SpeedbirdCanada

ASUS Sabertooth FX990 R2.0, AMD FX-8350 oc 4.5 MHz w/8Gb DDR3 1866Mhz, ASUS GeForce GTX 1050Ti, Windows 10 64-bit Pro

FSX:SE, DX10Fixer, NVInspector, AS16 w/ASCA, Pilot's FTGlobal NG (latest one for FSX), Orbx (many incl BASE, Vector, PNW, NRM, OLC, Buildings, Trees, Chaseplane and Volanta).

Two weeks ago, without adding/removing any addons or changing settings, FSX:SE started to not only show blurry scenery but no terrain resolution (literally a blue flat brownish ground no features). The sim would load perfectly at my starting airport and everything sharp as a  tack with steady FPS locked at 30 fps. takeoff, climbout look great but after a short cruise of about 20 minutes, the distant horizon looks like the ground from an 80's video game. FPS remains steady.

I suspect hardware failure since no software changes occurred (to my knowledge) so I began testing components (RAM, GPU, HDD, SSD) with not reported anomalies. Other games/programs continue to run flawlessly.

Let's assume a setting was perhaps changed automatically with DX10Fixer or ORBX Central but, I am unable to locate the problem. Again prior to 2 weeks sim was smooth and sharp. My settings are not maxed and I have reviewed the AVSIM config, CTD, and other tweak guides (none of which I usually mess with since I've been down that rabbit-hole before ending in a fresh install). That said, I did reset my settings (del FSX.cfg), I also verified files in all ORBX addons.

I descended to my destination and paused the sim. (start timer) I also monitored my CPU in task manager bouncing between 80 and 99% load and GPU (initially around 20-30% but when the scenery started getting blurry the GPU load drops to 5-10%)... while paused the CPU remains over 94% while GPU now climbs to 20% suggesting that scenery will start catching up. Temps are steady CPU 37C and GPU 41C. UPDATE: So 8 minutes paused the scenery is once again sharp as ever. Why is this happening when 14 days ago, my sim remained sharp for duration of flight? I realize the variables are too great to answer definitively however, I'm sure others out there have experience similar anomalies and a list of suggestions would be appreciated. Again, I stress that my system ran moderately detailed settings for years without this issue. I have no interest in going through a fresh install again (I'll just shelf the sim until I have the patience to sift through the tweak noise again).

[BUFFERPOOLS]
UsePools=0     --------------------> Played with this before but so many sites have conflicting suggestions.

[JOBSCHEDULER]
AffinityMask=254   -------------------> Placebo? tried 14, 84, 252 with no noticeable change. 

[GRAPHICS]
AC_SELF_SHADOW=1
AIRCRAFT_REFLECTIONS=1
AIRCRAFT_SHADOWS=1
COCKPIT_HIGH_LOD=1
D3D10=1
EFFECTS_QUALITY=2
GROUND_SHADOWS=0
IMAGE_QUALITY=0
LANDING_LIGHTS=1
NUM_LIGHTS=8
See_Self=1
TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD=2048
TEXTURE_QUALITY=3
Text_Scroll=1
SHADER_CACHE_PRIMED_10=1693751040
SHADER_CACHE_PRIMED=1693751040
MultiSamplesPerPixel=4
MultiSampleQuality=8
HIGHMEMFIX=1   -------------------> Many sites indicate FSX:SE doesn't need this yet a *few* users suggest leave on. I've tried with =1 and =0 no noticeable difference in the issue at hand

[TERRAIN]
AUTOGEN_DENSITY=2
DETAIL_TEXTURE=1
LOD_RADIUS=3.500000
MESH_COMPLEXITY=80
MESH_RESOLUTION=23
TEXTURE_RESOLUTION=29
WATER_EFFECTS=5

[Display]
ActiveWindowTitleBackGroundColor=0,28,140,64
ActiveWindowTitleTextColor=255,255,255
BLOOM_EFFECTS=0
ChangeTime=4.000000
ForceVCShadowMap=1
InfoBrakesEnable=True
InfoLowerLeftBackGroundColor=255,0,0,128
InfoLowerLeftTextColor=255,255,255
InfoLowerRightBackGroundColor=255,0,0,128
InfoLowerRightTextColor=255,255,255
InfoOverspeedEnable=True
InfoParkingBrakesEnable=True
InfoPauseEnable=True
InfoSlewEnable=True
InfoStallEnable=True
InfoUpperRightBackGroundColor=0,0,0,0
InfoUpperRightTextColor=255,0,0
NonActiveWindowTitleBackGroundColor=24,33,87,64
NonActiveWindowTitleTextColor=255,255,255
SKINNED_ANIMATIONS=1
TransitionTime=4.000000
UPPER_FRAMERATE_LIMIT=21  ------> normally 30
WideViewAspect=True
TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=400   ------> 40, 80, 120, 160, 400   no change

[DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti.0.0]
Mode=1920x1080x32
Anisotropic=1
AntiAlias=1

[Main]
HideMenuFullscreen=1
HideMenuNormal=0
SimObjectPaths.0=SimObjects\Airplanes
SimObjectPaths.1=SimObjects\Rotorcraft
SimObjectPaths.2=SimObjects\GroundVehicles
SimObjectPaths.3=SimObjects\Boats
SimObjectPaths.4=SimObjects\Animals
SimObjectPaths.5=C:\Program Files (x86)\12bPilot\SODE\data\SimObjects
SimObjectPaths.6=C:\ProgramData\12bPilot\SODE\SimObjects
SimObjectPaths.7=SimObjects\IVAO_MTL
SimObjectPaths.8=SimObjects\UGCX
SimObjectPaths.9=C:\Program Files (x86)\Addon Manager\Simobjects\Misc
SimObjectPaths.10=C:\Program Files (x86)\Addon Manager\Simobjects\Legacy
User Objects=Airplane, Helicopter
ProcSpeed=6983
PerfBucket=7
Maximized=2
Disable_Preload=1
FIBER_FRAME_TIME_FRACTION=0.11   ------> 0.11, 0.15, 0.2, 0.33, 0.5 no change
Location=440,129,1480,908,\\.\DISPLAY1

Thanks for taking time to read. I'm off to work to make more money to buy a XP11 or FS2020 computer system LUL

Thanks for the suggestion Hans. I disabled all scenery except for the Default Terrain, Default Scenery and the Continents. No effect. This is leading me to believe, a file(s) has been overwritten in the default scenery that is causing this anomaly. Might just have to live with it as my sim looks fantastic and hate to resort to a fresh install. I was hoping someone may have some more technical ideas to determine how this is possible (for example, what type of files can override or exclude these polygons on a large scale?)

I will play with those settings Jerry but, I do like what they do for my sims appearance with all my mods. Appreciate all the suggestions people. Many thanks.

So I've located a small set of VTPP files from the "Forgotten Airports" package (by Bastian Blinten) found on Flightsim.com that when active, somehow allows autogen to spew across all default airports worldwide. When I remove the files Abidjan_VTPP Bissau_VTPP Cotonou_VTPP Freetwon_VTPP Manzini_VTPP Nouakchott_VTPP, all the default airports now have autogen excluded from appearing on runways and aprons. So I got that going for me but, I still don't visually see that background grass around the default airports (ie city streets, farms, etc are still rendering under the runways just no autogen. Weird.

Not sure I used those..... Investigating.... I have discovered that after disabling ALL addon folders the autogen problem seemed to have disappeared but visually the polygon for the airport backgrounds still don't show (underlining city polygon beneath a nearby airport etc) But it is helpful. Will investigate further. If so, I'll have to figure out how to remove them.

I am at my wits end for diagnosing this anomaly. So I have a question:

Is there an enhancement addon released in the last few years that may affect the display/effect of the ABxxxxxx.bgl files (Airport Background) to the extent that the polygons no longer display AND autogen scenery is now all over the aprons and runways? I've been coping with the issue for a while (creating new polygons and exclude files with SBuilder as I encouter them) however, recently I experimented an bounced around the entire globe to various default airports and can see that it is a global problem. I've searched the default scenery folders to confirm that all the AB files are present for the affected airports and through SBuilder can confirm that all the polygons are layered at "7" (for airport background/autogen exclude).

Furthermore, I have scanned the terrain.cfg files and all Airport background textures are flagged "autogen exclude =1" which according to documentation is correct.

I'm sure I installed something (which may make it impossible to track down) that has configured FS scenery to somehow "hide" this airport background polygons (thus creating autogen trees and buildings on top) but, I'm hoping for some suggestions as to hunting down the issue..... What can cause this?
Just recently I have disabled the world texture folder (so autogen is gone), I've disabled various addon scenery folders but before I go through all 1400+ entries, I was hoping someone may have experienced and fixed or my have an inkling as to what type of file/addon/freeware/payware that may be able to essentially disable all the AP background polygons from rendering without deleting or editing the original BGLs. I'm assuming an exclude of some kind but, for all of them?

A search on google has turned up only a couple instances reported by others but nothing resolved nor does it seem very likely it is a common issue (only response indicated a landclass file but, worldwide?)

If someone out there has experienced this and/or can recall what addon caused this please post. Any other suggestions are very welcome. Thanks