"Shimmering" instruments in vc

[WebMaximus 372]

So...finally have some time posting back after getting home from work and cooking dinner for my girlfriend who has her birthday today, regardless how much I was longing to try these tips out I guess one has to make his priorities sometimes :wink:Anyway I first tried letting FSX rebuild the shader cache and that seemed to make the shimmering a little bit less apparent so I went ahead and deleted my FSX.CFG as well and after that I THINK I'm back to normal. Not 100% sure because I still see some shimmering when panning around slowly using Track-IR especially when looking at the edges of the fuel temp indicator and the APU EGT temp indicator for example. But...it's much better than before doing these things so thanks alot for suggesting it!! Another great benefit from rebuilding FSX.CFG is my FPS increased about 5-10 FPS so that alone made these steps worthwhile!Big thanks to everyone in this thread and the advice you've shared!

[B777ER 2,486]

For those with shimmering, I read that if you use the ENB mod with an ATI card, you will lose some of your AA. Not sure if this is true or not. Might be same deal with nvidia?

[WebMaximus 372]

I don't think that is a problem with Nvidia cards, at least I haven't experienced any problems running ENB although I'm not (sadly) uses it anymore since it caused lots of CTD in combination with the NGX. However I did find another thread where someone posted a possible solution to the ENB problems when using it together with the NGX, I might check that out when I find the time for it because I really miss the effect ENB gave in FSX making it look much more real in my eyes.

[WebMaximus 372]

First thing that you need to do is to mipmap your textures. That will solve all texture shimmering issues. If that's not the case, just follow the AA guide posted here.

My shimmering problem got a little bit better after rebuilding the shader cache and also my fsx.cfg but since I still have some of it I thought maybe I would like to try what you suggest mipmapping the textures. Since I don't have Photoshop or any similar graphics application I was wondering if there are any freeware alternatives that could do the work or maybe the imagetool included in the FSX SDK could accomplish this? Also, what textures are the ones that you "mipmap" - only the external textures of the a/c or also the textures making up the virtual cockpit? Sorry if some of my questions are stupid, consider me as a 100% newbie on this kind of stuff :(

[IFR7700 228]

Gimp ... open source alternative to photoshop. But also a steep learning curve if you have never dealt with a top tier graphics program. http://www.gimp.org/

[WebMaximus 372]

Gimp ... open source alternative to photoshop. But also a steep learning curve if you have never dealt with a top tier graphics program. http://www.gimp.org/

Thanks, I'll check it out and maybe I can find some tutorial that might help me converting the textures to mipmaps as suggested to get rid of all shimmering. Would be more than happy if I could accomplish that!

[brucek 38]

I have recently replaced both my GPU driver and monitor, and would like to rebuild my shader folder. I went to the path in this thread (above) and found 2 folders, one is "shaders", and one is "shaders10". Should I delete both of these (or the contents of them, which are more subfolders)? Thanks, Bruce.

[penta_a 429]

I have recently replaced both my GPU driver and monitor, and would like to rebuild my shader folder. I went to the path in this thread (above) and found 2 folders, one is "shaders", and one is "shaders10". Should I delete both of these (or the contents of them, which are more subfolders)? Thanks, Bruce.

just delete (make back up first in case needed) the folders inside those folders you mentioned.

[WebMaximus 372]

...or you can delete the Shaders and Shaders10 folders and FSX will rebuild them for you but deleting their contents will of course work fine as well since it's the content that can mess things up.

[aentwis 61]

I use dxtbmp to change the textures, to include MIPS and so on. I have been changing all the 4096 sheets in repaints using dxtbmp and photoshop as main editor. I open the original in dxtbmp then export the alpha channel. Then I send the file to photoshop, resize to 1024.1024, then save as .bmp 24 bit. Open the file up in dxtbmp then import the original alpha channel, which is automatically resized. Then save as dxt5 with MIPS. The 16385kb sheets reduce to 1366kb. The loss in overall quality is minimal IMO. Andrew

[wanabflyer 53]

I use dxtbmp to change the textures, to include MIPS and so on. I have been changing all the 4096 sheets in repaints using dxtbmp and photoshop as main editor.I open the original in dxtbmp then export the alpha channel. Then I send the file to photoshop, resize to 1024.1024, then save as .bmp 24 bit. Open the file up in dxtbmp then import the original alpha channel, which is automatically resized. Then save as dxt5 with MIPS. The 16385kb sheets reduce to 1366kb. The loss in overall quality is minimal IMO. Andrew

I know absolutely nothing about the subject of this thread except to say, i've got the shimmers too. I also am not at all familier with the procedures of modifying textures, so i am hoping that this is going to be done for us in SP1 as indicated by Robert in his SP1 update. Am i right here or will i have to try to get into the above methods to get rid of the shimmers?

[WebMaximus 372]

Yes, I too wonder if this method will reduce or even better get rid of the shimmering or if it's only aimed at give you better FPS due to the smaller texture size?As I understood it (again I have zero knowledge of different texture models) the shimmer is caused by not using mipmaps so by converting the textures (both external and v/c?) you will get rid of the shimmering?

[brucek 38]

just delete (make back up first in case needed) the folders inside those folders you mentioned.

Thanks everyone that replied, it works fine. I think I read somewhere too that there is a "Shader?" variable that you can introduce to fsx.cfg, and by incrementing the variable to n+1 it also has the effect of rebuilding the shaders- seem to recall that Bjote (sp?) mentioned this when he was posting earth shattering fixes to the .cfg file some time ago. Thanks, Bruce.

[WebMaximus 372]

Blidariu Ioan (not sure which is your first name sorry...) I can't thank you enough for learning me this tip about converting textures to include MipMaps. After a short learning and trial & error period I have just completed converting all both external and v/c textures to DXT5 with MipMaps included and WOW WOW WOW...it's like I got a new a/c and the image quality is nothing but spectacular !!! You see the HUGE difference already when you start FSX in the little preview window where your selected a/c is spinning and then when you start a flight and see the a/c in-game and slowly pan around both in spot view and inside the v/c...this might be one of the most exiting things I've experienced yet in FS and I've been simming for quite some years I should tell you... Still can't understand why PMDG didn't deliver the NGX with all DXT5 MipMap'ed textures instead at least as an option for those with a GFX card that can handle it becuase the difference...well...I already said it...is HUUUGE. THANK YOU SO MUCH ...and edited to add that the very ugly and annoying shimmering effect that made me start this thread in the first place now after converting the textures and including mipmaps is nothing but a faint memory! For instance before I converted the textures looking at the tires in spot view when zooming in and out looked more like a shimmering mess rather than a tire but now the tires actually look like real tires made of rubber and you can zoom in and out and pan how much you want and you won't see a single shimmering effect...almost too good to be true

Edited September 26, 2011 by WebMaximus

[aentwis 61]

Glad to read that you are now enjoying your NGX. I resized to improve loading times and general performance, and have always preferred the "With MIPs" route. Mipping textures of certain scenery products has often reduced shimmering. Andrew