AS 2012 SP2 Clouds

[Samaritano 304]

Wanted to know if the new service pack 2 for Active Sky 2012 has dx10 compatible clouds.

Anybody knows?

[Paul J 349]

Hi Edgar: I have the SP and have installed and have used REX clouds sets for a long time, and didn't find anything wrong with any part of the SP2 clouds sets that I loaded - but I didn't go through all of them checking each one for compatibility. The guys that do that are over at the REX forum, specifically Tim or Reed - ok!

 

All the Best,

[TheFamilyMan 280]

 

 

service pack 2 for Active Sky 2012

 

The guys that do that are over at the REX forum

 

Got some crossed wires here...

[Paul J 349]

Haha! You're right, Rod! Good thing one of us is awake!

 

Thing is - I read it wrong, wanted to be "diplomatic" - and so I didn't mention it, but ActiveSky2012 is the only one I actually use for all of my regular flying - SP(2) being released a month ago.

In the same light, though, I have not come across any texture from either company which is not DX10 compliant! Both are very good, but the AS interface is way easier than the competition - and always has been.. it's logical and very easy to use.

 

All the Best,

[Samaritano 304]

Thanks Paul. I recently upgraded to AS2012 SP2 and went ahead and installed their textures, including clouds to FSX but when I run the sim I can see a ton of boxed type clouds so I'm assuming it's clouds are still not compatible with DX10.

 

Update. Chris Willis, one of the developers, mentioned that all the textures on AS2012 are DX10 compatible. I wonder what my problem is?  :Thinking:

[Paul J 349]

We need to see your fsx.cfg, Edgar, so please - attach it here, as "Edgar_cfg.txt", and also, if you will - find some place to post your Inspector settings, so we can see what they are. You have some problem, but guessing is no way to solve anything! 

[Samaritano 304]

Thanks Paul. I'm out of town for the rest of the week. I'll try when I get back home. Thanks for the help. :-)

[Jim Young 2,356]

Clouds work great in dx10. I have a feeling some other texture program is trumping your textures out. Might want to uninstall/reinstall.

 

Best regards,

 

JIM

[Paul J 349]

Do the box clouds not transform into normal clouds at all. Edgar?

 

Normally, as the flight opens, the clouds are "boxy" for about a second (on my pc) but then change into their proper cloud shape.

[Reader 2,021]

Thanks Paul. I recently upgraded to AS2012 SP2 and went ahead and installed their textures, including clouds to FSX but when I run the sim I can see a ton of boxed type clouds so I'm assuming it's clouds are still not compatible with DX10.

 

Update. Chris Willis, one of the developers, mentioned that all the textures on AS2012 are DX10 compatible. I wonder what my problem is?  :Thinking:

 Do your clouds work in DX9 or do they look like boxes in that too?

Boxes instead of clouds and effects, for that matter, indicate a lack of textures.

This can be because they are missing altogether or because they haven't loaded yet.

[Samaritano 304]

Sometimes my clouds are normal other times they are like boxes.

 

 

And here are some pics and my FSX. cfg

 

 

[GRAPHICS]

SHADER_CACHE_PRIMED_10=1693500672

SHADER_CACHE_PRIMED=1693500672

D3D10=1

TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD=2048

NUM_LIGHTS=8

AIRCRAFT_SHADOWS=1

AIRCRAFT_REFLECTIONS=1

COCKPIT_HIGH_LOD=1

LANDING_LIGHTS=1

AC_SELF_SHADOW=0

EFFECTS_QUALITY=2

GROUND_SHADOWS=1

TEXTURE_QUALITY=3

IMAGE_QUALITY=0

MultiSamplesPerPixel=4

MultiSampleQuality=8

HIGHMEMFIX=1

See_Self=1

Text_Scroll=1

 

[bUFFERPOOLS]

Poolsize=0

 

[JOBSCHEDULER]

AffinityMask=14

 

[sOUND]

AmbientUIMusicVolume=-6.000000

SOUND_FADER1=0.390000

SOUND_FADER2=0.560000

SOUND_FADER3=0.370000

SOUND_FADER4=0.690000

AmbientUIMusic=FSX02

PrimaryDevice={DEF00000-9C6D-47ED-AAF1-4DDA8F2B5C03}

VoiceDevice={DEF00002-9C6D-47ED-AAF1-4DDA8F2B5C03}

SOUND=1

SOUND_QUALITY=2

SOUND_LOD=0

UISound=1

AmbientUI=0

 

