Cant fix the clouds tile pictures. (MSFS)

[josefpy]

Hello developers.
I've been doing local scenarios for years, but I usually leave my projects and after several months I come back to develop them.

I use the Apple Maps map because I don't like the default Bing map, very low resolution, ugly colors, very outdated.

The issue is that when using maps from other resources come with certain flaws such as different color (Google Earth the worst of all with this) or certain areas with annoying cloud images.

I tried everything to try to cover the clouds but none gives a good result.

1) Cover the clouds with polygons and putting different materials like grass, paint, etc.
It works but only at a certain hour of light in the simulator. When it starts to dawn this area is very very dark as a shadow for several hours. Only at noon time it is very well even but at sunset it looks like a more brilliant. A big mistake on Asobo's part

at dawn polygons with materials (grass or whatever) look too dark

as it gets darker they start to look brighter

I have tried all the materials and they all give the same result.




2) Make an anon in the area to cover the clouds.
It works BUT when the altitude rises a little it disappears completely and the cloud images are seen again.

Is there any way to cover those annoying clouds from the tiles? There must be one, it can't be that complicated. Thank you for your help

 

[Shaun]

Sorry you want to remove the clouds from the tiles? You'll simply have to photoshop them out!

 

[rhumbaflappy]

If this was possible on a large scale, Microsoft or Google would have already done it. As noted above, for small areas you could try to photoshop the tiles for color correction and removing clouds or artifacts.

 

[josefsoy]

If this was possible on a large scale, Microsoft or Google would have already done it. As noted above, for small areas you could try to photoshop the tiles for color correction and removing clouds or artifacts.

Hello.
It's a shame that the polygons tool with materials is useless.

As I said I use the third party app MSFS Map Enhancement and I use Apple Maps server. What would be the process to be able to modify with photoshop the tiles with clouds? I would appreciate the help. would it be with debug tiles? is there a manual?

 

[=rk=]

As I said I use the third party app MSFS Map Enhancement and I use Apple Maps server.

Yes no, this is your the first mention of the third party image serving software and it makes a huge difference and as we know, these images are not intended for simulation, they are for map apps like Garmin and Google Earth.

You'd need to contact the author of MSFS Map Enhancement for tech support and barring that the only solution is to accept the served clouds or turn them off.

Using the simulator to simulate gaps in the simulation caused by introducing something to increase the simulation constrained to the reality that served images cannot be edited on the fly is kind of a bootstrappy solution imo.

 

[josefsoy]

Yes no, this is your the first mention of the third party image serving software and it makes a huge difference and as we know, these images are not intended for simulation, they are for map apps like Garmin and Google Earth.

You'd need to contact the author of MSFS Map Enhancement for tech support and barring that the only solution is to accept the served clouds or turn them off.

Using the simulator to simulate gaps in the simulation caused by introducing something to increase the simulation constrained to the reality that served images cannot be edited on the fly is kind of a bootstrappy solution imo.

The default images of the simulator (Bing) are horrible, very outdated, very bad image quality, pixelated, bad colors, etc.

All those who try third party programs to add other satellite images do not use the simulator default anymore.

Never mind, I will see on my own how to correct.

 

[=rk=]

Yes, a really powerful computer would be able to preprocess those images on the fly.

 

[GaryGB]

Hello developers.
I've been doing local scenarios for years, but I usually leave my projects and after several months I come back to develop them.

I use the Apple Maps map because I don't like the default Bing map, very low resolution, ugly colors, very outdated.

The issue is that when using maps from other resources come with certain flaws such as different color (Google Earth the worst of all with this) or certain areas with annoying cloud images.

I tried everything to try to cover the clouds but none gives a good result.

1) Cover the clouds with polygons and putting different materials like grass, paint, etc.
It works but only at a certain hour of light in the simulator. When it starts to dawn this area is very very dark as a shadow for several hours. Only at noon time it is very well even but at sunset it looks like a more brilliant. A big mistake on Asobo's part

View attachment 90774

View attachment 90776



View attachment 90775
at dawn polygons with materials (grass or whatever) look too dark


View attachment 90777
as it gets darker they start to look brighter

I have tried all the materials and they all give the same result.




2) Make an anon in the area to cover the clouds.
It works BUT when the altitude rises a little it disappears completely and the cloud images are seen again.

Is there any way to cover those annoying clouds from the tiles? There must be one, it can't be that complicated. Thank you for your help

If replacing default photo-real aerial imagery tiles via this method:

https://docs.flightsimulator.com/html/Samples_And_Tutorials/Samples/Sceneries/SimpleAerial.htm?rhhlterm=aerial aerials imagery&rhsearch=aerial imagery

...one must utilize LOD-20 or higher resolution in conjunction with a mix of progressively lower LODs (...IIUC, as "MIPMAPs") to ensure display of intended replacement custom imagery tiles at various distances AGL between the user aircraft and the ground texture intended to be displayed.

This is because LOD switching by the MSFS rendering engine will also switch to higher or lower resolution MIPMAPs based on distances AGL between the user aircraft and the ground texture intended to be displayed.

Generally speaking, progressively lower resolution imagery will be displayed to simulate an increase of distance AGL between the user aircraft and the ground, and progressively higher resolution imagery will be displayed when the user aircraft is closer to the ground.


I am not yet familiar with which actual graphics utility MSFS SDK utilizes to create such MIPMAPs when using the above cited replacement tile method:

"All image files for aerial images should be authored as 16bit PNG with a fixed size of 256x256px, and the build process will automatically generate the images for the lower levels of detail"

...but IIRC, if you follow the SDK procedure above, you should not have a pop-up of the default imagery showing the unwanted cloud(s).

