FSX Strange problem that I can't solve, HELP PLEASE!!

[Tomt478]

Here is my situation, I have a file as shown in this photo circled in red. It is from the folder FSX/TEXTURE, the file is a BMP file with Alpha. Ok now here is what the file looks like from a BACKUP folder in DXTBmp.
As you can see in the photo, the loaded file looks normal so no problem with the file itself. Now, when I copy the file from the BACKUP folder to the original FSX folder, this is what I get when I load the file in DXTbmp from that folder. Now remember, the original file from the backup folder works fine, but after I copy it to the FSX texture folder, it does what the third photo does. This only happens when you try to copy the file to the original FSX/Texture folder. Copy anywhere else and it stays fine. Now, here's the kicker, when you see this texture in FSX, it shows up as the sun with a BIG box around it (The original problem). Now, if you copy the original Texture folder to say, your desktop, the file works fine, but if you put the folder back into the FSX folder, it don't. I have tried everything I can think of to get it to work, I cannot. The only thing I can do is delete that file and just use FSX without it. Here's another kicker with that file, if you rename the file to say "sun1", it works but of course FSX can't load it because it is looking for a file named "sun". If you use the correct filename, it looks like photo3 below. if you change the filename, it looks like photo2 below. I am totally lost here. Is this a Windows11 problem, or is it a corrupt FSX installation and I need to re-install it completely? I am running win11 24H and last month MS installed an update to the file explorer that screwed everything up, they supposedly recently fixed it (doubtful). So I started using a 3rd party file copier that was reported to be the 'best'. Made NO difference, same problem. Does anyone have any idea what is going on. I really hope I don't have to do a complete re-install of FSX. I have FSX installed on my main drive because when I originally installed it on Win11, it for some reason refused to let me install it to another drive and had no choice but to install it to my main drive. It was working fine until that one day when MS screwed up everything.
Oh and one other thing you will notice, the resolution of the file changes from 128X128 to 453X471. Don't understand that either as I don't make any changes to the file, I just copy it from one folder to the other.

 

[GaryGB]

Tom:

At this point, I shall redirect your attention to this reply I previously posted to your original inquiry on this subject:

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/t...-figure-out-why-it-happens.459819/post-932512

I recommend you grasp the significance that, even after having used TeraCopy to copy files via a foolproof method, as the display anomaly still persists, the greater likelihood is you now have a corrupted FSX configuration which requires a full reinstallation after having tinkered with FSX default files.

I shall again offer this admonition:

Changing FSX default files is an invitation to trouble.

It is both inappropriate to expect- and unlikely to evoke- a reply from experienced FS Developers here, to reassure you that it is "OK" to mess with FSX default files, and then to have anyone here commit their time to repair that which may now be un-repairable in your FSX configuration.

Take responsibility for tinkering with things you have a limited understanding of, re-install FSX, chalk it up to experience, and move on with new insights gained ...just like others would do here at FSDEV.

We all experiment to test what FS can- and can not- do with tweaking; some experiments do not yield results we can recover from with impunity.

NOTE TO SELF: Do not do that again.


GaryGB

 

[Hiroshi Igami]

> file changes from 128X128 to 453X471
That should be a problem.
It's not 　multiple of 2 for example can use 2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256,512,1024,2048,4096
So use 512 x 512

 

[tgibson]

It appears to me that your windows operating system is either “protecting you” from yourself because these files are inside a program files folder, or is malfunctioning in some way.

 

[Tomt478]

For one thing, I did not tamper with the files, the problem appeared when the file explorer was screwed up. I made NO CHANGES to that file, in fact I didn't even know about the file, I had to research to find out what file was causing the SQUARE to show up around the sun. All I did was check the file to see if it was messed up in some way. It was obviously, so that's why I asked for a replacement file to just simply replace the defective file. Well that didn't work, it still does the same thing. I am unable to even change the res to 512x512, every time I copy it to the correct folder, it returns to the 453x471 res. Like I said, if I move the texture folder to the desktop, it works fine, but if I move it back to the FSX folder, it goes back to not working. If I add a 1 to the end of the filename (or simply change it to something else) it goes to its normal res and I can load it up and it looks fine, but if I put it back to its original filename, it messes up. I am now starting to think that 'tgibson' is right, my win11 is messed up maybe by some update MS put in. Unfortunately I don't have a 'backup' that goes back far enough to just simply revert to a 'working' time. So I may just have to either live without having the sun show at full daytime (it shows ok just before sundown as FSX uses the 'sun6' texture for that). or I will have to get me some sort of reliable backup and backup my entire system, then completely format and reload the OS. And yes Gary, I do use TeraCopy now. But that doesn't fix the problem. TerraCopy is a better method than the default file copy in Windows as it gives me more control over the copying, but in this case, it don't help none. Again, I DID NOT tamper with the texture files, there was no need to do so. I simply was attempting to fix a problem that just suddenly appeared, with no luck mind you. I have deleted the problem file for now until a fix can be found.

 

[GaryGB]

Something that was done in the \Texture sub-folder has impacted how the Sun now renders in FSX.


As mentioned in another thread linked above, FSX has a complex cyclic Shader technology for environmental lighting ...few comprehend.

"Shade" by Mogwaisoft modifies that rendering process:

https://online.simmarket.com/1/Shade_userguide.zip

https://fsxtimes.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/113-a-quick-fix-to-shade-darkness/

https://www.google.com/search?q=site:+fsxtimes.wordpress.com+Shade&client=firefox-b-1-e&sca_esv=edec2e4b4572a4c0&channel=entpr&ei=fI71Z4fFCJ_-ptQP1ovc2Q4&ved=0ahUKEwiH85arqsmMAxUfv4kEHdYFN-sQ4dUDCBA&uact=5&oq=site:+fsxtimes.wordpress.com+Shade&gs_lp=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&sclient=gws-wiz-serp

It is possible that REX for FSX may also have complex options that might impact FSX sun display.

