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P3D v3 Flickering with ground poly

wideloadwhitford

wideloadwhitford

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My use of the search function has been left with fruitless labor.

I have a Ground Poly with special materials, but it has terrible flickering. The problem is that I try to find out the cure but nobody really explains. Can anyone help me understand how to get rid of this flickering problem I have.

Is it a LOD problem? How do I set that and where?

Is it a "z-bias" issue if so how and where do I set that and what does it mean?

Thanks, Ryan
 
How did you make these ground polygons? Which tools did you use? Did you use the GPW or not?
 
As per the SDK "
Material Functionality: Z-Bias Level
In order to improve layering materials on the ground for airport ground polygons, Prepar3D has implemented a Z-Bias level material setting.
This functionality only works with "No Z Write" checked on the material. Using values between 0 and -50, you can set and order the layering of the ground polygon textures above the default airport aprons, taxiways and runways. The more negative the Z-bias, the later in the process it will draw. For example, the runway ground polygon could be -1, the white runway markings could be -2, the yellow runway markings could be -3, etc.
"

I ordered my layers accordingly however they still want to seep through and I have no idea why.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8fS5h-V-IZBS2FFNnVvR01WVUk -- Video of my problem
 
Perhaps Pete Beeby's layering and LOD methods for FSX-format MDLs might also merit consideration for P3Dv3x-format MDLs (compiled via the P3Dv3x SDK XtoMDL compiler and not via the FSX SDK XtoMDL compiler) ...as suggested by this thread ? :scratchch


http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/hi-res-ground-polygon-grass.435074/


NOTE: IIUC, this should work for a flat / planar 3D MDL of any object, whether it be grass or paved surfaces at an airport; use of MIPMAPs with LODs for textured object layers may allow greater control over visibility at various altitude / heading angles of end user camera orientation, as well as at various end user camera viewing distances from those 3D MDL object layers. :idea:

[EDITED]
pbeeby said:
http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/hi-res-ground-polygon-grass.435074/#post-732455

...Performance for this type of design is superb. It is possible that only 1, 2048 x 2048 texture with alpha would be needed. The ' Grass ' textured model/s can be seasonal, and although an FSX model, any ' flickering ' seen from above, is avoided by the use of LODS. The horizontal grass textured planes, will appear and disappear when suitably in or out of the user Aircrafts range.
Click to expand...

[END_EDIT]


GaryGB
 
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kfIEwvY.jpg
 
Thanks Gary.
GaryGB said:
Perhaps Pete Beeby's layering and LOD methods for FSX-format MDLs might also merit consideration for P3Dv3x-format MDLs (compiled via the P3Dv3x SDK XtoMDL compiler and not via the FSX SDK XtoMDL compiler) ...as suggested by this thread ? :scratchch


http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/hi-res-ground-polygon-grass.435074/


NOTE: IIUC, this should work for a flat / planar 3D MDL of any object, whether it be grass or paved surfaces at an airport; use of MIPMAPs with LODs for textured object layers may allow greater control over visibility at various altitude / heading angles of end user camera orientation, as well as at various end user camera viewing distances from those 3D MDL object layers. :idea:

[EDITED]


[END_EDIT]


GaryGB
Click to expand...


Thanks Gary, so if LODs are required, then how would I go about making LODs for my ground polygon?
 
I don't know if this will help or not, but it seems like an understanding of the circumstance might allow you to compensate. The flickering is caused by the layers close proximity. "Z" is the vertical axis, things that are too close together cause flickering because the simulator renders first one plane and then the other. like it is confused. If you displace the planes vertically beyond the distance that causes flicker, then it stops. For example, if you are willing to accept a little bit of tire obscuring or sinking, you can end the flickering by raising one or the other plane because a distance that is visible like that, maybe 1/10 of a meter or so, even less, is enough displacement to prevent flickering.
 
tgibson said:
I thought Arno did that automatically for P3D GPs. No?
Click to expand...

Correct I remember before when Arno says his Tool disregards any Z axis parameter set in place and flattens everything.

I think I solved the anomaly with the flickering I was having but now my polygons are sliced and I'm not sure why. I have a flatten in place.

WChwtkj.jpg
 
How did you solve your flickering polygons?

I want to create a ground polygon scenery with 3ds max and export from 3ds max to FSX and P3dv3 with model converter.

Regards.
 
If I may ask, which version or versions of P3D are causing the problem? There has been a huge issue with 3.3 which is being sorted out. A fix of some sort will most likely be offered soon.
 
Wow, that was quick. The LM guys are really great; if you give them enough info so they can duplicate the problem they chew on it until they either have a solution or find that it can't be fixed while moving forward. (Kevin also fixed a longstanding bug in the rates of flashing lights, something of personal interest.)

One issue that I had not thought of and that suggests patience on our part is that during active development I get the impression that they work without any addons. This is in part because the addon installer can break the beta. When issues are discovered, the test files they need to confirm an issue have to be in a format that won't contaminate their work.
 
L_Rob said:
If I may ask, which version or versions of P3D are causing the problem? There has been a huge issue with 3.3 which is being sorted out. A fix of some sort will most likely be offered soon.
Click to expand...
Hi,

This is P3D v3.2. When 3.3 was released I went ahead and updated but it gave me many problems, I reverted back to 3.2. So I sit here with version 3.2 and not sure why this is a such a hassle!

mendiola_loyola said:
How did you solve your flickering polygons?

I want to create a ground polygon scenery with 3ds max and export from 3ds max to FSX and P3dv3 with model converter.

Regards.
Click to expand...

I followed this guide here. Instead of -1, -2, -3 put my z Bias in multiples of 4 so -4 -8 -12 -16 also make sure "No Z Write" and "Nos Shadow" is checked.
 
wideloadwhitford said:
Hi,

This is P3D v3.2. When 3.3 was released I went ahead and updated but it gave me many problems, I reverted back to 3.2. So I sit here with version 3.2 and not sure why this is a such a hassle!



I followed this guide here. Instead of -1, -2, -3 put my z Bias in multiples of 4 so -4 -8 -12 -16 also make sure "No Z Write" and "Nos Shadow" is checked.
Click to expand...

Glad to see you're making progress with this, and having intriguing results ...when considered in the context of this discussion: :scratchch

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/prepar3d-v2-z-bias-material.428218/

GaryGB
 
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Hi,

I feel we might have different issues here.

The picture with the slices might also be the bug that was reported before of missing triangles. This mainly happened when X file were used as import and I have not yet been able to probably trace this issue.

What the GPW does with the elevation of vertices is indeed that everything is put on the ground. So different elevations in your model are ignored. Then everything is bended to adjust for the curve of the earth. And finally the model is raised 1 cm to prevent flickering.

The priority of the different textures is set using the layer/zbias command. But as recently reported in another thread, the values used in the GPW are positive, not negative as the SDK suggests.
 
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