Shadows in V2 Version

[Iberia]

Hi,

recently I have bought the V2 version of JFK airport and I am very satisficed with it. I was looking forward to have a real good JFK airport for FSX.

But I have noticed that the AI planes don´t show their shadows when activated. I always run the simulator with the own AI shadows activated, but in this airport those ones are not shown. Why?

And secondly, I cannot see the AI planes (except those with FAIB textures) when the observer view is near the ground. In the pictures attached you can see that the planes dissapear from pic 1 to pic 2. In pic 1 the altitude is 213ft and in pic 2 is 212ft. From that altitude to the ground, planes are not shown. I do not understand what is happening. Does this also happen to you?

Thank you very much in advance

[virtuali]

But I have noticed that the AI planes don´t show their shadows when activated. I always run the simulator with the own AI shadows activated, but in this airport those ones are not shown. Why?

Given the way the ground is made ( with fully native FSX commands and materials and fully 3d with tunnels ), shadows won't display properly after a certain distance so, they are automatically turn on and off by the Addon Manager, depending on your eyepoint height. They wouldn't be visible in any case so, by turning them off explicitly, we save some fps.

In pic 1 the altitude is 213ft and in pic 2 is 212ft. From that altitude to the ground, planes are not shown. I do not understand what is happening.

That's the shadows on/off threshold. It's a very well known problem with AI models made for FS9: they won't display if the airplane shadows are on, so all your FS9 AI models will disappear as soon as the Addon Manager turn shadows back on. This won't change if we didn't automatically switch shadows: those models would never display in any case, if the shadows are on, because they are FS9 models. I strongly suggest using only AI models made for FSX, because FS9 models are also much slower in FSX, other than having this problem with shadows.

[Iberia]

Thank you very much,

yeah, lately I am replacing my FS9 models by the new FSX FAIB models. But it´s a pity that with this scenery the planes dissapear at a certain altitude

Regards

[Iberia]

But even with the FSX AI planes/textures, there are no shadows. Do you know if there is an update to fix this issue?

Thanks

[virtuali]

But even with the FSX AI planes/textures, there are no shadows. Do you know if there is an update to fix this issue?

As I've said in my previous message, the shadows are automatically turned on/off by the Addon Manager, depending on the altitude because, due to how the ground textures are made, you won't see them anyway after a certain altitude, so there's no reason to kill your fps with shadows you won't see.

And, due to how FSX works, if you *quit* from FSX when the shadows are off (because you were higher than the altitude threshold when you quit), they will be remain off.

Check your "Airplane cast shadows" option, it's likely off now.

[Iberia]

So, you mean that I will never see the airplanes´shadows at JFK, no matter how I configure the settings.

[virtuali]

So, you mean that I will never see the airplanes´shadows at JFK, no matter how I configure the settings.

That's not what I've said. They will show normally IF you are below the threshold altitude. BUT, if you exit from FSX when you were at JFK *above* the threshold altitude, FSX will then store the "Airplane cast shadow on ground" to be off, because it was off at that moment.

Again, go to JFK ON GROUND, and check if your "Airplane cast shadows" option. Turn it on, and quit from FSX, so it will be saved again as enabled.

[Iberia]

I thank you again but I have done that hundreds of times and I do not see any shadows in any AI plane. In KORD, for example, there are not any problems, but in JFK is impossible.