Here's how to eliminate cockpit shimmering without SGSS

[neumanix 114]

 

 

doesnt dxfixerx do the mipmapping as well ?

 

Nope, it just adresses an alpha channel issue.

 

As to why and how this cockpit mipmapping works in P3D, I have no idea. I just decided to try it and it worked.

 

If this turns out to have no side effects, then the best thing for developers would be to release new mipmapped textures converted straight from their original PSDs or other "full quailty" format.

 

This way the image quality won't suffer, as now we're taking an already compressed bmp or dds and recompressing it when saving it with mipmaps.

 

 

Problem is, even if you eleminate cockpit shimmering using mip mapping in Carenado AC, you still have terrible shimmering at certain non-mip mapped airports or landmark objects if not using SGSS.

 

Well, the solution used to be to add mipmaps to everything that shimmers. That's what I've always done in FS9 and it always worked.

This should hold true for FSX and P3D as well, so why not try hunting down those airport textures that need mipmapping and see if it helps.

[SteveW 1,792]

Turn off AA to make things easier to spot. Then take the A36 VC for example, the chronometer display for example shows off the mipmapping nicely. Turn off mipmap the VC in the display settings and the facia and clock become shimmery.

 

So these are mimpapped and working well.

 

But apply some mipmaps around here and there and it seems not to help everywhere. I'm still seeing shimmers on items when I zoom out the magnification. So it seems some objects don't mipmap so well.

 

This only appears to happen in DX10 FSX and DX11 P3D. FSX DX9 seems unaffected.

Problem is, even if you eleminate cockpit shimmering using mip mapping in Carenado AC, you still have terrible shimmering at certain non-mip mapped airports or landmark objects if not using SGSS.

This should hold true for FSX and P3D as well

DX10 and DX11 do AA differently to DX9, there are scenery and instruments that don't AA (without help from SGSS) in FSX DX10 and P3D DX11, even though they are mipmapped.

 

Before attempting to remake all the textures, turn off mipmapping and look around to see what has already been done.

[neumanix 114]

Done some more testing and have not had any blurries or other problems. All is working just fine.

 

-EDIT-

 

Do NOT save interior panel textures as 32 bit DDS as I wrote here a moment ago. It worked for some external textures but not for VC textures. Just a heads up.

[Slayer 190]

I've often wondered and complained about white sparkles in addon sceneries. Small objects like radio towers, baggage carts and fencing exhibit this behaviour when HDR is on in P3D( also used to happen in FSX too).

 

I'm beginning to wonder if it's due to lack of mipmap because they are so small in the first place but the side effect is sparkles. No idea where to find the textures though. Like looking for a needle in a haystack but I'd  be interested if anyone tries to test this.

[b00ts 7]

I've often wondered and complained about white sparkles in addon sceneries. Small objects like radio towers, baggage carts and fencing exhibit this behaviour when HDR is on in P3D( also used to happen in FSX too).

 

I'm beginning to wonder if it's due to lack of mipmap because they are so small in the first place but the side effect is sparkles. No idea where to find the textures though. Like looking for a needle in a haystack but I'd  be interested if anyone tries to test this.

I noticed this for the first time as I was flying over Lamar, CO. I looked down and noticed towers and Such that were glimmering. It was really distracting after that because then I noticed it everywhere. Botched a landing while starting at something glimmering wondering what was going on.

[Slayer 190]

I noticed this for the first time as I was flying over Lamar, CO. I looked down and noticed towers and Such that were glimmering. It was really distracting after that because then I noticed it everywhere. Botched a landing while starting at something glimmering wondering what was going on.

In P3D if you turn off HDR it mostly goes away in FSX/DX10 there's no solution

[niyoko 7]

SUPER video!

Nice nice work...

 

Thanks for that video. Everytime I read about shimmering I'm confused about what everyone is seeing. I have a better picture now.

