Not sure why, but lately I've been having to turn to you gentlemen more often than I would like for help with wierd problems that are cropping up.The latest is this: My scenery textures don't load until I'm very close to the area that they show. Anything more than 20 miles or so away looks like a big smear of blurred water color (the best I can describe it) until you get close, then the next tile drops into place, and so on. Naturally this is not a problem at low altitude, but I fly mostly in the mid 20s to mid 30s, and there it is a big problem. I wish I knew exactly when this started -- then at least I could look back at the last things I added or changed.My PC is a e-machine with an AMD Athlon XP 2800 CPU, GForce FX 5200 Ultra and 512 MB RAM and Windows XP. Actually, this COULD have started when I upgraded from W98 recently. The system has generally run FS9 pretty well.My display sliders are set generally around the middle, and in fiddling with them I have not been able to find any that improved the situation. Here are some of the relevant sections of my FS9.cfg:[PANELS]IMAGE_QUALITY=1UNITS_OF_MEASURE=0QUICKTIPS=0PANEL_MASKING=1PANEL_STRETCHING=1[OldModules] ;C:FS2004MODULESFSSOUND.DLL=1;C:FS2004 - 1961MODULESFSSOUND.DLL=1FSSOUND.DLL=1;The section above was added to keep from getting a warning message on startup about loading;fssound.dll. Fssound.dll is needed for the Richard Probst 727-200 panel to work in FS2004.SOARRec.dll=1;The line above was added on 10/10/05 for compatibility with Luis la Costa's 737 panel.[Weather]WindshieldPrecipitationEffects=1MinGustTime=10MaxGustTime=500MinGustRampSpeed=1MaxGustRampSpeed=200MinVarTime=5MaxVarTime=50MinVarRampSpeed=10MaxVarRampSpeed=75TurbulenceScale=1.000000DefaultVisibility=0DynWx_MedianDewPointSpread=10.000000DynWx_ProbCloudFormForMedianDewPoint=0.000500DynWx_MaxDewPointSpread=50.000000DynWx_ProbCloudFormForMaxDewPoint=0.000125DynWx_ProbCloudFormForMinDewPoint=0.100000DynWx_DryTempLapsePer1000Meters=9.000000DynWx_ProbCloudFormForDryTempLapse=0.000500DynWx_MoistTempLapsePer1000Meters=3.300000DynWx_ProbCloudFormForMoistTempLapse=0.040000DynWx_MaxProbCloudChangePerMinute=0.040000DynWx_MultiplierForDynamicWeatherLevelMild=0.500000DynWx_MultiplierForDynamicWeatherLevelNormal=1.000000DynWx_MultiplierForDynamicWeatherLevelHigh=3.000000DynWx_MultiplierForDynamicWeatherLevelExtreme=10.000000DynWx_TempChangePercentageForOvercastClouds=0.750000DynWx_TempChangePercentageForMinDewPoint=0.700000DynWx_MaxTempChangePerMinute=0.060000WeatherServerAddress=fs2k.zone.comWeatherServerPort=80WeatherGraphDataInDialog=0DynamicWeather=3LOADWEATHER=1MAX_UNLIMITED_VIS=193121CLOUD_DRAW_DISTANCE=43D_CLOUD_PERCENT=30DETAILED_CLOUDS=0CLOUD_COVERAGE_DENSITY=6;Change this parameter to a lower value for better frame rate (3d clouds not drawn closer; than this number of