martinlest2

I have posted about this in the FSDT forum, but no replies from their support or others thus far. I posted a similar question re. the Cloud9 KLAX (which I also bought this weekend, along with KDCA and the FSDT KORD) and I did get a reply, which basically said that that was why the Cloud9 scenery was cheaper than the FSDT one (which didn't address the question really, to be honest). In any case, maybe someone here (I guess a lot more people come to these forums than FSDT) who has bought the scenery may have some input. Sticking to KJFK, although I like the detail, the whole scenery is SO dark, with black taxiways and dark aprons. In the daytime that's OK, but I flew in at night yesterday and could see virtually nothing, a few vague yellow taxi lines aprt -WITH landing lights on (PMDG737): turn taxi lights off and it's impossible to see where you are going at all. The topic over at FSDT is here (not my thread - they never answered the OP. Is FSDT known for its lack of enthusiasm when it comes to support? The only other scenery I have of theirs is EHAM and they were not all that forthcoming with help there I recall): http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php/topic,1540.msg75560.html#msg75560 So, to get to the point: do others feel the same about the FSDT KJFK scenery? I can't see how it could be just me that has this problem (I don't have REX set to pitch dark night or whatever!). I wonder whether to try editing the bitmaps to lighten them up a bit (which ones???).. As it is, I am not going to use this scenery for flying between dusk and dawn, which seems a pity. It's so frustrating to taxi off the runway and finally find yourself off in the grass somewhere! Thanks, Martin

I posted about this quite a while back, with a video, but searching my threads on AVSIM doesn't locate it (odd - maybe it was before the site was hacked??), so I am trying again. When I am on the ground (and also, but a bit less noticeably, in the air) and pan in spot view, quite often whole sets of clouds disappear and reappear as I sweep round. Other sets of clouds are stable, which makes me think they are being generated by different software. I have always had this problem and have never been able to make any difference (by tweaking Active Sky settings and so on). Programmes I have installed that may be relevant (some probably not, but I list them for completeness) are ASv6.5, GEPro, Flight Environment, REX ... Does anyone else have this problem? Surely it can't just be me?? In the screenshot (i won't bother with another video) the line of clouds circled partly disappears and reappears as I pan. The rest are fine. Any ideas are very welcome, Martin

.. even when you are using PFE or RC4 the default ATC is still working in the background... that was my thinking exactly when I said I didn't think that this was due to PFE. Thanks for the replies .. I'll go through them later tonight and post back.

Well, I'll post there too and see what they say. I seem to post little problems there (and FDC) rather a lot and sort of feel I get more than my fair share of support already, but hey, I did buy their stuff I guess.. and the support at OnCourse is pretty good, to say the least... M

