Scenery not popping in until very close

[Bankie]

I have a custom-model scenery package with a number of models contained within it. I have no LODs in any of them - just simple models compiled in Blender, then added to MSFS with the SDK. All models except one works as expected. The oddly-working model was created from scratch by me, and doesn't show until the plane (or drone camera) is a few feet away from it. When I fly away from it, it does remain in place and everything looks fine after that. Anyone have any ideas on what I should check or what might cause the model not to show up normally?

 

[rhumbaflappy]

I get the same behavior when I scale an object.

 

[fabs79]

How large is the model? In MSFS The lateral size seems to decide when an object is shown, while the height is not accounted for, which leads to odd things like 100 feet lighthouses popping up at close distances. The best way I found to counteract this is to add a large horizontal plane (about 30x30 metres) a few meters below my original model (especially below the world origin in Blender) and to be absolutely sure you can assign the MSFS "invisible" material to it instead of the standard material in the pull down menu. This will lead the object to be treated like a very large building and it will be shown at a much larger distance in sim. The downside is that in developer mode in the scenery Editor the clickspot of the object will also be 30x30 metres so you will accidentally select it all the time unless you check the "unselectable" checkbox in the scenery window.

 

[Bankie]

Thanks, both. The issue was indeed with scale - the model is pretty normal in size (large venue for concerts) but my scale was several hundred, so FS was interpreting the model as being very tiny, so makes sense that it shouldn't show until you're close-up. I simply normalised the scale to 1, re-exported, then rebuilt the project and all is looking good.

 

[ashmanmedia]

How large is the model? In MSFS The lateral size seems to decide when an object is shown, while the height is not accounted for, which leads to odd things like 100 feet lighthouses popping up at close distances. The best way I found to counteract this is to add a large horizontal plane (about 30x30 metres) a few meters below my original model (especially below the world origin in Blender) and to be absolutely sure you can assign the MSFS "invisible" material to it instead of the standard material in the pull down menu. This will lead the object to be treated like a very large building and it will be shown at a much larger distance in sim. The downside is that in developer mode in the scenery Editor the clickspot of the object will also be 30x30 metres so you will accidentally select it all the time unless you check the "unselectable" checkbox in the scenery window.

Just researching some issues I am experiencing regarding this technique of having a scale object at 1.0 and uses a 3x BIGGER BOUNDING BOX or PLANE set to invisible under or incasing the object within it.
So that the sim will render if far into the distance and not draw the object(s) as you fly say for a fence.

My question:
When my object is not joined things align SNAPTOGROUND or ALT=AGL perfectly. but when I join this invisible object or plane the sim wont align it to ground consistently.
Yet the trick works and draws a fence far into the distance on LOAD IN.

3dcursor in blender and set origin for both objects before the join are the same.

Any help appreciated.

 

[fabs79]

Just researching some issues I am experiencing regarding this technique of having a scale object at 1.0 and uses a 3x BIGGER BOUNDING BOX or PLANE set to invisible under or incasing the object within it.
So that the sim will render if far into the distance and not draw the object(s) as you fly say for a fence.

My question:
When my object is not joined things align SNAPTOGROUND or ALT=AGL perfectly. but when I join this invisible object or plane the sim wont align it to ground consistently.
Yet the trick works and draws a fence far into the distance on LOAD IN.

3dcursor in blender and set origin for both objects before the join are the same.

Any help appreciated.

Have you tried adding the plane while blender is in edit mode instead of object mode? Then move it below the surface and create a new material with a "invisible" parameter and assign the new material only to the plane.

 

[ashmanmedia]

Have you tried adding the plane while blender is in edit mode instead of object mode? Then move it below the surface and create a new material with a "invisible" parameter and assign the new material only to the plane.

thank you for your advice I will attempt this.

Also to note even without using this INVISIBLE OBJECT JOIN trick.

A little more on my quest to solve a problem I’m witnessing when replicating objects along the ground.
whenever I change the LoDFactor to anything higher than 1 or 2 maybe editing the UserCfg.opt file.

{ObjectsLoD
LoDFactor 2.000000
}

The objects begin to no longer follow the terrain on mountains hills etc.
Randomly jumping Up or Down in height.