Blue shimmering/sparkling @ distance on ground

[tension69]

I've noticed while in driver + surveyor that the ground shimmers blue at about 1/2 mile scale distance from the camera. This effect is especially noticable when the camera is low to the ground and the terrain is flat.

Has anyone else noticed or have this strange effect?? My Direct X drivers for 9 + 10 are up to date, and I have the latest NVidia drivers for my GTX285 installed. This was occuring before I installed the latest NVidia drivers, so I don't think that's the problem. OpenGL does the same thing, but with a reduced frame rate.

Is there a setting I can change in the control panel for the card which can eliminate this, anistropy, clamp etc.

Any advice would be welcome.

To reiterate:-

TS 2010 using an NVidia GTX285 1GB DDR3

Cheers,

Rich.

 

[tension69]

Could this issue be somehow related to this (output of launcherLog.txt) :-

Begin:
? 0:00.1 : DataManager::RegisterTrainzBumpVertexType> Unable to load 'm.tbumpcoltex'
? 0:00.1 : DataManager::RegisterTrainzBumpVertexType> Unable to load 'm.tbumpglosscol'
? 0:00.1 : DataManager::RegisterTrainzBumpVertexType> Unable to load 'm.tgroundonetex'
? 0:00.1 : DataManager::RegisterTrainzBumpVertexType> Unable to load 'm.tgroundonetexvs'
? 0:05.1 : InterfaceTextDB> failed to load compiled interfacetext file
? 0:05.2 : InterfaceTextDB> failed to load compiled interfacetext file
End.

Do any of the devs have any ideas? It's basically visual tearing at distance on the ground.

I must stress latest drivers, and NO problems in any other software.

 

[Euphod]

It's happened so long in the Trainz world, that I've come to think of it as "dew".

 

[tension69]

It's happened so long in the Trainz world, that I've come to think of it as "dew".

Ah so I'm not the only one to have noticed this phenomenon.

Thanks for replying Euphod.

 

[clam1952]

Shouldn't be getting that problem now as it was Nvidia drivers a while back that caused it.
However......
Experiment with the Antialiasing settings in the NV control panel and game.

Also, may be drivers as I've removed the latest drivers, they dont work properly here with Gmax or 3ds, causes tearing in the rendering (GTX 460). Never bothered trying them in game as they are not a lot of use if they screw up my 3d stuff. Gone back to 275.33.

Also the opinion in the Nvidia forums is pretty low, seem to be all sorts of problems. New driver due imminently for release.

 

[tension69]

I had this problem with TS2009 before as well, maybe b/c of a driver update, I don't recall exactly. I do know that the last 3 iterations of the drivers have all been the same for me with 2010.

I'll try turning off antialiasing as you suggest, as to be honest, AA is only necessary for low resolutions anyway ( I roll with at 1080p HD) where jagged lines are more noticable.

Edit : I was running AA @ 4x . Turning AA off solves the problem...but on a 40" monitor 'jaggies' are noticable.

Running AA @ 2x is very bad....makes the tearing at distances give a real bad impression of 'blue heat haze' at distance.
Running AA @ 4x reduces the effect significantly.

However....I don't get this problem with any other software...so I'm cautious to point the finger @ NVidia.

Maybe TS's implementation of AA needs looking at?

 

[mezzoprezzo]

Have you made any changes to the znear= value in the trainzoptions.txt file?

Earlier this year I managed to get some strange white/pale blue flecks in the terrain and blue shimmering on the sea. I started this thread which shows a screenshot of the problem and the solution. http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?t=68610

If your problem has the same visual defects, it might be worth checking that the znear= value is correctly set (assuming that versions later than TRS2004 can be similarly adjusted).

Cheers
Casper

 

[tension69]

Cheers mezzo, it was kinda like that but blue tears, and only on flat ground viewed from a distance with the camera low, but...

I FIXED IT

Seems like my recipe of video card running DirectX + TS2010 = bad times.

I switched back to Open GL (TS2009 liked it better too) and all is hunky dorey, no stuttering, FULL AA, with everything maxed out @ 1920x1080, and HIGH framerates.

More proof that id Software's programmer, JOHN CARMACK is a LEGEND (He wrote OpenGL for Quake).

 

[Euphod]

Ah, that explains much, as I don't use Open GL! I'm glad you got that cleared up Tense one.

 

[tension69]

Hehe, thanks Euphod :wave:

 

[barryg]

Sorry for bumping this topic but i didn't think this problem still existed in newer trainz versions. I found the only way to get rid of the ground shimmering in the distance in DX, is to turn the FOG sliders to 0. I use 2k4 and 2k6 versions, and despite upgrading Nvidia cards - now have a 560Ti - and of course different drivers, the problem still exists.

Turning off AA does indeed stop the problem, but those who cannot run ultra high res might find turning off the FOG a more acceptable solution.

Hope this helps

Regards Barry