Where are the wheels????

[jwenham]

Although I have had the DFW scenery now for a week or so, today I have noticed that the ground vehicles driving around have no wheels up to a certain distance. When they come in closer the wheels all of the sudden show on the vehicle. This looks very strange so I was wondering if there is a setting or a fix for this.

PS, this is my first FSDT scenery so be easy on me please. LOL

Jim

[virtuali]

All our objects in all our sceneries, and especially vehicles, are optimized with several LOD settings, so they become progressively more complex when you get close. This method takes more time, which is why you don't see it very often in other sceneries, but it's also why our sceneries are usually perform way faster then comparably large sceneries.

So, there's nothing to fix, because it's not a bug but it's a design feature.

[jordanal]

Hi all,
I'm not sure if it matters, but I am experiencing this same issue at more than one FSDT scenery lately - especially KDFW.  The big AA push carts for example will have what appears to be a single big black tire right in the middle of the vehicle but only partially visable from the side and under the cart.  Then when I'm close enough to almost step out of my aircraft and touch it, the 4 wheel come back.  The rest of the cart details seem crisp, but with empty wheel-wells, it's just an issue with the LOD of the wheels themselves. All other FSDT scenery parts, at multiple FSDT airports, seem to change LOD levels correctly.

This is routinely experienced at KDFW on my Win7x64/FSXsp2 rig using all the popular add-ons without any major/questionable tweaks.

If you have a moment some day, could you just double-check the LOD details of the push cart wheels for FSX and see if there isn't some underlying issue that could be tweaked?  It's really strange...  I'll see if I can't grab a screenie.

[Edit - a little while later - with some screenies]

The first shot is while slewing toward the push cart - you have to get really close to get the wheels to go to LOD1 detail.  The second shot - just little bit closer the wheels finally display.  The third shot - you back up pretty far and the wheels on the original push cart (1) still display, but then another push cart wheels (to the far right) disapear, even though it's closer.

[virtuali]

If you have a moment some day, could you just double-check the LOD details of the push cart wheels for FSX and see if there isn't some underlying issue that could be tweaked?

Checked it, and the push carts are ok. However, some of them are animated, and animated vehicles are somewhat tricky, because they might change their position while you are closing so, the LOD might not be updated in the same way as static objects. The normal effect is that you might not see wheels immediately.

If it seems the wheels never come up, even if you go close then go back (as in Slew mode), it might be another thing, check your SmallPartRejectRadius parameter in the FSX.cfg tweaks (you can just use the Addon Manager to change it), if it's set too high, smaller parts like wheels might disappear too early.

[jordanal]

Ah, thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to double check them.  That is really appreciated.  It was just one of the little things that make you go "hmmm" when taxing out.  I will try your tip with the SmallPartRejectRadius tweak - good to know.  

[jordanal]

Hmmm, with regard to my above screenshots, I just verified that I do not have a SmallPartRejectRadius parameter in my fsx.cfg file.  Would this be the equivilent to a SmallPartRejectRadius=1 value?  In other words, I already have the reject radius as small as it can get?  Is there no way to force the wheels to show from a further distance?  I just ran the session again from KDFW terminal C and watched the vans and push carts.  I could easily see all the vehicles and their empty wheel-wells almost up to Terminal B; but again, looking really weird without wheels.

It almost looked like a fleet of land-cruisers from the original Star Wars movie running around between terminals B & C, LOL...   

[virtuali]

In other words, I already have the reject radius as small as it can get?

Yes, you have.

Is there no way to force the wheels to show from a further distance?  I just ran the session again from KDFW terminal C and watched the vans and push carts.  I could easily see all the vehicles and their empty wheel-wells almost up to Terminal B; but again, looking really weird without wheels.

The only way to increase this distance, is to recompile the objects. As I've said, I don't see what you are describing. Yes, I don't see wheels immediately, but as soon as I close in, they are back and don't disappear anymore because the issue they are *moving*, which is why the LOD distance is evaluated over a center point which is moving with the object so, it's not updated immediately.

But, at least on my system, it's really a minor issue that only lasts for a couple of seconds, then wheels come back.

[jordanal]

Thanks Umberto,
Understood and I appreciate your time.  I guess if I ever had a choice in the matter, I would vote for the LOD1 level for the wheels to be pushed out further - just a bit of constructive customer feedback   

[kamanba]

Hmmm, with regard to my above screenshots, I just verified that I do not have a SmallPartRejectRadius parameter in my fsx.cfg file.  Would this be the equivilent to a SmallPartRejectRadius=1 value?  In other words, I already have the reject radius as small as it can get?  Is there no way to force the wheels to show from a further distance?  I just ran the session again from KDFW terminal C and watched the vans and push carts.  I could easily see all the vehicles and their empty wheel-wells almost up to Terminal B; but again, looking really weird without wheels.

It almost looked like a fleet of land-cruisers from the original Star Wars movie running around between terminals B & C, LOL...   

Hi man!Hi,

I was just wondering how you solved your pb with the strange single wheel under ground vehicles, because i got the exact same issue ?

Best regards

Kaman

[jordanal]

To this day, I still have the screwed-up wheel problem at KDFW.  The vehicle wheels don't appear until the vehicle is very very close to to my aircraft.  This is NOT the case with any other FSDT scenery, of which I own most, if not all.  The LOD level of the vehicle wheels really needs a second look and tweak.  It may not be a problem on the developers system, but it is certainly a remianing issue on some user's systems.  Even the newest (heavy) KLAX scenery does not have this problem - it is specific to DFW.

[kamanba]

Hi,

Thx for your reply ! I don't think its specific to Dallas, its also the case with KLax  ( in my system)....,