How to get RID of FLASHING clouds

[NickN]

This fix is courtesy of Mike (haldir) over at AVSIM. It gets rid of the issue of cloulds popping in and out of scenes...


Here are the instructions from him and my notes below

The ultimate culprit lies in the material handling of the cloud shader.

Go to this folder:

C:\Program Files\Flight Simulator X\ShadersHLSL\misc

There you will find a file called SwarmCloud.fx. Make a backup copy of this file somewhere. (as always no crying if you don't do this step)

Open the original SwarmCloud.fx in notepad or wordpad and then look down about 20 lines down from the top. You will see this entry:

bool NewMaterialUsage = true;

Change its value from true to false. Make sure to keep the semi-colon.

Save and close the file.

Now, go to C:\documents & settings\\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\FSX\

(If you can't get to this folder make sure that "show hidden & system files/folders" is turned on in your windows folder options.)

(This is the XP path by the way, Vista users will have to hunt for their equivlalent in the users folder.)

You will see a folder there called: Shaders.

Either move that folder out of there or delete it. Don't worry, FSX will build a new one the next time you run it. It contains a cache of the compiled shaders. This folder must be removed to ensure that the change you made to the cloud shader file above will be compiled and used on FSX's next run.

For VISTA the folder contents to delete are in:

c:\Users\YOUR USER NAME OR ACCOUNT\AppData\Local\Microsoft\FSX\shaders\misc


Note: This fix can be undone by simply editing TRUE into the line as noted above.

Also, I suggest you not delete the entire SHADER folder from

C:\documents & settings\\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\FSX\

as suggested and instead simply empty the contents of:

XP
C:\documents & settings\\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\FSX\Shaders\Misc


VISTA
c:\Users\\AppData\Local\Microsoft\FSX\



Of course be sure to backup the MISC folder I noted above before trying this so it can be restored -and- backup the original SwarmCloud.fx file in the Flight Simulator X\ShadersHLSL\misc directory.

[Wii]

Great fix! I'm gonna copy this down somewhere...

[Daube]

Thanks a lot for the info NickN !

[raptorx]

Nick, will this work if I have FEX installed?

-J

edit:  I just saw your post in the FEX support forum so it looks like it will.

[raptorx]

Works like a charm!  Now please explain what this did.  :)

-Jim

[Deviant]

Thanks for the info.  Does anyone know where the folder can be located for Vista users, before I go searching for it?

[BFMF]

[quote]Thanks for the info.

[Deviant]

Thanks Esselbach.

[Deviant]

This is the only SwarmCloud file in my misc folder.  How do I find line 20?

[NickN]

You are in the wrong file. That file is in the CACHE, not the one you edit

you guys have to be careful and follow directions carefully!!!!


The file you are looking for is in \Flight Simulator X\ShadersHLSL\misc

[BFMF]

[quote]This is the only SwarmCloud file in my misc folder.

[BFMF]

Lol, you beat me by three seconds NickN...

[Deviant]

Ok.

I went into c:\Users\my name(there is no administrator)\AppData\Local\Microsoft\FSX\

now there is two folders Shaders and Shaders10.  If I go into Shaders, I can then go into Misc, but here are two SwarmCloud.fx files in there.  If I go into Shaders10, there is a folder ShadersHLSL.  I click on that, then click on misc and there is one SwarmCloud file, the one posted above.

What am I doing wrong?  Is it one of the two SwarmCloud files in th Shaders\Misc folder?

[BFMF]

What am I doing wrong?

I couldn't explain it without re-writing exactly what NickN posted. look at the directions very carefully, and follow them. They're pretty straightforward

[Deviant]

What am I doing wrong?

I couldn't explain it without re-writing exactly what NickN posted. look at the directions very carefully, and follow them. They're pretty straightforward

I went into c:\Users\my name(there is no administrator)\AppData\Local\Microsoft\FSX\

now there is two folders Shaders and Shaders10.