[b00ts 7]

In P3D if you turn off HDR it mostly goes away in FSX/DX10 there's no solution

 

Will try this once I get it back up and running. Having some technical difficulties at the moment :|

[neumanix 114]

It seems like this scenery shimmering is happening mostly as polygons get really thin in the distance, like poles and such, and the MSAA doesn't seem to handle this very well.

I haven't found that turning HDR off helps much in this case.

 

However, this thread was about mipmapping your VC textures to fix the shimmering inside the cockpit, and so far it has worked great for me.

My earlier post (#33) is somewhat confusing, I tried to save some vc textures as DDS 888-8 32bit and at first I thought it worked, so I posted here, but then it turned out not to work, so had to

delete that text.

 

If you try this, just save the texture in the same format as it originally was (dds dxt5 for example).

 

I did however sucessfully save some external aircraft textures as DDS 888-8 32 bit with mipmaps and thus retained the image qualiy.

[Ibra1992 0]

It seems like this scenery shimmering is happening mostly as polygons get really thin in the distance, like poles and such, and the MSAA doesn't seem to handle this very well.

I haven't found that turning HDR off helps much in this case.

 

However, this thread was about mipmapping your VC textures to fix the shimmering inside the cockpit, and so far it has worked great for me.

My earlier post (#33) is somewhat confusing, I tried to save some vc textures as DDS 888-8 32bit and at first I thought it worked, so I posted here, but then it turned out not to work, so had to

delete that text.

 

If you try this, just save the texture in the same format as it originally was (dds dxt5 for example).

 

I did however sucessfully save some external aircraft textures as DDS 888-8 32 bit with mipmaps and thus retained the image qualiy.

@neumanix

Just a clarification...do I have to convert both bmp and dds files in the texture folder to a DXT file? And...is it right to convert the file to the DXT type(DXT1,DXT5,ecc...) suggested from DXTbmp.exe?

[neumanix 114]

Just a clarification...do I have to convert both bmp and dds files in the texture folder to a DXT file? And...is it right to convert the file to the DXT type(DXT1,DXT5,ecc...) suggested from DXTbmp.exe?

 

I'd suggest you first make a backup of the folder you're going to mess with

 

[EDIT]

 

Ok, so I had to change this post because I had DxtBMP and Imagetool a little mixed up.

I found that using Imagetool is the best way to make sure you save your modified texture in the same format it originally was in.

Just load the texture, create mipmaps (in the menu) and just save (overwriting the original file).

 

Should work for bmp's at least. Guess you'll still need DxtBMP for DDS.

[Ibra1992 0]

I'd suggest you first make a backup of the folder you're going to mess with

Then, when you open a texture (bmp or dds) in DxtMBP, just make sure the "Include when saving" in the MipMaps section is checked, and simply save the the file, overwriting the original in the same format. You see what format the texture is in the windows title bar. Just use "Save", not "Save As", that way you don't have to worry about any format conversion.

 

Cheers!

Thank you for your reply!

Of course I've made the backup before proceeding.

I've converted the texture folder files of A2A C172. Before starting the flight, every time I load an A2A C172, this error windows appear for every bmp file opf the texture folder:

 

However, if I click on 'Ok', the virtual cockpit loads corectly and the shimmering disappears as expected. Are this error windows normal?

 

Another question...is it possible to create a batch file similar to that one suggested here? http://www.avsim.com/topic/471107-guide-to-mipmapping-and-optimising-textures/

I've created it, but, obviously, it doesn't work with DxtMBP.

[neumanix 114]

No, those errors aren't suppose to happen. I guess the filenames are intact as you said it loads ok and the shimmering is gone. Really weird. I'll see what I can find.

Don't think it's possible to batch convert with DxtBMP, but with Imagetool it is.

[neumanix 114]

Ok, I edited my previous post #41.

[AviatorMoser 353]

Mipmapping was the first thing I had to do with my Alabeo aircraft. Without mipmaps, the panel was unreadable.

 

The lack of mipmaps ###### me off. At least have an installer option where you can toggle on panel mipmaps or not. Else this comes off as laziness.