Specific AI Aircraft Don't Show Up

[pslinger]

I have been having problems getting specific AI aircraft to show up. I have done some basic troubleshooting and forum searches but no luck correcting the problem. It appears that when certain texture files are installed the aircraft doesn’t show up. The FS9 aircraft slider is set to 100%. I have dropped it down to zero restarted FS9 then reset to 100% and restarted. When installing new AI aircraft I have borrowed a page from John Young. I have modified the KTIP AFCAD to accept four Ramp Mil Cargo parking spots with radius set to 100 feet and four Ramp Mil Combat parking spots with radius set to 85.30 feet. I then create a simple flight plan between KTIP and KVOK set for local time and repeat set for 24 hours. Departure times at usually 0800 and 0900 local from KTIP with departure times from KVOK set for 1700 and 1800 local time, so plenty of time to view them on the ground. The JYAI F-15 CD with 53 Wing and 57 Wing textures by Mark Walsh don’t show up, however when I drop the 57 Wing textures by Zsolt in the same JYAI F15, the aircraft show up. AIFP gives me a green check by aircraft and AI-Aircraft Editor is green for AC Folder and AC Status: OK, and when I click on Show Aircraft Errors Congratulations! No errors detected for this aircraft for both texture sets. I am having the same issue with the HTAI C-130H using the Minnesota ANG textures by Mark Heimer. Drop the Mildenhall textures in and the aircraft shows up. Using AI-Aircraft Editor and viewing the textures tab I can’t seem to find a common element such as format, bit, mips, etc. The FS9.cfg [Graphics]setting is TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD=2048. It would appear to be something with the textures however I’m not sure where to look next. Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks.

Paul

[petebramley]

I was under the impression that the maximum texture size that FS9 could handle was 1024 x 1024 leading to a size of 1mb (1.33 with mips). FSX & P3D can handle the larger sizes. If i’m correct then check the sizes of the paints that are missing and (after making backups) resize to 1024 x 1024 pix and see what happens.

Regards

[Firebird]

Pete is right in that the largest size that FS9 can handle is 1024x1024. It doesn't matter what you set the config higher. You may even find that if it is not a valid number that it uses the default which is 512x512.

The upshot is that the textures you are using are in a format not compatible for FS9.

Apart from trying to find the thread the principle you should use is what format are textures that work, and then convert the ones that don't to that format.

A tool that I use is Don Grovestines Texture Manager http://stuff4fs.com/newpage.asp?Folder= ... anager.pdf. Not only can you use it to determine what format the textures are in but you can use it to convert a whole batch to a new format/size.

What I would suggest is that you keep a safe copy of the ones you want to use in case something goes wrong, yes I know this is standard. The other thing is that some painters supply 24bit paints with their releases. If you have them convert them to the standard you want rather than any DXT3/5 textures supplied as the quality will not be as good.

So simply put find the setting that works, size/mips/format, and convert the other ones to the same and they will work.

[pslinger]

Pete & Steve, thanks for the help. I will reset the Texture_Max_Load to 1024 and work with Texture Manager and see what I learn and what happens. Appreciate the ideas and suggestions.

Paul