Graphics problems - blurry ground textures and dotted roads

[out 769]

Hi, brothers in wings!

 

I decided to write here as I know this subforum is regularly visited by simmers having much deeper technical knowledge than me.

So I have hopes that someone can help me cure my maddening problem. All my specs are in my signature.

 

The problem I am experiencing is blurry ground textures (and jaggy - dotted roads). Of course it is a long-known problem and there are many threads about it. I'd like to tell you that I read all of them (down to the year 2004!) and tried what seems to be each suggested solution. And even though I can see some improvement, it is still rather bad and I find myself reluctant to fly! See:

 

 

Not to rewrite whole paragraphs I would like to ask you to have a look at the thread I set up recently where I described the problem and showed some screens.

The last screenshot in that thread suggested it is fine now, but after a few flights I descovered it is not really better. Just a coincindece, I guess.

Here is the thread: http://forum.avsim.n...-and-landclass/

 

So, to make long things short, I am currently on the latest official nvidia GTX 560 Ti drivers, namely 301.42.

I have previously tried also: 266.66, 270.61, 275.33, 280.26, 285.62, 295.73 and 296.10, without any significant difference. I have removed them and installed as instructed.

 

I have all my settings done in Nvidia Inspector (1.9.6.5.). Here is the screenshot showing them:

 

 

I have also tried some different values like:

- Antialiasing - Setting (8xS and 8xSQ)

- Antialiasing - Transparency Supersampling (8x Supersampling, 2x Sparse Grid and 4x Sparse Grid)

- Anisotropic filtering setting (8x and 12x)

- Texture filtering - Trilinear filtering (on)

- Tripple buffering (on)

- Vertical Sync (force on and 1/2 refresh rate with 30 FPS limit - I have a 60 Hz WS monitor)

 

So you can only imagine how many test flights I was performing! But I think I did not see any difference.

I followed smart sets of advice by Nick and by Word Not Allowed.

 

I am using two WS monitors, so I suspected it might be the problem too.

So I turned off the second monitor and tried using only one, but it did not solve the problem.

 

I have also tried many many various entries in my fs9.cfg. They did not ultimately help.

At the moment the essential values are:

 

[GRAPHICS]

FULL_SCREEN=1

PERFORMANCE_MODE=0

DEF_PERF_MODE=6

TEXT_SCROLL=1

AUTO_LOD=1

DETAIL_TEXTURE=2

WATER_EFFECTS=1

TERRAIN_USE_VECTOR_MAP=1

TERRAIN_USE_VECTOR_OBJECTS=0

EFFECTS_QUALITY=2

GROUND_SHADOWS=1

SMOOTH_VIEW=1

IMAGE_SMOOTHING=1

TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD=1024

COCKPIT_HIGH_LOD=1

AIRCRAFT_SHADOWS=1

LANDING_LIGHTS=1

IMAGE_QUALITY=0

TEXTURE_BLDG=3

TEXTURE_GND=5

TEXTURE_WATER=1

AIRCRAFT_TEXTURE=1

SEE_SELF=1

TEXTURE_QUALITY=3

LOD_TARGET_FPS=21

NUM_LIGHTS=8

 

[DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti.0]

Mode=1920x1080x32

TableFog=0

TriLinear=1

MipBias=5

AntiAlias=1

 

[DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti.1]

Mode=1360x768x32

TriLinear=1

MipBias=5

AntiAlias=1

 

[DISPLAY]

UPPER_FRAMERATE_LIMIT=30

TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=400

TextureMaxLoad=30

RUNWAY_LIGHTS_SURFACE_SCALAR=0.3

RUNWAY_LIGHTS_VASI_SCALAR=0.3

RUNWAY_LIGHTS_APPROACH_SCALAR=0.3

RUNWAY_LIGHTS_STROBE_SCALAR=0.3

WarnBadSecondary=0

 

[TERRAIN]

TERRAIN_ERROR_FACTOR=100.000000

TERRAIN_MIN_DEM_AREA=10.000000

TERRAIN_MAX_DEM_AREA=100.000000

TERRAIN_MAX_VERTEX_LEVEL=21

TERRAIN_TEXTURE_SIZE_EXP=8

TERRAIN_AUTOGEN_DENSITY=5

TERRAIN_USE_GRADIENT_MAP=1

TERRAIN_EXTENDED_TEXTURES=1

TERRAIN_DEFAULT_RADIUS=9.500000

TERRAIN_EXTENDED_RADIUS=9.90000

TERRAIN_EXTENDED_LEVELS=4

 

[sCENERY]

IMAGE_COMPLEXITY=5

DYNAMIC_SCENERY=1

DYN_SCN_DENSITY=5

DAWN_DUSK_SMOOTHING=1

SUNGLARE=1

LENSFLARE=0

 

The (not) funny thing is when I had FS9 installed on my previous PC (half a year ago), which was much weaker, the ground looked much better and both blurries and jaggy (dotted) roads were happening only from time to time, here and there. Now they are there actually all the time. Sometimes some of them will return into focus just for a moment.

When I Refresh Screnery (I assigned a button for that purpose) it helps only for a few seconds or not at all, and rather only on lower altitudes.

 

I watched my CPU and memory usage, but they are on a very good low level.

 

I also uninstalled (now I have them back on) Ultimate Terrain Europe, Ground Environment (tried both Standard and Pro) and all even a little bit suspicious scenery addons. Nothing! I have turned off AI traffic and weather. Nothing. I also suspecter my ASA320 VC, so I tried other aircraft, including the defualt ones (lol). Nothing.

The last instance ir reinstalling FS or even Windows, but I certainly wouldn't like to unless there is really zero chance to cure it in other ways.

 

Is there anyone with much more knowledge and experience who could tell me where I may have lost my way and which way to go. Is the reinstall the only option I have?

