• Which the release of FS2020 we see an explosition of activity on the forun and of course we are very happy to see this. But having all questions about FS2020 in one forum becomes a bit messy. So therefore we would like to ask you all to use the following guidelines when posting your questions:

    • Tag FS2020 specific questions with the MSFS2020 tag.
    • Questions about making 3D assets can be posted in the 3D asset design forum. Either post them in the subforum of the modelling tool you use or in the general forum if they are general.
    • Questions about aircraft design can be posted in the Aircraft design forum
    • Questions about airport design can be posted in the FS2020 airport design forum. Once airport development tools have been updated for FS2020 you can post tool speciifc questions in the subforums of those tools as well of course.
    • Questions about terrain design can be posted in the FS2020 terrain design forum.
    • Questions about SimConnect can be posted in the SimConnect forum.

    Any other question that is not specific to an aspect of development or tool can be posted in the General chat forum.

    By following these guidelines we make sure that the forums remain easy to read for everybody and also that the right people can find your post to answer it.

FSX seasonal textures trees

J

José Bourgoignie

Messages
1,039
Country
belgium
Hi,

I downloaded Trees for FSX v.1 and that contains seasonal textures. Question is... how can I make them appear at the right time ? Is it possible ? How to configurate ? Sorry if there is already a tutorial somewhere.

Greetz. José.
 
Hi José

By reading all the posts in the forum concerning seasonal trees in FSX, it is not possible to create them with mdls.
The problem lies within the new mdl format, in which you can't tweak the behaviour as we were used to back in FS9.
MdlTweaker only works for FS9 mdls!
However, it is possible to place FS9 mdls in FSX, but in case of the trees, problems with transparency occur. This is really a dilemma! :mad:

By now, has anyone figured out how to place working seasonal trees in FSX without using autogen trees (Annotator)??
In can't use autogen trees because the airfield ground was done using fs2002 gamepack => autogen exclusion. So I am forced to place custom trees.

-Jeff
 
Hi Jeffry,

However, it is possible to place FS9 mdls in FSX, but in case of the trees, problems with transparency occur. This is really a dilemma!
Click to expand...

Did you read the topic: "FSX SP2 breaks DXT1 transparent textures" . A certain Boris Forero write about double sided trees in FSX he has solved the problem. I wrote him a few days ago and asked him if it is necessary to run on FSX SP2. Did not answer yet. Because I have only FSX SP1 running. I tried to make the trees but they don't show up in FSX. :confused:

I am now ready to do the upgrade... only due to the fact I like to place good working trees in my scenery and place a correct working groundpoly too... only for that. But only after I am sure to do the updates (SP1a and SP2) in the right way.
If somebody can confirm that the trees can be done as shown in the thread and groundpoly too (for this one I do not realy know how to configurate it) only with FSX SP2 and not also with FSX SP1... then I do the updates.

Greetz. José.
 
Last edited:
José Bourgoignie said:
Did you read the topic: "FSX SP2 breaks DXT1 transparent textures" . A certain Borisforero write about double sided trees in FSX he has solved the problem.
Click to expand...

Yes, I did :) But those trees don't change the texture depending on seasons I guess. I know one can build trees with correct transparency using the FSX gamepack, but how to add seasonal variation for those FSX mdls?
 
Hi,

I thought using a conditional display was possible in FSX. And so you need 4 mdl's for the four seasons... (without using the extension _SP, _SU, ... _WI).

Greetz. José.
 
Hi,

Seasonal textures are not possible on FSX MDL files. The only "solution" I have seen until now is people creating different BGL files for each season and then letting the user select the right one for the season he wants to fly in. But something automatic is not possible.
 
Can you attach a model to an effect?

You can make the 4 models for each season and have them conditionally appear based on the parameters for effects. Placement might be difficult unlesss you leave some visible marker where the tree should be.

ie:
Make a tiny model, attach and effect that attaches the correct seasonal tree model you have made?

I haven't done it, but I read in a different context that such things are possible. Might be worth testing.

cheers

Bungo
 
Tried that approach with effect last weekend...
Switching works perfectly, but the impact on fps is big.
For one single tree you basically have to place 4 emitters...one for each season. Multiply that with the number of overall trees and enjoy the slideshow :D
 
So good for, say, Grass covered bunkers and modeled terrain for specific features on an otherwise flat airport, and similar items where there might be a very limited number, not so good for hundreds of trees?

Bungo
 
Well, if those elements don't use a transparent texture (as trees do), I'd stick with the FS2004 gamepack and add the seasonal tweaks there...They work fine in FSX
 
Hi Jeffrey.

Could you attach a zip of the files you made to attach an object to the effect?

Dick
 
Sure,

Here you go. It comprises of the 4 effects which call the particular library object and of the xml placement file. Just change the GUID numbers in the fx files.
 

Attachments

Hi Jeffery.

I found a problem with this. Changing the month within the sim will cause a sim crash. I suspect this usage was never tested for FSX, and a bug exists.

As long as you don't change the month, the object is fine.

Dick
 
This link above is interesting. however I tried to translate it with google to english the result is very bad. Only 40% is translated which is simply not enough to understand...

Do you have a new a solution? Or still since 2008 there is no solution for that...

We have tried to place default FSX trees with ObjPlacer but they don't change season? Do you have the same experience?
 
Last edited:
Lennart's post is a bit old, so don't expect a reply.

In FSX SP2 and Acceleration, the Alpha channel is broken for FS9-style objects. I think it is the same for FS2002 and earlier.

This means seasonal trees won't look right in FSX, because FS9 and earlier techniques are broken, and they cannot be made seasonal in FSX.

The default Models in FSX only have one season, and the autogen uses different models for different seasons. You cannot place an FSX object conditionally in FSX, as it has a "persistence", and won't disapper as seasons change.

So... FSX materials will display alpha as transparent OK, but you cannot conditionally display them. FS9 and materials cannot show the alpha transparency correctly.

This post discusses using effects to display Library objects seasonally:

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18180

But, the trees sometimes flash off and on, and I suspect a terrible framerate hit for many trees.

For the most part, we can use Autogen to display seasonal vegitation... only in areas where autogen are excluded ( around runways ) is there a problem.

This might be OK for using effects, as the number of trees could be kept small.

If an FS2004-style tree is cut out for leaves and branches ( uses no alpha transparency ), It could be tweaked to rotate to viewer, and then you could seasonally texture it.



Dick
 
Last edited:
Dick,

Thank you for this info. I see a couple of developers use a manual "season switcher" for winter trees. I will go the same way with Airports of Norway.

Cheers,
:stirthepo
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top