Sparse/slow autogen loading in P3Dv4

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

Honestly I don't blame them. The perfect example of such posts are the "CTD near Greenland" thread(s). It must be obvious by now to the casual observer that LM can't either duplicate this error or can't understand how to fix it.

Edited December 5, 2018 by jabloomf1230

[AviatorMan 253]

2 hours ago, jabloomf1230 said:

Honestly I don't blame them. The perfect example of such posts are the "CTD near Greenland" thread(s). It must be obvious by now to the casual observer that LM can't either duplicate this error or can't understand how to fix it

Perhaps, but this is not such an issue. Many have experienced it and probably many more who haven't posted hoping that LM will fix it and they will find the solution in a thread here, on LM's site or elsewhere. I honestly wasn't following that close to know that LM have deleted posts from users experiencing problems and who are just hoping for a solution. I can't see that's really such a good customer relations approach.I apparently have come into this issue late if this discussion has been going on that long, because for whatever reason I didn't really experience the problem until v4.4, so I am just looking for some help. And I haven't added any addons that I didn't already have.

[FreeBird(Josh) 314]

Its funny that I don't experience any of the issues above and if anything 4.4 works wonders on my system. All my autogen is there no poping or drawing in. The black textures when looking around are just about a thing of the past. P3D v4.4 I think is the best thing to happen in a long time for me. I'm really sorry that others are having issues but I don't think they would have released it if it wasn't ready.  Anyhow I hope it all works out in the end for everyone and they find a solution for there problems .

[kurtb 118]

thank you

 

[pmb 5,137]

58 minutes ago, FreeBird(Josh) said:

Its funny that I don't experience any of the issues above and if anything 4.4 works wonders on my system. All my autogen is there no poping or drawing in. The black textures when looking around are just about a thing of the past. P3D v4.4 I think is the best thing to happen in a long time for me. I'm really sorry that others are having issues but I don't think they would have released it if it wasn't ready.  Anyhow I hope it all works out in the end for everyone and they find a solution for there problems .

I am one of the victims. Take off from KSFO (FB) and fly into the Silicon Valley (ORBX) with an ocean of buildings in fair weather. I see a clear line dividing the "autogen region" from the "non-autogen region" as soon as I turn South. Initially, after turning to Highway 101, the line is a tad beyond Palo Alto. After a few minutes (in a C172), autogen gets loaded beyond that line in patches. I even made a couple of videos and posted them on the LM forum a year ago.

http://www.prepar3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6312&t=125808&start=30

(scroll down). This very same behavior did not change during alle updates since, includiung 4.4. LM's Beau Hollies himself states they didn't do any major changes in the way autogen loads in 4.4

http://www.prepar3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6314&t=131712

And no, this can't be cured by setting a fixed fps, and I tried several fps figures. As in previous versions, it can only be cured by setting the Autogen and Scenery Range Slider to "Medium". While this makes a soft transition, the latter is quite close to the plane (around the autogen radius of P3D3.x, I would say).

I agree, LM has done a wouderful work with photo scenery and former black buildings loading now. I also feel, they improved the ground morphing in mountain reagions, without completely eliminating it, though. But the autogen issue remains unsolved so far, at least for me.

Fortunately the autogen issue is only visible in extended ranges full of buildings, like the Silicon Vallay or Paris City (France VFR).

Kind regards, Michael

Edited December 5, 2018 by pmb

[FreeBird(Josh) 314]

I do see that line especially in big cities and now that things are sharper its more prevalent. I believe in the past and I also complained about it just what your talking about. I believe there answer was it gave better performance. I believe this all started on V3 and I hated it but now with the new tweeks  I don't see it anymore except in big city's. Last night I did a flight from KMRY to SFO as was amazed on how far the autogen went. I was just on top of the Santa Cruz mountains and I could see the SFcity and all the autogen  was complete from San Jose to the GG Bridge and as I got over Silicon Valley the lights of Marin were visible along with the top of the GG bridge.

[Afterburner 374]

Guys, let me give you a good advice. I won't necessarily solve the problem of autogen popping for those who have it, but limit your visibility!  The pictures linked to by killthespam show a totally unrealistic and ugly looking unlimited visibility devoid of haze that you get when you select "Fair Weather". Have you ever seen a condition like this in the real world?  If you use unlimited visibility, you will always see the border of the autogen radius, no matter how high you set the autogen draw distance.

This is how the visibility usually looks like on a sunny summer day. I have taken this shot while the airplane was approaching Miami:

How does it compare to the ones linked?  If you use Active Sky, I recommend limiting the ground visibility to 30 miles, unless you are flying at high latitudes. If you limit the visibility, not only will you have a much more realistic depiction, but any autogen popping in the distance will likely be obscured.

This is how it looks on my sim with proper settings and with Envshade, and I am still using P3D v3 that has an autogen draw distance that is equivalent to "medium" in v4. As you can see, the haze makes the transition at the borderline of autogen drawing much less noticeable. Go figure!

