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Post by funk on Jun 21, 2021 12:30:55 GMT -5
chrisP: I think I have cracked it: I traded out the shockwave effects for normal ones on your models but I also changed the kinds of light effects there are on the models. I eliminated the 6th kind (taxi lights) from the Convair's and the SGAI Falcons. Things are working normal again - so far... (Side question: Can AI models have more than 5 kinds of lights?) As far as I know in FS9 only to 5!!!
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Post by cgold on Jun 21, 2021 12:44:48 GMT -5
As much as I’d like to say that the effects was the problem, it came back today after working flawlessly last night. :’( What you recommended chrisP worked great in finding problem aircraft. I’m gonna keep doing that until I find the problem.
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Post by funk on Jun 21, 2021 13:33:46 GMT -5
Is it just that all the AI traffic have blank textures or also scenery objects being blank textures?
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Post by funk on Jun 21, 2021 14:06:10 GMT -5
I tried to reproduce your problem and changed just one .bmp of the AI aircraft into DXT5 format. What happened was that the as soon as you put your view towards the AI aircraft with that DXT5 bmp it blanks out. After some say 30 seconds all the other AI aircraft around also have blank textures and even some scenery textures blank out.
Another 15 minutes the sim freezes.
Do you have similar symptoms?
Alex
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Post by cgold on Jun 21, 2021 17:22:31 GMT -5
That’s exactly what happens but my sim doesn’t freeze, oddly. How does one find DXT5 formatted textures?
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Post by FSMuseum on Jun 21, 2021 17:50:46 GMT -5
I would highly recommend downloading a program called Texture Manager. I can't remember who made it but do a Google for Texture Manager FSX. It can convert all textures in your aircraft folders in a batch to FS2004 format (DXT3 BMP), as well as other sim formats, it can add or remove mipmaps, and can even reduce your light map sizes to reduce RAM usage. I've used it many times with great success.
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Post by cgold on Jun 21, 2021 23:13:21 GMT -5
I would highly recommend downloading a program called Texture Manager. I can't remember who made it but do a Google for Texture Manager FSX. It can convert all textures in your aircraft folders in a batch to FS2004 format (DXT3 BMP), as well as other sim formats, it can add or remove mipmaps, and can even reduce your light map sizes to reduce RAM usage. I've used it many times with great success. I was hoping to find a good batch converter. One question: How does it work with textures requiring alpha channeling? For FAIB models, it’s usually one channel for the whole plane but for CalClassic’s DC-6’s, say - it varies.
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Post by funk on Jun 22, 2021 7:37:45 GMT -5
That’s exactly what happens but my sim doesn’t freeze, oddly. How does one find DXT5 formatted textures? Try this tool everything from voidtools : www.voidtools.com/downloads/what I experienced if there is an alpha texture but the model of the AI does not support it FS9 will CTD with a message usually "fe.dll or ntdll.dll".
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Post by cgold on Jun 22, 2021 16:30:12 GMT -5
The OwlAI viewer/editing program allows the user to see what format a respective aircraft's textures are saved in. I did come across several aircraft with DXT5 textures/lightmaps but nothing stood out as a definite offender (considering my problems are (currently) in SJU, YIP, and FWA). I did find a lot of DXT1 textures for several aircraft but I do not recall those being problematic.
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Post by cgold on Jun 22, 2021 20:32:00 GMT -5
Here’s a new one: Anyone ever run into an “invalid” texture before? Running through the OwlAI program, I found a bunch on CalClassic’s DC-6’s and DC-7’s. They were lightmaps for the cowl flaps, of all things. Would that throw the sim for a loop?
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Post by FSMuseum on Jun 22, 2021 21:54:43 GMT -5
I would highly recommend downloading a program called Texture Manager. I can't remember who made it but do a Google for Texture Manager FSX. It can convert all textures in your aircraft folders in a batch to FS2004 format (DXT3 BMP), as well as other sim formats, it can add or remove mipmaps, and can even reduce your light map sizes to reduce RAM usage. I've used it many times with great success. I was hoping to find a good batch converter. One question: How does it work with textures requiring alpha channeling? For FAIB models, it’s usually one channel for the whole plane but for CalClassic’s DC-6’s, say - it varies. Alpha maps will remain unaffected by the program. The only change would be to resolution, if you told the program to change the resolution of the overall texture. I've used it to batch convert my entire AI aircraft collection to DXT3 format for faster load times and lower RAM usage. None of my FAIB paints (or any paints, for that matter) were negatively affected. A great tool, I think
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Post by cgold on Jul 5, 2021 19:49:15 GMT -5
I was hoping to find a good batch converter. One question: How does it work with textures requiring alpha channeling? For FAIB models, it’s usually one channel for the whole plane but for CalClassic’s DC-6’s, say - it varies. Alpha maps will remain unaffected by the program. The only change would be to resolution, if you told the program to change the resolution of the overall texture. I've used it to batch convert my entire AI aircraft collection to DXT3 format for faster load times and lower RAM usage. None of my FAIB paints (or any paints, for that matter) were negatively affected. A great tool, I think Thank you FSMuseum for the TextureManager tip - Great little utility. I'm still working the problem, however. I've formatted all aircraft when an error presents itself but still getting the blanking out issue. Now its happening right when I start the sim, rather than it "degenerating," if you will.
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Post by funk on Jul 6, 2021 9:59:00 GMT -5
Christian have you tried to turn of all the AI traffic in your sim? Is it still the same result If you would use a demanding UI aircraft like PMDG/Captain Sim with heavy scenery like O'hare?
Alex
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Post by cgold on Jul 6, 2021 10:42:06 GMT -5
Good news is that if I yank all of the AI, the sim works fine. I formatted a ton more AI aircraft last night. (Almost all the major brands, if you will). I’m gonna try and see tonight if that did the trick.
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Post by cgold on Jul 10, 2021 21:46:59 GMT -5
Alright - some progress is being made but we're not out of the woods yet. Formatted all the main AI aircraft we all use and things do run better, for a while. Trying some stuff in MIA to see if the error presents itself, which it does. Ran the process monitor and I'm seeing a lot of these error messages. "HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\APL" - for example, is "not found." "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Svchost\GraphicsPerfSvcGroup\(a whole bunch of different items here)" is another "not found." This last one I found to be the most interesting: "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\svchost.exe\UseFilter" was also not found. Could this be a case of a graphics driver being updated and not liking FS9?
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