While this may not be a hot topic anymore, I think I have found what works for me...After about three years of battling blurry textures, I think my problem was solved by just switching from TRILINEAR to BILINEAR. Now, whether this makes any sense, probably someone can better explain if this is in fact possible. ThanksSYS SPECS:AUSU A7N8X Deluxe 2.0AND 2800 Barton @333mhz1GB ddr 2700@ 333mhzRadeon 9700Pro 128MB/Omega drivers 2.5.44WD80GB HDD @7200rmp/2mb cacheWinXP pro/SP1...all updatesFS9Creative SB 5.1 LiveSaitek X45Direct X 9b

I just upgraded to a radeon 9800 Pro from Nvidia and I've found that I do not have issues with the blurries.... I user 4 mip map levels in FS. I did note that the PQ with Nvidia cards (both a 4600 and 5900fx) wuth AntiAliasing on were both far inverior to the Radeon,. Plus the 9800 is a screamer compared to both in FS9 and LOMAC. I use 4x AA 4x AF.LOMAC is so fast now it's like being there. I mean OMG fast :) Dogfighting is a new experience.FS9 is very nice as well on my Athlon 64. Can;t wat to see what I get when I upgrade to the next generation card at some point after prices fall.Tim

Didnt someone once mention that using Anisotrophic Filtering (AF) in the ATI control panel overrides the Trilinier/Biliniar setting in FS9? Kinda like the its AA overrides FS own build in AA.What are your AF/AA settings in the ATI control panel?I noticed a bit better texture quality (less shimmering) when I put ATI's mipmap slider to only "quality" instead of high quality.

only goes to show you were expecting your card to do more than it could sustain.By lowering the requirements on your hardware you caused it to be able to draw a higher MIP which solved your problem.As always there is no magic bullet. Quite likely other setting changes to limit the assault on your video hardware (like reduced mesh complexity and reflections) would have also had a similar effect.

Hello,It might have been me that you saw mention something like this. If it was me that you saw say something about this, then what I said was sort of the opposite. Unless someone else has discovered differently or can explain exactly what is going on better than me, the following is what I have discovered. And I should have noticed this a long time ago but I only noticed it about six weeks ago...The bilinear/trilinear setting in FS9 overrides whatever AF setting you have in your Display Properties (ATI) Control Panel, even if you have unchecked 'Application Preference'.In other words, if you choose Trilinear filtering in FS9, it doesn't matter what AF(filtering) setting you have chosen in your Control Panel. You are using FS9's Trilinear filtering. In other words, if you have unchecked 'Application Preference' and selected 16x AF in the Control Panel, and have selected Tilinear filtering in FS9, you are not using ATI's 16x AF. You are using FS9's Trilinear filtering only. If in FS9 you choose 'None' then you will be using the AF setting in your Control Panel. I tried it this way and I didn't like it at all. I continue to use FS9's Trilinear filtering like I always have.To check this out, select 'None' for filtering in FS9. In your ATI Control Panel uncheck 'Application Preference' and select 8x AF(for example). Then try it out (you may need to restart FS9 for it to take effect, I'm not sure). Then quit FS9. Then go and select 16x AF. Then try out FS9 again. Did you see a difference? I'll bet you did.Now select 'Trilinear' for filtering in FS9 (restart if necessary). Try FS9 with different levels of AF in your ATI Control Panel. Did you see any difference? I'm willing to bet you didn't, because now you are using FS9's Trilinear filtering only, regardless of your AF setting in the Control Panel. If you did see a difference I wouldn't mind seeing some screenshots. And make certain that you have 'Trilinear' filtering selected in FS9 for all of the screenshots.Regards,Jim

>Hello,>>It might have been me that you saw mention something like>this. If it was me that you saw say something about this, then>what I said was sort of the opposite. Unless someone else has>discovered differently or can explain exactly what is going on>better than me, the following is what I have discovered. And I>should have noticed this a long time ago but I only noticed it>about six weeks ago...>>The bilinear/trilinear setting in FS9 overrides whatever AF>setting you have in your Display Properties (ATI) Control>Panel, even if you have unchecked 'Application>Preference'.>>In other words, if you choose Trilinear filtering in FS9, it>doesn't matter what AF(filtering) setting you have chosen in>your Control Panel. You are using FS9's Trilinear filtering.>In other words, if you have unchecked 'Application Preference'>and selected 16x AF in the Control Panel, and have selected>Tilinear filtering in FS9, you are not using ATI's 16x AF. You>are using FS9's Trilinear filtering only. If in FS9 you choose>'None' then you will be using the AF setting in your>Control Panel. I tried it this way and I didn't like it at>all. I continue to use FS9's Trilinear filtering like I always>have.>>To check this out, select 'None' for filtering in FS9. In your>ATI Control Panel uncheck 'Application Preference' and select>8x AF(for example). Then try it out (you may need to restart>FS9 for it to take effect, I'm not sure). Then quit FS9. Then>go and select 16x AF. Then try out FS9 again. Did you see a>difference? I'll bet you did.>>Now select 'Trilinear' for filtering in FS9 (restart if>necessary). Try FS9 with different levels of AF in your ATI>Control Panel. Did you see any difference? I'm willing to bet>you didn't, because now you are using FS9's Trilinear>filtering only, regardless of your AF setting in the Control>Panel. If you did see a difference I wouldn't mind seeing some>screenshots. And make certain that you have 'Trilinear'>filtering selected in FS9 for all of the screenshots.>>Regards,>>Jim>>This may be the case with ATI cards but not with NVidia. I have my AF set to X4 in the CP and if I set my filter to "none" in MSFS it looks like 1990 all over again.XP Home SP1Asus P4P800-SE Intel 3.0GHZDDR 400 D/C 2x512MBGeForce FX 5700 256MB (56.72)SB AudigyMSFF2 & X45 throttleSee you in the fence...CYYZ

I actually find no difference between None, Bilinear or Trilinear in FS9. Looks identical. Radeon 9700 Pro, 8x Anisotropic filtering selected.The mipmap detail slider however is FS9-specific and works independantly of the Mipmap slider in the ATI control panel.By using Mipmap 4 in FS and highest mipmap quality, 4x AA and 8x Aniso in the ATI panel I get very sharp terrain and aircraft textures.

