Waterfall Shadows

[Doug]

Gary Moore has brought us an interesting "puzzle."  Note the pictures below. He is seeing a shadow coming from the waterfalls and "mists" we have put in here and there.  I'm not hearing this reported from anyone else, but it makes me curious as to why Gary might see this.  Has anybody got any ideas?   Thank you in advance.

D

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[spud]

Do not have a clue on this except he either has something installed that is conflicting with these objects due to either the placement in the FSX scenery library, incompatibility with RTMM or just incorrect installation of something.  As he is the only person with this problem it seems to me that it has to be specific to how or what Gary has installed.  I would suggest that he go into the FSX Scenery library and disable any add on scenery he has installed except FTX/ORBX PNW, PFJ, FSAdon Tongas Fjords, and the RTMM scenery and look at what it does.  If the problem is gone then start adding his other scenery one at a time until the problem reappears.  The last one added is the problem and troubleshooting can then have a starting place.  As it stands right now finding the problem would be a crap shoot at best.
Gary, what operating system do you use, How much memeory, video card, etc. All that is needed to try and help with the problem because it appears limited to just your system.
 

[gdawg]

Doug,
I've probably be chasing the wrong shadows so to speak, I thought from your email that "another fellow with a lancair" was having similar issues, so I went on the assumption that it was the objects (or some related coding). Since we last spoke I've disabled all non relevant scenery addons and re-enabled them on at a time ( I hadn't thought that the OZx libraries weren't necessary until I reviewed Spuds list but deactivating them doesn't seem to correct it either.)

I have come to believe though that whatever it is, it's somehow related to shadows as time of day seem to affect the length and darkness of the shadows. Setting the time of day to beofre 9AM produces almost a thin mist of a shadow and setting the time to past 6PM changes the direction of the shadows. I thought possibly the "Shade" addon might be causing it but running FSX without Shade doesn't seem to change the situation either.  As all the shadows seem to bound to that particular scenery though  and everything seems to be installed and running correctly and the problem local to my setup it may be just as easy for me to set my time of day to an early hour when flying it and switch this particular scenery off when not.

Spud,
System info:
FTX,GEX,REX 2.0 overdrive,UTX USA,UTX Can, Ultimate Alaska X
NRM, PFJ, PNW, Tongrass Fjords
KCMW, KORS, WA56, WA79, + Portland City, 2S1, KHQM, CEN4, CEJ4

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600 CPU @3.40GHz 8.00GB RAM

ASUS P8P67 motherboard dual processors with 8 cores.Radeon sapphire HD5870 (1 gig) card
Primary drive is a  128 gig kingston SSDNow V series SSD (Reserved for Windows 7 64 bit and FSX Deluxe with Acceleration  + 3rd party addons

You are slowing down! I don't usually post questions in this forum because you usually have posted with great links to the solutions before I finish thinking about my problem! I hope this isn't a sign you're spending time "iRacing" or something is it?

[spud]

Just for giggles go to the FSX Scenery Library and disable UTX USA, UTX Canada and Ultimate Alaska X and check the Owikeno area with those turned off. 
Do you have an insertion point set for FTX scenery below all the RTMM scenery entries in the FSX Scenery Library?  This is vital for RTMM to operate correctly.
 

[gdawg]

Spud
Although I wouldn't  say "giggles" is the term to use I just finished turning everything you mentioned off and checking again, still had the shadows but at least I know that I have everything up to date on my system having rechecked all the vendors sites for verification.
I have managed to eliminate the problem though! The last thing I did was go in to FSX Settings and click through each and every tab looking for something I may have missed and I have discovered that if I go to Settings > Display on the right hand side under "Scenery Objects" and uncheck "Ground Scenery shadows" I can get rid of the shadows. Surely though I can't be the only user that had that option toggled on? As a favour, I'm wondering if I can ask someone in here who doesn't have it "checked" to checkmark that setting and see if it has any effect?

Gary

[stiletto2]

HI Gary,

Good detective work!   Ground Scenery Shadows are a problem with waterfalls and a can be a frame rate killer in FSX.   ORBX standard has them turned off.   Some Scenery objects actually come with their own fixed shadows !  One of the base problems with FSX scenery shadows is that they only work for custom objects and not for autogen.  This is different than how it worked for FS9.   As a result, most ORBX users do not have them turned on.

Bottom line....I would be willing to bet that no one on the RTMM team has them turned on.   Therefore, I would advise not turning them on when using ORBX or RTMM scenery.  And yes, I get the same shadow problem you do when I turn them on.

Rod

[gdawg]

Hi Rod,
Thanks for the quick response! Would you by chance be the "Rod" of the "Season changer" and "PFJ canal"? If so thanks for your contributions to the MM sceneries! They sure do illicit some "oohs and Aaaahs" when flying at Misty's!
You know in my own defence, I scrutinized the FTX pdf when I installed the software and diligently tried to set everything as it was laid out in the document but at some point (more than likely out of boredom) I must have played with the settings and checked that feature in FSX as I doubt I could get away with claiming another FSX addon must have set it for me Odd that I haven't noticed the shadows in other MM scenery packages though, and after getting by this hurdle I doubt I'll ever go back to check them. Once again, thanks for your response, it at the very least eases my mind to know the situation is corrected and hopefully can save someone else the frustration of tracking down the problem

Gary

Oops, just a little edit to include a special thanks to Doug for getting the ball rolling on this (and for the wonderful scenery!) and to Spud for his input.

[spud]

Gary,
good work on the shadows being checked.  As Rod mentioned ORBX recommends that they be unchecked and mine have been since day one and I bet most team members are the same. 

Now I'm guessing here but according to ROD waterfalls and shadows do not mix, OK, that being said. I think that Owikeno Lake is the first area to have the waterfall effect in it.  The other scenery areas are not water falls but rather spray areas that have been used to create what look like rapids and in a few places multiple ones were combined to form faux waterfalls.  As I said of this I am not absolutely positive but as I recall Doug 'discovered' the waterfall effect while working the Owikeno Lake Area.

Doug has already said he plans on revisiting previous rivers areas and possibly reworking the spray effects as they are hard on FPS and impossible to see where your going when passing through them.  If there is a turn just beyond or in the spray pattern you can not see it and run aground if at any speed in the boat.

For other users out there look at the PFJ or PNW manual and be sure and set up FSX setting "exactly as listed in the manuals.  In our CIRP section there is a quick reference for settings but it is not inclusive only the high points are listed which can lead people who do not follow the manual down the primrose path to shadowy waterfalls.

Not meaning to be insulting to anybody but my mantra has been and continues to be:

RTFM!
    

 

[stiletto2]

Hi Rod,
Thanks for the quick response! Would you by chance be the "Rod" of the "Season changer" and "PFJ canal"? If so thanks for your contributions to the MM sceneries! They sure do illicit some "oohs and Aaaahs" when flying at Misty's!

Yep, that be me.     Also the author of Ketchikan Harbor for PAKT SP1.   Now working on something new and exciting in the world of RTMM.  Stay tuned.

Rod

[Doug]

This thread is a perfect example of what we can do when we get our heads together. And Gary kind of solved the problem himself, but what is great is that we now have a thread to point to if others have the problem. As soon as we see a screen shot like Gary gave us, we will all know how to help the person with the problem  Makes me very proud of the folks we have here!

Thanks all.

D