tszchun_anson

Thanks a million Rasterfahnder 😀 I just got SF3D cloud textures and models set up and installed. From visual, the clouds appeared to be SF3D clouds (actually pretty different from the clouds before SF3D). That's why I think what you mentioned is correct. Have a nice day. Anson

Thanks for your insight :) With the three options "Cirrus", "Cumulus" and "Cloud Structure" disabled in ASCA, I believe the full dynamic theme will exclude clouds for injection, but only the sky colours, which is the only thing left enabled there. May I know why I won't use the full potential of SF3D with current combo? Do you mean I can do something so that it can display more than one texture sets? Thanks very much 😁 Anson

Hi, I have been using Envtex for cloud textures and other textures like waves and water; ASCA for cloud structures and dynamic sky colours. Now I am trying to figure out how to get SF3D integrated with them. I aim for SF3D’s full cloud-related functionality, including but not limited to cloud structures & textures, rain shaft etc., without its weather engine. I understand that for the issue-free mix and match, I have to customise settings for ASCA, Envtex, SF3D and maybe some other effect add-ons having functions overlapping each other, so that eventually only one add-on is responsible for a particular function. For example, when I desire to use Envtex’s sun and moon, I have to disable those in SF3D. However, what bother me is that, I am not sure whether some functions are really overlapping. For example, while SF3D offers rain shaft as mentioned in the user manual, should I disable rain effect from Envtex? What makes the matter even more complicated is that, there is “integration” option available in Envtex. Believably I have to keep ASCA Integration enabled for dynamic sky colour injection, but Envtex will install cumulus textures into \Prepar3D v4\Texture folder whenever ASCA Integration option is enabled. I have no idea whether the installation of SF3D textures will replace those clouds from Envtex, which is actually my purpose, as mentioned. Furthermore, it appears that in the first start of SF3D, some core files will be installed. May I know if those files contain any textures that are not listed in the UI? This concerns me because I have to ensure the functions between the add-ons will not overlap with each other after customisation of settings. I have prepare a list of what to disable in where. I would be very very thankful if somebody could help review it. Thanks very much. I hope that the mix and match can be done ASAP so that I can enjoy the sim 🙂 Anson ENVTEX ENABLED airport aurora envmap grass milkyway sky - 24h rain snow inland water ocean water tropical water waves ENVTEX DISABLED Cumulus (reason: to use SF3D clouds) Cirrus (reason: to use SF3D clouds) Special Effects (reason: to use OldProps Immersion and PrecipitFX) Sun (reason: to use SF3D sun) Moon (reason: to use SF3D moon) REX SF3D DISABLED all sky options (reason: to use Envtex sky colours)  ASCA ENABLED Sky Colour (only)

It appears that many of you here uses GSX Lv2 for dynamic jetways. Do you experience a short stutter, which lasts less than a second, on final approach when the dynamic jetways are spawned?

No. What he did for me in Teamviewer session was to: 1. in ASCA, re-tick the option of “cirrus” and “cloud texture”, which I had unticked previously, then click “install to sim” 2. in ASCA, untick the option of “cirrus” and “cloud texture”, then click “install to sim” After these two steps, the clouds came back. You might have to test that eventually there was no settings changed. That’s why we suspected that there is a bug on ASP4/ASCA side, preventing Envtex’s textures from being injected.

The developer who helped me believed that there could be sort of compatibility issues with the newer versions. Maybe you had a successful installation long time ago so you don’t encounter any issue right now.

Actually which one determines which cloud textures to inject, ASP4, ASCA or P3D? As far as I know, Envtex is responsible for installing textures into \Prepar3D v4\Textures folder. But how to ensure that the sim does not use the default textures anymore? Anson

Hi everyone, I have posted this issue on GSX official support forum, but I am also reposting here because I want to gain more insights from you😉 Description of Issue On every final approach to VHHH in which GSX level 2 was configured (haven't got time to test other sceneries), there is one single lag lasting 0.5-1 second when the aircraft reaches 600ft specifically. Demonstration of Issue (this youtuber's sim may have the same issue as mine) What I know http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php?topic=20434.0 According to the discussion in this link, the more diverse the jetways and bridges set are, the more performance hit the sim could get. My PC Spec Intel Core i9-9900K (stock) Samsung 970 PRO 512GB NVME Nvidia GTX1080 Ti 11GB My Thought/Speculation I believe the lag is caused by the loading of jetways and bridges in the scenery as we are approaching. I fully understand the complexity of jetways and bridges does impair performance. However, is there adjustable options to alleviate the stutter on approach? Could we enlarge the scenery draw distance so that those jetways and bridges can be loaded earlier without disturbing the final approach? Or can the performance hit be "transferred" to another form, like sacrificing some FPS for a stutter-free approach? Thanks, Anson