[Display]

ChangeTime=4.000000

TransitionTime=4.000000

ActiveWindowTitleTextColor=255,255,255

ActiveWindowTitleBackGroundColor=0,28,140,64

NonActiveWindowTitleTextColor=255,255,255

NonActiveWindowTitleBackGroundColor=24,33,87,64

InfoUpperRightTextColor=255,0,0

InfoUpperRightBackGroundColor=0,0,0,0

InfoLowerLeftTextColor=255,255,255

InfoLowerLeftBackGroundColor=255,0,0,128

InfoLowerRightTextColor=255,255,255

InfoLowerRightBackGroundColor=255,0,0,128

InfoBrakesEnable=True

InfoParkingBrakesEnable=True

InfoPauseEnable=True

InfoSlewEnable=True

InfoStallEnable=True

InfoOverspeedEnable=True

BLOOM_EFFECTS=0

SKINNED_ANIMATIONS=1

TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=40

UPPER_FRAMERATE_LIMIT=30

WideViewAspect=True

 

[Main]

User Objects=Airplane, Helicopter

SimObjectPaths.0=SimObjects\Airplanes

SimObjectPaths.1=SimObjects\Rotorcraft

SimObjectPaths.2=SimObjects\GroundVehicles

SimObjectPaths.3=SimObjects\Boats

SimObjectPaths.4=SimObjects\Animals

SimObjectPaths.5=SimObjects\Misc

ProcSpeed=17618

PerfBucket=7

HideMenuNormal=0

HideMenuFullscreen=1

FIBER_FRAME_TIME_FRACTION=0.15

Location=445,128,2435,1400,\\.\DISPLAY1

Maximized=0

 

[PANELS]

IMAGE_QUALITY=1

DEFAULT_VIEW=0

QUICKTIPS=1

PANEL_OPACITY=100

PANEL_MASKING=1

PANEL_STRETCHING=1

UNITS_OF_MEASURE=0

 

[Weather]

WindshieldPrecipitationEffects=1

MinGustTime=10

MaxGustTime=500

MinGustRampSpeed=1

MaxGustRampSpeed=200

MinVarTime=5

MaxVarTime=50

MinVarRampSpeed=10

MaxVarRampSpeed=75

TurbulenceScale=1.000000

WeatherServerAddress=fs2k.zone.com

WeatherServerPort=80

WeatherGraphDataInDialog=0

AdjustForMagVarInDialog=1

DynamicWeather=1

DownloadWindsAloft=0

DisableTurbulence=0

CLOUD_DRAW_DISTANCE=5

DETAILED_CLOUDS=1

CLOUD_COVERAGE_DENSITY=8

THERMAL_VISUALS=0

 

 

[DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670.0.0]

Mode=2560x1440x32

Anisotropic=1

AntiAlias=1

 

[AccelerationPack]

ControlsFirstRun=0

HomePageFirstRun=0

 

...

 

[uSERINTERFACE]

ShowAllACPaintSchemes=1

SelectAircraftManufacturer=All

SelectAircraftPublisher=All

SelectAircraftType=All

PageID=1

OpenATCOnCreate=0

SHOW_MISSION_CAPTIONS=0

PAUSE_ON_LOST_FOCUS=0

PROMPT_ON_EXIT=0

SITUATION=D:\Documents\Flight Simulator X Files\172 Testing DX10

Map_Orientation=1

DisplayFuelAsWeight=1

 

[ATC]

ShowATCText=1

COMM_MSG_NONE_COLOR=FFFFFFFF

COMM_MSG_ATC_USER_COLOR=FFB6FFB6

COMM_MSG_USER_ATC_COLOR=FFFFD21B

COMM_MSG_ATC_AI_COLOR=FF00FF00

COMM_MSG_AI_ATC_COLOR=FFFF7840

AutoOpenAirTrafficWindow=1

UsePilotVoice=1

PilotVoice=393216

 

[PointOfInterestSystem]

CycleSetting=0

 

[sCENERY]

LENSFLARE=1

DAWN_DUSK_SMOOTHING=1

IMAGE_COMPLEXITY=5

 

[TrafficManager]

AirlineDensity=40

GADensity=43

FreewayDensity=20

ShipsAndFerriesDensity=28

LeisureBoatsDensity=26

IFROnly=0

AIRPORT_SCENERY_DENSITY=5

 

[TERRAIN]

