Buildings load late

[virtuali]

[FSDREAMTEAM]
AntiPopUp=400

Don't know how stable this is is going to be but till now it works.

It's totally useless. That setting is only used by the Addon Manager (not FSX), to decide if an object should be loaded or not based on the range it has been designed with.

However, regardless how much higher you set it, NOTHING will be loaded if you are outside the general airport loading range, which is about 10 NM, or 16 NM for the larger airports like KLAX.

On top of that, this setting has a meaning ONLY for smaller objects, which are handled by the Addon Manager and use this setting. The airport main terminals are ALWAYS loaded if you are inside the airport loading range, and they are not even handled by the Addon Manager, but by the Couatl program, and Couatl doesn't care of that setting, it either loads an object if you are inside the airport range, or it will not.

This means, if you have put that setting in, and you think you have "solved" anything related to airports main terminals, it's an entirely placebo effect, because the only thing that high setting would achieve, is to get an increased load range for SMALL, DETAIL objects like static ground vehicles, packets, etc. Less pop-up, basically, which is why the setting is called that way.

[virtuali]

I have this problem with LAX v2 and JFK and have tried all of the above solutions without luck (video driver reset, fsx.cfg reset, install on vanilla FSX, HIGHMEMFIX...).

This problem is likely due to having set FSX.EXE to run into a "Compatibility" mode. It must be turned off, and this is how FSX gets installed by default, which is the correct setting.

It's also possible another addon that starts with FSX and runs under a Compatibility mode, to have the same effect on FSX graphic. Compatibility mode shouldn't be used, because in addition to other problems with file and folder locations, it will force your video drivers to run into a limited performance mode ( WDDM 1.0 instead of the more modern WDDM 1.1 ), and this will have an effect on graphics, but not in all cases, only objects using advanced shaders will be affected, that's why you don't see this in other sceneries, there aren't many other sceneries out there that use your video card properly.

[veikkohy]

This problem is likely due to having set FSX.EXE to run into a "Compatibility" mode. It must be turned off, and this is how FSX gets installed by default, which is the correct setting.

Thanks for your reply. The combatibility mode is turned off on FSX.EXE. When the mode is on, around 80% of the buildings are missing. With the mode off I am only missing 5-15 buildings, but of course I'd like to have them all. 

I've tried just about everything to fix this:

- Boost the priority of FSX via Task Manager
- Installed FSX on the root of C drive and my second HDD drive
- Completely disabled UAC and Metro via registry
- Disabled Hyper Threading on the processor, CUDA cores and other options on my video card
- Run FSX in DX10 mode
- Tried with low graphics and resolutions

None of these have any effect...  

[virtuali]

Thanks for your reply. The combatibility mode is turned off on FSX.EXE. When the mode is on, around 80% of the buildings are missing. With the mode off I am only missing 5-15 buildings, but of course I'd like to have them all.

That confirms the problem HAD something to do with Compatibility. It's possible another FSX programs is also running in Compatibility mode, check all your other FSX addons that starts with FSX.

[veikkohy]

Thanks for your reply. The combatibility mode is turned off on FSX.EXE. When the mode is on, around 80% of the buildings are missing. With the mode off I am only missing 5-15 buildings, but of course I'd like to have them all.

That confirms the problem HAD something to do with Compatibility. It's possible another FSX programs is also running in Compatibility mode, check all your other FSX addons that starts with FSX.

I've tested LAX and JFK with a fresh FSX install (no FSUIPC or other programs), and I've still got the missing buildings. My main concerns are for now:

- My GTX 970 doesn't like the special shaders in your buildings - the driver needs updating from NVIDIA
- The factory overclock of GTX 970 (G1 Gaming) - apologies, but I'm not going to change that yet as other games are working well
- Couatl program that - as you said - loads the objects

[virtuali]

My GTX 970 doesn't like the special shaders in your buildings - the driver needs updating from NVIDIA

There are no "special" in any way. They only use standard shaders that comes with FSX, with no modifications whatsoever. I have no issue with any release of the nVidia driver.

The factory overclock of GTX 970 (G1 Gaming) - apologies, but I'm not going to change that yet as other games are working well

Can't say anything about it, but I highly doubt overclocking could have any impact on this.

However, there IS a video setting that we KNOW it cause problems (no idea why, but sometimes objects disappear because of this), and it's the "Transparency Antialiasing" setting, and we also advise against using it, in the KLAX manual there's a warning not to use it.

So, if you have "Transparency Antialiasing" turned off ( also known as AAA Antialiasing on some cards ), try turning it off.

Couatl program that loads the objects

The Couatl program doesn't obviously have anything to do with this, because the objects ARE loaded, and that's the ONLY thing the program does: it ask FSX to load the objects.

You can have a clear proof of this, by noticing the PAUSE that happens exactly when you enter the scenery loading range, for example 16NM for KLAX, this is the moment when Couatl is loading the objects.

Once they are loaded, Couatl won't ever try to do anything on that, unless you EXIT from the scenery area. That's the only involvement it has with the objects. So no, it doesn't have anything to do with this issue.

[veikkohy]

So, if you have "Transparency Antialiasing" turned off ( also known as AAA Antialiasing on some cards ), try turning it off.

Sorry to say that this didn't help.

[virtuali]

Sorry to say that this didn't help.

Than it's something else related to the video settings. Have you tried resetting the FSX.CFG to default, as explained above ?

[veikkohy]

Have you tried resetting the FSX.CFG to default, as explained above ?

Yes, I've tried to reset FSX.CFG with no effect.

On an interesting note, I did an experiment with over 30 reloads at LAX and JFK, and noticed there were a few buildings that clearly weren't missing as often as others. For instance, I have yet to see these buildings to be missing at LAX and Terminal 7 on JFK. Other buildings were missing 5-10 times during the test session.

[virtuali]

On an interesting note, I did an experiment with over 30 reloads at LAX and JFK, and noticed there were a few buildings that clearly weren't missing as often as others. For instance, I have yet to see these buildings to be missing at LAX and Terminal 7 on JFK. Other buildings were missing 5-10 times during the test session.

That even more confirms it's nothing related to any of our software, because (from our software point of view) ALL buildings are "created equal", at least the main ones (terminals, etc.), and they are created at the same time, when you enter the scenery loading range 16 NM out, which is when you'll likely have a pause.

Only the smaller details like small objects, crates, packs, etc, have a smaller loading range.

I'm sorry, but it's 100% sure it's a video driver or fsx settings problem, either direct, or caused by something that is running in Compatibility mode, which results in video drivers mis-behaving.

Try a video driver uninstall, using a Driver Cleaner program, it's possible you have a video driver tweak (maybe coming from olderdriver) that cannot be reset by the video driver control panel options, but it's still there in the registry.

[veikkohy]

Ok, thanks for your prompt support! I'll wait for the new drivers and see if they resolve the issue. As for now, I can live with the missing buildings - at least they stay in the memory once you sweep over them.