MAIW_WSMG F-16's

[JohnTenn]

Steve

My specs are:

Intel i5-9400F 2.9GHz
16 GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB

FS9 screen resolution: 1280 960 32

1080p monitor

I will abide with your decision.

John

Edit:

Lowest resolution I can get is 800 600 32

LOD_50 to LOD_100 switch occurs at 190m from F-16, front on.

[Firebird]

From what I believe, and somebody with better knowledge than me will correct, is that the LOD switch occurs according to the number of pixels of the object on screen. So the lower the LOD number the less obvious the changes but there will be a knock-on effect on processing as the complete version of each mdl will be rendered at a greater distance.

This is the balancing act that we have to take into account when doing such a fundamental change to how mdls are managed.

You specs I will consider in the medium to low band so that is not a bad test at all. If there is anybody with lower specs and wants to test after John let me know.

Now there are only a few aircraft in this package but it should be enough to see what sort of difference it makes. So John if you could see the fps that you get with the original mdls and compare them with the test versions, in the same situations, then it would be useful. Also if you have any way of monitoring CPU and GPU usage for both that would be very handy.

[Firebird]

OK this is what has occurred in the last week.
John has tested the smaller LOD numbers models and he reports that they work better for him.
Now nobody else has reported any issues and Johns specs were low enough that it might be that nobody else has found any issues.

So, rather than re-issue the pack with the mdls that John tested I shall leave it as is. However, what I will do is mod any future releases to use the lower numbers. This should solve the issues for John.

Now in case that there is anybody out there that said nothing but was waiting for the outcome of John's testing. I have replaced the original upload and the new one contains the lower LOD mdls. If you had an issue then download the pack again and try those ones.

Now back to the production line.

[gapeters]

Interesting results.. I have not messed with LOD settings (yet) in any of my work so I will keep this in the back of my mind. Thanks for all the work Steve.. I know how much goes into it!

Greg

[Firebird]

Thanks. What I found out is that apart from doing all the mdl conversions making the LOD changes means re-compiling each one again. Then as a knock-on effect that change means that the reflective canopy gets wiped out and so I have to re-apply that and re-compile again.

The whole MCX experience has thrown up a few interesting little nuances that need to be remembered.

Conversion Pack 2 will be uploaded tomorrow.

[Firebird]

OK the second pack has been uploaded.

Now onto the third.

[JohnTenn]

F-16A Conversion pack 2.

1. All the models have Opaque canopies. They are not transparent at all.

Background: Models of first issue of F-16a conversion pack 1: Models have transparent canopies.
If you remove the textures for these models the canopies are still transparent.
I would deduce from this that the material on the canopy glass to which the texture is applied is transparent.
This means the opacity is less than 100% and probably between 30 and 50 %.
The textures for the aircraft have no black alpha channel blocks so the textures in this case do not produce the transparencies.

The models in Conversion pack 2 and the test models that I tested have opaque canopies. A setting must be made on MCX to export the material on the canopies as transparent. I did mention it in my first correspondence. PM.
I believe this was an issue during your initial model exports.

2. None of the models appeared in my sim, initially.
Solution: Using AIFP, open Traffic file. Compile the traffic file to FS9.

Aside from this the models are great. Thank you.

Regards

John

[Firebird]

I will recheck the mdls. I didn't see anything about canopies so i apologize.

The thing is that with FS9 you can have opacity or you can have reflectivity. You can't have both. People wanted reflectivity so reflectivity is what is produced.
They worked fine until I altered them to your preferred LOD settings.

You are correct on the traffic file(s). They are the original files they do need re-compiling to work in FS9.

[Firebird]

OK. I can't see a problem.

However, I have recompiled the 4x mdls used in pack 1. I then re-added the reflective canopy back onto 4x mdls and recompiled again.

I have replaced the pack1 i the download hangar. So John, can you clear out your previous pack and tests completely and re-download and install.

Now are the canopies reflective or not? I have tested each of the recompiled ones in AIAE and they are fine.

I am not doing a thing with anything else until we get this straight.
There are 24x mdls in pack 2, this means that I have to make 24x modifications and compilations, followed by 24x modifications and compilations.
This is on top of the original 24x modifications and compilations.

So are all the aircraft in pack 1 fine? If not which are not.
For pack 2 I have checked one mdl and it is fine. So which ones in pack 2 are faulty.

