#333 2D clouds sometimes not visible with material shaders are disabled

[Anonymous]

Originally created by: one31... (code.google.com)@gmail.com
Originally owned by: cumuluni... (code.google.com)@gmail.com

*What steps will reproduce the problem?*
1. Start FGFS in a preferably cloudly location.
2. View -> Rendering Options -> (enable) 3D clouds and disable them.

*What is the expected output? What do you see instead?*
Expected output: The 2D clouds appear again after disabling the 3D clouds.
What actually happens: No 2D clouds. Clear sky if there isn't the haze and visibility problems.

*Any output in the console (black window)?*
No

*What FlightGear version are you using (when using GIT version, please
mention date)?*
GIT 5:30 am GMT on 03 Jun 2011

*What operating system and graphics card?*
Arch Linux 2.6.38
nVidia 6150SE (onboard) with proprietary drivers 270.41.19

[Anonymous]

Originally posted by: bre... (code.google.com)@gmail.com

Don't understand the report yet. You can switch between 2D and 3D clouds. Is the switch not working - are 2D clouds generally not working - or would you just like to have a feature combining 2D + 3D clouds (so both concepts could be used at the same time)?

Status: NeedInfo

[Anonymous]

Originally posted by: one31... (code.google.com)@gmail.com

I mean to say that after enabling and disabling 3D clouds, 2D clouds don't show up. The other shaders enabled are apparently of interest too as I can't seem to reproduce it every time. Please see the attached screenshots:

[Anonymous]

Originally posted by: bre... (code.google.com)@gmail.com

(No comment was entered for this change.)

Labels: Priority-Medium Weather Sim
Status: Accepted

[Anonymous]

Originally posted by: one31... (code.google.com)@gmail.com

There's a catch in my post: Do not disable 3D clouds, disable 'Material Shaders' on the whole instead. Then the 2D clouds disappear, leaving something like screenshot (4) . If, instead, 3D clouds is disabled first and then 'Material Shaders', the 2D clouds appear - its normal.

[Anonymous]

Originally posted by: bre... (code.google.com)@gmail.com

Yes, good catch. Thanks for clearing that up.

The issue is that the "3D cloud" switch remains active when material shaders are switched off. And the GUI checkbox cannot be clicked - since it's blocked when shaders are disabled. Obviously 2D clouds are only drawn when "3D cloud switch" is OFF - they should be drawn when either 3D clouds _or_ shaders are off. If that's not possible, then we should at least deactivate the 3D cloud checkbox, when shaders are off.

Summary: 2D clouds sometimes not visible with material shaders are disabled
Labels: GUI

[Anonymous]

Originally posted by: bre... (code.google.com)@gmail.com

Torsten, that's an issue with environment manager.
The metar module properly checks for "3D cloud" AND "shader" enabled:
    fgGetBool("/sim/rendering/shader-effects", false ) &&
    fgGetBool("/sim/rendering/clouds3d-enable", false ) );

But environment manager only relies on clouds3d-enable.
Unfortunately the new GUI blocks the "3D cloud checkbox" once shaders are disabled. So a user cannot disable the "3D cloud" checkbox when shaders are already off.

Could be changed by combining the check in the environment with checking "shader-effects" - or by adding a new "clouds2d-enable", and then have the GUI control 3D/2D clouds separately. The latter would also allow combining 3D with 2D clouds (see request #176).

Owner: cumuluni...@gmail.com

[Anonymous]

Originally posted by: cumuluni... (code.google.com)@gmail.com

the metarproperties code you mentioned is there for rendering the ground layer (fog/mist/haze) only if 3d clouds are disabled and it seems to be working correctly.
The fix has to go into environment_mgr which indeed enables 3d clouds only on the 3d-clouds flag and ignores the global shader flag.
We might tie shader-effects to a environment_mgr method so we can create some magic to enable or disable 3d clouds based on shader-effects and clouds3d-enable. Or we can add a listener in environment_mgr listening to shader-effects (or both properties) and let the voodoo happen there. I tend to using the listener but I'm open for suggestions.

[Anonymous]

Originally posted by: bre... (code.google.com)@gmail.com

I think the basic question is whether disabling the "material shader" checkbox should implicitly disable the "3D cloud" checkbox. It would solve the problem. Disadvantage is, that you'll need to individually re-enable all suboptions after enabling shader effects. A user just playing around, quickly disabling "material shaders" to see what happens (check frame rate etc), might be surprised when this also cleared (one/several) other options in the dialog. And he may not remember what the default/initial setting of all these other checkboxes was.

[Anonymous]

Originally posted by: cumuluni... (code.google.com)@gmail.com

If the checkbox was labled "(de)select all" i'd say yes, thats how it should behave. But it's says "disable shaders" for a good reason, so every system relying on shaders have to check correctly if shaders _and_ the specific option is enabled.

[Anonymous]

Originally posted by: bre... (code.google.com)@gmail.com

Yes, checking <feature> AND <shader> sounds like the correct solution.

[Anonymous]

Originally posted by: cumuluni... (code.google.com)@gmail.com

Should be fixed with commit [rf28ddb0b5a3a9b8b864b807424a5421ed3f4c66f].
Please verify

Status: Testing

[Anonymous]

Originally posted by: one31... (code.google.com)@gmail.com

Confirmed, the [rf28ddb0b5a3a9b8b864b807424a5421ed3f4c66f] solves the issue.

[Anonymous]

Originally posted by: cumuluni... (code.google.com)@gmail.com

(No comment was entered for this change.)

Status: Verified