Black Squares/lights on Cessna Skyhawk 172N

[HardCub]

Hello friends,
I am adding the FSX Shockwave lights to my Carenado Cessna 172N SkyhawkII. Everything looks and works great... except that I have (3) black square boxes on (3) of the lights. They are the red & green NAV lights, and also the BEACON light. What am I doing wrong? I know it has to be a simple fix.

Of course, the aircraft.cfg shows several "//" entries. Those are the ones I am experimenting with.
I understand you can turn them off by adding the "//" to the beginning of the lines.

Any advice or help is greatly appreciated.
Thank you so much. ~Glenn

[KennethLeung]

Choose DX10 Preview?

[fxsttcb]

Hi Glenn. Usually that kind of problem is related to an effect or it's texture.
A missing or corrupt effect generally creates those black squares. Check that those exist first.

The lights' colors look OK(Red/Green), if those aren't in the model itself and just bleeding thru. I'd expect them brighter though.
Do the colors look the same with the lights off? No black square and much dimmer?

You can open an effect with notepad and find the texture it uses(Effects/Texture).
Then you can verify that the texture is there, and is a valid texture.bmp.
Some effect textures may not open with a normal paint program. Those will need DXTbmp or other app that reads texture.bmps.
I don't have Shockwave, otherwise I'd post a screenie of what the texture.bmp(s) should look like. Anybody else?...Don

[phoenixmalta]

Missing textures is the problem ...

Whatever they are (will be noted in the .FX File) should also be present in FSX\EFFECTS\TEXTURE\

[mallcott]

There is an update to fix this from Shockwave.

[HardCub]

First... A BIG thank you to everyone who has responded to this help request. Thank you so very much!

I have determined that the needed texture file (fx_circle_2.bmp) is actually missing from the effects texture folder. I also (after much searching/navigating/reading) have finally discovered the proper link for the v1.2a update. I hope to update you with my results shortly.

Update 1: I've downloaded/installed the new A2ASim Shockwave 3D Lights v1.2a update. So far, same issues; I still have black squares on the wingtips and tail of the Carenado Skyhawk.I'll keep tweaking/searching and see what I can figure out.

Update 2: So, I was afraid of what all (might) happen doing a "Repair FSX" from the FSX DVDs, so I researched and found a FX_2.bmp image thru Google Images. I installed it, and this was the effect that resulted. I am now missing the fx_shockwave_beacon_rotating_red effect on the tail. The lights look strange in my opinion. Next step? I guess I will run the "Repair FSX" feature and hope for the best.

Update 3: Well... (sigh) Now I have a brand-new (much BIGGER) problem.
After doing the "Repair FSX" from the DVDs, the FSX software will not complete start-up. I got an initial error message telling me to "delete the LWcfg.xml file located within my hidden profile folders. I found the LWcfg.xml file in my Users/Glenn/AppData/Roaming/Microsoft/FSX folder. I deleted it as instructed. Now FSX keeping saying it has stopped working, and wants to close the program. I've been researching this new issue, and the news doesn't look too promising.

However, after doing the disc repair, I do have the correctly dated (missing) fx_2.bmp file in the Effects/texture folder. But it won't do any good until I can figure out how to crank the sim back up.
Any ideas anyone?


This is why I usually only fly FS2004. None of these issues there.

[HardCub]

Update 4: Well, after several hours of frustration and researching, I finally decided to "repair acceleration" using the disc. It appears to have worked. I'm not crazy about the nav lights, but right now I'm afraid to change them. Anyways, it's working again.

Does anyone have any ideas why the entire FSX simulator appears to have gotten both blurry and shimmery at the same time in the distance. I haven't touched my settings, which were yielding pretty darn amazing results before. Did Acceleration change everything visually backwards?

[fxsttcb]

Did Acceleration change everything visually backwards?

Repair ops look for modified/missing default files and replace them with originals.
It may have done so with your FSX.cfg, requiring you to redo the settings and add any previous tweaks back in.

BTW, you have found out why I recommend a regular dated full back-up of a working FSX. I keep the last 3.
Those little problems are easily cured by copy/paste. Tons easier than Repair/Re-Install. I guarantee it will happen again...Don

FSX file locations that I also regularly back-up:
fsx.cfg and GrantedRewards.BIN, {C:\Users\User Name\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX}
Control settings = Standard.xml {C:\Users\User Name\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX\Controls}
Logbook.BIN and flight plan files {C:\Users\User Name\Documents\Flight Simulator X Files}
scenery.cfg {C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\FSX}