martinlest2

Is there any explanation as to why some sceneries show textureless scenery features (terminals etc.) when the bmp files are in the associated texture folder, but show up just fine if you move the bitmaps to the main FS9/texture folder? Where is the error (95% of sceneries don't have this problem, of course)? Can't find an answer searching the forums here... Martin

Thanks again. The jittering of the throttles fortunately stopped when I removed the FSUIPC control...

Thanks - I probably will have to do that one day (there are videos on YouTube as far as I recall). But in this case, removing all FSUIPC axis settings immediately cured the problems I was having. I still get the same effect in the X52 control panel though - why is the X axis over to the right at zero throttles? Is that how it is supposed to be?

Yes,I added one or two more,but you have to be careful they don't touch the airport or there's trouble! Pity that one doesn't seem to be able to make custom polygons, just rectangles, or more could be done.

The wall of water is now much closer to the airport and the overall effect is miles better.. Well done! M.

My year's 'sabbatical' just came to an end, so I am back at work from today! Not easy .. I'll check this out as soon as I can, now that my time is no longer my own! Looks interesting - I didn't get around to changing the flattens in the scenery.cfg file.. Martin

The plane came to a halt? That's odd. If I slew my aircraft on the water, it just lifts up when it gets to the elevation change. I'll have another look soon at this, but at the moment am not sure what else I can try to get the flatten to override the settings in the grd_airport.bgl file. Martin

Peter, I have looked at the manual, but it's long and some parts quite complex: in the short term I just wanted to be able to fly again without the spoilers coming up all the time. I've tried what you suggest, pressing the Rescan button on the axis assignments tab then moving the X52 throttle up and down, finally pressing 'clear' and that seems to have done the trick (many thanks!! I was lookin g for that in the manual, but with no success - not that I read every page!). I need to test a few flight sbefore I breath a sigh of relief that I can fly again though. I just wish I knew why this has suddenly occurred out of the blue, after using the Saitek joystick and registered FSUIPC together for ages with no problems! Martin

Until yesterday all was fine, but suddenly, when I advance my X52 throttles, the reversers deploy - plus the spoliers come up in a number of aircraft. I amusing (EDIT: I am using.. 'amusing' is hardly the word for this annoyance!) the same profile as always, but has something gone wrong with the Z axis (throttles)? When i look in the control panel/deadzone, I see this: When I then twitch the throttle forward, that changes to this: As I open the throttles, the red line moves left and is at the extreme left when I have full throttles. Is that how it should be? (The mouse also moves off-centre, but that's not an issue right now..). I notice that the throttle levers 'twitch' in the aircraft as I start to apply thrust. Can anyone please help me fix this? Thanks, Martin

In the end I left FSUIPC and unloaded my X52 profile and reloaded it. That cured the problem (not sure why, as I had rebooted in the interim), but as soon as I reloaded the a/c it was back, so I am no further forward! Noticed an X52 problem: http://forum.avsim.net/topic/433226-saitek-x52-problem-deadzones/ .. but I still think it is the way FSUIPC is now set up: if I temporarily move all the FSUIPC files out of the FS9/Modules folder, the problem is resolved. restoring my backed up FSUIPC.ini file didn't help...

Ok, this is my tab. I have four values; that changes to just two when I reset, so I guess that's OK. The values change of course as I move the throttle, but I'm afraid I am no nearer to seeing what I must do to stop the reversers and spoilers deploying when I increase engine power. How do I "make sure the idle setting is about 100 more then the reverse" - I can't enter numbers directly into the boxes. I loaded some other aircraft and am getting the same effect there - reversers employed as I move the X52 throttle. I made no changes myself to Saitek, FS9 or to FSUIPC .. this just started happening last night. I spend SO much more time trying to fix problems like this that constantly surface than flying - it gets depressing to be honest. maybe my setup is too overloaded with extras after all these years? Is there any reason why I should have FSUIPC managing this stuff at all? Everything worked as I wanted it before I got the registered version. I still can't see how turn off these functions in FSUIPC in order to give back control of axes and so on to FS9 and Saitek. Nothing I have tried has worked so far, as I say, they just make the situation worse in that the spoilers then go up and stay up, no matter what I do. I'll search out the manual again, but I don't have the time right now for any steep learning curves. Thanks again!

