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Visual Flight Forums
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emfrat
1038 Posts |
 Posted - 12 Jul 2006 : 04:16:32
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I was trying to see why I had started getting this again, after many months with a very nice hazy display and no problems to speak of.
I had a look at dxdiag, and in the troubleshooter (on the More Help tab) there was a suggestion that the black screen could be caused by an override setting being applied to DirectDraw's refresh rate.
I clicked on the Override button and sho' nuff, there was an override value of 75. Now if dxdiag says things are OK I leave it alone, so the 75Hz refresh must have been picked up from the setting I entered in the graphics card controls. There was nothing then to say that changing the original setting would alter anything in DirectDraw, so I expect quite a few people could have been caught out.
Anyway, I set the dxdiag setting back to Default, restarted FS9.1, and found an immediate improvement. I tried various combinations of moves, and they all worked except for one where, with the window at the mid size, I rightclicked a desktop icon to disconnect from the Net. This evidently called 'Pause on task switching' because FS9.1 paused and the small window became inactive. When I unpaused it and tried to switch back to Full Screen I got the usual black display with a flickering hourglass. That was the only failure, so far.
I am very happy about this, because the workaround for the black screen is to open Settings>Display>Hardware from the Options menu and make a change, e.g. from bilinear to trilinear, and that causes the display to redraw. Trouble is, saying OK for the change will also reset MAX_UNLIMITED_VIS in FS9.CFG to 96560 and I want it to stay at 24140. Once I get my display back to where I had it, with minimal blurring and flickering, I don't want to go near the display settings within the sim.
The big question is, when I have FS9.CFG just so, could I make it a Read-only file, to avoid accidentally changing things in the future? (even though I should then have no reason to go into the settings at all)
Hope this helps.
Cheers
MikeW |
Edited by - emfrat on 12 Jul 2006 04:20:22
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Shep
2265 Posts |
Posted - 12 Jul 2006 : 05:23:08
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quote:
The big question is, when I have FS9.CFG just so, could I make it a Read-only file, to avoid accidentally changing things in the future? (even though I should then have no reason to go into the settings at all
Cheers
MikeW
I find the best way, when you have the fs9.cfg as you want it, is just make a copy and save the backup file to a couple of places, including a backup CD. Making it a read only file would lead to new problems Mike and FS needs to access the fs9.cfg for such things as last flight used and other data.
Shep |
My WEB Site: http://www.shepsshed.com/autogentrees.htm |
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emfrat
1038 Posts |
Posted - 12 Jul 2006 : 07:32:28
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Hi Shep -
I was afraid that would be the case. It is just such a pain having to re-edit after every visit to the display settings.
Cheers
MikeW |
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Shep
2265 Posts |
Posted - 12 Jul 2006 : 07:57:51
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If you download FS9 Configurator from Ken Salter's site it has the option to load any FS9.cfg when it starts FS and you could always have a dedicated .cfg handy with the distance settings.
http://www.kensalter.com/
A very worthwhile addon as it allows so many useful options.
Shep |
My WEB Site: http://www.shepsshed.com/autogentrees.htm |
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emfrat
1038 Posts |
Posted - 12 Jul 2006 : 09:42:31
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Well that is great news, Shep. The current banjaxing actually started when I was trying to create an alternate CFG to use when I want to fly my FSD Avanti as it should be flown. I was trying to remember all my ancient DOS wisdom, for a batch file.
Ta muchly
MikeW |
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VisualFlight
7202 Posts |
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Tim
373 Posts |
Posted - 12 Jul 2006 : 13:31:53
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MikeW,
With Shep's endorsement I'm sure FS9 Configurator will do what you need, but you don't actually need any configurator to do what you want.
You can create a version of FS9.cfg to suit your requirements and then save a copy as (for example) FSAvanti.cfg.
You can then create a shortcut on your desktop wih the path to where you have fs9 installed, calling fs9.exe to start, using FSAvanti.cfg.
The actual command is . . . . (to follow)
Apols - I have posted this some time ago on this forum, but the forum is now so large that I cannot remember when or where, so I will have to go back to my "source" - ie my home system where I have implemented it.
I'll give you the info tomorrow.
Tim |
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Monir Geadah
1529 Posts |
Posted - 12 Jul 2006 : 17:46:31
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quote:
Originally posted by VisualFlight
Mike
That's fascinating information about the black screen/refresh rate and very useful too for anyone having problems in this area. Thanks for posting it.