If it helps, in AIAE a canopy with reflection appears like a mirror, an mdl without reflection appears as a black canopy. So it may be quicker than loading all up in game.

[JohnTenn]

Steve

I have installed your new models dated 06-21. Canopies are opaque.

I the reinstalled models dated 03-26. Canopies are transparent.

I am using two versions of AIAE. 2.2.8 for painting and 4.3.4.0 to update cfg's etc.
Canopies in both are black.

Here are screenshots in sim at KIWA.


https://1drv.ms/i/s!Ame1f8LYTwVwngUtk2l ... 7?e=c4s0fY

https://1drv.ms/i/s!Ame1f8LYTwVwngTmxIx ... O?e=PZnZMO

I see it did display.

top image of 03-26 model.
lower image 06-21 model.

John

[Firebird]

OK let me do some testing. It might be that the LOD 100 models will not show reflectivity.

[Firebird]

I have a theory.
Remember that I have said that after altering the LODs down that the canopy shine was lost. I then had to re-import and add back the shine and export again.

I think that is the problem. I have sent you some test mdls. Can you tell me what you see?

[JohnTenn]

Steve

Canopy is still 100% opaque.

LOD's to 200 now.

Is the problem not the reflective texture?

[Firebird]

OK, what I think is the issue is that like light effects the shine does not work at the low LOD numbers.

I think that this is why when I reduced the LODs the reflectivity is lost. It effectively is not needed. So even though I was able to force it back again transparency is lost.

Simply renaming the LODs is not enough. I thought that might be the case.

I think that I have no option but to rebuild all of the models again. This is going to take some time , I think, as I deleted all of the backups this morning.
I am going to try 1 test. If this doesn't work then I think that there is no option but to go back to the way it was when pack 1 was released.

[Firebird]

OK I tried reducing the top LODs to 150 and then 175. The result was the same. I left it at 200 and it canopy is fine - checked in game.

So I think that my feeling is correct. I think that I have no option but to go back to the original releases with a top LOD of 200. I think John that you are just going to have to accept it.

So I apologize to everybody but I will be rebuilding both packs 1 and 2 again. I will post here when you you are free to download them again.

[JohnTenn]

Ok

[Firebird]

OK. I believe that I have returned everything to a state of equilibrium.

Pack 1 and pack 2 have been replaced with all mdls having a top LOD of 200, hopefully.
If you have any models that have an opaque canopy then please re-download the pack and replace the models. If there are any that are still opaque after that then please say so and I will look into fixing any individual mdl.

Now the last two weeks may have been fruitless but they have not been a waste of time.
Now this is my supposition based on experience rather than cold fact but I do believe that the limit for FS9 models to have a clear shiny surface appears to be 200 LODs. In fact I wondered why the mdls always compiled to LOD 201 so it maybe that it has to be over 200.
Whether this is an FS9 thing or a makemdl thing I could not say. My guess is that it is likely to be another makemdl issue that I have found in this process.

I have also taken the opportunity to amend the documentation, based on John's feedback, to ensure that it says that the traffic files are the original P3D files. So you either have to convert those OR compile the optional txt files that I have supply.

If anybody finds anything feel free to say so.

[Firebird]

OK the next pack has been loaded up and hopefully no errors included this time.
This is pack 4 - block 25. No I am not impersonating George Lucas, if you know anything about F-16 blocks you can probably work out what would be in pack 3, and therefore you can probably work out why pack 3 might be delayed for a bit.

This is the last of the smaller packs so it is on to the meat of the project.

[Joseph29]

I have a question. The summary for pack #4 says "Conversion pack 4 of Kev Reed's P3D models for FS9". I am a P3D user, where can I get the models in this pack for P3D? I have never seen these models for P3D before.

Edit: I found most of them. Since these models are for FS9 I didn't bother to download them and read the readme file.

[Firebird]

I can see what you say. I have taken the opportunity that Kev didn't have and that is reorganize things a bit, package-wise.

What you can't see is that the package documentation names all the original P3D packages that models are included from.
In this case :-
AI General Dynamics F/A16 Close Air Support (Retro) (WSMG)
AI General Dynamics - Lockheed Martin F-16 - Dev and Trials: AFTI, ACAT, ES, SDI, GE Test (WSMGAI)