There seems to be a slight increase in CPU usage for FS9.exe, according to Task manager, when the stuttering starts, but it may be coincidental. No other processes are using any CPU to any extent and, as I said before, nothing to be seen extra in Process Monitor (the newer version of File Monitor). So I don't think that these short but regular fps crashes are due to anything out side of FS9. I have an out-of-the-box (which I assume is what you mean by 'vanilla') FS9 installation for testing purposes, but I haven't got round to using it yet to test this out. It's always difficult when you can't be sure that the problem is going to occur at any particular time - or even, at all. It would mean extended flying on a 'virgin', OK, 'vanilla' installation, but I will give it a try some time soon. I have watched the ActiveSky window, as it updates its weather files online, and the updates do not occur at the same time as the fps crashes.. Also, when I get these stutters, it's not a simple resource issue - there is always about 2.5GBs of physical RAM unused at any given time. Fs9.cfg main sections below, as suggested. Thanks, Martin ------------------------ [DISPLAY] UPPER_FRAMERATE_LIMIT=60 TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=25600 //TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=400 RUNWAY_LIGHTS_SURFACE_SCALAR=1.0 RUNWAY_LIGHTS_VASI_SCALAR=1.3 RUNWAY_LIGHTS_APPROACH_SCALAR=1.25 RUNWAY_LIGHTS_STROBE_SCALAR=1.4 TextureMaxLoad=10 [TERRAIN] TERRAIN_ERROR_FACTOR=95.000000 TERRAIN_MIN_DEM_AREA=10.000000 TERRAIN_MAX_DEM_AREA=100.000000 TERRAIN_MAX_VERTEX_LEVEL=21 TERRAIN_TEXTURE_SIZE_EXP=8 TERRAIN_AUTOGEN_DENSITY=5 TERRAIN_USE_GRADIENT_MAP=1 TERRAIN_EXTENDED_TEXTURES=1 TERRAIN_DEFAULT_RADIUS=9.500000 TERRAIN_EXTENDED_RADIUS=3.900000 TERRAIN_EXTENDED_LEVELS=4 [sCENERY] IMAGE_COMPLEXITY=5 DYNAMIC_SCENERY=1 DYN_SCN_DENSITY=5 DAWN_DUSK_SMOOTHING=1 SUNGLARE=1 LENSFLARE=1 [OldModules] FSSound.dll=1 msxml4.dll=1 msxml4a.dll=1 msxml4r.dll=1 ATC-WHM.gau=1 [GRAPHICS] FULL_SCREEN=0 PERFORMANCE_MODE=0 DEF_PERF_MODE=7 TEXT_SCROLL=1 AUTO_LOD=0 DETAIL_TEXTURE=2 WATER_EFFECTS=1 TERRAIN_USE_VECTOR_MAP=1 TERRAIN_USE_VECTOR_OBJECTS=1 EFFECTS_QUALITY=2 GROUND_SHADOWS=1 SMOOTH_VIEW=1 IMAGE_SMOOTHING=1 TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD=1024 COCKPIT_HIGH_LOD=1 AIRCRAFT_SHADOWS=1 LANDING_LIGHTS=1 IMAGE_QUALITY=0 TEXTURE_BLDG=1 TEXTURE_GND=1 TEXTURE_WATER=1 AIRCRAFT_TEXTURE=2 SEE_SELF=1 TEXTURE_QUALITY=3 LOD_TARGET_FPS=42 NUM_LIGHTS=8 [DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 .0] Mode=1920x1200x32 TriLinear=1 MipBias=5 [DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 .1] Mode=1920x1200x32

I was directed by ATC (I use PFE, but I don't think this issue directly relates to PFE - or does it?? - so I am posting here) to land at KDCA (Cloud9 version) on rwy19. Bit surprised to see an aircraft coming straight at me along rwy01, taking off. Zapped it with said FSUIPC function, but I missed my landing as it happened (forgot to turn A/Thr off!), so went around. Told ATC I had missed approach and was directed back to rwy19. This time I landed just fine - only to see a queue of planes lining up to take off (and then taking off) from rwy01! Don't think I have ever seen this before. What may be wrong do you good folks think? Can't see how that this could be an AFCAD error, but I have checked I have only one active AFCAD for KDCA (though even if I had several I don't think that would produce this error). Any ideas anybody? Thanks, Martin

Yes, turning off the special urban textures seems to help (only tried one location so far, but looks promising). But I only had that option checked for USA.. won't make any difference to EGLL etc., where the box was not ticked. No, I don't have the REX pitch black night checked. There are some other threads about this, so will keep looking whilst awaiting more input here! Thanks ^_^

.. will get back to this ASAP, haven't had time to look at the problem for the last few days. Thanks for the replies...