 

All the other FS experience I have is excellent. Great addons, high frames (limited to 30 now, but when I unlock them, they can go much higher), little to no stuttering.

Just these terrible ground blurries and dotted roads...

 

Thank you for sharing your time to read it, mates.

And thank you in advance for any advice. I am all ears.

 

PS: I also get a BSOD from time to time (say once or twice a week, not only during FS sessions). But I don't know if there is any relation to the above problems.

The reasons for the BSOD's are different. Yesterday it was ntoskrnl.exe, but I've seen other files too. I am going to run memtest to check my RAM.

[Bartbear 10]

Rafal, the only thing i can think of right know, is your processor clockspeed.

You have a i5 2500K, you can easily and safe overclock it to 4.3 - 4.5 Ghz if you have a better CPU cooler than the stock one.

My ASUS motherboard does it to a very safe 4.3 Ghz with a few keypresses in the bios.

 

I remember from my FS2004 years the blur was indeed a real problem, but i only had a Pentium 4 - 2.66 ghz then with 1 GB of RAM and a ATI 9700 videocard with only 128 MB !

[ppo 67]

A few things I noticed in your Config:

1. You use AA in FS9 and Inspector. You should use one only and it should be in Inspector. Delete the AA in FS9;

2. Also items I question: Table fog and Mipmap. I don't think they are necessary with a gtx560ti.

3. In Display you have a line: 'TextureMaxLoad=30'. What does it do? I don't think you need this. Check it out. You already have a Texture_Max_Load=1024 in 'Graphic' , but that line is fine.

Hope it helps,

Pierre

[out 769]

Thank you very much for your precious remarks!

 

You have a i5 2500K, you can easily and safe overclock it to 4.3 - 4.5 Ghz

 

Bart, I am thinking of Overclocking but having never done it, I am still a bit resistant (I am no hardware guru at all). I will need an extra cooler though.

The strange thing is that compared to my previous rig, this one has so much processing power and gives... worse results with the textures/lines?

 

You use AA in FS9 and Inspector. You should use one only and it should be in Inspector. Delete the AA in FS9

 

Pierre, actually I had it off for most of my tests as this is the most frequently recommended behaviour.

But turning it back makes things look better (yes, it is worse if I turn it off in FS). I read some other simmers also have it like that.

 

Table fog and Mipmap. I don't think they are necessary with a gtx560ti.

 

OK, I will remove these entries.

 

you have a line: 'TextureMaxLoad=30'. What does it do?

 

I will give it a closer look (and some reading).

[Bartbear 10]

- Did you try putting the framerate limiter inside FS9 to 30 in stead of the Nvidia Inspector limiter?

 

- Try unlimited to: sometimes better with photographic scenery.

 

- In FS9 graphics settings, make sure AA is unchecked and Filtering is set to Trillinear

 

- I suppose you did experiment with the graphic sliders, ground shadows, max rendered lights, max texture size ...... inside FS9 ?

 

About 'TextureMaxLoad=30' :http://www.hovercontrol.com/artman/publish/article_92.shtml

 

http://www.hovercont...rticle_92.shtml

 

 

Some more reading about FS9 blurries:

 

http://forum.avsim.n...ith-new-system/

 

http://forum.avsim.n...-tweak-for-fs9/

 

http://forum.simflig...hy-again-in-04/

 

http://205.252.250.2...?num=1308690620

 

 

PS: Rafal what motherboard do you have?

[out 769]

Bart, thanks a lot for your commitment!

 

Did you try putting the framerate limiter inside FS9 to 30 in stead of the Nvidia Inspector limiter?

 

It is set inside of the FS all the time. 30.

I just tried with the NI limiter off and on (it is off at the very moment).

 

Try unlimited to: sometimes better with photographic scenery.

 

I did but it didn't help with the textures.

What is more, as you know, unlimited frames will influence sound causing some distortion.

Plus I use little photoscenery, only when it is a part of an airport addon.

 

In FS9 graphics settings, make sure AA is unchecked and Filtering is set to Trillinear

 

Please see my above post as for the in-game AA.

I do have trilinear set (also tried bilinear, without success).

 

what motherboard do you have?

 

It is Gigabyte Z68M-D2H

 

I have studied the links you have pasted. I knew most but not all, so I am still experimenting.

 

One more thing that is not clear to me is why I have double entries for my 2 monitors in the fs9.cfg.

First, just between the SOUND and DISPLAY sections I have the following entries:

 

[DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti.0]

Mode=1920x1080x32

TriLinear=1

MipBias=5

AntiAlias=1

[DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti.1]

Mode=1360x768x32

TriLinear=1

MipBias=5

AntiAlias=1

 

And then, somewhere among my JOYSTICK sections I have them again, this time with a space before dots and 0/1:

 

[DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti .0]

Mode=1920x1080x32

MipBias=5

TriLinear=1

AntiAlias=1

[DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti .1]

Mode=1360x768x32

MipBias=5

TriLinear=1

AntiAlias=1

 

Strange, indeed.

[ppo 67]

That means that one of the display entries should be removed.

To check which lines should be deleted, look into fs9 display settings and look at the display text: is it gtx 560 ti.0 or gtx 560 ti .0. Note the extra space before the period.

You should delete the two entries that are not listed in your fs9 display.

I believe extra lines are added in display devices when video drivers are changed (sometimes).

Pierre

[out 769]

You should delete the two entries that are not listed in your fs9 display. I believe extra lines are added in display devices when video drivers are changed

 

Sounds convincing. I have just removed the extra entries and could launch the sim without problems.

It is 01:20 am here now, so I have to fly to bed but I will make a test flight tomorrow and see if it (hopefully) reduces my problem.

 

Thanks again and have a good night!