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FSXA Automatic Mipmapping with DX9?

Horst18519

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I've only used DX10 mode for quite a time now, so my development also builds on DX10. In order to use BGL Lights without problems I now switched back to DX9 - and was surprised to find my ground polys getting totally blurry. :eek:
I use DXT 3 with no mipmaps. In DX10 they're 100% sharp, but with DX9 they get blurred just like if I used mipmaps.
Has anybody solved this problem for DX9 users?
 

arno

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Hi,

Often those blurries are caused by textures that do not have mipmaps. Did you try to add them?
 

Horst18519

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Unfortunately, quite the opposite, see attached images.
No matter if I use mipmaps or not (no difference with DXT1, DXT3 or DXT3 either), the only way not to have a blurred runway is to use DX10 and no mipmaps. :(

But that surely can't be the solution here. There must be some trick to get the textures stay sharper.
 

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arno

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Humm, that looks quite bad indeed. Did you check in the ASM file if the texture scale is correct in the texture list? That affects the selection of mipmaps.
 

Horst18519

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The object is an FSX model, so no ASM tweak there. As the runway is sloped I couldn't see a way to use a 2002 groundpoly. Maybe it would work better with FS9 materials?
 

arno

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Hi,

Ah, I assumed that it were ground polygons :). For FSX MDL objects I have not seen such big blurries before, let me think a bit more about this.
 

Horst18519

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I've also taken some time to consider what might be going wrong and I'm still lost. The bitmaps are DXT1 or DXT3 1024x1024, there's no apparent reason for them to blurr like this.
In fact the left lower part (behind the PAPI) is a cutout that I made with FS2002 groundpolys (just a small area around the PAPI to make sure that doesn't vanish behind the ground object) and the blurring is exactly the same there as you can see. So no matter if I use FSX FS9 or FS2002 materials, 3D MDL or groundpoly - the blurring is there. Maybe it's just my gfx card? (ATI Radeon 4850)
 

Horst18519

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OK, forget everything I wrote. :banghead:

For some reason the "MipBias=..." entry in my fsx.cfg got lost - and the result is what you've seen above. Interesting how DX10 doesn't care much about it if you don't use mipmap textures.
Anyway, putting the line back into my fsx.cfg and using a value of 4 or 5 saved the day. Thanks Arno, after your last reply I knew it must've to do with my gfx settings! :)

I will surely keep this in mind for customers complaining about blurred textures. Lesson learned. :D
 

Horst18519

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A short addition. In my case FSX does not seem to like MipBias=4 - or it's the default value. If I run FSX and end it, the entry is gone. MipBias=5 works well, but ends in some textures being just a bit too sharp. :eek: lots of Moiree...
But in combination with medium or "performance" MipMap settings in the Catalyst Control Center of the gfx card this seems to be ok too.
 

Horst18519

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Sure, because everything alse than =4 also stays. I guess =4 is the default value so FSX deletes it because it thinks it's unnecessary.
I will try 7 though, allthough I didn't find any difference between 5 and 6.
 
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