I don't fly at night in FS9 much as things are usually so dark I can't see what I am doing. Before I go round scrabbling through dozens of possible settings and trying to change this by trial and error, maybe someone could help me with what they feel may be the most likely suspects. Once upon a time, lighting and night seemed fine but clearly some settings have been altered somehow... In any case, it takes a lot of the pleasure out of flying at night - especially upon arrival at the destination airport, where, even with landing lights on, it's very hard to see where one is going. The screenshots are approach to KJFK (FSDreamTeam version) - not taken over water of course!! The lighting seems to get even dimmer as I pan aruond, away from straight ahead. I have the following software installed and active - some may be irrelevant, but I'll list them anyway: REX, SweetFX, Ultimate Terrain, GE Pro, Flight Environment... probably others I don't recall as I write this. Experimenting a bit, earlier tonight, made me think it's UT, as lights around non-UT zones, say Sydney, are a lot brighter than where UT is active, around New York, or Chicago, or London. But that said, I then tried around Mexico City (no UT there) and the general city lighting (streets/houses) is as dim as around NY, so I am not so sure now. Also, should the FSDT KJFK look so dim as this (I only just bought it)? Once off the runway, I could hardly find the taxiways, even with landing lights on. With just taxi lights (PMDG 737NG) it was impossible. How to give the night lighting a big boost then? I already have a good deal of payware installed, so would prefer not to install anything else. I should be able to fix this with the software I have, no? FS9.cfg setting??? OK, the screenshots.. The last two are Mexico City, and then Sydney (much better, but why when Mexico is so dark?), BTW; others KJFK, as I said.. I attach my UT settings too, at the end, just in case.. Thanks! Martin

I sometimes remove the bgl file which creates the ground textures - to have the default FS9 texture is better than putting up with this peeling effect. Not always possible though, depending on what was already there. I hope the scenery 'gurus' might have some more input on this.. Martin

No duplicate AFCAD (and in this case I have had no other CYAM sceneries installed). I have checked 'Ground scenery casts shadows', in case that makes any difference. As for mesh, I have a complete set of FSGenesis mesh. Could that be a problem? Thanks, Martin

..a couple of screenshots anyway!...

I know this is a fairly common problem, but can anyone say what the most common causes of this happening with 3rd. party sceneries are? Latest case: I installed a scenery of CYAM. As I explored after installation, all was fine. But flying into CYAM, the ground textures only appear as my a/c moves forward, the 3rd. party ground textures appearing (or disappearing, at a number of other airports) at the same speed as you taxi forwards.. I took some screenshots, but I guess most people will know what I am talking about. I am very far from the first to post about this. I landed at CYAM as dusk was setting in and in front of me was just a large, dark rectangle - the taxiway markings and ground textures from the CYAM scenery were showing up 100ms in front of the plane as I moved forward. Very hard to see where I was going at all... Is this fixable? Why does it only happen on arrival and never on departure? Sometimes creating a flatten for the whole airport helps, if you are lucky. Advice welcome as this error ruins enough flights (a small percentage, but even so) for it to be a bit of a pain now, Thanks, Martin

I sort of assumed it to be an AI a/c for the same reason (always zero values), but ..?? I never used to have appear them in the main FS9 folder - I am sure it is one particular a/c, but I can't think of a way to find which one. I can't trace any other similar cfg files (FS9/App Data has all state.cfg files of course), and I have no a/c with odd folder names. I can just delete (or hide) these files I suppose. They don't appear often, but they slowly accumulate, and I don't reall want more files in the main FS9 folder.. Thanks, Martin

I'd be curious to know what keeps creating these cfg files in my main FS9 folder. They all have names which use non-standard characters - ÿÿÿÿ.CFG and the like. They contain just this: [engine.0] accumulated_time=0.000000 [engine.1] accumulated_time=0.000000 Googling it didn't lead to anything... but I know I am the world's worst 'Googler'! Anyone else have the same kind of thing? Martin

Mel, thanks, but I did mention: "...seems to occur irrespective of aircraft or region" Only addons that would active in Africa would be REX, FSGenesis, GEPro: also ActiveSky 6.. and I run AISeparation... FDC... all I can think of for now. The monitors are run at native resolution - 1920x1200 for the FS9 monitor. I use Microsoft Security Essentials: I could try shutting it off whilst flying I guess. No, I unfortunately can't recall when this started. I have put up with it, mostly because it is going to be a real pain to find the reason this is happening. Even so, next time it starts, I'll try closing down some of the other FS programmes that I run when I fly, but I am not optimistic!! thanks, Martin

