When I fly around a busy airport, there can be plenty of AI traffic at the gates. The World of AI aircraft seem to be displayed as a black silhouette right until the last possible moment (flying over them) when the correct texture is applied. As soon as they are out of view the process is repeated next time you see them. I don't recall this happening with the default fsx traffic. Even at a small airport with 5 aircraft, the problem is still present.Anyone have a solution?

It's not World of AI...99% sure it's the aircraft models used.They are *good* on fps because they use what are called "LOD"'s (levels of detail). The drawback is that at a distance, a low LOD is used, and this means the textures are not even rendered...thus the black you see.Once you get closer, the textures pop in.I noticed the same effect using the same aircraft WofAI uses, when I made my own AI package.The stock AI planes don't do this, because they are not modelled with as many LODs (or maybe no LOD's, I don't know). Thus they keep their textures at far distances from you, but the drawback is that they are worse on your frame rate.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2530 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8, WD 250 gig 7200 rpm SATA2, CoolerMaster Praetorian

Yes, but this doesn't happen in FS9.Carlos

>Yes, but this doesn't happen in FS9.>>CarlosThat's because FSX has a different way of rendering textures. That's one of the reasons why FSX is smoother than FS9.In the future months, it may be possible to have our cake and eat it too...in that we might be able to see framerate-friendly new versions of the FSPainter and EvolveAI and so forth aircraft, that DO NOT turn black at distance in FSX.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2530 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8, WD 250 gig 7200 rpm SATA2, CoolerMaster Praetorian

I'm guessing that the last LOD has -NO- texture applied to it. In FS9 that was fine, the engine could read the diffuse color, which i'm also guessing is white. I noticed this with some of my models designed for FS9 in FSX. All those parts that were given a color in Max now show up black. not a simple fix as all the models would require some texture work and a fresh export, if I'm right.other than that minor issue, i am really enjoying what WoAI has done.joe

I have many WOI packages installed and I can't say I've noticed. Maybe I'm not paying enough attention! Next time I fly I'll see if I have a similar issue.Rob

I have just installed Traffic 2005 and have the same problem in FSX with the Traffic AI models{but not in FS9 of course}.John R

I think joe (in his post, above) is correct when he says that the lowest LOD doesn't have a texture applied. FSX won't display the flat colors, it wants a texture for every object. Previous versions were not like that.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2530 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8, WD 250 gig 7200 rpm SATA2, CoolerMaster Praetorian

Having played with this a while, I think I've got quite used to it. Certainly it's distracting to see a blank plane suddenly acquire a texture (and equally so loose it when you are looking backwards), but it works well when you are taxiing around. I guess it's not too bad unless you spend all your time circling airports and looking out the window. And since world of AI is free, it seems like a small compromise to make.

>Having played with this a while, I think I've got quite used>to it. Certainly it's distracting to see a blank plane>suddenly acquire a texture (and equally so loose it when you>are looking backwards), but it works well when you are>taxiing around. I guess it's not too bad unless you spend all>your time circling airports and looking out the window. And>since world of AI is free, it seems like a small compromise to>make.It's not World of AI. It's the EvolveAI, FSPainter, and AI Aardvark models used.Any AI package using those models will do the same thing.I'm sure over time things will be updated. I personally like the great frame rates I get with those AI planes.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2530 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8, WD 250 gig 7200 rpm SATA2, CoolerMaster Praetorian

I can't speak for the other AI planes in question, but for ai aardvark aircraft, ALL of the LOD models ARE textured.David R

David, related to this I read in another thread that FSX is in fact doing something here with distant textures. I can't remember what it was...or where I saw it...darn it.So I would think, it must not be LOD's not being textured, it must be something with the actual FSX display of distant textures that is different.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2530 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8, WD 250 gig 7200 rpm SATA2, CoolerMaster Praetorian

In FS2004 there was a set distance (not sure exactly what it was) where any model (not scenery like buildings though) would stop showing a texture. I only noticed it on large aircraft like 747's because they were large enough to still be noticeable from the far side of an airport.I don't have FSX, but maybe FSX has a parameter somewhere that lets you set that 'no texture' distance?David R

>In FS2004 there was a set distance (not sure exactly what it>was) where any model (not scenery like buildings though) would>stop showing a texture. I only noticed it on large aircraft>like 747's because they were large enough to still be>noticeable from the far side of an airport.>>I don't have FSX, but maybe FSX has a parameter somewhere that>lets you set that 'no texture' distance?>>David RDavid:I remember what I saw now:In FSX, each airplane still has a texture folder. But inside that folder is a new file called 'texture.cfg'. And in this file are parameters called 'fallback color=' or something like that. I think if a person were to specify textures for this, it might work.Haven't messed with it myself though.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2530 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8, WD 250 gig 7200 rpm SATA2, CoolerMaster Praetorian