P3D v4 oops.....

[lionheart]

How in the world did I do this?

Experimenting with photoreal ground textures via SBX via BGL's. I turn them off. I am not going to have this particular airport in the package I am making...

...........and... this happens.

I have tried finding the tile that caused it. Cant...
I tried turning off the scenery... didnt do it. (Addon Scenery/Phoenix_Mountains/scenery/ ...... )
I tried refreshing the scenery (reload scenery)
I tried rebooting several times...

nada...


Do I need to reload Scenery in V4?

They change and some disappear as per distance. Something bad has happened... I have broken my V4... So not good.

I just hope I do not start getting phonecalls from people in the area complaining their yellow dirt is gone and only black stuff is there...

 

[lionheart]

Could it be I need to flush memory somewhere? Is there a way to do that if that is the issue?

 

[GaryGB]

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/oops.445246/post-821095

How in the world did I do this?

Experimenting with photoreal ground textures via SBX via BGL's. I turn them off. I am not going to have this particular airport in the package I am making...

...........and... this happens.

I have tried finding the tile that caused it. Cant...
I tried turning off the scenery... didnt do it. (Addon Scenery/Phoenix_Mountains/scenery/ ...... )
I tried refreshing the scenery (reload scenery)
I tried rebooting several times...

nada...


Do I need to reload Scenery in V4?

They change and some disappear as per distance. Something bad has happened... I have broken my V4... So not good.

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/oops.445246/post-821096

Could it be I need to flush memory somewhere? Is there a way to do that if that is the issue?

Hi Bill:

You have not broken P3D, and you do not need to reload your scenery.


There are several things which could cause this.


The first thing I would recommend that you try, is opening the BGL(s) in SDK TmfViewer:

[FSX SDK install path]\SDK\Environment Kit\Terrain SDK\TmfViewer.exe

...or:

[Prepar3D v4 SDK 4.4.16.27106 install path]\World\Terrain\tmfviewer.exe


Next, check to see what LOD's are present within the BGL compiled by SDK Resample

TmfViewer Menu > View > Level of Detail


If the available LOD's range from 6 through 17, you should have a MIPMAP available to display on the ground inside the visual display radius of the user aircraft camera at its current altitude AGL.

However, when multiple source files of differing resolutions ('Zoom' levels) are combined together inside a single BGL via a multi-source *.INF file, if the source file entries are not sorted such that the highest zoom level / LOD appears first near the top of the *.INF, followed in descending order by source files of lower LOD / zoom level, you may see the anomalies shown in your screenshots.

In some cases, even if sorted in correct order by LOD / zoom level within a multi-source *.INF file, when multiple source files of differing resolutions ('Zoom' levels) are combined together inside a single BGL, one may still incur display anomalies such as those shown in your screenshots.


In other cases, "Channel" assignments for the Blend mask and Water mask in the *.INF file may be incorrect

Additionally, gray-scale step values used in your 8-bit gray-scale TIF Blend Mask file may play a role in this anomaly.


And if multiple custom photo-real imagery BGL files were used which Geographically overlap each other and utilize transparency between neighboring visible imagery areas, this may impact the ability of the P3D terrain rendering system to resolve and display a terrain texture within a time interval allotted by the rendering engine.


Let me know what you see in TmfViewer, and if that does not explain things adequately, please post here or in a PM, the *.INF file which you used to compile your BGL(s), and I would be glad to offer my observations and suggestions.

Hope this helps.

GaryGB

 

[lionheart]

Hey Gary,

Many thanks for the detailed information. But I have the scenery off. Its deactivated and I even took the BGL(s) out of the folder (into a Desktop folder) to see if that helped. It didnt. So what you are seeing is stock terrain scenery.

Can my scenery have overwritten an INF? I have created no INF's, so they would have had to have been generated automatically, if they were, and I didnt know about them.


Bill
LHC

 

[GaryGB]

Hi Bill:

Please tell us how you added your Phoenix_Mountains scenery to P3D:

* Scenery Library GUI by manually adding a new Area layer for:

Addon Scenery\Phoenix_Mountains folder chain

...or:

* Semi-automatically via the new P3D "Add-on XML" method


Do you have any custom Deer Valley airport scenery installed in addition to your custom photo-real imagery BGL ?

[EDITED]

PS: IMHO, it is at this point essential that your multi-source *.INF (created internally by SBuilderX) now be inspected.


Otherwise, Lockheed-Martin may be plagued by phone calls from folks asking about the local black land class color.


