Black glass and poor tree quality

[Raven_Morpheus]

So, I mostly fly the Huey and to begin with 2.5 was unplayable for me, massive micro stutters (even when just sitting idle on the ground), general low fps compared to 1.5.8, and the game would cause massive lag on my PC after exiting.

 

An update patch or two ago the issues I was experiencing with the game seem to have been mitigated somewhat and after the most recent update patch I can now play 2.5, at least I can cruise around the Batumi airport area in an empty mission with an unarmed Huey, don't know about anywhere else, haven't tried Vegas recently or rescuing Stray Eagle...

 

There are still a couple of things that I notice frequently that I'd like to get resolved though.

 

I've had these issues since 2.5 was released, however I don't recall raising the black glass issue, so I'm raising it now.

 

1. Attached is a screengrab of what I get when the missions loads on the ground at Batumi airport. The black glass eventually loads and turns into clear glass, after what seem like about 30 seconds to a minute, it's probably less than that, just seems like a while.

 

I don't know if this happens in other aircraft that I have (I only have the freebies, the Ka-50, A-10 and Mi-8 anyway) as I've not tried any others recently.

 

 

2. Attached is another screengrab showing my tree quality. Not the best example but you can see that the trees generally look fuzzy and blobby.

 

I have deferred shading on, I also have the trees visibility set to maximum.

 

The trees looked far better in 2.2.x and 1.5.8 imho.

 

 

3. As you can also see in the screengrab where I'm flying I also cannot see the digits on the radar altimeter unless I zoom in on the dashboard, as I recall all cockpits have this type of issue currently (especially not helpful in the Ka-50).

 

 

 

A screengrab of my settings is also attached.

 

 

 

Can anyone tell me what I might be able to do to fix these issues?

 

Thanks in advance.

Edited April 3, 2018 by Raven_Morpheus

[SkateZilla]

System Specs?, Why is your Gamma So Low?

Edited April 3, 2018 by SkateZilla

[razo+r]

This trees look ugly because it is a model which is used for far distances. Raising the tree slider should at least move those ugly models out of your close range.

[Ramsay]

1. Attached is a screengrab of what I get when the missions loads on the ground at Batumi airport. The black glass eventually loads and turns into clear glass, after what seem like about 30 seconds to a minute, it's probably less than that, just seems like a while.

 

I don't know if this happens in other aircraft that I have (I only have the freebies, the Ka-50, A-10 and Mi-8 anyway) as I've not tried any others recently.

Seems pretty normal for 2.5, I'm guessing it's the textures loading - I just wait for everything to load before starting (IIRC texture loading can be improved by including uncontrolled AI versions of player aircraft in missions)

 

2. Attached is another screengrab showing my tree quality. Not the best example but you can see that the trees generally look fuzzy and blobby.

 

I have deferred shading on, I also have the trees visibility set to maximum.

 

Not sure of the exact reason or exactly what is going on (suspect Visibility range changes LOD (Level of Detail) ranges as well as other stuff, so set that high.

 

Either way, I improved it by doing that and deleting the "Saved Games\DCS" 'metashaders and 'fxo' folders and letting DCS rebuild the shader cache.

 

Also IMHO the default Summer textures and noon overhead shadows don't help and using spring textures with mid morning/afternoon times that cast shadows look better.

 

Summer tree textures don't look so bad, to me now, but know I thought them terrible first time I saw them. I suspect I've just grown used to 2.5 :)

 

As I have a GTX 1050 Ti 4GB, I limit my preload radius to 30,000 m (30 km) and AF to 2x.

 

I prefer MSAA at 2x for spotting but use FXAA (forced in the driver but a little blurry=harder spotting) as it has less performance hit and unexpected 1-2 second pauses happen less.

3. As you can also see in the screengrab where I'm flying I also cannot see the digits on the radar altimeter unless I zoom in on the dashboard, as I recall all cockpits have this type of issue currently (especially not helpful in the Ka-50).

Not sure, as your textures are set to high, so you are already using the best - I suspect increasing your 'Gamma' would make your instruments more readable but it's personal preference and 2.5 is known to have lighting issues.

 

Screen grabs of my settings are attached, YMMV

Edited April 4, 2018 by Ramsay

[Raven_Morpheus]

@Skatezilla - I have the gamma at 1.5 because otherwise the game starts to look too bright/washed out.

 

I have an i5 4690k @3.9ghz, 8gb of RAM at 1333mhz, and a 2gb GTX 960. The game is on an SSD. I run windows 7 64bit. And I know that you will come back and tell me that I have an inferior computer for DCS and that I should upgrade. Thing is my computer runs every single other game I have, including other sims, just fine - and DCS 1.5.8 runs adequately also.

 

EDIT - The black glass issue I think is isolated to the Huey because I don't get it in the Ka-50, that loads into the mission just fine, although the auto pilot buttons don't look lit up properly, related to the same issue with the radar altimeter digital readout in the Huey afaik.

 

Haven't tried my other modules (the TF-51, Su-25, A-10 and Mi-8 ) yet though, but I'd put some money down (if I had any spare) that the black glass is a Huey issue only.

 

 

@razo+r - I already have the trees slider set to the maximum.

 

@Ramsay - thanks, your trees look just like mine, so at least it's not just me with the issue, if it's even an issue.

 

I'll try adding a static Huey and see what happens with the glass texture loading.

Edited April 4, 2018 by Raven_Morpheus