AI Boats Have All Gone Missing

[Moses03]

A few weeks ago I noticed that all my AI boats had gone missing. What is odd is that the wakes are all there but nothing is visible above the water. Have combed the addon scenery folder for anything that might have fouled things up but nothing stands out.

Today I installed Henrik Nielson's AI Ships thinking that might help, but the same thing is happening. The screenshot is a Henrik boat wake.

I have the AI boat sliders at 100% and I do not have any FS9 AI traffic files installed as I know that can mess up the FSX traffic. (I ran AIFP2 to check).

At wits end here. Any suggestions?

Thanks, Moses

[flaviossa]

I only see this if i turn on time acceleration inside FS. Isn´t that what happened with you?

[Moses03]

No, that is not the case. I wish it were that easy.

[PRB]

That's odd. I found this in an AVSIM forum:

"Check for trafficBoats.bgl in Scenery\World\Scenery to get the normal FSX boats back."

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/292543-ai-boats-gone-missing/

[Moses03]

The correct bgl is in there in the right place.

It's almost like a path is not mapped correctly that allows the simobject boats folder to show up but I have checked all that.

I do have scattered static ships here and there though.

[Lane Street]

It could be you are missing the ship textures.

The default AI ships use textures from ...\FSX\Scenery\Global\texture.

Look for textures with names beginning with VEH_water. There are 134 of them.

cheers,
Lane

[Moses03]

I checked Lane, have the 134 in there.

It's gets stranger though. If I fly real close to the wake, the boat will suddenly appear!

Reading through another thread here, Andy is reporting the exact same issue and with no cure: http://forum.mistymoorings.com/index.php?topic=1915.0

What would cause all my default and addon boats to appear only when I'm right next to them?

[Lane Street]

If I fly real close to the wake, the boat will suddenly appear!
It might be...

I have the AI boat sliders at 100%

Try backing off the slider and see if that helps.

cheers,
Lane

[kl791]

It might be...


Try backing off the slider and see if that helps.

cheers,
Lane

I would go down the same lane also to try to solve the issue - for my ships to appear 5% is sufficient; I would imagine some kind of overload issue as the last image clearly shows that:


model files are okay and where they should be - without mdl files you would experience a wake without ships as shown in the first image, but this can be ruled out after the last image posted
textures are where they should be - else you would see a black ship...
sim.cfg is okay as in other cases one of the two above problems would have been occurring
routes are okay and where they should be - else no ship at all...




best regards
Henrik Nielsen

[PRB]

I wonder if it has something to do with those settings that control the radius at which more detail is displayed. Perhaps the same one that fixes the fuzzy textures from x NM away.

[Moses03]

Thanks for the input-

Tried different slider settings starting at 5% like Henrik suggests in his AI shipping manual on up to 100%. No change.

Also fiddled with the SmallPartRejectRadius=XX line in the cfg. No change there either. I have read that if you have SP2 or better this line does not do anything.

Another person suggest reinstalling outside of the programs folder. Did that from the start.

[Wingmate]

​I have Acceleration installed and removing smallpartrejectradius makes a big difference in how far away I can see other aircraft.

[Moses03]

Interesting. I can see all my AI aircraft fine. It is just the ships.

[DaveB]

Moses..

Have you got any closer to finding the problem with your ships? I've been trying to fathom out what the cause might be since you posted but other than a system overload.. I'm reaching a dead end. I see ships 'not there' sometimes (if that makes sense).. ships that I know SHOULD be there but aren't.. and this has been associated with an ai_player.dll error when the sim has closed. AI_player is, I believe, one of the first things to 'let go' when resources get tight. However.. I've never seen the wake still present. I've largely fixed the problem by renaming the default tubeliners so the traffic file can't find them (I rarely go to big airports anyway).

Have you loaded any scenery that might have changed the trafficBoats.bgl file? The original is time stamped 01/08/2006 07:34 1784KB. I can send you a copy of my file if it's different from that.

