Reflections and other graphics issues.

What is required to get proper reflections with FS2002? My system does not get what I believe should be displayed. I expected that the spinner on the Caravan would show a light blue on top and the darker colors of the surrounding terrain on the bottom. I do get changing colors on the spinner and strange patterns which periodically show on both the spinner and the entire aircraft.

Water reflections are another problem. When they are activated lighter colored water rectangles turn on and off. The dark areas show strange patterns. I expected to see, but do not, reflected sunlight at early dawn similar to some screen shots I have seen posted on the Internet. What other objects, if any, are supposed to show as reflected images? Are clouds reflected?

I suspect that my graphics card does not have the capability of displaying reflections properly, that the graphics memory of 32 MB is too small, and that my 256 MB of RAM is also insufficient. Can someone confirm that my configuration indicated below is the problem of my improper reflections? If that is the case, what nVidia card or other components are needed?

Micron 733 MHz Pc with 256MB RAM
nVidia GeForce 256 with 32 MB memory
Version 5.33 nVidia driver (Works best for my configuration)
DirectX that comes with FS2002 (8.0 ?)

32 Bit color at 1280 x 960 graphics setting
T&L on
Mip mapping on
Multitexture on
Trilinear filtering on
Water reflections on
Aircraft reflections on

I have noticed the purpose of multi texturing. The two effects that I have seen include: water that shimmers and runways and terrain that show a grainy effect. Are there other effects?

Thanks in advance for any help or comments.

• RE: Reflections and other graphics issues,James, 18:52z, 01-11-02
  • RE: Reflections and other graphics issues,jimjones, 03:54z, 01-12-02
    • RE: Reflections and other graphics issues,James, 11:16z, 01-12-02

Hi Jim,

You don't say which Operating System you are using! There are two things I can see from your post.

1. 32Meg Video Card - Could do with upgrading to 64Meg.
2. Video Card Driver - I'm running 2311. Try changing your drivers for later ones if those aren't any use then go back a driver or two. Sounds silly going back but it may help.

Also try going into FS2002's Display settings and adjust them from Max a notch or two down.

Regards,

James.

Hi James.

Your second suggestion turned out to be the solution. Reflection effects now show on the spinner, aircraft and water using the nVidia drivers 23.11. The rectangles of lighter colored water over darker colored water, which turned on and off, now is just a lighter color. So, I did not require more memory than the 32 Mb on the card to see the reflections and eliminate the flashing rectangles on the water.

The evening water reflections turn pink. Only the sun shows the pseudo reflections, not the moon or other lights. The plane spinners now show what I expected, a blue sky on top and a terrain color on the bottom of the spinner. These too appear to be pseudo reflections as they are not true to the sky or to the terrain or to surrounding buildings or the sun which should appear in a true reflection. But these pseudo reflections are stunning none the less.

A year or so back I had tried later versions of drivers with little success. They either were slower or caused lockups. Hopefully the 23.11 drivers will be stable. With the 5.33 drivers I have experienced lockups while flying near a complex airport at night, and in the short time I have used the 23.11 drivers have experienced one lockup at a complex airport at night.

I love the new auto load that nVidia has now incorporated in their new driver package. It is so much easier and less prone to install improperly.

By the way my O/S is Windows 98 SE.

Thanks so much for your help. I now have reflections without additional cost.

Jim Jones

Hi Jim,

>> Thanks so much for your help. I now have reflections without additional cost. <<

Glad you have it sorted With FS2002 and any wierd display effects are 99.9% of the time Driver/Graphics Card related. It was some thing I picked up fairly quick on while Beta Testing

Happy flying my friend.

James.