FSX KDFW "bridges"

[AirBorne]

Hello,

Today I made a flight on 777 PMDG from KORD to KDFW (both FSDT) and after landing on KDFW, upon taxiing to the gate I passed on one of those bridges above the roads and I noticed some glitches with the terrain close to the bridges (just like the ones on these screenshots). I was concerned about crashing the plane, what indeed happend, and I lost my flight.

Any help?

I read the manuals I found but I haven't seen any hint on this.

Thanks.

[virtuali]

I read the manuals I found but I haven't seen any hint on this.

Of course it's in the manual. Look the suggested settings for Mesh in the "Design Notes" section.

[AirBorne]

Funny thing, my settings were already within the range provided by manual's instructions, but alas, the issue is there still...

[virtuali]

Funny thing, my settings were already within the range provided by manual's instructions, but alas, the issue is there still...

Try to use *exactly* those settings, not higher or lower. The spikes might appear also if you set them higher.

[AirBorne]

Hummm, that's the problem. It says AT LEAST/OR BETTER, so I considered setting everything "to the maximum" was in conformity.
I won't use *exactly*, as it would diminish the overall quality of my experience with other products, so I think I have only one option: operating in only one side of the airport each time I get there    until there's an update to the product or a replacement. 

[virtuali]

Hummm, that's the problem. It says AT LEAST/OR BETTER, so I considered setting everything "to the maximum" was in conformity.

It says "at least" because the problem doesn't under ANY circumstances, depending on the mesh used, you might use an "at least" setting, or you must use an "exact" setting.

I won't use *exactly*, as it would diminish the overall quality of my experience with other products, so I think I have only one option: operating in only one side of the airport each time I get there    until there's an update to the product or a replacement.

The "update to the product" you need, is the OTHER 3rd party mesh you are using, there's nothing we can fix from our side, it's the underlying mesh that create such spikes, the airport is entirely flat at that point, the spikes are a result of rounding problems in interpolating the underlying mesh to conform to the flat airport.

And besides, since the suggested correct mesh resolution is 10m/pixel, are you SURE your other 3rd party mesh that is causing those spikes, comes from a data source with a NATIVE ( not interpolated ) resolution BETTER than that ? If the ORIGINAL data source doesn't have a real resolution higher than 10m/pixel, using an higher resolution in FSX would create exactly that problem, with no benefits whatsoever to the visual quality, any perceived detail is fake.

Note that, I'm explicitly said the "original" data source. Some mesh developers interpolate a mesh to an higher (fake) resolution, in order to "win" against other meshes, because FSX will always display the highest resolution mesh, as compiled in the terrain files but of course, if such resolution is not real, the file is just larger with no visual benefit.

The issue is also that those add-on meshes contains lots of "noise" that is not terrain data, especially in populated areas and airports, because the sensor captured trees, towers, large buildings, etc. and this will create spikes, unless the mesh developer would flatten the mesh at the airports, which is how the default FSX mesh is made. But unfortunately, nobody does that, and there are even add-on mesh products that are supposed to fix this.

[CVO110]

AirBorne, I believe I had the same issue as you are referencing here. but since I can't see your screenshots, I assume they were barricade looking with a spike at one end, or just spikes.

Initially I had my Mesh Resolution at full. I set mine back to the next lower setting which is 2m. All of my issues are gone now. I don't remember setting it there but none the less, I'm good with it. Except for things disappearing in cockpit view.

I did manage to find a workaround that let me continue the taxi. Once you're close to the spikes, toggle to an outside view and they disappear. At that point I could continue the taxi across the bridges. The north end of DFW had the issue more so than the south end. The north end had the barricades and the south end had just spikes.

[virtuali]

Initially I had my Mesh Resolution at full. I set mine back to the next lower setting which is 2m. All of my issues are gone now. I don't remember setting it there but none the less, I'm good with it. Except for things disappearing in cockpit view.

2m is still way too high, it's really useless and will put unnecessary strain on the system. No 3rd party mesh has a REAL (meaning, coming from the original data source) resolution so high, the most you can get is 5m, putting the sim slider higher than the actual resolution of the underlying mesh is a waste of resources/memory.

[CVO110]

Sorry. I meant to say 5 instead of 2. ORBX says to use 10, or 5 if it can handle it. All is good on my side.

[virtuali]

Sorry. I meant to say 5 instead of 2. ORBX says to use 10, or 5 if it can handle it. All is good on my side.

We also say to use 10m at KDFW, it's the setting that makes the most sense, even with a 5m mesh, you will hardly see much difference.