Self-shadow oddities

Adamski_NZ

Adamski_NZ

Moderator
Staff member
Ever since using DX10 and the Fixer, I've been getting strange shadows appearing when I zoom in and out of the view. I've never known whether it was a DX10 issue or an aircraft model "feature" (or combination of both).

It's not really bothered me that much, but I got this the other day and had to laugh!

ac_self_shadow_1280.jpg


Zooming in or out slightly usually makes them behave, but it can be a bit annoying.

I have the scenery/aircraft slider all the way to the right (aircraft).

Any ideas?

Adam.
 
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I had this too and from memory I turned a vc shadows slider down. I think it was "Boost"?
 
Roger said:
I had this too and from memory I turned a vc shadows slider down. I think it was "Boost"?
Click to expand...
Thanks - I tried most combinations of shadow(s) settings and couldn't get them to go away.

I'd be interested to see if anyone else has this with the A2A P-51. In the meantime, I'll see if I can find instances of it in other aircraft.

The impression I get is that it's the shadow as it might appear on the *inside* of the cockpit wall. I tried toggling the "solid VC walls" option (or whatever it's called) but no change there either.

There's no way I'm going back to DX9 even for a second to test whether this happens in DX9 as well.

Adam.
 
This appears to be a transparency issue with the fuselage. I certainly had this with the Chippie, Adam, and (I think) I got rid of it by "tagging" the aircraft. You might also try converting those textures to DXT-1 (having backed up the aircraft textures first of course... (like I always do....cough-cough)) Have you tested for 8-bit textures?

pj
 
Paul J said:
This appears to be a transparency issue with the fuselage. I certainly had this with the Chippie, Adam, and (I think) I got rid of it by "tagging" the aircraft. You might also try converting those textures to DXT-1 (having backed up the aircraft textures first of course... (like I always do....cough-cough)) Have you tested for 8-bit textures?
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Thanks Paul - I'll have a "fiddle". I didn't think I'd need to mess with a relatively recent A2A aircraft, but one of the things I did check (before) was whether it was "tagged" (it isn't). All the textures are .dds/DXT-5 anyway.

OK - just tried tagging: failed - "not a legacy model".

Back to the drawing board!

Adam.
 
Adamski_NZ said:
Thanks Paul - I'll have a "fiddle". I didn't think I'd need to mess with a relatively recent A2A aircraft, but one of the things I did check (before) was whether it was "tagged" (it isn't). All the textures are .dds/DXT-5 anyway.

OK - just tried tagging: failed - "not a legacy model".

Back to the drawing board!

Adam.
Click to expand...

ok, - then I would post on Steve's Official forum, as the Fixer should ...um.. fix.. this, Adam. What a strange one. This is probably the result of "too much shine" - a very high level of transparency - almost being a "window", and the only way (I know of) of fixing that problem, is to lighten the alpha very slightly, (by opening the fuse/wing texture with DXTbmp), sending the alpha to the editor (Photoshop, PhotoPaint Pro, Gimp, whatever) lightening it very slightly, and then re-importing it back into DXTbmp.
(You might ask about this problem over at A2A first, (before playing with their textures) as they might just send you a modified texture to try.)

Dumb question, perhaps, given your "most excellent DX10 abilities", but I have to assume you're using the latest version of the Fixer - right? :biggrin-new:

Best,

pj
 
Paul J said:
ok, - then I would post on Steve's Official forum, as the Fixer should ...um.. fix.. this, Adam. What a strange one.
Dumb question, perhaps, given your "most excellent DX10 abilities", but I have to assume you're using the latest version - right? :biggrin-new:
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Sound effects of hat being eaten LOL ...

I re-saved the texture (it's all in one big texture) as a DXT-1 with 1-bit alpha. Guess what ... the damn thing works!!! No fluke - tried it on two different P-51 repaints.

This is all very well, but the vast majority of my later FSX aircraft have DXT5 textures - even all my own repaints are saved in that format. So .... is there something that the Fixer doesn't like about DXT-5, I wonder?