LOD_RADIUS=4.500000

MESH_COMPLEXITY=100

MESH_RESOLUTION=25

TEXTURE_RESOLUTION=29

AUTOGEN_DENSITY=3

DETAIL_TEXTURE=1

WATER_EFFECTS=5

 

[AContain]

ShowLabels=1

ShowUserLabel=0

ShowLabelManufacturer=0

ShowLabelModel=1

ShowLabelTailNumber=0

ShowLabelDistance=1

ShowLabelAltitude=1

ShowLabelAirline=0

ShowLabelAirlineAndFlightNumber=0

ShowLabelFlightPlan=0

ShowLabelContainerId=0

ShowLabelAirspeed=0

ShowLabelHeading=0

LabelDelay=1000

LabelColor=FFFF0000

 

[iNTERNATIONAL]

ASLAT=2

ASLON=1

MEASURE=0

 

[REALISM]

PFactor=1.000000

Torque=1.000000

GyroEffect=1.000000

CrashTolerance=1.000000

General=1.000000

UnlimitedFuel=False

AllowEngineDamage=True

TrueAirspeed=False

AutoCoord=False

RealMixture=True

StressDamage=False

GEffect=True

ManualLights=True

GyroDrift=True

CrashWithDyn=False

CrashDetection=False

AutoTrim=False

 

 

 

[Reader 2,021]

I can't see anything wrong with your settings that might cause this effect but your screenshot shows untextured clouds.

 

You didn't say whether these cloud textures work in FSX Dx9?

Simple logic, if they do, they aren't Dx10 compatible.

If they don't, some are probably missing and need to be re-installed.

 

I don't have Active Sky, but REX has install options to optimise for Dx10.

[Jim Young 2,356]

The textures/clouds do not look boxy or square to me (at least not in the picture posted).  What it does look like is some textures are having difficulty rendering.  The chances of anyone missing cloud textures is remote.  The chances of high fsx/display driver settings is very high.  In your fsx settings, texture_max_load is set at 2048.  In the AS2012 Graphics/Settings, make sure your 3d cloud resolutions are set to 1024 and no higher and quality is set to 32 bit (HD).  Let fsx texture_max_load handle the textures.  This is the way I have my AS2012/FSX.cfg setup and my clouds are definitely rendering properly and in HD.

 

In your display setting, change texture filtering - negative LOD Bias to Clamp.  I would dump the frame rate limiter in your display drivers.  You are placing strain on your graphics rendering.  FSX works the best with its own internal frame rate settings and I see you have that set limited to 30.  How does that work?  If anything, the internet FPS limiter should be set to unlimited if you are going to use the display NI limiter.

 

Texture_Bandwidth_mult=40.  Should be at least 80 with your system.  You can try 120 too.

 

Get rid of -

 

[bUFFERPOOLS]

Poolsize=0

 

BP does not work for every system and sometimes has a negative effect.  Comment it out and see if it makes a difference like this:

 

//[bUFFERPOOLS]

//Poolsize=0

 

This means it will not load the next time you start FSX. 

 

Hope this helps resolve this problem cloud texture rendering issue.

 

Best regards,

Jim

 

[Samaritano 304]

Thank you Jim,

I went ahead and changed my clouds settings in AS2012 from 2048 to 1024 and from DXT5 compressed to 32 Bit (HD) and so far it is working. So the problem was one of textures and not clouds that look like boxes. That was my bad trying to describe the problem.

 

Also I made the changes you recommended on the Nvidia Inspectors and the fsx.cfg and all is working fine.

 

Thanks once again.

Do the box clouds not transform into normal clouds at all. Edgar?

 

Normally, as the flight opens, the clouds are "boxy" for about a second (on my pc) but then change into their proper cloud shape.

 Sometimes they do but now everything is working fine so far by changing AS2012 graphics settings and changes to the cfg and NI.

 

Thanks.

[Reader 2,021]

I am very pleased that the solution offered by Jim has worked for you.

As a matter of interest, however, my PC is of a slightly lower spec than yours,

yet it can sustain a TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD=2048, with 2048 REX clouds and

2048 aircraft textures (the superb Majestic Dash 8 Q400).

I don't use the Bufferpools setting.

In NI, I have Antialiasing-Setting as Application controlled/off

and the frame rate limited to 30 but otherwise as your screen shot.

The major difference is your much higher screen resolution, 2560x1440x32,

versus my meagre 1680x1050x32 to match my much smaller monitor.

Perhaps this is what tipped the balance?