DFW textures dissappear

[RobZ]

I have been messing around with my DFW scenery to get it to work and have been having hit and miss luck with it at best. I have taken a few screen shots that I can post if that will help out. When taxing around terminal A everything looks great till I get to the other side around gate A18.  I then lose all taxiway markings. When the scenery works it looks awesome but if it keeps going in and out then its kind of worthless. Please advise on some possible solutions. My other issue is when DFW is selected in my scenery list when I exit fsx it crashes every time. If I uncheck DFW scenery then it exits with no problem. The only other scenery that is on my FSX is from Fly Tampa's Tampa, Buffalo, and Boston. All of which work fine with DFW checked or unchecked.
Thanks for the help.

System specs

Asus rampage II extreme
Asus engtx470 graphics 1280mmb
Intel i7 920 @ 2.67ghz
6 gig ram
Asus supremeFX sound card

[virtuali]

When taxing around terminal A everything looks great till I get to the other side around gate A18.  I then lose all taxiway markings.

This has been discussed several times already, last time in a thread just two lines below this one, here:

http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php?topic=4334.0

I've checked the scenery in your position and, taxiway markings disappear only with a zoom level less than 0.48 in Spot View so, it's absolutely normal, it's not a "bug" it's how the scenery has been made, and the widest usable zoom level it's not the same all over the scenery, but it changes depending on location. For example, at the A18 parking position, you can go as far as 0.30 so, it seems you just picked up the worse possible place, which still is well within an usable level.

In general, when something disappear, it's never a bug, it's always an intentional fps optimization.

Please advise on some possible solutions.

The solution is simply increase your zoom level a bit. In your case, it would have been enough to go from 0.40 (which is probably the setting you had) to 0.48. But, as I've said, it's just that place. Other places you can use wider settings.

My other issue is when DFW is selected in my scenery list when I exit fsx it crashes every time. If I uncheck DFW scenery then it exits with no problem

Sorry, but I can't replicate this in any way, and nobody ever reported it before.

It would be useful if you said *what* kind of crash you are getting.

Do you see the dialog box stating "FSX has encountered a problem" ? If yes, do you have the option to see "Details" about the error ? If you are able to see the Details page, what is saying ? It should indicated the name of the module that crashed, that will give some hints of what's happening.

Since nobody ever reported this before, it's likely another product (not necessarily a scenery) which is in conflict with our own, which doesn't do anything if KDFW is not active, that's why you don't have the crash by disabling KDFW.

Another possible reason could be a problem with some system libraries, like the MS Visual C++ runtimes, in this case, you should see a problem with MSVCR80.DLL in the crash Details page.

Another thing to try, is to delete your FSX.CFG file located at %APPDATA%\Microsoft\FSX and let FSX rebuild a new one, sometimes a wrong tweak can cause issues like memory corruption.

[RobZ]

Now I know how you guys like to blame the zoom as I did read the post that was just a few lines below mine and then you like to blame each individual system and that you cant reproduce our problems which is why I provided screen shots and luckily I took some others from inside the cockpit as well. Now keep in mind these pictures have been reduced in size in order to post them here in the forum. As far as deleting my cfg file just to make your scenery work seems a little bit extreme. I will post my cfg for you to look at. But if I do delete my cfg wont that mean I then have to reprogram all my ch products?  



I have to say that this next statement might be harsh but very true. I believe when I purchase a scenery pack that I expect it to work regardless of the zoom i'm at or fps hits, if the fps take a hit then its a matter of just tweaking a few settings. I know its hard a developer of software to make things work on such a broad range of systems but at the same time a lot of out here have more then enough cpu power to run fsx default any way we want.

[virtuali]

Now I know how you guys like to blame the zoom as I did read the post that was just a few lines below mine and then you like to blame each individual system and that you cant reproduce our problems which is why I provided screen shots

You got it entirely wrong: I've never said we "can't reproduce" the disappearance of textures shows in your screenshots, or that "your system" is a problem. It's not, and nobody said this.