Using Polygons as distinguished from the above SDK 256x256 aerial imagery tile method "may" also work, but I am not certain as to whether it uses MIPMAPs or is susceptible to pop-up of the default imagery showing the unwanted cloud(s).

Perhaps Dick (aka Rhumbaflappy) is familiar with the best way to do this, and perhaps has posted an example elsewhere ?


Mamu (aka Federico Pinotti) also has a very nice video on using Polygons to fix such a cloud in MSFS' default imagery in his video here:

The tutorial above by Federico Pinotti (aka "mamu") on YouTube shows how to create a Grass replacement Polygon via a Material 'close' in color / texture pattern, which can be further edited to match its color to that of underlying default MSFS MSVE (aka "BING") PR imagery:

The segment on that method is at 22:40 elapsed time.

[EDITED]

PS: Be aware that MSFS apparently is increasing its run time 'realism' by superimposing content on top of the base photo-real aerial imagery layer, which IIUC, makes rendered terrain behave like PBR-enabled texture maps that IMHO generally look more 'accurate', with lighting and 'virtual' ambient occlusion shadowing that seems congruent to local 3D world environment context and time-of-day / season.

I have not yet seen documentation in the SDK as to whether this is added via BlackShark AI, or if this is new content added to terrain BGLs.

There may be some limitations as to how much of this newer "synthesized PBR land class" appearance may be achieved by end users / developers that utilize the aerial imagery tile method versus the Polygon / vector method for terrain textures ...both now, and in the future.

[END_EDIT]

GaryGB

 

[josefsoy]

If replacing default photo-real aerial imagery tiles via this method:

https://docs.flightsimulator.com/html/Samples_And_Tutorials/Samples/Sceneries/SimpleAerial.htm?rhhlterm=aerial aerials imagery&rhsearch=aerial imagery

...one must utilize LOD-20 or higher resolution in conjunction with a mix of progressively lower LODs (...IIUC, as "MIPMAPs") to ensure display of intended replacement custom imagery tiles at various distances AGL between the user aircraft and the ground texture intended to be displayed.

This is because LOD switching by the MSFS rendering engine will also switch to higher or lower resolution MIPMAPs based on distances AGL between the user aircraft and the ground texture intended to be displayed.

Generally speaking, progressively lower resolution imagery will be displayed to simulate an increase of distance AGL between the user aircraft and the ground, and progressively higher resolution imagery will be displayed when the user aircraft is closer to the ground.


I am not yet familiar with which actual graphics utility MSFS SDK utilizes to create such MIPMAPs when using the above cited replacement tile method:

"All image files for aerial images should be authored as 16bit PNG with a fixed size of 256x256px, and the build process will automatically generate the images for the lower levels of detail"

...but IIRC, if you follow the SDK procedure above, you should not have a pop-up of the default imagery showing the unwanted cloud(s).

Using Polygons as distinguished from the above SDK 256x256 aerial imagery tile method "may" also work, but I am not certain as to whether it uses MIPMAPs or is susceptible to pop-up of the default imagery showing the unwanted cloud(s).

Perhaps Dick (aka Rhumbaflappy) is familiar with the best way to do this, and perhaps has posted an example elsewhere ?


Mamu (aka Federico Pinotti) also has a very nice video on using Polygons to fix such a cloud in MSFS' default imagery in his video here:

The tutorial above by Federico Pinotti (aka "mamu") on YouTube shows how to create a Grass replacement Polygon via a Material 'close' in color / texture pattern, which can be further edited to match its color to that of underlying default MSFS MSVE (aka "BING") PR imagery:

The segment on that method is at 22:40 elapsed time.

[EDITED]

PS: Be aware that MSFS apparently is increasing its run time 'realism' by superimposing content on top of the base photo-real aerial imagery layer, which IIUC, makes rendered terrain behave like PBR-enabled texture maps that IMHO generally look more 'accurate', with lighting and 'virtual' ambient occlusion shadowing that seems congruent to local 3D world environment context and time-of-day / season.

I have not yet seen documentation in the SDK as to whether this is added via BlackShark AI, or if this is new content added to terrain BGLs.

There may be some limitations as to how much of this newer "synthesized PBR land class" appearance may be achieved by end users / developers that utilize the aerial imagery tile method versus the Polygon / vector method for terrain textures ...both now, and in the future.

[END_EDIT]

GaryGB

Hello Gary. Thank you very much for to answer my question.

I think I will have to try to replace one by one the photoreal textures, it is a very cumbersome and tedious job.

Unfortunately using polygons with grass textures or whatever doesn't work in MSFS. As I have already explained, at the time of dawn or darkening the part where the new texture has been placed becomes either very dark or very light. It is a bug in MSFS and I am surprised that they haven't fixed it yet since they are just normal textures that shouldn't have this kind of problems. It's a pity because using polygons with textures is the fastest and easiest way to correct the problem but in the end it doesn't work at all. I tried this technique a lot years ago and to this day I still have the same problem.

 

[Greptaid]

Hello Gary. Thank you very much for to answer my question.

I think I will have to try to replace one by one the photoreal textures, it is a very cumbersome and tedious job.


Unfortunately using polygons with grass textures or whatever doesn't work in MSFS. As I have already explained, at the time of dawn or darkening the part where the new texture has been placed becomes either very dark or very light. It is a bug in MSFS and I am surprised that they haven't fixed it yet since they are just normal textures that shouldn't have this kind of problems. It's a pity because using polygons with textures is the fastest and easiest way to correct the problem but in the end it doesn't work at all. I tried this technique a lot years ago and to this day I still have the same problem.

The only thing that saved me was that I turned to the company Cogniteq, which develops on flutter. They develop applications and provide advice on various issues. Thanks to them!

I faced the same problem as you. The same stalemate. I tried a lot, but all in vain.