Might it be a DX10 'thing'? I'm currently running in DX9 (Win7 Ultimate 64-bit).

As a last resort.. I'd try removing all but the default traffic files (assuming they're untouched) to see what happens. I know you've checked your 'flying' traffic files with AIFP but you never know.

The answer is out there I'm sure.. it's just a matter of finding it!

EDIT: Incidentally.. I flew from Gibraltar to Culdrose yesterday with ASN running in the Simshed Nimrod with 2 John Young AI Harriers in formation. As I approached Culdrose.. I popped outside to try and locate the runway lights and the Nimrod textures didn't load.. nor did the Harriers. I went back inside quickly and the VC textures took a year to load. The weather was foul!! They all came back eventually and I landed safely. As I went to park up.. the ground tile disappeared as did the aircraft textures (the airport buildings and statics were fine)!! I checked my memory use and noted I was bouncing off 4gig:o After a longish flight with poor weather near the end.. I'd expect FSX to start complaining. Had I been in XP.. it would have died long before.
ATB
DaveB:)

[Moses03]

Hi Dave,

No closer to solving the puzzle. Got frustrated actually and turned all boat traffic off for now.

Have not added any scenery that would have affected the trafficBoats.bgl file (same time stamp). I have tried removing it and also tried it with a fresh bgl from another install (Thanks MM).

Tried with and without DX10 enabled. No dice. Updated FSUIPC. Nope. Tried several additional tweaks in the cfg file but hate doing that as you tend to start chasing your tail in circles.

After scouring the net the last couple of days I found 5 others with the same issue since 2012. No fix has ever been found.

One thing I have not tried is updating the video driver for my GeForce GTX 750 TI. Still running the 335.23 drivers. I have a new system that runs FSX smooth with all sliders maxed so I don't think I'm overloading anything. Have tried running it with the sliders down but that did not make a difference.

I also wonder about compatibility mode but the sim has been running great otherwise. Maybe it's a Windows 8.1 thing? Who knows.

I just won't fly over water anymore...:dizzy:

[PRB]

When you see a disassociated wake, pause the sim, and zoom in using the "+" key. Does the ship appear at some point when you zoom in enough? I've just noticed that this is the case with some boats in my install. However, this does not happen with carriers dropped into the water using AI Carriers. Interesting.

[WarHorse47]

Interesting you should mention running under Windows 8.1. I've encountered similar problems under Windows 8.1, but with static objects instead of ai objects.

My post #35 in this thread (http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?77572-Payware-NAS-Key-West-Is-it-worth-it/page2)shows the issue with the SkyHigh Miramar static objects. My only solution was to edit one of the *.bgl files. All the other static objects appear just fine. Why only one gives me problems, I don't know.

On a similar note, I also have some issues with the ORBX Scenery for Bowerman. The scenery uses the MS Cessna for its ai aircraft. Most times all the textures are fine, but depending on what I'm flying or what weather scheme I engage, I would land only to find all the Cessna's in basic white - no external textures. Just don't know why this happens.

I've have the most current video drivers for my card and FSX almost maxed out on scenery settings, but these things still occur.

[PRB]

This may be a longshot, but it seems related:

After I discovered my small boat anomaly, I did more Googling and found a thread on AVSIM in which they're discussing a similar, but not exactly the same, issue. I tried the solution they posted and it fixed my small boats. Now they appear at great distances.

In the FSX.CFG file, look for SmallPartRejectRadius

Delete it (after making a backup copy of you FSX.CFG file, of course).

I tried removing it, then putting it back, and it seems to be the cause of my small boats disappearing.

AVSIM thread: http://forum.avsim.net/topic/379324-do-the-jesus-tweaks-affect-draw-distance/

[WarHorse47]

This may be a longshot, but it seems related:

After I discovered my small boat anomaly, I did more Googling and found a thread on AVSIM in which they're discussing a similar, but not exactly the same, issue. I tried the solution they posted and it fixed my small boats. Now they appear at great distances.