I've said exactly the opposite: I CAN (obviously) reproduce your "problem" (which is not a problem, of course), by setting the zoom to less than 0.48, from the Spot View you used in your screenshot.

As I've said, it's all normal, this is how the scenery was made.

and luckily I took some others from inside the cockpit as well.

You left out the only thing that really matters from your cockpit screenshots, which is the zoom level. As was explained in the other thread, we try to be sure that at no place in the scenery the ground lines disappear at 0.70 in VC mode, but we also keep some headroom which means you usually can go up to 0.50 in *most* places (not everywhere) so, if your zoom level was 0.70 or more in that screenshot, it means it's something that we missed and went outside our own design specs.

If, instead, your zoom level was less than 0.70, and by putting it at 0.70 everything displays normally, it means it's all normal and the scenery is still inside its design specs.

As far as deleting my cfg file just to make your scenery work seems a little bit extreme.

Now I see why you are confusing things: you are confusing the Zoom level/Lines disappearance problem, with the "Crash on Exit problem".

THIS I can't reproduce, and THIS is what nobody ever reported before.

The FSX.CFG rebuild MIGHT fix this. There are some tweaks that might create this problem, especially the undocumented ones. This is something that it might be worth trying.

But if I do delete my cfg wont that mean I then have to reprogram all my ch products?

Can't you simply move that file to another location (like your Desktop, for example), so you can TRY if it fixes the crash on exit problem ? If it doesn't fix the crash on exit, you can restore your original fsx.cfg, if it does, at least you would know it IS a setting there.

I believe when I purchase a scenery pack that I expect it to work regardless of the zoom i'm at

The scenery works almost at any places with a very wide range of zoom settings. On some *specific* spots, that range might be smaller, and it seems you picked up one of the critical areas. As I've said, in Spot view, at THAT gate, everything is displayed from Zoom level 0.50 onward. In other nearby places, you can go all the way wide.

We believe the zoom levels as they are are ok for the most used zoom levels and reasonable distances, and it's just wrong expecting to remove all the optimization, in order to always have "everything in", regardless of the zoom or the distance.

Now the Zoom issue is clear, let's deal with the crash on exit. First try your FSX.CFG (MOVE IT, don't delete it) and if it doesn't fix the problem, try the other suggestion about trying to identifying the crash details.

[RobZ]

Ok tried the cfg thing and still produced the fsx has stopped working. A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available. Let face it we know windows will not notify us of the fix lol.

So I replaced the new with the old. One thing that did come up was I had to approve fsinn with the new cfg but nothing else. No gauges or anything like that so im guessing that is kept somewhere else. I was hoping it would ask me reapporve gauges and maybe those bgl files or what ever they were durning the install of dfw. The zoom idea worked but I had to be around .60 in the cockpit to get everything to work and thats just to tight to vc for taxing as it really limits your sight. Also im trying to use the default cessna rather then my pmdg JS41. I have not remove the dfw scenery to see if that will fix the stopped working error. I will post some pics later of the screen shots with the zoom still on them. Just wanted to keep you updated as to what I have tried so far. Something I dont think i have seen on the board or at least noticed, the the screen resolution matter? Im running in 1024x768x32. filtering is Anisotropic and anti-aliasing Transparency is shut off through the game profile that nvida provides. But i have anti-aliasing check on in fsx.

Thanks for your help so far Im really hoping we can either get my system tweak so that it works.

[virtuali]

The zoom idea worked but I had to be around .60 in the cockpit to get everything to work and thats just to tight to vc for taxing as it really limits your sight.

That's to be expected, and still within our design goal to be always usable from 0.70 onward, which is considered to be the most realistic setting. As I've said, in some areas you can go as wide as 0.30-35, but not everywhere.

Something I dont think i have seen on the board or at least noticed, the the screen resolution matter? Im running in 1024x768x32. filtering is Anisotropic and anti-aliasing Transparency is shut off through the game profile that nvida provides. But i have anti-aliasing check on in fsx.