My Fixer is 2.1 Build 43. If that's not the latest, I'm going to be *SO EMBARRASSED*!

Adam.
 
I had the issue with the Alabeo C-195 which is an FsX native but "shiny" like the Mustang. Under general shaders I uncheched "enable shadow boost" and the problem went.
 
Roger said:
I had the issue with the Alabeo C-195 which is an FsX native but "shiny" like the Mustang. Under general shaders I uncheched "enable shadow boost" and the problem went.
Click to expand...
I tried that before (thanks!) - no difference. I double-checked and tried again, just in case, but no-go.

Does anyone else here have the A2A P-51?

I'm a bit confused as to where to go with this (as I think it may be a general Fixer problem - with DXT-5 transparency). Where do I report it (if not here)? The "official" forum is AVsim ... then we have Steve's Blog.

@PJ - did you remove your "How-To" link from your signature on the ORBX forums because of undue pressure (or possibility of)? I don't think I see it here either LOL!

Adam.
 
Good Day Adam!

There are no links in the Orbx site - I just haven't got around to doing it, but they will be there within the next 1/2 hour! No - I've had no pressure from anyone, Adam (or from myself) on the Orbx site.

The links are still in my sig here, plus in the pinned doc at the top, and are repeated in the How-To doc itself - the only one missing is the Avsim Official link, and I will correct that one immediately. Edit: -> Done. The links don't have any underlining until you roll the mouse over them - which is a bit strange, and I don't see any way to make that happen.

I still think that the transparency is a "too dark" alpha - but I don't have anything to test in the hangar that's polished like the A2A P51...

Let us know how it turns out.

:ernaehrung004:

pj
 
Paul J said:
Good Day Adam!
The links are still in my sig here, plus in the pinned doc at the top, and are repeated in the How-To doc itself - the only one missing is the Avsim Official link, and I will correct that one immediately. Edit: -> Done. The links don't have any underlining until you roll the mouse over them - which is a bit strange, and I don't see any way to make that happen.

I still think that the transparency is a "too dark" alpha - but I don't have anything to test in the hangar that's polished like the A2A P51...

Let us know how it turns out.
Click to expand...
Hi Paul! Steve got onto it pretty quick after I'd posted it on Avsim: http://forum.avsim.net/topic/439659-dxt-5-self-shadow-transparency-problem/

Apparently, he'd already seen this post here so he was forewarned LOL! A bug in the "Toned Shadows" option (which I had thought I'd tried with it toggled off, but no matter). To be fixed in the next version of the Fixer, as it were!

Cheers,

Adam.

Hmmm ... I can see your signature - why can't I see mine?
 
Yup - I read it. I do follow both Avsim forums too, but I force myself to ignore the 'help me''s, and hope they'll come over here. I can't overtly advertize this site, and I'm not going to argue with Jim - he can dig his own grave. Fortunately - we've now got a bunch of DX10'ers who, for the most case - know what they're doing, and can help the beginner.

Steve is pretty quick off the mark, too, and I'm happy it will get fixed. Version 2.2 b44 is in test at this moment.

:ernaehrung004:

pj
 
Paul J said:
Version 2.2 b44 is in test at this moment.
Click to expand...
Yay!

On to more mundane matters ... your signature (and mine!):

1) All your linked PDF documents appear to be corrupt. My Acrobat won't open them. I've tried repeated downloads ... no luck!

2) I set up my own signature but can't see it in my forum posts. Can you see it? Maybe it's a "feecher" of vBulletin that hides signatures for the logged in user.
As far as I can tell, I have it set up properly. Is there some hidden toggle somewhere?

Adam.

EDIT: Aaaahhhhh ... THERE it is!!! LOL!

EDIT2: Links mystery solved! I was using the right mouse click "save link as" to download the files. They really need to be clicked on normally - as they then go to your Dropbox screen(s). Mea Culpa!
 
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