John
I too would like to thank Mike for drawing our attentions to that.
regards
Monir |
Monir |
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emfrat
1038 Posts |
Posted - 12 Jul 2006 : 23:00:40
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Cheers Tim
The command line is in this post:
http://www.visualflight.co.uk/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4469
It was when I started down that path (ie having two CFG files) that I discovered the active one was talking about the previous graphics card (a 128MB Radeon 9200) even though I had installed a 256MB 9550 months before. Oddly enough the 9200 with the 9550 driver gave some excellent results. So I fixed that, and then I found two sections headed [DISPLAY] were being written into FS9.CFG for the [DISPLAY DEVICE] Radeon 9550. You can probably imagine the rest....
In ancient times, when I was being paid to tamper with systems, I insisted on a log book being kept and updated as each change and its effects happened. The back section recorded Classic Stuff-ups and Brilliant Fixes.
I think I will have to start doing that again....really, truly, just as soon as the paper shop opens I will buy a diary for it. In the meantime I just want to test this change I thought of.. .. ..
Thanks
MikeW |
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emfrat
1038 Posts |
Posted - 13 Jul 2006 : 10:07:02
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Further to the earlier point about the result of Pause/Unpause when switching modes, I have now found that on my system, if I pause the sim in Full Screen, and leave it paused, I can switch right down to minimised and back up to full with no probs. Similarly, if I leave it unpaused, I can switch modes down and back. It is only if the condition changes after leaving Full Screen that I get the problem.
Since the only time I leave full screen mode is when I forget to start YAFSS before FS, or forget to disconnect from the Net, that is quite OK, but clearly there is still some sort of conflict happening.
I will leave that one for the gurus 
Cheers
MikeW |
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Monir Geadah
1529 Posts |
Posted - 14 Jul 2006 : 22:38:44
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quote:
Originally posted by emfrat
Since the only time I leave full screen mode is when I forget to start YAFSS before FS, or forget to disconnect from the Net, that is quite OK, but clearly there is still some sort of conflict happening.
I will leave that one for the gurus
Cheers
MikeW
I get problems too when I do that in the form of persistent interrupted fast frames requiring me to shut down FS.???? why ,as it does not happen every time ???? again why
Monir |
Monir |
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emfrat
1038 Posts |
Posted - 14 Jul 2006 : 23:18:18
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Hi Monir -
Are you getting the sort of thing described in this post ?
http://www.visualflight.co.uk/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5317
I found the black screen thing while I was trying to fix a range of problems which started with an ATI driver update to 6.5. I have since updated to 6.6 but there are still traces of problems.
I have just about got things right, but on flying close to the Avon Gorge bridge (which never gave any trouble before) I suddenly got big triangles flashing out from the bridge. I will try to get a screenie.
Cheers
MikeW |
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emfrat
1038 Posts |
Posted - 17 Jul 2006 : 12:18:43
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Hi Monir -
I should have known better, I suppose. As soon as I promised to get you a screenie, the problem effectively disappeared. It still happens, but so briefly that I have no chance of capturing it.
I am convinced it is a flaw in the ATI driver - I have nearly all of Alan's scenery and there had never been a problem with any of it until I updated the driver. Now I am getting occasional outbursts of the same thing all over the country.
I will keep trying, but I am quite sure there is nothing wrong with my system nor with yours; version 6.6 of the driver appeared very soon after v 6.5, and that makes me wonder....
Then again, maybe I am just a cantankerous oul' cynic 
Cheers
MikeW |
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Monir Geadah
1529 Posts |
Posted - 17 Jul 2006 : 12:36:48
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It is ok now.touch wood, no more problems??? spontaneous recovery or temporary remmission may be???
Monir |
Monir |
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emfrat
1038 Posts |
Posted - 18 Jul 2006 : 07:17:43
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Hi Monir -
Managed to catch one in the act !
Is this the sort of thing you have been seeing, flashing(fluttering?) on and off in the screen?
That is Cardiff Int'l under the big red tent.
I seem to have stopped it by putting the MIPS up to 8, but I am still testing.
Cheers
MikeW
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Edited by - emfrat on 28 Jun 2009 02:52:48 |
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Shep
2265 Posts |
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by admin — last
modified 2006-04-17 16:44
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Windowed to FullScreen = Black Screen
