Advice Please - FE2 Aircraft Graphics Issues

[Mike Dora 171]

Dear All,

 

First of all, Happy New Year!

 

Now the technical stuff. I've been fiddling lately with variants of FE2. I guess I'm almost there, in terms of getting sim realism and gameplay and graphics all in balance (to my taste - these things can be pretty personal!).

 

However I'm running up against some graphics irritations, in the Italy & Palestine scenarios. In each of these, I'm seeing ac models which show odd "see-through" white bits, please see the attachments. As you can see, there is an odd see-through bright white bar in the middle of the Turkish black square wing marking on the Fok EIII, and also there is a strange see-through bright white thing in the propeller boss of the Ansaldo SVA5, which shows through the airframe at all angles.

 

Anybody have any suggestions for solving these irritations please?

 

Thanks

 

Mike

 

PS did I say Happy New Year?

[+VonS 1,423]

Happy new year to you as well Mike,

 

I've noticed those white bits on some of the models, such as the Eindeckers - I think those models were originally made for FE/FEgold but can be used without trouble in FE2. Perhaps some of the modellers know what those white bits are, perhaps it's as simple as "unpainted" parts in the aircraft skins, and then some of the un-skinned area shows through.

 

Happy flying,

Von S

[+Geezer 3,569]

That IS puzzling.  One way to confirm the problem lies in the model's mapping/skinning is to view the models in Mue's LOD viewer.  If the little white rectangles display in the viewer, then the problem is likely to be in the model.  Also, have any other guys seen this problem?

Edited January 2, 2017 by Geezer

[+gterl 1,204]

Mhhhm is it only with the above mentioned terrains? How about the standard terrains (Cambrai, Verdun...)?

If it's only within the above mentioned I might know the answer

 

rgds

gt

[+whiteknight06604 931]

those are parts that had no material assigned in max.i had issues with that until I updated FE2 to the last patch. only other way is to find the part that's causing the issue and remove it with the data ini trick. but some vital parts removed may look weird.

I had this issue with a few aircraft but the problem just went away a few years ago. I'm assuming it was because of a patch but it was around the same time I got a new computer so I wouldn't rule out a graphics card or OS as the reason too.

 

 

Edited January 2, 2017 by whiteknight06604

[+Stephen1918 1,473]

I have seen this in FE1 when I'm building a model, and it's always been due to unpainted parts, just as VonS, Geezer, and Whiteknight suggested. However, I have not seen it in the planes Mike Dora mentioned. I checked out the Fokker E.III and the Ansaldo SVA5 in the Italian terrain last night and didn't see any problems. I think Whiteknight's suggestion is on the right track.

Edited January 2, 2017 by Stephen1918

[Mike Dora 171]

Thanks All,
 
I think we're getting a bit closer. I used Mue's LOD viewer to take a closer look, screenshots attached.

 

At first sight the SVA view suggests that the offending part is named "Engine", with Material ID=1, the same as many other components. Can't remove it because all the prop parts are attached to it. But then closer examination shows parts called "Fast Pivot" and "Slow Pivot" with completely weird 10-digit Material IDs. Not sure I can remove them either, the fast & slow props are attached to them.
 
For the EIII, on looking closely one can see that the LOD has an "aileron" part with a spurious 10-digit Material ID. Maybe I can remove that, maybe not. I wonder if it is an invisible aileron to permit lateral control on the wing-warping airplane?

 

So it looks like this _is_ a Material ID issue. Now I need to know how to correct it! So, question for Whiteknight, you show a screenshot of a Notepad-read SVA file, which file is it please, and would I be able to edit it to correct the dud Material IDs that I found?

 

Finally, I should have mentioned that both of these ac are FE1 models ported over to FE2; they do not portray these artifacts in FE1,only in FE2. None of the dozens of other FE1 models transferred across show the same issues.

 

Thanks

 

Mike

[+VonS 1,423]

I see that the thread is making good progress - have now double-checked the Fokk. Eindeckers in my install and yes the little white band is present on the wings of the E.Ia, IIa, and the E.III - these are all models carried over from FE into FE2 as Mike says. I look forward to more discoveries/solutions regarding this.

 

Happy flying,

Von S

 

Pic attached:

 

 

Edited January 2, 2017 by VonS

[+whiteknight06604 931]

my screen shot was just the out file included with the model. if updating doesn't work I think you could try adding a decal to the offending part. I think that and removing parts was the only fix short of the original model maker fixing the problem. this problem "cured" itself years ago so I can't remember the work a rounds I tried that well.

the offending part on the Fokker btw is Rightaileron and leftaileron

[Mike Dora 171]

Good news! By using the component removal method to delete the spurious left & right "aileron" parts from the Fok Elll model, I've got rid of the irritating white bars on the wing insignia. There is no impact on lateral control. The same trick works with all the Fokker Eindekker models (EII, EIII, EIV & Austrian AIII) in all theatres.

 

No luck though with the SVA5. Tried deleting "fastpivot" & "slowpivot" using the same technique, but without succes. The small see-through white artifact is still there.

 

Anyone have any other suggestions please, such as where/how to add a decal as suggested by Whiteknight? Otherwise I might just live with it, it was the Eindekker white bars that were the major annoyance.

 

Mike

Edited January 3, 2017 by Mike Dora

[Mike Dora 171]

More good news, also solved the SVA5 problem! I just made the offending parts not visible from the cockpit using the "hide component" trick on the "fastpivot" and "slowpivot" parts. I was surprised but very pleased to find that making them not visible from the cockpit, also worked in the external views.

 

For the record, these are the changes I made to the relevant *_data.ini files, at the end of the [AircraftData] section in each case. For the EII & EIV use this:

 

 

Component[012]=NoLeftAileron
Component[013]=NoRightAileron

 

[NoLeftAileron]
ParentComponentName=LeftOuterWing
ModelNodeName=LeftAileron
DestroyedNodeName=LeftAileron
DetachWhenDestroyed=TRUE
HasAeroCoefficients=FALSE

 

[NoRightAileron]
ParentComponentName=RightOuterWing
ModelNodeName=RightAileron
DestroyedNodeName=RightAileron
DetachWhenDestroyed=TRUE
HasAeroCoefficients=FALSE

 

 

And for the EIII and AIII (= Austro-Hungarian EIII) use this:

 

 

Component[014]=NoLeftAileron
Component[015]=NoRightAileron

 

[NoLeftAileron]
ParentComponentName=LeftOuterWing
ModelNodeName=LeftAileron
DestroyedNodeName=LeftAileron
DetachWhenDestroyed=TRUE
HasAeroCoefficients=FALSE

 

[NoRightAileron]
ParentComponentName=RightOuterWing
ModelNodeName=RightAileron
DestroyedNodeName=RightAileron
DetachWhenDestroyed=TRUE
HasAeroCoefficients=FALSE

 

 

Finally, for the SVA5, use this:

 

 

Component[019]=HideFastpivot
Component[020]=HideSlowpivot

 

[HideFastpivot]
ModelNodeName=fastpivot
ParentComponentName=Engine
ShowFromCockpit=FALSE
DamageRating=NONE
HasAeroCoefficients=FALSE

 

[HideSlowpivot]
ModelNodeName=slowpivot
ParentComponentName=Engine
ShowFromCockpit=FALSE

 

Hope this helps anyone else who had these irritations.

 

Cheers

 

Mike
DamageRating=NONE
HasAeroCoefficients=FALSE

[+Stephen1918 1,473]

Thanks for sharing your solution!