• 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.

TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD=?

Indeed, it is apparent that the super-imposed LOD-19 and LOD-18 images in the attached screenshot were likely taken on different dates and under differing conditions.


NOTE: The screenshot in question was originally linked from a thread in which those image links went dead, so I "restored" the original images in a quote of the OP's posts ...from a FireFox saved 'complete' web page folder.


The primary reason for bumping my posted edit, however, was to point out the apparent distance at which the clarity of the LOD-19 aerial imagery ground textures were still evident, and to discuss the means by which that clarity may have been achieved with a G-Poly texture when located at the farthest distance from the aircraft in that scene containing the 2 sets of images. ;)

IMHO, clarity of the LOD-19 image at that distance merited discussion even if a LOD-18 texture had not been super-imposed. :pushpin:

GaryGB
 
Last edited:
Good evening all,

It's a very interesting thread in terms of clarifying some bits in my head re: FSX rendering behaviour. My BIG thanks to OP and those who have generously commented on the issue!!!

So, I'm just revisiting this thread to wrap up what has already been said here and other posts (see links below) for clarity on my end and to ask a single question. So, please correct me, if I'm wrong:

1. MipMapping any HD textures is must. Fullpoint!
2. TML is actually a (maximum) texture size FSX is limited to load into VAS.

Conclusion 1: Say with TML=2048, any 4096x4096 texture will be resized by FSX rendering engine to 2048x2048 (or 1024x1024, as this is the maximum texture size FSX can support?!), if mipmapped. If NOT mipmapped properly, the original 4096x4096 texture will be loaded.

Conclusion 2: Setting TML at values higher than FSX default (1024) does NOT mean that FSX will upscale original texture size to the TML value.

My BIG question: I'm using 'detail1.bmp' by Drzewiecki Design as my main grass texture, which is huge (>10Mb) at 4096x4096 and mipmapped (tested with ImageTool.exe). I'm not sure if it contains an alpha-channel though... Anyway, if FSX can limit the size of mipmapped HD textures through TML by selecting the appropriate n-level map depending on the distance from user and TML=2048, is there a point in resizing such HD textures (and accompanying alpha-bitmaps) down to 2048 using editing tools such as DXTBmp, Photoshop, etc.?!

Thanks!!!

Other interesting reads: Ron's comment at AVSIM and Bjoern's comment at AVSIM
 
Last edited:
bina said:
Conclusion 1: Say with TML=2048, any 4096x4096 texture will be resized by FSX rendering engine to 2048x2048 (or 1024x1024, as this is the maximum texture size FSX can support?!), if mipmapped.
Click to expand...
Resized is not the correct term.

A 4096x4096 texture w/mips will also contain in the same file a 2048x2048 version, a 1024x1024 version, a 512x512 version etc.

If TML=2048 and you have 4096 mipped textures FS will display no higher than the 2048 version of the texture. Depending on how far the FS camera is from the object FS will also use the smaller versions for different parts of the object. You might be surprised at how close you have to get to an object to see the highest res version of the texture. When looking at your plane in the sim you will most likely see at least 3 different version being rendered, depending on mapping, etc.

bina said:
Conclusion 2: Setting TML at values higher than FSX default (1024) does NOT mean that FSX will upscale original texture size to the TML value.
Click to expand...
True, FS can't create what isn't already there.

BTW, FSX:Steam has TML=4096 by default.

bina said:
My BIG question: I'm using 'detail1.bmp' by Drzewiecki Design as my main grass texture, which is huge (>10Mb) at 4096x4096 and mipmapped (tested with ImageTool.exe). I'm not sure if it contains an alpha-channel though... Anyway, if FSX can limit the size of mipmapped HD textures through TML by selecting the appropriate n-level map depending on the distance from user and TML=2048, is there a point in resizing such HD textures (and accompanying alpha-bitmaps) down to 2048 using editing tools such as DXTBmp, Photoshop, etc.?!
Click to expand...

Maybe. I suspect most developers let ImageTool or DXTBmp or the nVidia plugin generate the mips instead of hand editing them.

If you never use TML=4096 and you think you can improve on the smaller mips then it might be worth your while to hand edit those smaller mips. Your choice, really.

ImageTool and the nvidia plugin for Photoshop allow you to extract and edit individual mips, not sure if DXTBmp can do that.

cheers,
Lane
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top