Texture Shimmering and Flickering in FS9.1

[Guest CHRISH]

Hi all,Why is it that no matters what drivers you use and how you set your scenery that certtain scenery flickers and shimmers?For example KLAS by simflerys is completely flicker free, as is EIDW by PC Pilots of Ireland, as is Aeosoft's Canary Islands but KSEA and KSFO by Flytampa flickers, as does Gary Sumons EGCC, as does EDFF by Aerosoft.Anyone any idea's?Best Wishes and many thanks,ChrisWin XP SP2AMD 64Geforce 7800 (512)

[Guest Firestriker]

Is it the ground or other objects that shimmer?Lou

[Guest CHRISH]

Thanks Lou, it seems to be the Lines that are "painted onto the ground" ie taxilines, runway markings, etc and some of the objects.Best Wishes,Chris

[Guest Firestriker]

My guess would be that the "lines" were compiled as scenery objects and not as ground polygons with the proper layering. When 2 polygons are at the same level, the sim has a problem knowing which is drawn on top of the other and results in the shimmer. The same happens with textures and signs, "decals", on the side of a building where the two planes occupy the same place in space. For ground polys it is necessary to to give them a layer value. The ground would be say layer 8 and the stripping would be layer 9. As for scenery objects, then it is necessary to add a z-bias so the sim know to draw the wall then draw the decal on top of it. Another clue as you can see in the attached image, the building, lightpole, static sedan and the pickup all cast a shadow on the properly made ground polygons. Aircraft and scenery objects cast shadows and do not receive them.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/154515.jpgThese are not things that you as the end user can fix and probably has nothing to do with your video card. Even my old 32meg TNT2 Ultra video card doesn't have any problems.Lou

[Guest CHRISH]

Thanks Lou, that is very helpful . So it siounds like bad programming by the developers! I would love to know how to improve the textures, as the shimmering on some of the ground are quite bad.Best Wishes,Chris

[arno 1]

Hi Chris,The kind of tweaks to make them real ground polygons can best be applied by the designer of the scenery, as you need the source code to fix it. So it is not something you can fix in the textures or so.

[Guest CHRISH]

Many thanks Arno, much appreciated.Best Wishes,Chris

[nudata 10]

If you try the FSX demo you will see an almost total absence of flickering. Otherwise you have to set your mipmap low in FS9.Dick near 5G8

[Guest CHRISH]

Many Thanks Dick, its exactly the same in FS9. It only seems to be the add-ons (well only some of them) that cause the flickering due to bad programming. Best Wishes,ChrisEGBB