FS 2004 - CTD

Zitat von Dedl

???

Why do MipMaps cause problems? In all my Conversions I have textures with MipMaps. No CTD's in years as far as I could notice.

Dedl

P.S. But LC_bgl's - that's a good advice, Ed

Mipmaps do not cause problems. They will not cause CTD's whether you have them or not.

My thinking is that scenery textures should have mipmaps.... simply so that it looks it's best. (no shimmering)

AI aircraft should have mips too. The only think that doesn't is my flyable aircraft.

LC_bgls are the only thing that will cause CTD (OOM)

Lack of alpha channel in a texture can/will cause stuttering.

Regards

Ed

Ed

You have a point with the Land coverage files. Files that are created by Sbuilder or similar programs.

They have names ending in VTPP.bgl or LWM2.bgl.

The texture files for a photo real background should not be in the same folder containing the VTPH.bgl. To clarify folder containing scenery: XXXx\scenery\xxxx_VTPH.bgl. The photo textures should not be in XXXx\texture.

These photo real textures normally have a lot of numbers in the name, and should be in the folder: Scenery\World\Texture.

I have a separate scenery folder called Landclass Misc in which I place all my VTPP, VTPL, LWM and LD_xxxx.bgl files. This folder has only a Scenery folder. No texture folder. This forces the program to look for the textures in Scenery\World\Texture.

I have, thanks to you, now stopped the CTD in my UUEE scenery from DRZEWIECKI DESIGN.

Zitat von JohnTenn

These photo real textures normally have a lot of numbers in the name, and should be in the folder: Scenery\World\Texture.

Really?

I use FS9\Texture

Zitat von JohnTenn

Ed

You have a point with the Land coverage files. Files that are created by Sbuilder or similar programs.

They have names ending in VTPP.bgl or LWM2.bgl.

The texture files for a photo real background should not be in the same folder containing the VTPH.bgl. To clarify folder containing scenery: XXXx\scenery\xxxx_VTPH.bgl. The photo textures should not be in XXXx\texture.

These photo real textures normally have a lot of numbers in the name, and should be in the folder: Scenery\World\Texture.

I have a separate scenery folder called Landclass Misc in which I place all my VTPP, VTPL, LWM and LD_xxxx.bgl files. This folder has only a Scenery folder. No texture folder. This forces the program to look for the textures in Scenery\World\Texture.

I have, thanks to you, now stopped the CTD in my UUEE scenery from DRZEWIECKI DESIGN.

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DDesign and I fell out over UUEE. I had told him time and time again about landclass files in FS9 but he refused to listen.

Quite often developers for some reason hide the the clues to the files eg. erasing _lc, VTPP, VTPH from the file name.

So if you ever get an OOM. That's the first place to look.

While I'm here. Always at the top of my scenery folder (highest number) is AES basepack followed by Mag. (a folder that holds my magdec.bgl). Having your magdec.bgl there will save you from any random scenery that may get your HSI spinning.

Regards

Ed

Hello Ed,

Regarding OOMs caused by Landclass.bgls, did you get a certain failure message or failure code from FS9?

Because in the past, I had many OOMs caused by defect 32Bit AI textures. Most of them were from Jürgen Baumbusch.

I had saved them again with DXTbmp and most of them work correctly, now.

I need to be aware next time, that Landclass.bgls could play a role, too.

Ja, Drewicki is a special kind of community member. UUEE was the worst scenery I ever purchased.

Jürgen Baumbusch sometimes has DXT5 bmp's that causes CTD's. You see it's a bmp you think it's for FS9, but it is not!

Dedl

Zitat von 737 Lover

Hello Ed,

Regarding OOMs caused by Landclass.bgls, did you get a certain failure message or failure code from FS9?

Because in the past, I had many OOMs caused by defect 32Bit AI textures. Most of them were from Jürgen Baumbusch.

I had saved them again with DXTbmp and most of them work correctly, now.

I need to be aware next time, that Landclass.bgls could play a role, too.

Agreed, dodgy AI textures are something else to look out for. I would check the scenery first though.

Regards

Ed

Zitat von edetroit

AI aircraft should have mips too. The only think that doesn't is my flyable aircraft.

LC_bgls are the only thing that will cause CTD (OOM)

Lack of alpha channel in a texture can/will cause stuttering.

I've avoided having MIPs for my AI, but there are often a few that creep in if I downloaded them in BMP/DXT format. I tend to download and autoconvert from DDS these days (at least until recently). It's just my preference

Landclass - as you say - is death to the sim if in an inappropriate folder structure with textures.

Alpha causes stuttering if the image contains an alpha-channel flag set but no alpha. The alpha channel flag is set by DXTBMP but not necessarily by all software that can save images with alpha. This suggests that the flag (probably just a 1-bit object) has been coded into FS2004 as a requirement that then sets the software off on the assumption that an alpha is there to be read. It might even be (speculation) that the graphics DLL for FS9 then simply runs off the end of the image file (where the alpha would I expect to exist since it is extra to the typical image).

I have read that FS9 then tries to synthesize an alpha, which I doubt. It is probable that FS9 might create an all-white alpha on-the-fly.

Zitat von 737 Lover

Because in the past, I had many OOMs caused by defect 32Bit AI textures. Most of them were from Jürgen Baumbusch.

I had saved them again with DXTbmp and most of them work correctly, now.

I've given up BMPs from JB and just download the DDS for autoconversion, there are a few tricky ones from other authors as well, including the late lamented Steve Lewis, whose excellent paints also threw up a crash on a Canadian ATR if I downloaded the FS9 version (it was saved as DXT5). I just downloaded the DDS version and ran it though my batch conversion program as a quick fix.

A random thought.

I installed Antilles 2004 the other day to use with TBPB.

The auto installer pushed the Scenery Area number to 79. [Area.079] and the layer number to something similar. I have 800 scenery layers.

A few years back my Scenery.CFG in the main folder became corrupted and I could no longer use the scenery library function in the game.

I now add and remove sceneries directly using the Scenery.CFG file. I have also found one or two instances where the layer= number was the same for more than one scenery, one which caused a crash.

CAUTION HERE: Before trying this, make a copy of your Scenery.CFG and put it in a safe place to revive your setup. A copy of your Scenery.CFG must remain in the main FS9 folder. The changes you want to happen must be in a text file called NewScenery.cfg (Your modified Scenery.CFG renamed NewScenery.cfg). The game will not load if the original Scenery.CFG is not present. After you have completed your session of simming your old Scenery.CFG will now have a name OldScenery.CFG.

This enables me to shorten the turnaround time to activate or exclude the sceneries temporarily by changing entry Active=TRUE or FALSE without having to run FS9 to do it. There is or was a program to do this. I am stingy, so I never considered purchasing it.