Cockpit flashing with external weather updates

[Keith BAW436]

Pete,

I hope this is not a repeat question; I have searched your forum and not found it before.

I have the registered version of FSUIPC 3.30. Until recently I found it to work perfectly with FS2004 and any add-on running through it. Then I bought ActiveSky and I noticed the problem in question, and boxed ActiveSky as a no-starter. Recently I have been flying online with VATSIM using Squawkbox and exactly the same thing happened ….

Situation:

Whenever the weather is updated by the external weather program, the cockpit flashes on & off a few times to reveal the FS outside world minus anything else. It doesn’t freeze the program, just the cockpit or any overlaid controls/view disappears and re-appears rapidly a few times.

It doesn’t matter which aircraft I am flying and which cockpit is in use. It doesn’t happen with the built-in FS2004 live weather; only weather created with external programs. I have updated the video drivers to no avail. I have even updated the DirectX to the latest version; it made no difference.

Needless to say this is very off-putting at ‘finals’ with the cockpit flashing on & off when you least need it.

I am using Win2K Pro with all the updates and service pack. Video card = nVidia Ti4200 64MB.

Hope you know how to cure this as it is spoiling my online flight experience.

Cheers

KeithB

[Pete Dowson]

Whenever the weather is updated by the external weather program, the cockpit flashes on & off a few times to reveal the FS outside world minus anything else.

This is normally a video card driver thing. Two things to try (which I thought were covered in the ActiveSky documentation?):

1. In FS use Options-Settings-Display-Hardware and change the "render to texture" option -- normally switch it off.

2. In FS use Options-Settings-Display-Weather and make sure the 3-D cloud percentage is at max -- i.e. 100%

I'd recommend the latter anyway, to stop those horrible false clouds flickering.

It doesn’t happen with the built-in FS2004 live weather

FS uses facilities to "morph" from one weather state to another. There can actually be flickers even so, but they are rarer. Unfortunately Microsoft publish no information whatsoever about how to get into the weather and all my thousands of hours of hacking into the code failed to find any way to operate the morphing for external programs.

Regards,

Pete

[JSkorna]

Hi,

I don't ever recall a post at AVSIM or an e-mail from you so why would you box AS? Our support system is in place to try to help you, but not if you don't use it!

Please un-check Render to Texture in FS and see if the flashing goes away. Let me know if this does it. You might even try AS again.

[Keith BAW436]

Whenever the weather is updated by the external weather program, the cockpit flashes on & off a few times to reveal the FS outside world minus anything else.

This is normally a video card driver thing. Two things to try (which I thought were covered in the ActiveSky documentation?):

1. In FS use Options-Settings-Display-Hardware and change the "render to texture" option -- normally switch it off.

2. In FS use Options-Settings-Display-Weather and make sure the 3-D cloud percentage is at max -- i.e. 100%

I'd recommend the latter anyway, to stop those horrible false clouds flickering.

It doesn’t happen with the built-in FS2004 live weather

FS uses facilities to "morph" from one weather state to another. There can actually be flickers even so, but they are rarer. Unfortunately Microsoft publish no information whatsoever about how to get into the weather and all my thousands of hours of hacking into the code failed to find any way to operate the morphing for external programs.

Regards,

Pete

Pete,

Thanks for your prompt reply.

I already had render to texture set and 3D clouds at 100%. I have already tried different video drivers to no avail. It seems the situation must just be affecting me, but if you can think of anything else which may be causing it, I'd be glad to hear from you.

Cheers

KeithB

[Keith BAW436]

Hi,

I don't ever recall a post at AVSIM or an e-mail from you so why would you box AS? Our support system is in place to try to help you, but not if you don't use it!

Please un-check Render to Texture in FS and see if the flashing goes away. Let me know if this does it. You might even try AS again.

Jim,

I bought ActiveSky wxRE on the cheap and even though I installed the FS2004 update, presumed the flashing cockpit was something that highlighted the differences between the FS2002 & FS2004 graphics engines; so then decided I couldn’t live with it and boxed it. There were some other issues of ActiveSky wxRE manipulating some of the weather effects in a FS2002 manner (understandable as that is what it was built to do).

It was only recently when trying online flying that I notice that Squawkbox caused the same situation when updating the weather also. Therefore the problem is not with ActiveSky at all. Maybe it is that I notice this situation when connecting to pre-FS2004 add-ons through FSUIPC.

However, I will try with the ‘render to texture’ switched off as you suggest. It has been on for so long I think I can honestly say it was set to ‘on’ before installing ActiveSky and Squawkbox.

PS … I have also notice that ActiveSky 2004 has been released; I may give that a try in the near future. Is there a trial version I could use to see if I still get the flashing cockpit?

Cheers

KeithB

[Pete Dowson]

I already had render to texture set and 3D clouds at 100%. I have already tried different video drivers to no avail. It seems the situation must just be affecting me ...

No, not just you, but I think those who are affected fix it by turning render to texture off. This isn't needed on all video cards, but it does work in the cases I know of. Haven't you tried turning it off?

Regards,

Pete

[JSkorna]

Hi Keith,

I thought incorrectly that you had AS 2004. Yes, wxRE does have some limitations with FS04. No, sorry there is no demo version. It is something that we are working on for the future. Please do try with Render to Texture Off!!

[Keith BAW436]

Pete & Jim,

You were both right; turning off render to texture did the trick. I've just completed an online flight in heavy weather changes, and not a flicker.

Thanks for your help.

Cheers

KeithB

[JSkorna]

Glad you got it. Might want to try AS wxRE again or purchase AS 2004!!!

[Keith BAW436]

Glad you got it. Might want to try AS wxRE again or purchase AS 2004!!!

Jim,

I think I'll keep wxRE in the box and think hard about A2004.

Thanks for your help though, I do appreciate it.

Cheers

KeithB