Sorry for my late reply. A developer from TOGA Projects had a Teamviewer session and did several tests on my PC. In summary, it is highly likely that ASP4/ASCA has bugs which prevent Envtex's textures in \Prepar3D v4\Textures folder from being loaded into sim. Anson

Thanks everyone for providing insights and suggestions. Here's a little update: I have been keeping in contact with both Envtex and Hifi support. The latter confirmed that my cloud textures were properly installed into \Prepar3D v4\Textures folder, so they believed the issues were not on their side. Today I discovered that the clouds come back if I don't start Active Sky with my sim. I suspect that ASP4/ASCA has some issues which make external cloud texture fail to get loaded in. Anson

Hi! I saw you on the official forum as well. After you had gone back and ticked on the clouds, did you get Envtex clouds back or just the ASCA clouds? Anson

Thanks for your advice. I understand your logic, and will do when I get time this weekend :)

I would like to confirm my understanding of ASCA integration with ENVTEX is correct. The following is an extract of ENVTEX manual: With cloud and sky textures disabled, how can ASCA even inject ENVTEX textures into sim? Anson

Thanks! The reason why I disabled cirrus and cloud textures in ASCA was that I wanted ASCA to exclude its own textures but inject Envtex textures into sim in full dynamic mode. The Envtex manual recommends this and I can also see some youtube simmers setting the sim this way as well. I believe it shouldn’t be the cause of missing clouds. Anson

Thanks for your advice! You are right, ASP4 is running with P3D. I haven’t tried to enable the cloud and cirrus textures ever since. But I think the key is that there might have been something wrong with ENVTEX. Like...even though in ENVTEX option page I chose to use ENVTEX sky colours only, the ASCA still injected its own sky colours into sim. Anson

Thanks! Yes, I am using TomatoShade. But I am used to clearing shader cache every time before starting the sim. Anson

Yes, I have recorded my installation process and confirmed that I did click “install to sim” button after selecting the options. It took a while to load to 100% as normal. Anson

Hello everyone! After clean installation of sim and addons, I noticed that there was no cloud at all. The problem is very likely to be caused by improper configs of ENVTEX and ASCA. I can see at the bottom of ASCA UI: “Last Activated Theme: Full Dynamics, Sky: Instinctive 3, Cirrus: None, Clouds: None” The following is the ASCA settings: ASCA Theme: Full Dynamic Cloud Textures: Disabled Cloud Structures: Enabled Sky Textures: Enabled Cirrus Texture: Disabled In ENVDIR, I have enabled ASCA Integration and correctly configured ASCA folder. The settings above are recommended in ENVTEX’s manual. First, when Cloud and Cirrus Textures are both disabled in ASCA, how can ASCA inject the ENVTEX textures into sim? Is this the culprit of missing clouds? Second, in ENVDIR I have actually set "Set 2 - Uses Envtex sky textures only" under the field of "Sky for ASCA", how come ASCA is still using its own sky colour? Hope somebody can clear up my confusion. Thanks, Anson

It has really been a long time...I finally got a replacement unit, the issue unfortunately still persists.... I now believe that the culprit is on software side...

My soundbar has been connected to motherboard USB port. May I know if your issue was also intermittent? Did that occur few times a minute? Really hope I could have get the good service like yours... Anson

Thanks for getting back. I agree with you that the SB should be hassle-free. A large difficulty of mine is that I am not sure whether the issue is caused by my hardware or software (especially the BIOS and driver). Anyway I would try to add the line first, and update BIOS of necessary. Anson

Still didn’t get time to add the line. But may I know which version of the NVIDIA driver are you using? Which motherboard and which BIOS version? I saw many online discussions claiming that the graphics driver may cause the audio issue, although I am using USB connection... Anson

The sound glitches can happen anywhere, not only P3D but also iTunes and Youtube. I will try the line when I get back to my PC. Thanks. Anson

Just switched to another cable. The issue still persisted unfortunately... I think I should make a RMA request to Creative... Anson

I also got the on-board audio abd USB sleep mode disabled. And I didn't install NVIDIA/Realtek audio drivers. I have already contacted the technical support of Creative but it seems that they don't have idea why the issue occurred as well. I also use gaming profile like what you did. I will switch to another cable for testing. Anson