Any change in brightness in update?

KJKsimmer · November 25, 2017 at 7:50 AM

A quick question.. In the most recent update, were any changes made in the way in which ground textures are displayed? Yes, I know it is subjective (and therefore given to error), but it seems to my eyes that ground textures are more washed out in some areas than they were before, and maybe even displaying with less definition. I "think" I am "seeing this" over the likes of Los Angeles, and other areas where the underlying cityscape just seems to be less well defined than before. Of course, it could be that I've started to get used to geoconverted scenery with potentially higher definition, but I thought I'd ask just in case. Not suggesting the textures themselves were changed (the download was too small for that), but how about any algorithm dealing with brightness, contrast, etc?

Loving this sim by the way.

Thanks.

- Kenneth

Spit40 · November 25, 2017 at 9:08 AM

Interesting. Now you mention it I had that feeling as well yesterday flying over the mountains of the Lake District.

HiFlyer · November 25, 2017 at 9:09 AM

i noticed the same thing in my first playthrough after the update. Ground textures were absolutely horrible in certain areas. Restarting my computer and trying again seems to have resolved whatever it was.

Asheroo · November 25, 2017 at 9:40 AM

I can't notice any change. If there has been one then it looks fine to me, doesn't look washed out for me.

HiFlyer · November 25, 2017 at 9:58 AM

In my case it wasn't so much that the colors were actually washed out, as it was that the resolution of the textures hit rock bottom in a way I've only seen in older sims, and they never cleared up, giving the ground an extremely blurred, washed out look.

When I heard nothing from others, I assumed it was just me.

drhotwing1 (IPACS) · November 25, 2017 at 4:48 PM Official Post

At times from updating Aerofly FS2 this can happen. You should delete your main.mcf file located in your documents\Aerofly FS 2 folder.

You will have to just reset your graphics settings but this is seen to fix graphical issues.

We are still unsure why this happens.

whitav8 · November 25, 2017 at 5:05 PM

To all,

I had(have) some problems with one of my custom GeoCoverted textures that is new/better res than the underlying default ones in California - and that isn't showing up - I will keep investigating - maybe there is some connection. How about you folks that are seeing possible differences take a snapshot of a good example and post it here and then we will try to get to the same position (maybe we could say a few words about where it is and get a viewpoint where the aircraft isn't in the image. I know that my main.mcf was updated with the last update because I did have to reset a lot of settings.

I don't think this is just "in our minds" - there were significant changes to FS2 in order to get 30% better performance in some areas.

Thanks

Dave W.

drhotwing1 (IPACS) · November 25, 2017 at 5:08 PM Official Post

None of the changes done to achieve better performance affected graphics of Aerofly. Some code was just improved and cleaned up to change how stuff is loaded at a distance. You shouldn't notice anything different but completely deleting the main.mcf file does appear to clear up any issues of lower resolution seen.

admin · November 25, 2017 at 6:15 PM Official Post

Jeff is absolutely right here. The aerial images should still look the same and the performance improvements have nothing to do with the aerial images at all.

We just implemented a smarter culling algorithm and do not combine large areas with many buildings to a single vertex buffer.

KJKsimmer · November 25, 2017 at 6:34 PM

I agree with HiFlyer when he says, "Textures hit rock bottom." Before the update, I had a "Wow factor" when flying in just about any area. After the update it is "ho-hum". Here's a screenshot (half size to allow upload) near Long Beach. I have the terrain textures on Ultra. Can someone who flies over this area a lot please see if this area looks different to them after the update? And, I can now confirm significant FPM drop too. Jeff, I erased that Main file, but it made no positive change.

- Kenneth

drhotwing1 (IPACS) · November 25, 2017 at 6:39 PM Official Post

The FPS I can confirm has greatly increased in the last update as It's up on my 4 testing machines each with different configurations. Especially in VR.

Can you explain what exactly appears different in terms of graphics quality?

That screenshot looks pretty good IMO.

KJKsimmer · November 25, 2017 at 7:02 PM

Hi Jeff.

For example... In the screenshot previously, to me the underlying city texture appears brighter, more washed out, and less defined. There's more pixelation when looking at the ground textures. I thought I remembered it as a lot less washed out, and much sharper looking down at the buildings in the pictures.

Could just be me... When I first saw AF2 (six weeks ago) it wowed the heck out of me, it was so different from other sims I have spent years with, Maybe now, the wow factor is wearing off and pickiness is creeping in with familiarity (LOL).

- Kenneth

drhotwing1 (IPACS) · November 25, 2017 at 7:06 PM Official Post

We will still look into this as sometimes when fixing one thing not even related it could have adverse affect on something else.

It could also be ones mind playing tricks

KJKsimmer · November 25, 2017 at 7:12 PM

Jeff, Yes, it could be the mind...

Anyway, a quick question for you. While I am still struggling with this old system, and typically seeing frame rates of mid teens to high 20's, can you advise any changes in these AMD settings that might help speed things up until a new computer comes my way?

- Kenneth

drhotwing1 (IPACS) · November 25, 2017 at 7:19 PM Official Post

Yes, the first thing that comes to mind here is to set 'defaults' and don't use any AA at all.

On an older machine anything more than default would take away valuable resources for Aerofly.

Also, i'm concerned that something else is going on with your system as you should be nowhere near the FPS that you are getting.

Even on a very old machine you should be seeing over 100FPS in Aerofly.

KJKsimmer · November 25, 2017 at 7:51 PM

Hi Jeff.

Re-set to defaults in AMD, and a marginal improvement in FPS. But, I think you are right, there must be something else going on in my computer. Over Long Beach with settings at medium, no clouds, and outside view of Cessna is 16.69 FPS. That's not an AF2 problem, it's a computer issue.

Thanks for your help, you do an amazing job sir!

- Kenneth

Oubaas · November 26, 2017 at 6:09 PM

I deleted my main.mcf file, reset my graphics settings, and I'm now running on Ultra with VR at 1.5 with no stutter, smooth as silk.

I wasn't able to do that before, I had to turn Shadows down to Medium and Building Density down to High previously. Now I'm full on Ultra at 1.5 now and not a stutter in sight.