This looks like an interesting bug.

If you guys tried the NVG mod
http://rapidshare.com/files/269239457/FSXNightVisionsetup.zip

for FS9 or FSX you might also see this.

Basically, when you set the daytime to very late dawn - just as it moves over into "night" you will have normal ground textures. Even though it's already so dark (black) you can't see them at all, they are there and the NVGs by increasing constrast and brightness bring them out.

But a few minutes after the clock goes past "nighttime" the ground textures vanish. All black, except for the bits with lights painted on them. The grass and rock and every other solid ground with no light simple is gone, replaced by a non-texture.

I'm not sure if this is even intentional, it means that FS9 (likely FSX too) simple don't render every part of the ground at night. It's a shame since it makes NVG-flying useless.

People that use NVGs in FS9: 47.
People that don't use NVGs and thus aren't bothered by "missing" night textures: 561478695611.




(Bear in mind that FS9 was never designed for NVGs. Civilian flightsim and stuff...)

Hehe.

I know it's a very minority problem, it just seems weird. Basically for a given day and geographic area, at 9:12pm, FS9 renders totally dark ground textures, and at 9:13pm stops rendering ground textures all together.

The visual difference between these two images one minute apart is nonexistent, the performance difference is nonexistent. But the first image can be correctly "brightened" to show the ground in NVG effect, and the second can't since there just aren't ANY textures left, truly beats me why they are doing it that way. Maybe an early attempt back then to save some performance?

It shouldn't be that hard to swap the textures out, if I only knew what controls the night/day time switch.

I am using this mod in FSX since release and not encountered any problem. All night textures are displayed normally.

So even at 12 midnight you have clearly visible ground textures? It's not related to the mod at all, it's just that FS9 simple stops displaying any kind of ground texture and goes totally black after a certain clock time. Would be curious if FSX is different in that regard.

To better make my point, two screens:





The first is set exactly to the minute where FS9 switches Dawn to Night in the options menu. It clearly shows grass structure. The second is set ten minutes later, and now everything is a black panel with no surface structure.

It becomes especially bad around mountains which turn into black globs of polygons with normal looking "floating" trees on them.

I'm wondering if this is supposed to be so, or maybe if one of my bitmap files might be damaged?


**EDIT**: For what it's worth, I just copied over the entire WORLD.CAB /Texture folder from the original disk, and did a reinstall of my Austria Pro Scenery. Same still. If just one BMP had been damaged I think I should have fixed it like that.

Araxos at midnight:



Also tested Araxos at 21:00, all textures are displayed.

Do you have the same problem when disabling night vision mode? The mod just installs three files in the main FS directory. I. shouldn't affect world textures at all.

Maybe the difference is FSX vs. FS9?