[LRBS 943]

Hi,

This is a video capturing the issue, please note on the left side of the window how ground initially has empty blocks (squares) of autogen textures missing and after a while they fill in.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5pqsob31q2s1n3u/Lockheed Martin® Prepar3D® v4 12_6_2018 2_18_58 PM_Trim.mp4?dl=0

Any thoughts on this?

 

[Bob Scott 7,715]

17 minutes ago, killthespam said:

This is a video capturing the issue, please note on the left side of the window how ground initially has empty blocks (squares) of autogen textures missing and after a while they fill in.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5pqsob31q2s1n3u/Lockheed Martin® Prepar3D® v4 12_6_2018 2_18_58 PM_Trim.mp4?dl=0

Any thoughts on this?

Have you experimented with the new SCENERY_DRAW_DISTANCE setting as a possible solution in v4.4?

 

[LRBS 943]

Hi Bob,

Thank you for taking the time to help.

Yes I did, the problem is that the textures are not loading evenly as you can see. Regarding the distance,  I was able to get it somewhere to where I want it without any penalty on performance, regardless of SCENERY_DRAW_DISTANCE adjustment or not,  I can see the same issue of big empty squares that later they fill in with the proper autogen.

 

[pmb 5,137]

3 hours ago, killthespam said:

Hi,

This is a video capturing the issue, please note on the left side of the window how ground initially has empty blocks (squares) of autogen textures missing and after a while they fill in.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5pqsob31q2s1n3u/Lockheed Martin® Prepar3D® v4 12_6_2018 2_18_58 PM_Trim.mp4?dl=0

Thanks Alex. That's exactly the pattern I observe and doubled on the video I posted on the LM forum a year ago.

Kind regards, Michael

[LRBS 943]

Yes Michael, I did post this issue twice on their LM support forum and of course, on one inquiry, after 5 days later there is no answer from them. I suspect you did get the same answer as I got  from their support team or like this one:

"Thanks again for your patience and we'll keep you posted with our progress."

Unfortunately, we are waiting for an answer and a fix since P3D V4.1.

It's gotta be very sad and embarrassing situation when people not working for LM support forum try to help the other customers with problems, but them.

I do not have enough words to thank the people that try to help us with this issue while I'm totally shocked about LM behavior regarding this issue. 

Right now I joined another topic of this nature in their forum hoping that they will break the silence and get professional on this issue. 

Edited December 7, 2018 by killthespam

[Rocky_53 1,566]

Up until installing v4.4, I have been a bit smug about this reported problem, as it has never been an issue for me, until this week. This is what i have just posted over on the LM forum:- I have stuck with P3D for so long now, it's like being in a bad marriage. I should really know when it's time to throw in the towel and ask for a divorce. The problem is, there are so many things I like about P3D. The only thing I really hated about P3D up until today, was the abysmal blurry and slow loading photoscenery textures. That has now been sorted and my sim looks absolutely awesome. BUT... I am now experiencing the thing which has been widely reported, but I have never previously experienced... disappearing autogen. I installed v4.4 last week and every flight since then, I experience autogen disappearing, usually after a flight in the NGX. Today I flew from Pula in Croatia to Stuttgart, about 450 miles, by the time I descended north of the alps in Southern Germany, there was no autogen whatsoever. Nada, nothing, zilch! I have read many posts about this issue but not found any which offer a solution. Many posts have also reported the issue is with stock P3d too, so it doesn't seem to be a question of over taxing things. BTW, I need to add, that I'm running at medium settings and locked framerates, with a more than capable rig. I've been looking on the P3d forum, but still not found any resolution. I would be grateful if someone from LM dev team could offer some input on this. Thank you.

I will do some further testing this week but I'm not holding my breath. This really has come as a kick in the teeth, as after having installed v4.4 I really thought that P3D was for keeps 😒

Edited December 9, 2018 by Rockliffe

[AviatorMan 253]

14 minutes ago, Rockliffe said:

BUT... I am now experiencing the thing which has been widely reported, but I have never previously experienced... disappearing autogen.

This is exactly my experience, and I too noticed it in FTX Sothern Germany, in particular flying around 29 Palms EDDN airport which I recently purchased. I have noticed it at other locations also. By the way, after trying without luck the many fixes proposed in this thread, I decided to uninstall and reinstall v4.4 client,also uninstalled and reinstalled EDDN and SODE, and for the time being no problems ( after a few hours flying in Orbx regions So Germany, England, Wales and Nor California). Don't know if that had anything to do with it.

[Rocky_53 1,566]

1 hour ago, AviatorMan said:

This is exactly my experience, and I too noticed it in FTX Sothern Germany, in particular flying around 29 Palms EDDN airport which I recently purchased. I have noticed it at other locations also. By the way, after trying without luck the many fixes proposed in this thread, I decided to uninstall and reinstall v4.4 client,also uninstalled and reinstalled EDDN and SODE, and for the time being no problems ( after a few hours flying in Orbx regions So Germany, England, Wales and Nor California). Don't know if that had anything to do with it.

Hmm, that's interesting. I'll bear in mind your suggestion and do some further testing. Cheers.