If you review the SBuilderX documentation via:

SBuilderX Menu > Help > {Search} Tab > Keyword: Photo > click [List Topic] button > read (...as a minimum ! ):

* Create a New Project

* Custom Ground Textures


...and the previously cited tutorial by Luis Feliz-Tirado:

Make photo-real ground textures

File Description:
It is very easy to create your very own high-resolution, custom (photo-real) ground textures. This document explains the concepts and techniques and illustrates the use of SBuilderX with which you can quickly and easily download aerial images and make this type of scenery. So, why hesitate? Make Flight Simulator scenery as real as it gets! Very sorry - no support of any kind is offered. Please do not write. For any questions, please post in the Avsim Scenery Design Forum.

Filename: make_photo-real_ground_textures_in_fs_x.zip
License: Freeware
Added: 21st November 2009, 23:20:06
Downloads: 17714
Author: Luis Feliz-Tirado
Size: 2143kb

https://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fsxsd&DLID=140539

...especially in the above tutorial section titled: multi-source inf file

...you will see that both a project and source files must be named with specific Photo_*.* prefixes, and _?? suffixes

...in order for SBuilderX to recognize / utilize a set of source files to write out a *.INF file that is used to compile a BGL.


As stated previously, when SBuilderX background map tiles are 'selected' to compile a BGL, a *.INF file is written into:

[SBuilderX install path]\Tools]\Work sub-folder


That *.INF is internally submitted by SBuilderX with the source files listed within it to SDK Resample ...to compile a BGL.


If ex: source file file names, Mask Channels are not correct, SBuilderX may not write a proper *.INF for SDK Resample.


Please post your *.INF for the current source file set pertinent to this project, and we will be better able to help you.

Since SBuilderX wrote the *.INF, you are only responsible for the source file names ...and that 'may' be easily fixed.

[END_EDIT]

GaryGB

 

[lionheart]

Hey Gary,

The original way, P3DV4/Addon Scenery/Phoenix_Mountains/scenery... Activated in the sim in settings.

When I turn off the scenery, this appears, the giant black tiles that are out of scale.

To the best of my knowledge, there is zero scenery installed. I have REX which puts in clouds and runways, but not surrounding ground textures. ORBX do not have scenery in Arizona. However, I might just check for an update in case that might be a possibility.

 

[GaryGB]

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/oops.445246/post-821116

Hey Gary,

The original way, P3DV4/Addon Scenery/Phoenix_Mountains/scenery... Activated in the sim in settings.

Hi Bill:

Our posts crossed on the server as I was composing my edits above, and I saw no thread alert for your latter post.


So, IIUC, you added your Phoenix_Mountains scenery to P3D via:

* Scenery Library GUI by manually adding a new Area layer for:

Addon Scenery\Phoenix_Mountains folder chain

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/oops.445246/post-821116

When I turn off the scenery, this appears, the giant black tiles that are out of scale.

To the best of my knowledge, there is zero scenery installed. I have REX which puts in clouds and runways, but not surrounding ground textures. ORBX do not have scenery in Arizona.

IIRC, there is no OrbX FTX 'Region' scenery add-on for the Phoenix AZ area, but OrbX FTX 'Global' does cover that area.

Do you have OrbX FTX 'Global' -or- 'Global openLC North America' installed ?

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/oops.445246/post-821116
However, I might just check for an update in case that might be a possibility.

You 'might just check for an update' ...to 'which' add-on scenery package ?

GaryGB

 

[lionheart]

I found it... I reloaded Scenery in V4 which took well over an hour. The scenery was still messed up. I decided to start looking at all the ORBX scenery. I do not have the Global sceneries. I found Global Airports though, FTX_Global_Airports, and turning that off, restored the scenery tiles. So it must be needing an update.

My FTX Central is up to date, so perhaps they do not know its messed up yet. V4.5 just released.

Sorry to bother everyone on this. I thought I had done it and was anxious to figure out how to repair it. Thanks Gary and Arno for your help and input.



Bill

 

[GaryGB]

Ah, yes, I'd forgotten to mention that possibility of the OrbX Global Airport Pack being a factor in this anomaly.


This will be an interesting scenario to track, as P3D uses DX-10 and DX-11 ...rather than DX-9.

IIRC, we had "Black" textures on some scenery library, Autogen (and G-Poly ?) objects in FSX DX-10 preview mode until various OrbX textures were updated via "OrbX Libraries" downloads:

https://orbxdirect.com/support


See also:

https://support.orbxdirect.com/hc/e...555-Installing-from-a-manually-downloaded-zip


Glad you're making progress with your project.

GaryGB