Black oblongs on hardstands

[mayday]

I have bought many airfield sceneries from SBD but the recent one's of Cottesmore, Sculthorpe and Finningley have black oblongs under all the AI static aircraft as well as those hardstands without aircraft. I have tried all manner of settings in FSX Steam but without success. The only time I got them to disappear was to reduce airline traffic from 100% down to 30% but then virtually all AI vanished. I have had no trouble with my add ons over the last few years and my settings in FSX and FS 2004 have worked well to date. Could you please advise.

[mickeyd]

Hi mayday

The oblongs you see are "ground smudges" under the static models and not connected to the AI. I'm guessing that you installed to a temp folder then moved the files to where you wanted them. The smudges are an effect and you will have to copy all the effects into your Effects folder including the contents of the Effects/texture folder ( they go into Effects/texture). It's why I spend many hours building the installers to make things easy for customers.

[mayday]

I used the SDB auto installer and scenery activation for fsx/fsx-se in windows 7/8/10 as detailed in the SDB installation notes. I did not just place files where i wanted them. I am also perfectly aware of what smudges are. I have about 20 airfields with them and no bother- that is why I posed the query about these particular oblong squares.

[fsafranek]

Hi mayday. Can you post a screenshot please to show us exactly what you are seeing (or not seeing)?

Also, you mentioned FSX and FS2004. Please indicate when you post the screenshot what sim you are seeing this on.
I ask because the installers for several years have not pointed to FS2004 and so the scenery may have issues as well.

[mayday]

All 3 RAF Stations were downloaded to FSX Steam. There is no conflict with FS 2004 as this is checked regularly. The enclosed screenshots are of RAF Sculthorpe. The other 2 are quite similar, They were all bought from Simshack .

[mickeyd]

Hi Mayday

I think I've figured out what's happened. It's one of the later sceneries Uninstallers that's set to remove SDB Effects ( you may have Uninstalled one?). Haven't yet found which one but if you reinstall say Finningley or Sculthorpe it should replace them.
Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

[mayday]

Many thanks for your prompt reply and action in this matter. I re-installed Cottesmore and Finningley and everything was fine . Sculthorpe was OK AT FIRST, but then then went back to black oblongs. I checked on Cottesmore and Finningley and they had reverted back also. I uninstalled Sculthorpe completely and both Cottesmore and Finningley were, and still are, OK. It would appear the problem is still routed somewhere with Sculthorpe. Could you please have another look.

[mickeyd]

Hi Mayday

The problem appears to be with the Sculthorpe installer ( the ground smudge files are not being made read only) . Reinstall all three sceneries then go into the FSX-SE root folder and find fx_ground_smudge.fx in the Effects folder. Right click to open Properties then check the "Read only" box. Do the same for ground_smudge2.bmp in Effects/texture.

Now when you uninstall you will get a prompt to uninstall certain effects files just say No To All.

[mayday]

Do I really have to uninstall Cottesmore and Finningley again? This would be the 3rd time! and there is nothing amiss with either. I could live without Sculthorpe if it came to a pinch. I could not see any fsx Ground Smudges in the FSX Steam Route Folders as you outlined. I presume this does not affect any other existing scenery?

[mayday]

i decided to give it a go after all. I made a pigs ear of the first attempt, but I am pleased to say that all 3 sceneries are now installed with nice smudges on all hardstands. Very many thanks for all your help and a solution in this matter