Geroge Grimshaw made a file for his St Maarten scenery for mip mapping the textures. Is there a tool that can do this for every scenery? I notice Imaginesim WSSS particularly shimmers among others.Daniel

convimx.exe.Google it.That's what I use (it's free from MW graphics).IAN

Further to Ian's post, here is the link to Martin Wright's site:http://www.mnwright.btinternet.co.uk

Edited January 23, 201214 yr by BAW435

Thanks Ian and Robert!! Thanks to Gabethe pilot's post at Mutley's hanger for this link to Aerosoft's forum for the guide to do mip mapping conversion.......http://forum.aerosoft.com/index.php?showtopic=36780&st=0&p=241181&fromsearch=1entry241181Daniel

Edited January 23, 201214 yr by IAF747

Now I am puzzled. I have windows bitmap files. What do I convert them to in this program? There is no guidance on this, even reading the posts over at aerosoft I have linked to above.Do I just leave them as windows bitmap? In my payware package (Imaginesim) the textures seem to be all bitmaps and not .dds files.[edit] Well had some trial and error. Shimmer is gone, but so are the runways!!! They are black. I'll have to compare with the originals and see what it looks like. [edit]Daniel

Edited January 23, 201214 yr by IAF747

Now I am puzzled. I have windows bitmap files. What do I convert them to in this program? There is no guidance on this, even reading the posts over at aerosoft I have linked to above.Do I just leave them as windows bitmap? In my payware package (Imaginesim) the textures seem to be all bitmaps and not .dds files.[edit] Well had some trial and error. Shimmer is gone, but so are the runways!!! They are black. I'll have to compare with the originals and see what it looks like. [edit]Daniel

Unfortunately you need to take some caution when working with a tool to mip or convert textures and always make a backup of the texture folder your working with so you can revert should you have a problem.What I usually do when working with a new scenery that needs to be mipped if first sort the textures from largest to smallest file size and then go to work from biggest to smallest. I open each one first to see what the texture is as far as if it goes to a terminal building, hangar, etc., and also check the compression (32bit, DXT5,3 or DXT1). Then I will choose all the textures grouped by compression and do a batch mip. However, be careful because some textures like ones used for runway lights, taxiway lights, VASI's and things of that nature don't work will when mipped. You also need to take care to not accidentally mip/convert textures that are DXT5/3 that have alpha channels into DXT1 with mips as this can often times wreck the alpha channel and cause visual problems with the scenery. That's why I recommend pre-sorting your textures prior to working with them. If I were you I would first look at mipping terminal buildings and photo ground textures but leave others alone. You could also look to see if you have any 32bit or DXT5/3 textures that have no alpha channels and convert them to DXT1 to pick up some performance (thanks to FSDT for the tip on that one).As far as .dds and .BMP files, it depends on what tool your using. I batch convert .bmp files with a .bat script using imagetool, but for batch .dds files I use a free program called DDS Converter 2, however if may or may not work on Win7/Vista. You might be able to find another tool to do .dds batch files with, but I am not aware of one at this time. Also, dont worry about trying to convert .bmp files to .dds or visa versa, just leave them in the format that the developer used and you will be fine. You'll notice that devs like FSDT and FlyTampa use a lot of .dds but other devs like Aerosoft and some of the people they publish still use a lot of .bmp's. DDS packaging is supposed to be faster but the difference on newer hardware is probably not as much of a difference as you would think. The real potential for making a scenery perform badly besides high poly counts are devs who through in some big 32bit textures.

Edited January 24, 201214 yr by cmpbellsjc

What is the root cause of "shimmering"? I have it and it drives me insane.

What is the root cause of "shimmering"? I have it and it drives me insane.

Depends, could be either your video card settings being setup correctly, the scenery or aircraft that is shimmering is lacking mip maps, or a combination of both. Some sceneries are notorious for shimmering, ie. Aerosoft, since they often don't mip maps their scenery textures while others like FSDT never shimmer since pretty much every texture has mip maps. Sometimes aircraft repaints dont come mipped and will shimmer a bit in exterior view, but those are easy enough to add mips to and cures the problem.

Unfortunately you need to take some caution when working with a tool to mip or convert textures and always make a backup of the texture folder your working with so you can revert should you have a problem.What I usually do when working with a new scenery that needs to be mipped if first sort the textures from largest to smallest file size and then go to work from biggest to smallest. I open each one first to see what the texture is as far as if it goes to a terminal building, hangar, etc., and also check the compression (32bit, DXT5,3 or DXT1). Then I will choose all the textures grouped by compression and do a batch mip. However, be careful because some textures like ones used for runway lights, taxiway lights, VASI's and things of that nature don't work will when mipped. You also need to take care to not accidentally mip/convert textures that are DXT5/3 that have alpha channels into DXT1 with mips as this can often times wreck the alpha channel and cause visual problems with the scenery. That's why I recommend pre-sorting your textures prior to working with them. If I were you I would first look at mipping terminal buildings and photo ground textures but leave others alone. You could also look to see if you have any 32bit or DXT5/3 textures that have no alpha channels and convert them to DXT1 to pick up some performance (thanks to FSDT for the tip on that one).As far as .dds and .BMP files, it depends on what tool your using. I batch convert .bmp files with a .bat script using imagetool, but for batch .dds files I use a free program called DDS Converter 2, however if may or may not work on Win7/Vista. You might be able to find another tool to do .dds batch files with, but I am not aware of one at this time. Also, dont worry about trying to convert .bmp files to .dds or visa versa, just leave them in the format that the developer used and you will be fine. You'll notice that devs like FSDT and FlyTampa use a lot of .dds but other devs like Aerosoft and some of the people they publish still use a lot of .bmp's. DDS packaging is supposed to be faster but the difference on newer hardware is probably not as much of a difference as you would think. The real potential for making a scenery perform badly besides high poly counts are devs who through in some big 32bit textures.

The first thing I done was back up my texture folder to another location and using that as a base, not modifying it.I use DXTBmp to find out which files are what and then convim to batch convert to the FS70 DXT bmp format.Thanks for your advice, will give you some feedback!Well at least I am getting a little taster for 'scenery work'!Thanks again,Daniel

Question, using the tool convim, does that mip textures? If I batch convert them into the FS70 bmp DXT1 format, is that a mip?Daniel