Those aren't cowl flaps those are thrust reversers. Yes, of course they are, I realise now! In FSUIPC when you're setting your idle,max and reverse or whatever those three options are called make sure the idle setting is about 100 more then the reverse. At some stage I ought to learn the FSUIPC interface! I'll go and see if I can find where I set idle, max, reverse etc. but may well be posting again to ask how, unless it's blindingly obvious! Or I'll see if I can find the FSUIPC manual.. Thanks Lee. M Edit: What I was trying to do was to turn off all axis & joystick assignments in FSUIPC and just use FS9 + my X52 profiles, but I know so little about FSUIPC I am not sure if this is even an option, let alone how to do it. I certainly don't want to uninstall my Saitek software...

I haven't flown the Level-D 767 for a few months (this is FS9) and I now find that when I am ready to taxi and increase throttle, the spoilers come up and the cowl flaps open... This is undoubtedly somethi9ng to do with the interaction between my Saitek X52 and my (registered version of) FSUIPC. If I increase power by using F3 or F4 on the keyboard, there is no problem - but as soon as I touch the throttles on the X52... I am reasonably OK with the Saitek setup but am hardly familiar at all with the FSUIPC interface. I do not have this problem with any other aircraft, just the Level-D 767. Could somebody kindly help me to sort this out (I'll need step-by-step for the FSUIPC! I tried a few 'solutions' on the axis assignment tab, but they only made things worse: the spoilers no longer went back down when I used the X52. I only managed to get that back working by overwriting my FSUIPC.ini with a backup version)> Thanks, Martin

Hi Colin, Thanks for testing this, but to be honest, I suspect you do have this issue - not wishing to be contrary! - but it's probably just not very noticeable on your setup. I'll tell you why I say this: I just installed VHHH into an 'out-of-the-box' installation of FS9 I use for testing on another PC: no other addons there at all apart from the VHHH I added. At first, I couldn't see the line either, but then I recognised a faint trace so I went to slew mode and put the a/c onto the water a kilometre or so west of the airport. I then slewed east towards the airport and at the 'point of contention' my plane rose by 19'... the water wall is there, but almost invisible unless you are on top of it. I suppose that addons which improve the quality of the ground & water textures accentuate the level change - it is certainly very obvious in my regular FS9 installation - but almost invisible in the default. The elevation change is (in the default FS9 setup anyway) at N22 18.36 E113 53.18 Does your a/c, in slew mode, not lift up at or near that point? Martin ^_^

OK Dave, great. Are you sure, Colin? If you fly at midday it's hardly visible, but early morning it's pretty obvious. Shall I post a screenshot? If you really don't have this effect, then 'the plot thickens'!

It seems 'stuck': I go into the profile and can edit most functions as I want, but the sensitivity sliders for the mouse (I want it to move more slowly) are fixed - I can't drag them left or right. Any ideas why this is so? It is programmed as 'fall back'.. Thanks.

There isn't a flatten file per se, Mel. The elevation of 19' beyond the airport is due to the values in file grd_airport.bgl. If you remove that file alone, with no other change, the elevation is normal - zero to the shoreline, then rising to the airport elevation as you hit land - i.e., normal! But as I said, changing the data in that file would probably be impossible by hand, it's too complex. Yes, a new flatten bgl should be able to over-ride this, but... I even tried putting the grd_airport.bgl file at the lowest priority possible (moved out of the VHHH/scenery folder) and my flatten at the highest, but to no effect. M

It appears to me that the elevation issue is related to the flatten in the stock FS9 airport file, not in the actual scenery Well, as I say, removing the stock airport file doesn't remove the stack of water.. so I think probably not. :(

One more thing - the ridge of water looks far worse early morning; with the sun overhead at midday it's much less noticeable (so I may adjust my flight timings accordingly).

