PNW base textures blurred

[Roger]

I'm wondering how far to the left I have to move the Options/display/scenery sliders until I can maintain the base textures in sharp focus when flying anything but the default or similarly simple aircraft in PNW?
I can't fly in the FW190 or the Foundair or the Warbirdsim P51 under 1000' without blurred textures in moderately urban areas. I've checked all the suggestions in the ORBX support forums but no go. I have spent the last 2 and a half years tweaking settings and drivers to finally obtain a relatively stable system for FsX but it doesn't do for PNW.
Is it time to consider an upgrade when I can afford it in a year or two or are the demands made on my system by PNW unreasonable (I have the Tasmania demo and do not suffer the same issues there)?

[dswo]

Roger, I've noticed this too and been puzzled. At first I wondered if the ground texture files were larger than default but, no. Something I haven't tried yet is to INCREASE the ground texture slider to 7 cm (from 1 m, where I have kept it since FSX came out), per the PNW manual. IIRC, that's a longstanding recommendation from Nick Needham as well.

It's also possible that PNW is just throwing more visual data at the CPU/GPU than our systems can handle.

Still, this is the first time since I upgraded from a Core2Duo to a Core2Quad that I've really been bothered by blurries (which are the main reason to get a quad in the first place).

[JayKae]

Have you guys lodged a query on the Orbx forums yet? I am sure we can help you out there :)

[Roger]

To David,
I'd set the ground texture slider at 7cm to begin with and it made no difference to the blurries.

To JayKae,
I've read the support forum posts and the only thing that comes out of the discussion seems to be to back off sliders until the issue goes away, so I may have to create an FsX shortcut for a different set of parameters to use PNW.
I noticed that when I first flew in PNW and slewed to a different part of PNW, it took forever to come back into focus.

[falcon409]

One thing I do know is that your speed has a lot to do with it. If you're pushing across the terrain at a speed above 120kts, unless you've got a kick_a__ system, it'll be blurred. The simulation can't keep up with the speed. It's generating a lot of textures, trying to keep them in sharp focus and the airplane is getting passed them before it can. Add to that the area you're flying in (lots of textures and detail). It'll be a problem.

[Roger]

One thing I do know is that your speed has a lot to do with it. If you're pushing across the terrain at a speed above 120kts, unless you've got a kick_a__ system, it'll be blurred. The simulation can't keep up with the speed. It's generating a lot of textures, trying to keep them in sharp focus and the airplane is getting passed them before it can. Add to that the area you're flying in (lots of textures and detail). It'll be a problem.

Noticed that Ed. With the default Cessna it's not a problem, unless I'm in full on urban terrain but having just bought the Warbirdsim P-51 I wanted to try it in PNW and was disappointed to see the blurries.

[ryanbatc]

I also have this with the demo! Everyone always said it was my weaker system but now that a few others mention it I don't know what's up! It's the main reason I've not purchased the full version. Even at 150 kias my textures go blurry where with default textures they are sharp.

[Roger]

Seems the ORBX fan base is so great that I don't fancy starting a thread on their forums...probably get flamed to Kingdom come, but I guess most flyers don't stay under a 1000' like I tend to. It's a shame because I was beginning to believe that Global ORBX was the way to go!

[Holger Sandmann]

Hi guys,

what's different in FTX PNW compared to other products is that the distribution of land class types is extremely detailed, which forces the sim to spend more effort blending all those different textures together. This also explains why initial loading times are higher compared to default scenery or more basic add-ons.

If you're plagued by blurries lowering autogen or scenery sliders probably won't make much difference because 3D objects are a different matter altogether. Instead I'd suggest reducing the Level of Detail radius slider when flying faster aircraft on mid range systems. That way the sim doesn't try to keep loading the highest detail (mip map) textures as far out as on max and thus usually maintains a better balance of texture detail; when you're flying fast you wouldn't notice the highest mipmaps anyway.

Cheers, Holger

[ryanbatc]

Hi guys,

what's different in FTX PNW compared to other products is that the distribution of land class types is extremely detailed, which forces the sim to spend more effort blending all those different textures together. This also explains why initial loading times are higher compared to default scenery or more basic add-ons.

Cheers, Holger

Well thanks for explaining it! Essentially you need a fast PC to enjoy this I guess (as in quad core Q9xxx or i7 9xx)

[Holger Sandmann]

Hello Ryan,

nope, not at all. While there's no free lunch with FSX in general there appear to be lots of happy FTX users who don't have fast machines. It all depends on what you expect or what aspects of the sim you enjoy.

Cheers, Holger

[Naki]

The demo works fine with my system with only very occasional blurring if switching views rapidly ..AMD 2.3ghz dual core, 3 gig RAM and 1GB 9800GT GPU, although I have only been flying the Carenado 185, 182 and Flight 1 172 in it which IMV suit the scenery well. Might be a different story in the Lotus L-39 or something similar.

[dswo]

Thanks, Holger -- that's helpful.

[Roger]

Hi guys,

what's different in FTX PNW compared to other products is that the distribution of land class types is extremely detailed, which forces the sim to spend more effort blending all those different textures together. This also explains why initial loading times are higher compared to default scenery or more basic add-ons.

If you're plagued by blurries lowering autogen or scenery sliders probably won't make much difference because 3D objects are a different matter altogether. Instead I'd suggest reducing the Level of Detail radius slider when flying faster aircraft on mid range systems. That way the sim doesn't try to keep loading the highest detail (mip map) textures as far out as on max and thus usually maintains a better balance of texture detail; when you're flying fast you wouldn't notice the highest mipmaps anyway.

Cheers, Holger

Thanks for looking in on this thread Holger. I'll certainly have a look at the lod radius settings and see if that helps.

Cheers,

Roger.

[Roger]

Holger,
I can confirm that reducing lod radius back to:
[TERRAIN]
LOD_RADIUS=4.500000

Helps but does not completely resolve the issue, dependant on the aircraft in use.
For FsX + GEX + UTX I have been using a value of 6.5.

Thanks for the pointer!

Cheers,

Roger.