Shimmering textures

[kevchris]

I notice, especially with some of the high quality add on sceneries like SimFlyers and FlyTampa, that some of the detail, like taxiway lines "shimmer". This can be extremely annoying visually. Can anyone tell me what may be causing this and a possible remedy? My system specs are below.

Thanks,
Kevin


3.06ghz processor
1 gig ram
GeForce 4600TI 128mb video card.

[flightsimmer747]

I had that problem too, i removed the scenery completly i got fed up of it has to do with mip map or something. The fence to looks disgusting right?

[Qballbandit]

Switch Mipmapping to 4 in the sim display options.

Neil :7

[flightsimmer747]

Neil, its actually the scenery itself even with mip map at 1 its still there.

[DaleD]

What you are really seeing is a combination of two things, the MIP map and Anti-Ailiasing either too low or not present.

With the MIP map set lower, and AA turned on, the shimmering should all but dissapear. I had bad shimmering on buildings when flying around Harrisburg, PA until I set the MIP map slider to 4 or 5 with AA set to 8xS on my GF6800 Ultra.

System specs:
IC7 Max3 / P4 3.0E @ 3.87ghz (258fsb); 1gig (2x 512mb) Geil PC4400 @ 1:1, 2.5-4-4-8 timings
eVga 6800U @ 472/1216; Dell 2001FP
Adaptec 29160 U160 SCSI controller; Fujitsu MAP3367 U320 SCSI hard drive
Creative Labs Audigy 2ZS; Yamaha CRW-F1E; Toshiba SD-M1712 DVD ROM

[Qballbandit]

NO SIR FLIGHTSIMMER!!

I have all of the USA Simflyers Sceneries & FlyTampa sceneries...and only see this slightly on the fences - and I mean SLIGHTLY. It is NOT in the design of the scenery that is causing this. Visit their forums, I do not see hundreds and thousands of "shimmering" complaints. It is PC drivin, meaning settings need to be correct.
And I don't see the original post stating that it happens even on "1" in the mips, but I hear you saying that...

Neil

[DaleD]

You are absolutely correct. It is video card settings, and setting within the game.

On 1 the MIP maps are so bland and undetailed that it almost can't occur.

>NO SIR FLIGHTSIMMER!!
>
>I have all of the USA Simflyers Sceneries & FlyTampa
>sceneries...and only see this slightly on the fences - and I
>mean SLIGHTLY. It is NOT in the design of the scenery that is
>causing this. Visit their forums, I do not see hundreds and
>thousands of "shimmering" complaints. It is PC drivin, meaning
>settings need to be correct.
> And I don't see the original post stating that it happens
>even on "1" in the mips, but I hear you saying that...
>
>Neil
>


IC7 Max3 / P4 3.0E @ 3.87ghz (258fsb); 1gig (2x 512mb) Geil PC4400 @ 1:1, 2.5-4-4-8 timings
eVga 6800U @ 472/1216; Dell 2001FP
Adaptec 29160 U160 SCSI controller; Fujitsu MAP3367 U320 SCSI hard drive
Creative Labs Audigy 2ZS; Yamaha CRW-F1E; Toshiba SD-M1

[flightsimmer747]

Ok sorry Neil i didn't mean it in a bad way, i'm glad to hear its settings more than the scenery. So on that note he may still be having a problem with his fs9 installation and not the mip map or AA.

It would be good to hear if he solved his problem.

BTW he does mention shimmering of taxiway lines in his post, do you see this even maybe slightly?

[rhodges]

Kevin:

This is a known problem that has been talked about for years on the SimFlyer forum. Possibly flytampa as well, but I have not noticed it as much on their locations. Unfortunately as far as I know past posts are not retained for very long on their sites so that you might research past history. To my knowledge there is no archive you can bring up.

I have all of FlyTampa and all of SimFlyers except for Italy and they are my primary departure/destination locations for major airports. Some variation of what you mention has been present for me from the beginning years ago with little to no complex addon's. It has continued with the addition of FSGenesis, UT, etc. etc. (With the exception of the later additions, I have series I SimFlhyers).

One additional note: If you have the Manhattan scenery, an added problem is present for some of us. If you fly from the Manhattan area (KJFK, KEWR, etc.) to one of the SimFlyer or Flytampa locations elsewhere you will see additional EXCESSIVE SEVERE flashing. This may or may not be true for everybody, but the problem has been addressed by a number of us with all three suppliers with no solution as of yet to my knowledge. Only solution is to make your flight a two hop flight starting over (restart FS9) from somewhere else to your final destination in question, or disable Manhattan scenery. With Manhattan scenery disabled (Library) no problem, or not this problem at least.

There is some lesser flickering particularly as someone mentioned in fences and as you mentioned some of the ground markings. I believe I have tried every tweak combination between FS and my ATI 9800 Pro known to man, and some bit of the problem remains. (Also my past GEFORCE card). I also have discovered that this comes and goes. By reinstallation I have been able to get rid of just about all of it for a time, but it may not last. Bleed through seems to reoccur at random times in some locations. There is a SimFlyer fix for KATL and KPHX regarding some of this problem.

Apparently everybody does not see these problems, but don't feel that you are alone with what you are seeing. If you tinker with it (reinstallation possibly multiple times included) you may get improvement (at least for a time).

Good luck:
RTH

[DaleD]

The problem is with the way computers render graphics. A strait line that runs at a diagonal had to be drawn as a series of strait lines, in a stepped fashion:

Sorry, can't get the example to show properly.

This causes what is known as "jaggies", and yes, that is a technical term taken from professional digital photography. Anti-Ailiasing (AA releives these problems, but not completely. Adding complex textures to the mix, such as multi-colored lines on a runway, or a fence, adds to the problem. This problem is perceived buy us as "shimmering" and is common in a LOT of games, not just flight sims. Another culperit that adds to the "shimmering" effect are LCD monitors. Because of the way they display vs. a standard monitor (CRT), the effect can be more pronounced, hence why some people see less of it than others.

No texture pack can completely cure this. The best you can do is play with the AA and MIP map (AF) settings in your display properties and in the game to minimize the effects. I am sorry to say that reinstalling FS9 is also not going to cure the problem. The reason why you may have noticed it less after a reinstall is because of the setting going back to instalation defaults.

One other thing that I have found is that the resolution that you play at will afect the problem. At 1600x1200, 8xS AA, 8x AF, and the MIP maps set to 4 in game it is bearable. If I change the MIP map setting in game to 5 the problem gets much worse. If I go to 1280x1024, 8xS AA, 8x AF, the in game setting of 5 looks OK.

If you do have an LCD ideally you want to play at it's "native" resolution, which is always the highest resolution the monitor can support. This reduces the ammount of display reduction that the GPU has to do in order to make everything fit the screen, and offers up a much smoother image overall. CRT's do not suffer from that problem.


IC7 Max3 / P4 3.0E @ 3.87ghz (258fsb); 1gig (2x 512mb) Geil PC4400 @ 1:1, 2.5-4-4-8 timings
eVga 6800U @ 472/1216; Dell 2001FP
Adaptec 29160 U160 SCSI controller; Fujitsu MAP3367 U320 SCSI hard drive
Creative Labs Audigy 2ZS; Yamaha CRW-F1E; Toshiba SD-M1