In the FSX.CFG file, look for SmallPartRejectRadius

Delete it (after making a backup copy of you FSX.CFG file, of course).

I tried removing it, then putting it back, and it seems to be the cause of my small boats disappearing.

AVSIM thread: http://forum.avsim.net/topic/379324-do-the-jesus-tweaks-affect-draw-distance/I just looked in my FSX.CFG, and I have no such entry. What section is that in and how did it get there??

[PRB]

It's part of the [SCENERY] section. Mine was set to 4.0. Smaller numbers make the "small objects" appear further away, I think. Some say this entry doesn't do anything after SP1, and Moses's issue isn't with "small" objects, which is why I think this is a longshot as a cure, but worth a try.

http://editing.17thmedia.com/index.php/FSX_Config_Editing#SmallPartRejectRadius

[Moses03]

Paul, the +/- has no affect. It seems to be the proximity of the aircraft to the boat that causes it to show up or disappear.

I did experiment with the SmallPartRejectRadius=XX under the scenery section in the cfg, trying settings of 7 down to zero. No change on the boats. My cfg did not have this line so I added to test.

From what I understand, this entry comes from the older days of FSX before SP2. Although Wingmate earlier in this thread said it affected his install.


I really do appreciate all the suggestions!

[DaveB]

I think Moses has already tried that and it made no difference. Could it really be Win8.1 at the root of it?? Seems unlikely but you never know.

Incidentally.. on that flight I mentioned where the ground tile went.. the Nimrod also went.. before FSX caught it's breath again. However.. the shadow remained!! This was down to it bouncing off the 4gig threshold though and wouldn't have happened otherwise.

ATB
DaveB:)

[WarHorse47]

Could it really be Win8.1 at the root of it?? Seems unlikely but you never know.
ATB
DaveB:)When my system upgraded from Win8 to Win8.1, I had a heck of a time getting the correct drivers for my ATI card. The MS Windows upgrade led me down the wrong path and I ended up having to reinstall the ATI Catalyst program, only to discover the version I installed was incorrect for Win8.1. I'm now happy with my drivers, but it just may be that the drivers are still not 100% happy with Win8.1. I get a little suspicious when ATI releases their latest beta.

On a related note, I'm never really sure I have the right video settings for FSX - with the Catalyst Control Center and within FSX. Most of my FSX experience is really nice, but there are instances I get these type of anomalies that I just have to live with. Nothing's perfect.

Still doesn't address Moses issue unfortunately.

[TheFamilyMan]

Though this probably is not helpful, years ago I ran into this same problem with animated wakes without boats. My situation at that time was, running Win 7, I installed FSX in 'program files (x86)'; FSX worked fine until I installed SP1 and that's when the boats vanished. Reinstalling FSX w/SP1 to a different location solved my problem.

[Moses03]

Old thread brought back to life momentarily-

Wanted to pass along the fix for this in case anyone ever has the same issue. The missing boats were caused by the wrong compatibility setting. When I initially installed FSX on my new Win 8.1 system, I had experimented with different compatibility settings to keep FSX from crashing. Had run it in Windows Vista mode for a long time as that seemed to work best and just recently unchecked that box to find that my boats came back. FSX is running very stable with no issues.

Of course, your mileage may vary...

Great to see Henrik's shipping appear all over the world.

[kl791]

Old thread brought back to life momentarily-

Wanted to pass along the fix for this in case anyone ever has the same issue. The missing boats were caused by the wrong compatibility setting. When I initially installed FSX on my new Win 8.1 system, I had experimented with different compatibility settings to keep FSX from crashing. Had run it in Windows Vista mode for a long time as that seemed to work best and just recently unchecked that box to find that my boats came back. FSX is running very stable with no issues.

Of course, your mileage may vary...

Great to see Henrik's shipping appear all over the world.

Thanks for passing on this solution! This is one of these mystery problems which can make you go nuts!