Yes, the screen resolution matters as well, because the whole thing is driven by LOD levels, and LOD levels are derived from a formula that takes into account an object screen size in *pixels*, cutting out things that are smaller than xxx pixels so yes, it depends BOTH by the zoom level AND the resolution, it's likely you'll be able to use a wider zoom with an higher screen resolution.

Ok tried the cfg thing and still produced the fsx has stopped working. A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available. Let face it we know windows will not notify us of the fix lol.

Does that window provided an option to see error details ? If yes, and you select to see it, another dialog should display which module crashes, which might help identify the source of the problem.

OR, you should be able to see the FSX crash reports with details in the Windows Event Viewer, which is located on the Control Panel under the system admin tools section.

[RobZ]

Ok First off let me apologize for being away for so long but the real world sometimes keeps me away from the cockpit.

I have again tonight tried to delete the .cfg and rebuild it which kind of worked but not really. Some of my textures that were there before seem to be missing or something. For example when using the fsx Cessna the side of the aircraft has no detail. Not sure what causes that. I have recently updated my nvidia drivers so who know. I did still get the crash or stop working error so that is not fix and I did go into the event logger as you suggested. Which I will post. But it seems that there is an issue somewhere and I believe that like you said it has nothing to do with the dfw addon. But it however strange that it came out at the same time. Any how any help or suggestions you might have are appreciated.

Well I found an old cfg from back and Jan so figured i would try it but got the same error on exit. So not sure if that will help you at all.

Log Name:      Application
Source:        Application Error
Date:          7/24/2011 12:11:11 AM
Event ID:      1000
Task Category: (100)
Level:         Error
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      Dads
Description:
Faulting application name: fsx.exe, version: 10.0.61472.0, time stamp: 0x475e17d3
Faulting module name: unknown, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x00000000
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x04246c81
Faulting process id: 0x1510
Faulting application start time: 0x01cc49b5377052e3
Faulting application path: E:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\fsx.exe
Faulting module path: unknown
Report Id: f65deda1-b5aa-11e0-aa21-e0cb4e3bc3ba
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
  <System>
    <Provider Name="Application Error" />
    <EventID Qualifiers="0">1000</EventID>
    <Level>2</Level>
    <Task>100</Task>
    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2011-07-24T04:11:11.000000000Z" />
    <EventRecordID>17328</EventRecordID>
    <Channel>Application</Channel>
    <Computer>Dads</Computer>
    <Security />
  </System>
  <EventData>
    <Data>fsx.exe</Data>
    <Data>10.0.61472.0</Data>
    <Data>475e17d3</Data>
    <Data>unknown</Data>
    <Data>0.0.0.0</Data>
    <Data>00000000</Data>
    <Data>c0000005</Data>
    <Data>04246c81</Data>
    <Data>1510</Data>
    <Data>01cc49b5377052e3</Data>
    <Data>E:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\fsx.exe</Data>
    <Data>unknown</Data>
    <Data>f65deda1-b5aa-11e0-aa21-e0cb4e3bc3ba</Data>
  </EventData>
</Event>  

[virtuali]

For example when using the fsx Cessna the side of the aircraft has no detail.

I believe that like you said it has nothing to do with the dfw addon. But it however strange that it came out at the same time. Any how any help or suggestions you might have are appreciated.

Fact even the default Cessna has problems, it's probably proof enough this doesn't have anything to do with KDFW.

Also, your error report indicates that is FSX.EXE itself that crashed, not one of its modules.

Addons shouldn't be able to crash the main FSX.EXE, if they use a module, they would usually crash in their own modules (bglmanx.dll and couatl.exe in our case) or sometimes they might crash in g3d.dll, for problems related to graphics, not really bug in sceneries, but triggering bugs in the FSX graphic engine, or in api.dll, by calling Simconnect in the wrong way, or in ntdll.dll for memory leaks.