Please fix Blue Taxiway Edge Lights **SOLVED, not a scenery problem**

[Alferra]

I have downloaded KLAX for trial and will buy regardless. Already purchased KIAH. Will also purchase KIAD.

The problem of the disappearing blue taxiway lights fixtures is present again in KLAX, as in KIAH. The fixtures do not disappear in Flightbeam´s KIAD, Aerosoft PANC, nor Orbx PAJN. The problem is shared however by Taxi2Gate KSEA. All of a sudden these fixtures disappear leaving only the blue glow on the pavement and it is driving me crazy.

My FSX runs like a charm with the PMDG with all types of sceneries so I doubt it is in my settings. These must be the fixtures used in the BGL or the way they are installed. But, the fact that the other airports also have them and don´t disappear tells me that it is doable.

My humble request if you will please ?

[Martyjr]

I just took a look:

[Alferra]

Yes, they are there alright, until you start to taxi in the PMDG then poof !! all of a sudden they disappear. The issue exists, and is not present in other high quality airports such as this one.

[Martyjr]

"Yes, they are there alright, until you start to taxi in the PMDG then poof !! all of a sudden they disappear"

Initially you did not mention that.

I will go taxi and have a look.

Is it with all aircraft or just PMDG?

[Alferra]

I am not sure, I only fly in and out of those airports in the PMDG 737. My system is silky smooth with no OOMs and optimized video settings. Like I say, the other airports don´t have these light fixtures disappearing.

[Martyjr]

I just taxi from one end of KLAXv2 to the other end ........ took many screenshots in PMDG737NGX ........... no problems.

This screenshot is near the end of taxi.

Did you do screenshots or a video during your taxi?

[Alferra]

So if that is the case indeed (are you sure) ? then maybe my settings are not optimized for those particular airports, would you mind telling me what you have in the addon manager ?

[Martyjr]

If you have been messing with the addon manager settings .. maybe try the using the default settings.

From my tests .. it looks like the problem is in your PC / setup / settings.

[Alferra]

I will check again but, like I say, it is only for these airports. Another user also has the same problem--see my reply to the OP´s thread in the KIAH support forum. Umberto is not coming back with an explanation for this. I  would like to hear from him what the problem could be ? is this they way it is supposed to be ?

[Martyjr]

"Another user also has the same problem--see my reply to the OP´s thread in the KIAH support forum."
If it is a problem I would expect many pilots would have it.


"Umberto is not coming back with an explanation for this."
This is a holiday weekend for many people.

[virtuali]

The problem is shared however by Taxi2Gate KSEA. All of a sudden these fixtures disappear leaving only the blue glow on the pavement and it is driving me crazy.

I think this answers the question about being an FSDT problem. Nothing in our software can have any effect or relationship with Taxi2Gate KSEA.

Does it happen with a default airplane ? PMDG uses a very large ground plane to project the airplane taxi lights, that might cause visibility issues with scenery objects, which explains why you have the problem at Taxi2Gate KSEA too.

[Alferra]

Good morning Umberto, the answer to the question is no, it does not happen with all airplanes--matter of fact it is only with the PMDG. It does not happen as soon as I switch to an outside mode either with the PMDG, or even when I zoom the view within the PMDG cockpit in such a way that the displays are not in view.

For some reason, in these particular airports that I have mentioned this happens. A couple of pics to illustrate, I took them at KIAH, I can post one for KLAX also if you like. When these lights blend with the right amount of internal textures at these airports in this airplane, the glows are the only thing left. Now you see that as soon as I zoom the view and disappear the flight instruments the lights reappear again.
Never suggested it is an FSDT problem, only maybe the way that these lights have been configured in the .BGL, since it does not happen no matter what at PANC, PAJN, KIAD and others.

[Alferra]

With the help of other threads my question has been answered, but it is still something that can maybe get fixed.

It seems that, in an effort to make the airports FPS friendly, FSdreamteam and Taxi2Gates in KSEA have configured these light fixtures to do just that--disappear from view--, under some circumstances and depending on the view zoom.

That is great for FPS, and these airports for what they are with their great textures are among the most FPS and VAS friendly I have seen thus far. I have measured it with the ProcessExplorer and all.

Still I think that for my particular machine capability I would rather not have that feature, is there a way you can make a patch to let the fixtures stay put no matter what ? apparently some taxiway textures are also affected.

[virtuali]

It seems that, in an effort to make the airports FPS friendly, FSdreamteam and Taxi2Gates in KSEA have configured these light fixtures to do just that--disappear from view--, under some circumstances and depending on the view zoom.

If you said the problem happened ONLY at wide zoom settings, it would have been easier to reply earlier. You said it ONLY happened with the PMDG 737, which was a bit misleading...

In any case, yes, we obviously use LOD, and any PROPERLY optimized scenery should try to use LOD when possible, to save fps. ALL our sceneries use LODs, which mean ALL of them will have detail disappear automatically after a certain distance AND when using unrealistically wide zoom settings.

It has been universally acknowledged the most realistic zoom setting in FSX is around 0.70. Which is why, we try to ensure the scenery will always be visible at that zoom setting. This doesn't mean the objects will disappear as soon as you go wider than that. They usually don't, and most of the times you can go as wide as 0.50 or 0.40. It only means we don't test the scenery in ALL places and view points to be always be visible at zoom settings wider than 0.70.

Still I think that for my particular machine capability I would rather not have that feature, is there a way you can make a patch to let the fixtures stay put no matter what ? apparently some taxiway textures are also affected.

The LOD levels are correct and we designed the scenery to work well on most machines so no, there's nothing to "fix" or "patch", because the scenery is performing as designed.

To be more clear: it's way EASIER to not optimize the scenery, and just get rid of LOD levels, and have "everything in". This is what lazy developers do, because they work less (an object without LOD takes WAY less effort to create, export and test), and you pair dearly with fps and VAS loss.

It's possible that, thanks to our extremely flexible scripting engine, we might add a feature in the future to control LOD levels "on the fly" (yes, we can do that without annoying configuration utilities that forces you to restart FSX and reinstall parts of the scenery), so you will have the freedom to lower your fps and increase your VAS usage as much as you want, but at this time there's no such feature yet.

We'll try to have a look at it when we'll have some spare time.

[Alferra]

Yes Umberto, you are correct as always, my bad  . Your airports are really awesome and efficient--I really mean that.