I have my fps capped at 60, and the PC achieves this most of the time. But for some years (literally) I have put up with the frame rates suddenly dropping to 3-4 fps for several seconds; troubleshooting it has lead nowhere: I wonder if anyone here has any good ideas? I don't think it's hardware related as I have had FS9 on different machines and had the problem on all of them. It happens every five minutes or so, and seems to occur irrespective of aircraft or region. I don't get it on the ground, only in flight, so maybe it's related to ground texture loading? I have looked at Task manager - no processes suddenly take up resources when this occurs: only FS9.exe is really using the CPU. Also tried Process Monitor, but again, nothing special happens during the few seconds of low fps - no new processes or anything different happening from when I am getting 60fps, as far as I can see. I can get the problem in areas where I have minimal addons - parts of Africa, so that rules out a number of programmes I could start disabling addons one by one, but that'd be a long trial and error process, so if anyone has ideas about a 'prime suspect' or (even better) has had this problem and fixed it, it's be very good to know. Thanks, Martin

.. see my post #3, above...

Very odd. I downloaded the file again and it plays fine on my system. Can you play other avi files OK? It's worth seeing, even though it's a mock up...

It's actually a TV advert (for what, I don't know).

Rather amazing piloting; looks as if many would have made it OK.. Does anyone know what incident it was? I have never seen this before today... http://rapidshare.com/share/0938CDAA612173B9FDBA0D9B1A39BD7B (Just click 'to Download' and double-click the .avi file) Martin

I have now removed the SSD from the PC and hooked it up to my laptop - which doesn't recognise it at all: nothing in Disk Management. I guess I can just ditch it. It failed four months outside of its three-year warranty BTW, I assume I am best plugging the SSHD into one of the grey, Marvell ports, not a standard SATA?

Have ordered that Seagate SSHD drive - but not from the Amazon link I posted, whose partner charges £7 postage! Ordered same from Dabs - who charge 80p! That was 80 pence - 80 .. p, UK £££/ppp. The combination creates a smiley!

I'll experiment a bit with the 'dead' drive (it's about 3 1/2 years old, so I am pretty sure it will be out of warranty, but I'll double check).. but there is almost 20GBs of space left on the C drive.. Maybe a hybrid drive like this would be an idea? It plugs into a SATA3 connector on the M/B? I have one spare (the SSD with my O/S on it is in the other). http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seagate-ST1000DX001-Hybrid-Internal-Solid/dp/B00ELAVIQ0/ref=sr_1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1384519109&sr=1-2&keywords=Seagate+1Tb+SSHD+drive What do folks think? The swap file issue (SSD v. SATA/IDE) has contenders on either side. I used to have my paging files on the SATA drives, but I went into a lot of correspondence about this on various 'tech' forums and on balance it seemed best to have them on the O/S (SSD). I can't recall the reasoning now...

My FS9 setup was (horrible use of past tense!) on a 128GB SSD. I was flying along quite happily this afternoon; the first sign of a problem was that my a/c texture would not load in spot view. This happens sometimes, but reappears within 10 seconds at most. This time, the plane stayed grey. So I reloaded the aircraft via the keyboard shortcut. This caused FS9 to hang, so I rebooted.. and to my great joy I saw that the SSD with FS9 on it was no longer there in My Computer. Rebooted.. disconnected and reconnected the drive to the M/B. Same result. Then, to add insult to injury, the PC stopped booting altogether. Well, that's another story: after an hour of this and that I got the PC booting normally again without any reformatting or repairs, but it certainly looks like my FS9 SSD is only fit for the bin. Fortunately (to say the least) I back up all my FS9 installation every few days (via a batch script, so it's very easy to do) and had in fact just backed up before the fateful flight today, so hopefully reinstalling shouldn't be too much of a problem, if all goes OK. I will have to buy another drive for FS9 I suppose though, and hence this post: My O/S is also on a (different) SSD (plus I have two 1TB SATA drives for data), but I am thinking of getting another SATA drive as a replacement and reinstalling FS9 on that, rather than another solid state drive. What do people think? I don't know that the difference is going to be all that noticeable in practice.. SATA? SSD? Comments (especially from those with relevant technical data and expertise in this area) welcome, Many thanks, Martin