An Issue With Ground Tiles

[cmpbllsjc]

Umberto,

I love KFLL but I have been having an issue with it, KLAS, Geneva, and Zurich. I have had this going on for a while and lived with it without saying anything, but it has finally gotten on my nerves enough that I though I would ask if there is something I can do to remedy the situation.

Here's the thing. When flying around the above mentioned airports I get a lot of the ground textures, basically the photo ground textures, turning white after I have taken the view off them, then when I turn back toward the airport the white base is still there until the photo ground textures re-draw themselves. The computer I am running FSX on is no slouch.  I am running:

* WinXP Home SP3 * INTEL Core™ 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz oc'd @ 3.85 GHz * ASUS Maximus Formula Intel X38 * CORSAIR, 2GB (2 x 1GB) XMS2 PC2-8500 DDR2 oc'd @ 1080 MHz, 5-5-5-15 * XigmaTek HDT-S1283 * EVGA GeForce™ 8800 GTS 512MB * WESTERN DIGITAL 500GB * WESTERN DIGITAL 250GB * ANTECH Nine Hundred Case * PC Power & Cooling S75QB 750W 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply * SAMSUNG SyncMaster™ 931BF LCD Monitor * FSX Setup FS-GS *

I am not sure if it is because of the way the LOD works where it basically turned off the gound textures after getting a certain distance from the airport then turns them back on. Since ground textures don't make much difference on performance, is there a way I could increase or turn of the LOD mechanism on these so I don't get the redraws?

I have some other airports not by FSDT that also have photo real ground textures and I don't get this with them. I am also running a bunch of MegaScenery products like SoCal, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Dallas and have no problems with performance or anything like the above.

I will post screen shots of what I am talking about if you need them to better understand my problem.

Thanks in advance.

Sean

[virtuali]

Here's the thing. When flying around the above mentioned airports I get a lot of the ground textures, basically the photo ground textures, turning white after I have taken the view off them, then when I turn back toward the airport the white base is still there until the photo ground textures re-draw themselves. The computer I am running FSX on is no slouch.

Not an error, and nothing we can do about it, because it's the way we made the custom ground scenery in FSX.

I have some other airports not by FSDT that also have photo real ground textures and I don't get this with them.

Please make an example, but I doubt they use the same method we use which allows, for example, fully custom ground, very high res, no blurries AND compatibility with rain effect, all at the same time. I usually see one or other, but never all together. And, those that might have it, are usually much much smaller.

I am also running a bunch of MegaScenery products like SoCal, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Dallas and have no problems with performance or anything like the above.

That's an entirely different thing: those are all photoreal sceneries using native FSX photoreal terrain instructions that works very differently, they are not an airport custom ground, that is made with several layers of polygons for base, details and lines made with the FS2002 SDK, to have the fully custom ground with all the features said before.

[cmpbllsjc]

Hi Umberto, thanks for the reply. First I want to say that in no way I meant for my post to sound like I was really dissatisfied with the products, because I am not. I really love them and keep buying them. Seeing as how this is the internet I know that it is hard to tell what the tone of someones post is.

You asked for some examples of sceneries that I have that have custom ground textures that don't do what I was explaining. Here they are: FlyTampa St. Maarten, Imaginesim KCLT and TJSJ, Sim Giantes Gran Canaria International Airport, Aerosoft Madeira X, Aerosoft German Aiports 2, BluePrint KDAL. Although the BluePrint KDAL I removed the photoreal ground because it didn't blend with the default scenery very well. I don't know what the ground resolutions of these are compared to FSDT's are, and off the top of my head I can't remember if they include the ability to show the rain effect.

Anyways, I wasn't sure if there was a work around or a way to get these gound tiles to stay loaded for a longer time, but after reading your reply I guess not. I feel better knowing that I am not the only one who sees this. From a users end would or could I get a better result if I took the time myself and converted the ground tile textures into .bmp's, joined them, added the masks, and compliled them into a single .bgl. The reason I ask is that I have made some custom ground tile textures to use as airport backgrounds that are high res, using a tool like SbuilderX, that displayed under an airports scenery. Although, I have never made the runway or taxiway textures the backgounds looked good under the airport file and they stayed loaded.

I know that I am way out of my league, and do not understand a lot of scenery design, but I thought it would be worth asking. If not, no big deal. It's not a deal breaker for me. I love FSDT's sceneries a lot and will continue to pruchase. 

Regards,

Sean

[virtuali]

You asked for some examples of sceneries that I have that have custom ground textures that don't do what I was explaining. Here they are: FlyTampa St. Maarten, Imaginesim KCLT and TJSJ, Sim Giantes Gran Canaria International Airport, Aerosoft Madeira X, Aerosoft German Aiports 2, BluePrint KDAL.

That's only confirms what I've said: they are either much smaller, not supporting rain, or just lower res, or simply bad looking.

From a users end would or could I get a better result if I took the time myself and converted the ground tile textures into .bmp's, joined them, added the masks, and compliled them into a single .bgl

This would mean creating a FSX photoreal scenery. This is how our KJFK and KORD sceneries are made, for example. And, if you followed the discussions after JFK release, a lot of people complained about the ground not being as sharp it could, because the photoreal scenery depends a lot on scenery settings so, people with config problems, slow machines, wrong video settings, would see the scenery blurred, something that doesn't happen with our method. And, of course, using a native FSX photoreal scenery would prevent having rain effects on tarmac.

So, as I've said, this is the only compromise that allows very high res on ground, no blurries, good match with surrounding scenery AND rain effect on FSX, all at the same time.

[cmpbllsjc]

Thanks Umberto, your quick to reply this morning, or evening for you. I never followed the JFK or ORD threads since I didn't buy those. I didn't know that you made the gound tiles like that in those two products. I can see what you mean though in your explanation about everyone experiencing different end results using this type of ground tile procedure.

Oh well, I will leave it alone and just go back to enjoying the airports. I'm glad you pointed that out before I spent the time converting all those tiles and messing with it.

Thanks again.

Regards,

Sean