DX10 Florida Airports Flicker Fix (Testers needed)

[DB93]

Hi everyone.

I just finished going through each airport in Florida, and fixed the ones that flickered under DirectX 10 (I think I got 'em all). I've gone through and ensured that they no longer flicker on my end, but I need to be sure that they're actually fixed for others as well, so I need some folks to test 'em out for me. What I need is for folks to test the included airports under DirectX 10 to see if any of them flicker or not.

Be sure you don't have any add-on airports for any of the ones included in this archive, to ensure you have no duplicate airports, which can not only cause problems, but I haven't fixed any third-party's airports, so these will only fix the stock ones. Please report if any of the included airports still flicker under DirectX 10, and please report any airports that you may come across in Florida that flicker and are *not* included with these files, so I can go back and fix those as well.

These files *should* fix every airport in Florida that flickered under DirectX 10, so it's important to me to know that these are actually fixed, and that I didn't miss any.

Thanks in advance.

PS: Please be sure to read the included READ ME file.

-George

Link:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/ynlku2vymmc/flicker-free_florida_dx10_airport_updates.zip

[JoeW]

I agree that some need an ARP file to fix the elevation, but not all. I have 54 in Central Florida that don't need that. The problem is in the SP2 update. I don't have DX10 so I'm not going to say that it's because of that or caused by that.

[DB93]

Hi Joe,

I haven't changed any elevations or made any other modifications to improve any of the default airports. All these fixes do is fix the flickering that happens on many stock airports under DirectX 10 Preview mode. In DX10, overlapping apron and taxiway sections that cross each other on some asphalt and/or concrete airports tend to shift back and forth between the overlapping textures causing a flickering effect.

The 'fix' (as applied here) is nothing more than adding 1 asphalt and 1 concrete taxiway, and 1 asphalt and 1 concrete apron to each airport that exhibits the behavior. Each airport typically only needs 1 or 2 of those 'fixes', but using all four works on every affected airport, allowing more airports to be completed in a shorter period of time. The added aprons and taxiways are made very small, and then hidden under a building to prevent affecting the appearance of the stock airport at all.

The included airports are just the stock FSX ones that displayed the behavior under dx10, with the above-mentioned 'fix' which (for reasons unknown to me) stop the 'texture fighting' flickering from happening. I went through every stock airport in the state, one by one, and the ones included all displayed the behavior, and have had the 'fix' applied (and verified on my own end).

These airports basically don't improve anything over the stock airports, since that's exactly what they are, they've just had their texture flickering problem under DirectX 10 'worked around'. :)

Edited to add: This fix was discovered by James_2k over at avsim, I'm just trying to fix as many as possible in at least my own immediate region. :)

-George

[DB93]

For anyone that may be testing these, one tester has reported that KAAF was still flickering. It looks like the last time I compiled it, I did it from the stock airport instead of from my work file, so the changes were not included in that airport. Here's a link to an updated version of that airport. Just overwrite the one you installed from the last package.

Link:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/jaknlintdju/KAAF_DX10Fix_DB93.zip

Thanks.

[CodyValkyrie]

Is anyone working on a fix that will take care of ALL airports?

[DB93]

I know that Gridley over on the avsim forums is trying to find a way to automate the process, but so far we have no indication as to whether or not he'll be able to get something working. So as it stands right now, each airport that needs to be fixed, has to be done by hand. Many of us are hoping that some kind of a universal, automated process can be devised that will do all the airports in one shot (like perhaps a batch job), but until something like that becomes a reality, there's no reason to not at least start fixing some manually, and have at least some areas to fly without the flicker in DX10. :)

[CodyValkyrie]

Yes, this is what I was thinking DB93... an automated process.