A Huge FPS Increase

[Eef 23]

When I try to run the program in the FSX root folder on my other ssd it says: There was an error in reading a file and/or folder. You probably don't have permission to view it.

When I scan the 15gb UT2 aircraft map on my main ssd it is ok?

[neumanix 113]

Try turning User Account Control (UAC) off and/or running DxtFixer as administrator.

[Eef 23]

UAC was already off. Tried running it as administrator. No go..

[robertschiele9 1]

I downloaded and ran DxtFixerX simply in order to find how many files were affected by the lack of an alpha channel in my FS9 installation. It turned out that there were a few, but not many. Some were aircraft textures, others had to do with scenery. Since I have my whole FS9 installation imaged, I decided to let DxtFixerX try to fix the anomalies to see what would happen. It reported the affected files as being fixed, and on flying into one freeware airport, a nicely detailed rendition of CYVR which I've long enjoyed but which on my system has always been murderous on frame-rates, I definitely noted significant improvement.

[C05MIC 1]

Video tutorial please I am a visual learner:/

[C05MIC 1]

Wow not only does it stop shimmering or stutters but also ur downsizing memory for the CPU and gpu to read which increases performance and fps very nice find at this rate someone can give an example of the finished process and report the benefits for everything thanks to everyone

[drumsonly2002 3]

<p>I second the explanation of the complex fix in the form of a video tutorial, as I am also visual learner. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Thus a video tutorial with a voice over is worth a thousand posts. My profound wisdom was attained by watching ytube videos and cooking shows.</p>

[ironbird 1]

kiwiflyer45, on 13 Aug 2012 - 11:09 PM, said:

 

I have no idea what an alpha channel is BTW!

Not sure if this was explained before and if it is making any difference on the matter, but Alpha is needed to point how much transparency to be added on the image that cares that Alpha (mask). As brighter Alpha is as less transparency you get and vice versa - completely white Alpha gives no transparency and completely black Alpha makes the image "invisible". Alpha mask also draws where to apply the transparency on the image. This is a very old method from the past that is now useless when we have the PNG format. However, it is still in operation and for bad, MSFS is not supporting PNG's.

[martinlest2 58]

I have run AlphaSearcher and it lists a number of bmp files with missing alphas. I ran DXT3Fixer fixer on those folders (not in simulation mode of course).. Then to check I ran AlphaSearcher again. It reports exactly the same files as before, which I assumed I had fixed with DXT3Fixer.

 

Anyone know what the problem is?

 

Martin

[rainerk 1]

Uncheck "Just report bad files (no files will be changed)".

 

Oops, I just saw you said "not in simulated mode", sorry.

Anyway, in my very large collection of sceneries (> 1000) I found a very small number of files reported by AlphaSearcher to have no active alpha channel and DXT3fixer did not fix them. So I fixed these with DXTBmp. Again, a very small number of files.

 

You may also want to check if the files are write protected, and in case you're running Vista/W7/W8 if you have the appropriate rights to change the files.

[martinlest2 58]

Thanks - I checked if the files are read-only first off, and used a script to remove RO attributes from all bitmaps (otherwise Alpha searcher reports that it can't access them). Yes, I have rights to change the files (I have checked 'permissions').

 

Stumped... There are about 100 files. Will Ihave to do them by hand with DXTBmp? DXT3Fixer should be able to do this, no?

[neumanix 113]

Strange... what does imagetool say about the alpha of one of these bmp files?

[martinlest2 58]

What's "imagetool"? You mean DXTBmp?

 

How do I tell from DXTBmp (or other) whether an alpha channel is present or not? When I check the bmps which in AlphaSearcher came up as missing an alpha, the Alpha window in DXTBmp is just a plain white square. But that is the case for many other BMPs in the folder, most of which 'pass' AlphaSearcher's scan. Ihave 'fixed' these files with DXT3Fixer several times now, but AlphaSearcher still lists the same ones as missing an alpha channel ...

[N60JBravo 27]

Martin,

 

ImageTool is a texture conversion tool that comes with the Terrain SDK.

 

There is a lot of confusion about this subject because many people say the textures are "missing an Alpha channel", when in fact they aren't.

 

If you open a source texture in ImageTool that has an all white Alpha channel and save it as a DXT3 texture ImageTool will save that texture with the Alpha channel just fine, and it will look like what you see in DXTBmp.

 

The problem is that in the above scenario ImageTool sets a flag in the file header to read that the texture does not have an Alpha and this confuses FS, causing stutters.

 

FS is smart enough to know that the file is a DXT3 texture because that is what the file header says it is. And FS is smart enough to know that all DXT3 textures have an Alpha channel because they all do, by definition.

 

So when FS reads the file header and sees a DXT3 texture that supposedly is missing an Alpha, it pauses while it looks for an Alpha elsewhere, causing stutters.

 

Add to this that a DXT3 texture with an all white Alpha might as well be a DXT1 without Alpha as there is no benefit to having an all white Alpha and a DXT1 will be half the size.

 

Does this make any sense?

 

regards,

Joe

[martinlest2 58]

Haven't had time to follow this up, but will do so and post back ASAP...