meters)CloudsImpostorRingRadius=19200.000000DownloadWindsAloft=1DisableTurbulence=0[sTARTUP]DEMO=0LOADSIM=1LOADWINDOW=1SHOW_OPENING_SCREEN=1STARTUP_DEMO=[GRAPHICS]FULL_SCREEN=1PERFORMANCE_MODE=0DEF_PERF_MODE=4TEXT_SCROLL=1AUTO_LOD=0DETAIL_TEXTURE=1WATER_EFFECTS=0TERRAIN_USE_VECTOR_MAP=1TERRAIN_USE_VECTOR_OBJECTS=1EFFECTS_QUALITY=1GROUND_SHADOWS=0SMOOTH_VIEW=1IMAGE_SMOOTHING=1TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD=256COCKPIT_HIGH_LOD=0AIRCRAFT_SHADOWS=1LANDING_LIGHTS=1IMAGE_QUALITY=0TEXTURE_BLDG=1TEXTURE_GND=1TEXTURE_WATER=1AIRCRAFT_TEXTURE=1SEE_SELF=1TEXTURE_QUALITY=3LOD_TARGET_FPS=15NUM_LIGHTS=6[REALISM]INDASPD=0PFactor=0.510000Torque=0.480000GyroEffect=0.000000CrashTolerance=0.000000General=0.450000UnlimitedFuel=FalseTrueAirspeed=FalseAutoCoord=FalseRealMixture=TrueStressDamage=FalseGEffect=FalseManualLights=FalseGyroDrift=FalseCrashWithDyn=FalseCrashDetection=0[uSERINTERFACE]MAP_ORIENTATION=2PAUSE_ON_LOST_FOCUS=1PROMPT_ON_EXIT=1SelectFlightLevel=0SelectFlightTitle=30PageID=4OpenATCOnCreate=0SITUATION=C:zMy DocumentsFlight Simulator FilesSTDDisplayFuelAsWeight=1FSLiveURL=www.microsoft.com/games/flightsimulator/product/fsliveweb.asp[sOUND]SOUND=1SOUND_FADER1=0.550000SOUND_FADER2=0.100000SOUND_FADER3=0.620000SOUND_FADER4=0.800000SOUND_FADER5=0.310000SOUND_FADER6=1.000000SOUND_QUALITY=1[DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra.0]Mode=1024x768x16TextureAGP=0 ; This line and the next were added to increase frame rate based on a PanelAsTexture=0[DISPLAY]UPPER_FRAMERATE_LIMIT=22TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=40DisableSoftwareWarning=1[TERRAIN]TERRAIN_ERROR_FACTOR=51.000000TERRAIN_MIN_DEM_AREA=10.000000TERRAIN_MAX_DEM_AREA=100.000000TERRAIN_MAX_VERTEX_LEVEL=19TERRAIN_TEXTURE_SIZE_EXP=7TERRAIN_AUTOGEN_DENSITY=3TERRAIN_USE_GRADIENT_MAP=1TERRAIN_EXTENDED_TEXTURES=1TERRAIN_DEFAULT_RADIUS=9.000000TERRAIN_EXTENDED_RADIUS=9.000000TERRAIN_EXTENDED_LEVELS=7074768[sCENERY]IMAGE_COMPLEXITY=3DYNAMIC_SCENERY=0DYN_SCN_DENSITY=0DAWN_DUSK_SMOOTHING=0SUNGLARE=0LENSFLARE=0[APL]CACHE_WAV_FILES=1[TrafficManager]TrafficDensity=50IFROnly=0EnableAirline=1EnableGeneralAviation=0[WEATHER_MAP]SHOW_AIRPORTS=0SHOW_VORS=0SHOW_NDBS=0SHOW_APPROACHES=0SHOW_INTERSECTIONS=0SHOW_VICTOR=0SHOW_JET=0SHOW_AIRSPACE=0SHOW_FLIGHTPLAN=1SHOW_WEATHERSTATIONS=1SHOW_WEATHERSYSTEMS=1SHOW_DATATAGS=1SHOW_TERRAIN=1[sIM]SYSCLOCK=0[ATC]AutoOpenAirTrafficWindow=1UsePilotVoice=1ShowATCText=0PilotVoice=0[MAIN]Location=121,47,948,684HideMenuNormal=0HideMenuFullscreen=1Maximized=0Obviously, I'll appreciate any thoughts about this. This is driving me crazy. I read some other threads on similar problems last week, but couldn't find anything that exactly matches this. I did see one suggestion that a person who had slow-loading textures run defrag, but don't think that will help me because my disk access light only flickers occasionally while this is going on.Thanks to all! ...Dave

