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FS2004 Second Ground Poly flicker problem (again -_- )

Jessy

Jessy

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180
Country
belgium
Hi all

I just reworked my second layer of the ground poly's in Gmax, namely the detail layer for taxiways, aprons,... but the strange things is that this layer just keeps flickering on me while the first layer (photoreal image) doesn't... layer one has layer 8 set and the second layer has layer 12 set. The second layer is created using lines and arcs which then got converted to an editable mesh and got textured.

Below is an image of the problem, I really hope someone can help me out on this...

picture444.jpg
 
Some testing done from my side to check if I could find the problem, so far none have revealed anything...

1. convert editable mesh to editable spline => same effect
2. edit the asm file myself instead of via MDCX => same effect
3. increasing layer from 12 to 16 => same effect
4. create a simple rectangular plane and a simple rectangular spline converted to an editable poly to see if my technique was wrong => both rectangles had the problem (exported in 1 and the same file)
5. change the name of the file from ebos_air_2.bgl to ebos_gnd.bgl => same effect
6. create simple rectangular plane and export => same effect...

I'm running out of idea's here... :(
 

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After some further testing it seems that assigning layer value 12 to 24 cause the problem, starting from layer 28 everything works just fine :)
 
Just had a look in your Gmax file.....
I, Personally, never do so close plane to plane and avoiding this if possible as even significant gap gets flicker effect sometimes. What I found in my project that also one of the double sided material can cause flicker another.
 
Thx for the reply but personally I actually don't know what exactly you are talking about :confused:
 
Thats ok, but perhaps I cannot get your numbers of layers too, I just skipped that as it tells me nothing... I was talking about Z axis that can cause flickering. In your Gmax file I found that you have two faces that are on the same Z 0.0m coordinates.. Look at the video, Im more concerned if flickering appears in Active Shade window, which is true unless it is raised Z 0.005 as in example.
This Z0.005 wont be noticeable by user as it is 5 millimeters only.
 
On a proper groundpoly ALL layers need to be at Z=0.00

Jessy, did you tweak the asm file correctly? I had a quick look at your one and it looked like the original.

Code: 
    ADDOBJ      OBJECT_0_SCALE
    SHADOW_CALL OBJECT_0_SCALE

must be replaced by

Code: 
    ADDCAT      OBJECT_0_SCALE, 12

But I'm wondering why it doesn't work with MCX..?

Kai
 
Please make sure that your model has all the vertices at the same level.
If some of the vertice are not the same, the might cause flickering. Sometimes just select the vertex, you already make it elevated by Z axis but you never know since you work on the top view.
 
Yes I did tweak it correctly, the ASM file shown is the original one. Even running it through MDCX didn't do the trick. I wondered if it would work if I would set ADDCAT OBJECT_0_SCALE, 8, the same level as the photorealunderground pol. That worked, so I started working the levels up through 16 20 and 24 with the same flickering results... starting from level 28 (ADDCAT OBJECT_0_SCALE, 28) the flickering stopped... it really is a mystery to me but it works now as long as I don't use level 12 16 20 or 24
 
Again with third poly...

And it happens again...I just placed the third poly containing taxilines, set it to ground layer 32 (last used was 28) and guess what... this third poly starts to flicker on me...
I just set the layer number to 28 and the flickering stops...
What on earth could be causing this strange behavior?
It seems as if the scenery doesn't want me to use the layers with increments of 4...
 
The other cause that might be.....
The flatten is not working. Sometime there are some places that are higher. You need to check by using TcalX and slew all.over the place.
 
jtanabodee said:
The other cause that might be.....
The flatten is not working. Sometime there are some places that are higher. You need to check by using TcalX and slew all.over the place.
Click to expand...

But TcalX doesn't work with FS9... :(
So I would need another tool to check this out in FS but I don't think it would be the flatten because of this:

first bgl is photoreal ground on ADDCAT, 8 and works without problems
second bgl are the detailed taxiways, runway and aprons but only works when using ADDCAT, 28 or higher otherwise the first bgl is shining through at some points and has a flickering effect
Third bgl are details for taxiways and aprons but only seem to work using ADDCAT, 28 or maybe higher but I didn't try higher than 40 yet...
 
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Anyone got any ideas? This one is really starting to bug me...
I found out that when looking in top view in fs the poly's that flicker are not visible...
 
Okey, it is definitely a layering problem, just placed all bgl's at addcat, 8 and all works like a charm...
Before I did this I checked if all vertices were at z=0.0 and they all are...
Next I tried if it would still flicker on me when I would place them as only bgl at addcat, 8, none of the bgl's flicker as long as I don't add another bgl at a higher layer number... So the bgl's on their own without any other ground poly works correctly...
Placing just one bgl ground poly at a layer different from 8 works as long as no other bgl ground poly is added...
Any solution to this?
 
The problem seems to be within MCX... When manually editing the asm file and converting them the flickering stops
Now trying to find out what option in MCX causes this...

EDIT: found it, prevent autogen exlcusion is the bugger... strange thing is that when manually editing the files and converting there is no autogen exclusion and everything works like a charm but when using MCX with preventing autogen exclusion it starts flickering...
 
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