[FSX] Newark Airport turns black the closer you get to it

[Mike]

Hi, I have tried to set my FSX settings as described in the manual but still the airport ground affects are black. I can not seem to correct. All other airports are fine when flying in to. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

[FAS]

Hello Mike,
Which portions of the airport grounds appear black? (Taxiways, runways, grass, etc). Also, what version of Windows are you using, and do you know if user account control or anti-virus settings conflicted with the product installer?

[Mike]

Hello,  It's pretty much the whole ground part of the airport. The buildings seem fine. I'm using Windows 10, Home Edition. When I was installing my antivirus alerted me about the possibility of the software causing a problem to my computer, at that point I elected to add the program anyway. The program seemed to load perfectly.  I use MacAfee for that protection.

Thanks

[FAS]

I would try temporarily disabling the anti-virus and changing your user account control settings to "never notify." You can find user account control settings in the start menu by searching for "UAC," then try a fresh reinstall. Also, make sure the scenery is listed at the top of the FSX scenery library. In the meantime I'll try to see if I can replicate the problem.

[Mike]

Hi, I disabled the antivirus, and turned off the UAC. The fresh install went through fine. When I started FSX, I set everything up as told, but to no avail. I went into free flight and choose Newark Airport and once again all the ground areas are black. The buildings, static aircraft, all look good. Its difficult to fly into an airport with these issues. 

[FAS]

I understand, that would make it hard to fly in to. Your title says the airport grounds turn black when you move closer, do they look the same from a distance or normal?

[Mike]

Hello, the runways always appear black even from a distance. As you fly closer the other ground areas all become black. Are there other areas in settings that I need to adjust? I've changed the settings according to the manual but that doesn't help the issue. I have a Radeon HD 7770 graphics card installed, is that good enough for this software enhancement?
Thanks for your help. 

[FAS]

The graphics card should be good with the scenery. Do you know if you have both service packs installed with FSX? (SP1 & SP2)

[Mike]

Neither of the SP's are installed. Could this make a difference? I'm concerned about installing, as I have a lot of add on's installed to FSX now. It would require a clean install. Pretty much starting all over......... When purchasing this software it did not say that SP1 and SP2 were critical to the install.
Please advise, thanks

[FAS]

Hello Mike,
The software does require SP1 and 2, it does list it as a requirement on our website. I installed a fresh copy of FSX Deluxe on a Windows 10 laptop today, and had the same issue as you, but after installing service packs 1 and 2 it was fixed. Installing the service packs do not require you to start over again, if you already have FSX on your system you only need to download and install SP1 and 2, in that order. The service packs are updates to FSX, so they are recommended and probably won't affect other addons, although you would have to check with the developers for sure. It looks like service pack 1 is available on the AVSIM library, and service pack 2 is on Microsoft's website.

https://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fsxmisc&DLID=170823 (English version)
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8986 (English version)

[Mike]

Thanks so much. I did install SP1 and 2 without a problem. As you stated it fixed the issue I was having! I appreciate your time and concern and the help you provided.
Thanks again.

[FAS]

You're welcome, glad to know the issue is fixed!