Forgot to mention that the scenery is all default except for some ocean textures I added -- Ocean FX I think it's called....Dave again

Hi Dave,if you're talking about the issue described in this thread - http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/show...=water+problems - then there's nothing you can do about it other than reducing visibility (or increasing clouds) and perhaps reverting your water textures to the default set, which would make the difference between the detailed and basic "world models" less obvious.Your FS9.cfg settings seem OK to me though I really only looked at the TERRAIN section. (if someone suggests setting Terrain_Max_Vertex_Level to 21 to deal with this I'm going to scream ;-) )Cheers, Holger

Try this:[DISPLAY]UPPER_FRAMERATE_LIMIT=25TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=90[TERRAIN]TERRAIN_ERROR_FACTOR=81.000000TERRAIN_MIN_DEM_AREA=10.000000TERRAIN_MAX_DEM_AREA=100.000000TERRAIN_MAX_VERTEX_LEVEL=19TERRAIN_TEXTURE_SIZE_EXP=8TERRAIN_AUTOGEN_DENSITY=3TERRAIN_USE_GRADIENT_MAP=1TERRAIN_EXTENDED_TEXTURES=1TERRAIN_DEFAULT_RADIUS=9.500000TERRAIN_EXTENDED_RADIUS=9.500000TERRAIN_EXTENDED_LEVELS=8Two questions:Do you use Ultimate terrain and or any other landclass?When was the last time you defragmented the HD?About the post in the other forum I completely disagree with it. I get the blurry aquares in the horizon depending on my FS9 settings and addons. If I have the proper settings and take care that certain addons don't install everything they want the blurs are gone.LeoLeo

Hi Leo,that's interesting that you disagree with my post particularly since it contains images that show the effect of different settings.Perhaps you'd like to show us screenshots of the same location (or with similar parameter settings) with your tweaks that prove that sharp textures extend all the way to the horizon? Cheers, Holger

Try defragging your hard disk. It will help alot.

Hi guys. I too have the same issue. You'll find posts on threads in multiple forums by me, trying to solve this over the past few months.Last week i took a MASSIVE step to get this sorted..... Installed a RAID 0+1 ARRAY with 4 SATA2 drives (cost me a bloody fortune). Reformated, installed WindowsXP, all the updates, and then ONLY FS9 and all my addons. I defragged after installing all major addons. The whole process lasted nearly a week.The end result...... Nothing, nill, nada, zilch! EXACTLY THE SAME!So i think i can safely rule out any system problems, and asume that there is a basic FS9 problem handling the amount extra textures etc i have installed.I think once the addons reach a certain point in FS9, all i can hope to do, is minimise the blurries as much as possible.Phil 'Dougal' Symonds

Dave, have you done all of the following as a shotgun approach to help rule out various system causes?1. Make sure have enough free drive space.2. Defragged?3. Reinstall of DirectX latest version?4. Complete uninstall of less than the latest WHQL video drivers, in favor of a new release, or one recommended elsewhere in the forums?5. Set up your video resolution, AA & AF levels in the video driver, to ones that would be reasonable for your system?6. Chipset drivers for your mainboard were installed?7. Anti spyware and anti-virus is scanned & cleaned? Dose your AV program require much system overhead?8. Install a lower density cloud set?The TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=40 setting should probably go up to 240 or 400. I believe this affects texture loading behavior (perhaps at the expense of video performance).Sometimes a rebuild of FS9.cfg can help reset everything to an uncomplicated initialized state, and can offer significant "dumb" improvement. It is rebuilt "fresh" when you delete your old copy.Good Luck,Noel

Have a look at me message called "texture load times and frame rate" If you have UT Europe the is an excellent .pdf called 'performance tuning" which may help.Regards,Andrew

IMHO hard drives are not likely to be the problem. I've never found any improvement from defragging (O-O defrag and PerfectDisk), going RAID 0, etc. If some one else gets good results, then great. I just don't see it.scott s..