Yes, I did try changing the elevation in ADE ("..then using ADE9 to reduce VHHH to 1' elevation (would hardly show)). The airport looks awful without the ground, so I think it will have to stay as it is, with the walls of water. Aircraft (and AI too) sit fine at the gates and on the runways, so it's not a huge deal; just that it is frustrating not knowing why nothing seems to fix it.

I am afraid not. When I decompiled the bgl there are 324 objects in it. I suppose some of the areas defined are too big and extend out past the airport into the sea. It would be a nightmare editing the whole thing by hand. I tried removing all the objects and then adding a few back at random - but it appears that any of the objects in the bgl file cause the problem, that's to say, remove all 324 objects, then add just one of them back in.. I only tried a random selection but they all made the water elevation problem appear. I tried removing the default AP******.bgl and then using ADE9 to reduce VHHH to 1' elevation (would hardly show). Then edited the AFCAD similarly. But the mounds of water at 19' are still there, so I have put everything back to how it was. I don't see what more I can do. I'd be happy to have the whole airport at sea level, but I can't even get that to work.. Why doesn't a flatten in a higher priority folder take precedence over the grd_airport.bgl file and, well, flatten???

Well, the problem is the file grd_airport.bgl. If you remove that the water is flat all the way to the airport perimeter. But there are no airport ground textures. I'll see if I can edit it to fix the problem; it may be possible..

No, none of the flattens I have made, even a basic rectangle across the water to the west of the airport, have any effect at all on the water. Maddening. Looks like i'll just have to turn a blind eye as I fly in..

fs9/scenery/world/scenery was the first place I looked- no file; but I suspected I was doing something wrong and it was even more basic that I suspected. I haven't used ADE9x to make flatten files before and hadn't double-clicked the polygon so that the area is filled in in green - I'd just left the black lines. That said, now I have the two bgl files they are still making no difference, the sea still rises up to 19' all around the airport. I'll have another go, creating multiple files rather than just one around the whole airport... and report back!

Thanks both for the replies.. ".. yes, but only at the same altitude as the airport altitude" - are you sure? I have made flattens before, as I say, that have solved this very problem - lowering walls of water to zero feet around airports at the coast,, but doing the same thing at VHHH has had no effect. I have the latest version of ADE9 and used the polygon tool (the green 'shape' on the tool bar, to draw all around the airport. I set the elevation at zero and compile (after saving) - I get one bgl, VHHH_ADE9_MS.bgl. I have a folder in the scenry library above all other sceneries, for high priority bgl files; putting it there makes no difference to the water elevation. I had already looked at the file in its .sca form - looks fine, all parameters in the correct order. Not sure by the way that I could create sloped ground in FS9, can I, even if I wanted? I thought that only worked in FSX? l tried flattening the water just to the west of the airport using FSTFlatten - just a long rectangle. That didn't work either - VHHH seems immune toi everything I throw at it! If I disable the scenery altogether, the wall of water goes, so it is the VHHH installation that is causing it (just to check I don't have a rogue flatten elsewhere). Like you Mel, I also found a flatten bgl of my own making in the VHHH scenery folder - I also prefer a bgl file to an entry in the scenery.cfg file if I possibly can make it work. Whether my own bgl flatten ever worked, I can't now say. I am assuming it did as otherwise, why have I not noticed this water problem before? But if that's the case, why has it stopped being effective?? I have SBuilder and can try that, but have not really used it before so I don't know if that'll involve an afternoon's learning curve or not.. I'll try making a simple flatten rectangle with ADE9 just covering the area west of the runways (97L/07R), I haven't tried that yet. But I still think that this isn't working - I get just the one bgl file doing that. Are you sure only one is produces - the ADE9 pdf manual seems to say there should be two. In any case, the one produced has no effect, as I say. Am I doing it wrong? I set the altitude option to zero in the toolbar, select the polygon tool, draw the flatten anticlockwise and then save and compile: just one file is made (apart from the .ad2 of course when you save). Thanks again, Martin