Transparent textures over other textures

[defaid]

Does anyone know why smoke, prop disks and some cloud textures do this? Please let me know if you know how to fix it. It irritates me hugely every time I see it.

 

D

 

Smoke as it should be, in front of the distant clouds.

 

Smoke as it shouldn't be, with distant clouds lying in front of it.

[chris_eve]

Never seen anything like that ... are you using some third-party cloud textures?

[defaid]

Good suggestion. Yes - High Def Environment v2. I didn't think of that. I was fixated on some settings issue, either in FS9 or Nvidia Inspector. I'll have to try the stock textures again & see what happens.

 

D

[Mowgli22]

Slightly off topic sometimes i see the same effect with airport pole lighting. Depending on angle ,sometimes the light appears behind the clouds. Please let us know if changing the cloud textures work.

[defaid]

Oh... no, it didn't. I tried some other formats & sizes with no luck. Finally I reinstated the default cumulus textures (512×512, 32 bit) and still got the same effect. 

 

Default cumulus at a distance don't hide the smoke.

 

Default cumulus closer -- smoke disappears.

 

Spot view, so it's not the windscreen.

 

[Tom Gibson]

I think it is an issue with some video cards or video driver versions.  Not much you can do?

[defaid]

On 1/19/2024 at 5:47 PM, Tom Gibson said:

I think it is an issue with some video cards or video driver versions.  Not much you can do?

 

I'm beginning to suspect the same myself. I'll have to give up smoking...

[PhrogPhlyer]

This answer I found at SOH.

"This is most likely a Z-Buffer setting in the actual prop model. The Z-Buffer setting is not making the determination that the prop is either in front or behind the cloud. This can only be fixed in the model itself."

I'm guessing this could also apply to smoke.

[jgf]

Have cursed this with props and clouds, and in each case have been told it is due to how the models' textures are layered and viewed ... and there is nothing the end user can do.

 

 

[Rupert]

1 hour ago, jgf said:

Have cursed this with props and clouds, and in each case have been told it is due to how the models' textures are layered and viewed ... and there is nothing the end user can do.

 

 

Your last shot reminds me of what sometimes happens when following a navigation course.  As I approach the end destination a reddish haze will on occasion appear.  Except it stretches all the way to the ground.   

 

The only way I've found to get the haze to go away was to cancel the navigation. 

[defaid]

6 hours ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

This is most likely a Z-Buffer setting in the actual prop model. The Z-Buffer setting is not making the determination that the prop is either in front or behind the cloud. This can only be fixed in the model itself.

 

I did read a few days ago (and naturally can't find the page again, or even think of a suitable search term) that rendered textures have distances from the observer, and that determines which one the viewer sees. What you found agrees well with that and with the smoke glitch, though I think the problem is with the cumulus as the same thing happens with cumulus & stratus and with cumulus & prop disks.

 

I'll bet the fault is in MS's stock Cu and that the other textures I've tried were all 'repaints' of that original billboard.

[Rupert]

 

This is what I'm talking about.  Once I leave the navigated to area or cancel navigation, the screen usually looks normal again. 

 

 

 

 

[defaid]

That's just really accurate flying: you're obviously inside the magenta line 

[jgf]

I bet you're seeing red from that.

[Tom Gibson]

As a plane builder, there is little we can do.   If there is a Z-buffer issue it is usually parts of the plane that disappear behind the blurred props.  That we can usually fix.  Generally we have little control over whether clouds and other effects can be viewed through them.

 

That said, using FS9 aircraft in FSX will certainly cause this issue, and can be avoided by converting the plane to FSX format.