GaryGB

 

[Tomt478]

I've speaking with a tech about the problem, it turns out that is a compatability problem with the newest 24h2 windows 11 update. Because FSX is so old, the file system used to create the files and folders when the game was created, is slowly but surely becoming less and less compatible with Win11 and most likely, soon will just stop working altogether. His reccomendation is for me to ditch FSX and upgrade to a newer game, he recomends at first I at least attempt a new install of FSX which may fix it temporarily, but most likely will re occur later down the road as newer updates are put in place. The explanation is that everytime there is a new 24H update to win11, that more or less replaces your current version of win11, just as if you have re-installed it. This takes compatability further and further away so sooner or later older programs may not run correctly or even not at all. So I'm going to go ahead backup my FSX folders (Addon, sound,guages,etc...) then completely uninstall FSX, then re-install it from scratch, then all that I have to do is replace those folders I baked up with the backups. But as the tech said, it will only be temp as eventually the same thing (or worse) may happen as updates are installed in win11.

 

[tgibson]

People have not had any problems that I have heard of if they install FSX outside of any program files folder. Mine is in C:/FS/FSX and Windows 11 has not given me any problems yet.

 

[Tomt478]

I installed mine into my C:drive as well as it would not install anywhere else. If you haven't experienced any problems yet, you're lucky, Everytime MS updates I find some problem show up. I have so much needed software on my machine (I do video editing) that a complete system install is not really an option. I will most like ly in the future purchase a used machine comparable to this one just to run the sim on, most likely I will have win 10 put on it.

 

[GaryGB]

I've been speaking with a tech about the problem, it turns out that is a compatibility problem with the newest 24h2 windows 11 update. Because FSX is so old, the file system used to create the files and folders when the game was created, is slowly but surely becoming less and less compatible with Win11 and most likely, soon will just stop working altogether. His recommendation is for me to ditch FSX and upgrade to a newer game, he recommends at first I at least attempt a new install of FSX which may fix it temporarily, but most likely will re occur later down the road as newer updates are put in place. The explanation is that every time there is a new 24H update to win11, that more or less replaces your current version of win11, just as if you have re-installed it. This takes compatibility further and further away so sooner or later older programs may not run correctly or even not at all. So I'm going to go ahead backup my FSX folders (Addon, sound, gauges, etc...) then completely uninstall FSX, then re-install it from scratch, then all that I have to do is replace those folders I baked up with the backups. But as the tech said, it will only be temp as eventually the same thing (or worse) may happen as updates are installed in win11.

People have not had any problems that I have heard of if they install FSX outside of any program files folder. Mine is in C:/FS/FSX and Windows 11 has not given me any problems yet.

I agree with Tom Gibson on the current and future compatibility of FSX with FSX, especially if one installs outside the "system" folders.

I'm doubtful the MS support rep knew much- if anything- about FSX and the coding on which it is based; thus I would not ascribe much significance to any prognostication about future compatibility of FSX on Windows-11 et seq.


But, I do agree that it would be prudent to re-install FSX to your fastest drive at this time, considering your recent history of issues.

If that drive happens to be C:\ ...then edit the path during initial screens of the FSX installer, and set the path to a location outside of the "system" folder chain ex: C:\Flight Simulator X or C:\FSX.

As Tom Gibson alluded to, one may incur less hassle with increasingly over-protectiveness of Windows with files in Program Files (x86).

However, now, nearly all files / folders on all drives are being messed with by over-protectiveness of Windows, so one must take control.

I installed mine into my C:\ drive as well as it would not install anywhere else. If you haven't experienced any problems yet, you're lucky; Every time MS updates I find some problem show up. I have so much needed software on my machine (I do video editing) that a complete system install is not really an option. I will most likely in the future purchase a used machine comparable to this one just to run the sim on, most likely I will have win 10 put on it.

You can click a [Change] button to edit the path to which FSX installs in one of the initial setup screens presented by the FSX installer.


There is nothing wrong with having things in any folder on C:\ ...if one is willing to do the work of taking control of Windows security.

Although I now always arbitrarily choose to install FSX onto drive D:\, I would not have an issue putting it into C:\Program Files (x86).

I would not recommend this to someone just starting to learn Windows security quirks, but it is possible to take control of any folder.

GaryGB

 

[Tomt478]

Yeah, when I re-install it, I'm going to install it outside of the Program Files(x86) folder and install it directly onto the C: drive. I am starting to doubt what the tech said, because I have even older programs than FSX that still run with no problems. I think it is a security issue as MS has really beefed up Security on Win11. I am currently in the process of copying all of my work folders from FSX (Addon Scenery, Guages,Sound, etc...) Then all I have to do is just replace the new folders with the backups. I've also noticed problems with Simconnect not working correctly on FSPilots, and on FSPassengers, the program keeps crashing with some error message that pops up so fast I can't read it. I do know it's an error with Simconnect though. So yeah, I think a re-install is my best option at this point. I've noticed that some of my textures and even my LC keeps popping in and out at random.

 

[Tomt478]

I've been away for a while, had some issues with MalwareBytes not letting me log into this site, it seems to be fixed now. Anyway, I got all this fixed, just had to do a complete re-install of the sim. Everything is good now. Juwanted to let everyone know and I am closing out this discussion on my end.