't affect clouds.Anyway, this is original PSS aircraft, nothing I would like to edit myself, so I'll just leave it as it is as it's in the end not soooooo disturbing.Btw. MIPMAP setting is on 4 all the time, if I set it lower, graphics get worse, if I set it higher, same result. No changes on the line. 4 is the best.Thanks all for the help.

[Guest DanielBu]

Are you using an LCD screen by any chance? Cause they are sharper and the steps might be more visible on an LCD than on a CRT monitor.Anyhow, the textures are filtered in any case, so anti-aliasing is mainly necessary for the edges between objects onscreen (polygons). I don't think it looks too bad. I'd rather have edges than unsharp textures...Of course you could try lowwering your AF levels too.-Daniel

[Kosta 122]

Yup, tried that with AF also. Tried lots of combinations, none seem to affect it a bit!! But explanation about alpha channels seems reasonable...Anyway, no I don't have LCD. Normal CRT here :-)Word Not Allowed

[Wolfko 0]

Hmm, maybe that's dumb question, but what effect does the monitor have on a sreenshot? Actually I thought you could have even no monitor installed and would still be able to take screenies.Wolfgang

[Kosta 122]

It has no effect. I can have no monitor and take screenies, of course. What did you think how I'm doing screenshots?

[Guest Bigshot]

Open the texture file and fix it. If I remember right it had to do with the author skimping on mipmaps.See post #41 here:http://www.flightsimnetwork.com/cgi/dcforu...rum=DCForumID10

[Hornit 3]

Realize that with adding back mips you may induce the dreaded blury fuselage sides too. Sometimes with mips and several textures for a fuselage side you wil get either the front or back to become a blurry mess, requiring a zoom all the way in...zoom all the way out manuever. So its a trade-off, blurry fuselage or jaggy lines? I'll stick with the non-mipped textures I guess. If you dont fly at hi-res on your settings it gets to be a problem.Hornit