jerrycwo4I just tried to install the "Fs2002 Contrail Update" by Gerrit Kranewbard( file was here at Avsim). When I finished installing the 2 files ,(with instructions) 1. fx_contrail_1.fx into the EFFECTS folder 2. fx_1 into EFFECTS / TEXTUREI had an "extra" file named, "thumbs.db" (database file, 6 kb) left over with NO instructions as to what it was are where it went. Can anybody tell me about this 'extra' file, is it needed or where it goes? Thanksjerry

Greetings,The contrail enhancement you mention does look very good...but on my 733mhz machine it eats frame rates for breakfastlunch and dinner( and a midnight snack!).The revised cloud bitmaps by Gerrit are great too, and don'thurt the performance....I don't know what "thumbs" files are, I have always ignored them..Radials fly 'round!JR

Hi JR!I've deleted the first two particle systems and now it runs much smoother on my old machine. The best thing about Gerrit's contrails is, they appear much earlier and stay longer. I hope he will release a frame rate friendly "AI version", too.@ jerry, just delete this thumbs.db, you will find this enclosed in scenery files more and more. It's something XP uses to fill up your harddisk. :-)Regards,Claudius

Jerry,As explained in the other post, .db files are generated by the Operating System (not just Windows XP by the way) whenever a group of image files are viewed in thumbnail format - thumbnail format being those small, square, preview sized images. What would have happened is that the author was running their "My computer / Explorer" browsing windows in thumbnail mode. This would have immediately caused the OS to generate a thumbs.db file. That file then would have been copied across when the file was packaged for distribution.

jerrycwo4Thanks for the info on this. The new contrails really have a neat effect when you change altitude are make a turn. I'm NOT sure what if anything they are doing to my frame rates. I've been flying the Flight One/Dreamfleet B737-300 which is a VERY complex aircraft and you know the more complex the AC the bigger the FPS hit. I was flying at FL360 with a fair amount of clouds and the FPS were about 14-16 which still seemed to be smooth at that altitude. I think I'll do a test with these installed and then switch back to the default contrails and note the differant in FPS. I really like the new ones so I'll probably keep them.jerry