Hi,Well, I just took another look and I want everyone to know that I was wrong. Just plain wrong! So disregard what I said earlier. If you use FS9's Bilinear or Trilinear setting then you still need to set AF in your ATI Control Panel. I usually had my AF set to 16x in the Control Panel and I just tried out 2x with Trilinear filtering selected in FS9 and 2x in my Control Panel(I should have done this before). Definitely a difference. So never mind me or what I said earlier. :-dohNow, if someone with enough technical expertise in this area could explain how we are getting two sets of filtering going on here? ;) Because I tried it before with my Control Panel set at 8x and 16x AF with 'None' selected in FS9, and it wasn't very nice compared to when I have Trilinear selected in FS9(in addition to some AF selected in my Control Panel).Anyway, disreagrd what I said earlier! Sorry for any confusion. *:-*Regards,Jim

Hi all, thank you very much for your responses. They were all very satisfying, and I've learned a great deal.In response: My settings; 4X(AA) 8X(AF); Res: 1600x1200x32. With Trilinear I get blurry ground textures and with Bilinear, all my problems are solved. Interestingly enough, getting blurs was also the case with FS2K. I never solved that problem.In FS9 I saw this issue with no other addons and with a clean install. of WInXP and FS9. I originally had all my settings maxed out, and over the last year began making minor adjustments, without improvements. However, never once did I changed from Trilinear to Bilinear because others thought Radeon cards like to have their settings to the max. Nonetheless,I was hesistant to beleive that my findings were actually working until another flight lastnight with PMDG 737-800. Three hours from KLAS to KMIA and it was smooth all the way. Occassioanlly, there were some blurs if I look out the windows, but they would clear in seconds. Previously to the changes, I had no other choice but to reboot my PC or restart FS as I could never recover from the blur.I for one hope this resolves my blurs and am actually tickled with the results. Thanks alot guys, I really appreciate your responses."only goes to show you were expecting your card to do more than it could sustain.By lowering the requirements on your hardware you caused it to be able to draw a higher MIP which solved your problem.As always there is no magic bullet. Quite likely other setting changes to limit the assault on your video hardware (like reduced mesh complexity and reflections) would have also had a similar effect."The author of this quote, I could not have agreed with you anymore

Well looks like I DID have it reversed in my memory :DEndeed it was you, OneTinSoldier who I remembered this (sorta correct) advise coming from lol. I believe it was in the tips and tricks section.Well I went and tried all the above things and frankly I couldnt see much of a difference with FS9's setting set to None and ATI set to 16XAF.However - and I suppose these things are all in the eyes of the beholder - with MipMap at 5 and "None" as filtering in FS, and 16XAF in ATI it seemed to me that especially mountains made by SRTM mesh looked a bit sharper.Also, I got rid of the studders near water with water effects set on High in FS.So when it comes to my computer and eyes, I wont discard what you said above, Jim. I could certainly use some of it to my advantage :)Think I'll do some more testing around Hawaii since its got both mountains and lotsa water ;)

The Trilinear/Bilinear filtering in game slider overrides the control panel setting. AF and Trilinear/Bilinear filtering are not the same thing. I run 16xAF in performance mode. 16xAF is the best setting for me. Very clear textures way out into the distance. Normally, running performance AF would give me bilinear filtering in game because I'm in performance AF mode. The ingame Trilinear/Bilinear filtering slider in the game settings overrides this. Most modern games that are any good have this option built into the game settings. I find it best to select performance AF in the control panel and then override the bilinear filtering with the ingame slider. Best framerates that way and still enjoy Trilinear filtering. When I change the ingame filtering option from "none" which is awful; to "bilinear" which is better; to "Trilinear" which is great; I see a distinct difference in the pic quality. Same thing when I change the AF from 4X (Not enough) to 8X (OK) to 16X (Great).AA works just the opposite. I run 4xAA via the control panel with the ingame AA box unchecked. Running with the ingame box checked gives you 2X AA, which is just not enough.Blurry ground textures are often caused by an AF setting being to low. They're also caused by running third party aircraft with monster 32bit textures. Convert those aircraft textures back to the standard DXT3 so you have some performance left and your blurry ground textures and otherwise sluggish behavior in the sim will disappear.

No one has factored in the amount of RAM on either video card or system, nor mentioned the effects of screen resolution which is inter-related. If you do a lot of panning, it sucks both CPU and RAM. It is possible to outrun your system if you like to look around a lot. Also, realize that photorealistic scenery will look quite blurry as you get closer to the ground. Consider holding aircraft complexity, panel complexity, scenery density, terrain mesh, USA Roads, elevation, airspeed, etc. etc. etc. constant when doing this testing.I think there are too many variables here to make some of these generalizations, so be careful and do your own testing by only making one change at a time and recording it.MDavis

Thats true. So many variables from BIOS settings to software/hardware.I am just gonna say that the one true RAM memory saver is the one Bigshot mentioned. Converting 3rd party repaint textures on aircraft to DX3 format. Its been a huge performance enhancer in terms of loading and spotviewing planes. Especially high polygon count aircraft such as the POSKY ones :) Thus it also relieves room for the RAM to take care of other things such as mesh and ground texture loading instead.