I think that is more true today than yesteryear. There was a time when the amount of CPU overhead read/write operations required was a much higher % of the total system capability, but I think with today's more efficient file subsystems and with the relatively huge performance gains HD are not much of an issue. I am not an expert, but I would guess this is true.I have SCSI drives mainly because of the fast access time with my Cheetah 15K.3 drives for the purpose of playing disk streaming audio with Gigastudio. Plus, they have a 5y warranty for what it is worth.

I've had relatives here for a couple of days and haven't been able to get back to this thread. But I see my problem has inspired many good comments and discussion!Holger: It's interesting that soon after I first posted the problem I got to thinking about *exactly* what you said about the Ocean FX textures making a subtle problem very obvious, and that maybe I didn't *really* even have a problem. But read on. And, yes, I had been reducing visiblity to try to mask the problem, mainly by raising the ceiling of the haze layer to higher that I ever go. But that only hides the problem. And, yes, it does appear to be the same problem that you describe in that link you posted. I read it once, but need to go back and read it very carefully tomorrow. Thing is, I have not always had this problem.Leo: No, no special landclass is involved in this. The only special scenery stuff I have is Megaterrain Seattle/Northwest (or whatever they call it) and a terrific Florida landclass that I downloaded, but I see this problem everywhere, including areas that are thousands of miles from these areas. These are all default MS scenery areas. Don't think my disk being fragmented is the problem because the disk access light is not on except for a quick flash when new tiles are loaded.Phil: That's really a tough and expensive way to find out that you didn't have a system problem!And finally Noel: I can't answer everything you mentioned just now, but I can answer some. It's not a antivirus problem, because I don't use one. Not sure about spyware, but this is a possibility and I've been pretty lazy about doing anything about it. The AA and AF levels are reasonable and are the same as they used to be (before the problem developed). My video driver IS old, but it was once recommended for FS and I stuck with it because it always gave me reliable performance (but this was the W98 version until a couple months ago). I tried changing TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT from 40 to 240 and am sad to say that didn't change anything either. I like your idea of forcing a rebuild of my FS9.cfg file. Rather than getting rid of the old one, I'll just rename it. Should do the same thing?Thanks to all for all this input! I'm still working on this problem and really need to get to the bottom of it. Please read my next post which is in kind of a different vein, so I'm posting it separately.

I went back to my old W98 PC to see if the problem exists there. It's not quite the same because the video card that's in that PC now is a badly outdated Nvidia MX400. But what I see there is identical to what I see on my newer PC.Then I decided to have a go with FS200*2* in this (the newer) PC. What I see with that is that the textures load correctly, with nice clear scenery well off into the distance, without any sign at all of visible tiling.Now if could just figure out what all this proves! There are some good hints in here though. Thanks again to all for your help and I hope y'all will be good enough to stick with me on this. There has to be an answer!

Howdy again!Just want to let everybody know that I tried creating a new .cfg as Noel very sensibly suggested, but using the basic display settings that MS creates in there did not help. Oh, and also my disk is only about half full. And for Leo, no, I don't have Ultimate Terrain or any other landclass installed. Andrew: I'd like to read the message "texture load times and frame rate" you mentioned, but can't find it. Is there a supposed to be a thread here at AVSIM having that as the subject? Please update me if you can.Anyway, what I seem to have here is the same problem with FS9 on two different PCs, and the same two PCs both run FS2002 just fine, with no problem loading distant textures. I felt certain that FS9 was ok on both of these PCs at one time, but maybe I'm losing my mind. Who knows. But this seems to beg the question: Is this a problem with FS9 in particular? I know FS9 took some steps back from FS2002, but this is kind a big one (if true.)

This problem is GONE. The solution lies in the workaround described by Holger, particularly in setting the visibility distance to 60. But in my case, this turned out not to be a workaround, but a fix for the problem. This cured my trouble, not only by obscuring the semi-distant blurry tiles, but by causing the detailed texture tiles to load much sooner, which was the real problem. Sure don't know why this is, but my scenery looks great well into the distance, even without clouds. Does this make sense to anyone?Whether it does or not, the problem is solved. As usual I'd still be floundering without the help of this great group! Thanks so much.