reported earlier FLIR Screen totally black-white after bomb explode

[The RDN]

Hey guys, sorry I haven't had much to report on this, I am now seeing the blobby smoke, but not the full issue that some of you are, FLIR is currently being worked on, in fact on the internal version the OP track looks different when the explosion happens. So fixes and improvements are coming, if you can work around, for now, it might be for the best. Thanks!

 

Hi NineLine, thanks for the reply… the issue has a random behaviour… sometimes (on my system) there is juste white blobby smoke, but the rest of the image is readable, and sometimes the blobby smoke are black and the rest of the image become all white (more your targeting pod is close of a burning vehicle, more white become the image)… deleting fxo and metashaders does nothing, just the chimney smoke to 0 is fixing the issue.

Tested with 2 différents graphics card: GTX970 and GTX1080TI (drivers updated and no graphic mod)

[NineLine]

When I try the track internally I get a nice effect where the image goes blank, and then slowly comes back.

 

In Open Beta I am seeing the blobby smoke, and the rest is fine... I understand the frustration, but FLIR will be better in the long run. I'll see if I can find out if we can get a fix for the chimney smoke being an issue.

[hein22]

Ok, sorry for the repeated posts. I think I found something that maybe wasn't detailed in this thread. If you set chimney smoke to 0 without deleting fxo and metashaders and restarting the game then the problem persists. If you turn back on chimney smoke to any value above 0 you will have correct FLIR image and chimney animations as well. But if you restart pc the bug comes back, it seems that restarting pc does something with the shaders in DCS. Hope this helps users and ED.

[Harker]

The chimney smoke to 0 solution hasn't been working for me either, I think since 2.5.6 but I'm not sure. Sometimes my FLIR works fine, sometimes it'll get completely saturated from fire and red smoke markers.

Sometimes I get a weird effect where the picture will slowly get saturated after a unit explodes, I think it has to do with the smoke.

EDIT: Thanks hein22, I'll check out the solution next time.

Edited April 12, 2020 by Harker
sniped

[hein22]

The chimney smoke to 0 solution hasn't been working for me either, I think since 2.5.6 but I'm not sure. Sometimes my FLIR works fine, sometimes it'll get completely saturated from fire and red smoke markers.

Sometimes I get a weird effect where the picture will slowly get saturated after a unit explodes, I think it has to do with the smoke.

 

We posted at the exact same time :). See above I think I found something worth looking.

[Harker]

When I try the track internally I get a nice effect where the image goes blank, and then slowly comes back.

 

In Open Beta I am seeing the blobby smoke, and the rest is fine... I understand the frustration, but FLIR will be better in the long run. I'll see if I can find out if we can get a fix for the chimney smoke being an issue.

Hey NL, can you please post a video of how FLIR is working for you? Specifically the "image goes blank and comes back" part. Just to see how it works. Alternatively, what do you mean "slowly comes back"? How slowly are we talking here? It shouldn't be more than a few seconds.

[hein22]

Ok, sorry for the repeated posts. I think I found something that maybe wasn't detailed in this thread. If you set chimney smoke to 0 without deleting fxo and metashaders and restarting the game then the problem persists. If you turn back on chimney smoke to any value above 0 you will have correct FLIR image and chimney animations as well. But if you restart pc the bug comes back, it seems that restarting pc does something with the shaders in DCS. Hope this helps users and ED.

 

Guys, has anyone read this? It is interesting how we could have both chimney smoke and correct FLIR image at the same time. It seems that some corrupted file is created when chimey smoke is on and the shaders use that option. If the option is ON but that corrupt file isn't loaded then the FLIR is good.

[hein22]

Now I'm not able to even have a good flir with chimney smoke 0 and deleting metashaders and fxo folders. Anyone can help me?

[Harker]

Now I'm not able to even have a good flir with chimney smoke 0 and deleting metashaders and fxo folders. Anyone can help me?

Since 2.5.6, nothing I've tried has worked consistently. I had FLIR working fine 3 days ago, nothing changed in the meantime, no pc restart in the meantime, and during a night mission yesterday I couldn't use it again because smoke from a burning target would saturate it. I had to try and designate targets while being fully zoomed out to avoid the display going completely white.

[hein22]

Since 2.5.6, nothing I've tried has worked consistently. I had FLIR working fine 3 days ago, nothing changed in the meantime, no pc restart in the meantime, and during a night mission yesterday I couldn't use it again because smoke from a burning target would saturate it. I had to try and designate targets while being fully zoomed out to avoid the display going completely white.

 

Thanks I'm glad it's not my pc then.

[dmkellerman]

Haven't had this issue for awhile till todays, 4/16, update.

[hein22]

Haven't had this issue for awhile till todays, 4/16, update.

 

Which settings in Chinmey smoke?

[dmkellerman]

Which settings in Chinmey smoke?

Chimney smoke density is set to 5. Same as before update.

[hein22]

I'm still seeing this issue whenever chinmey smoke is more than 0.

[some1]

In the current version, using the FLIR in the Hornet breaks the IR shader regardless of chimney setting. After that, FLIR in all other aircraft is broken untill fxo/metashaders wipe. At least on my PC.

 

If I don't touch the Hornet, I can use FLIR in other aircraft, no issues.

[NineLine]

Can you give me a new track showing it happening for you, and let me see if I can see it as well?

[some1]

Attached. The result is:

 

flirshader.trk

[hein22]

Same as here

[Harker]

Yeah, seems about right. I also get the blobby smoke effect, although smoke should be mostly invisible on FLIR.

[NineLine]

Attached. The result is:

 

%5B/img%5D%20%5Bimg%5D [/img]

 

Awesome, thanks for the info! Will check it out, I will see if we need to wait on the FLIR update and suffer through this stuff, but I hope not.

Edited April 21, 2020 by NineLine

[Padonis]

Unfortunately, there is still no change. All fumes still destroy FLIR. It is the same in A-10C.

[hein22]

Unfortunately, there is still no change. All fumes still destroy FLIR. It is the same in A-10C.

 

Whats even worse, is that the "automatic gain" is useless at the moment, it doesn't compensate anything.

[Harker]

Whats even worse, is that the "automatic gain" is useless at the moment, it doesn't compensate anything.

Yeah, auto gain/level doesn't actually automatically adjust neither the gain nor the level. It just stays at the default values.

With manual control, it's possible to adjust the image to avoid over-saturation. I guess auto is WIP. I'm guessing they'd have to program it to adjust values until the brightest and darkest parts of picture fit within the GRAY scale.

[toilet2000]

It'd be normal for the image to get saturated for maybe half a second. Right now, the smoke looks like it's a huge and constant heat source, while this is not the case IRL. The sharp temperature difference between the momentary explosion and the surrounding environment is enough to saturate the sensor before it can adjust, but the subsequent smoke or fire is definitely not hot enough to do that.

 

 

To be honest, it does do that IRL, see the following video (should already start at 48s):

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the direct link to the video:

[Harker]

To be honest, it does do that IRL, see the following video (should already start at 48s):

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the direct link to the video:

This lasts for a little bit though. Ok, not half a second, but the picture returns fairly quickly. In DCS, as long as there's smoke and fire, there's either a blob or the image is over saturated, even with auto gain/level enabled. The saturation is normal for fixed gain/level, but auto is supposed to adjust these automatically, in order to maintain the darkest and brightest parts within the visible scale (within reason, maybe it'll try to contain 90% of the range it sees, depending on the scene). I have FLIR cameras (not targeting pods, but FLIR is FLIR) at work and they work like that.