Shane,When I asked about the dynamic shine before I returned it, they said they "ran out of time". That is completely unacceptable. Obviously they were more concerned with meeting an unrealistic deadline than releasing a finished model. Some people may say otherwise, but public relations play a big role in the overall add-on experience for me and responses like that really p*** me off after I spent $25. As for the textures, I guess it might just be a painter thing, but it really bugged me whenever I zoomed in to look in the cabin or at the cockpit I was greeted with pixellated, grainy, textures.[table][tr][td rowspan=2]http://timbo87.home.attbi.com/sig/valiant.gif[/td][td]

Tim Pinkawa

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Alpha Sims Texture Artist/Panel Designer

Tims FS Studio]

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Great plane John. Nice to see your enthusiasm for it and the work arounds you've done to help your system performance. I honestly don't know why anyone would want their money back on this one. Plus it's a two-for-one deal and all the repaints which will be contributed. As well I believe the Premier 1 will have specular lighting is that not the case?All around excellent work which just a patch or so can address the residual issues (altitude capture being one). I use it with the Garmin 530 (Reality XP) for an unbeatable combination.

To add to what Tim is saying, he's not talking about the blur problem fixed by removing the mips. He's referring to the overall detail of the textures. Anywhere within ten feet or so of the aircraft, you can clearly see the stairstepping... Larger 2048x2048 textures would have helped quite a bit. I used smaller textures in my Microlight....the result is from within my v/c, the stairstepping is quite noticeable. Recently I purchased a digital camera, and the Arcsoft software that came with it seems perfect for adding greater detail on my textures....I also agree with Tim about the dynamic shine issues. Dynamic shine didn't become a big thing until fairly recently, well after the the ES jet was being developed. But ES could have added it in an hour--I recently assisted another developer in updating his model with dynamic shine--the results should be out in a week or two. Took me only 30 minutes to apply it to the aircraft... You don't even need to be a good a/c designer (I certainly am not) to do it....On a brighter note, I finally got around to dl'ing some repaints for the Beechjet.... Just love Bill Browning's work....

It is assuring to see that Eaglesoft DOES a refund if one is dissatisfied. That's reassuring. I will not go that route though, as I quite like the Beechjet as it is...it is only thje frame rates It seems as though aothers are getting better frramerates that I do, and I agree that my system (P4-2GIG, GF3, 1GIG RAM, WIN XP_Pro...with NOTHING else running) might be old hat...but I wonder how may othrers do have similar spec machines. I try my level besat to remain up to date, but, really, to have to buy a new PC every 6 months to keep up with FS Software developers is asking a bit much. In my humble opinion, the developers of FS add ons should ask themselves just how much of their target market has top spec PCs? I for one replace my PC every 18 months with whatever is the tops, and not everyone can afford to do this. So my appeal to FS add ons...please keep those with mediocre 12 month old computers in mind! How about developing these add ons in such a way that there is a "light" and standard option, giving the user more flexibility...after all reading waht some one else wrote here...it is quite possible to adjust things like panel.cfg files, or for that matter disable the VC...and get an acceptable performance.

Tim,I'm unaware of anyone from Eaglesoft telling you we "ran out of time"on the dynamic shine issue, but would like to know. [i've been a bit busy lately:-)] Anyone who knows about gmax will tell you that the choices are either reflective or dynamic. We chose reflective on this one and felt it was realistic...considered dynamic such as shown on our Premier1 but decided on what you see now.Our goal is to have folks enjoy these aircraft and by our estimates roughly 98-99% of purchasers do, despite some wrinkles that need to be ironed out:-)Well enough rambling for now, gotta get back to the task at hand:-)Best RegardsRon

FWIW, the fastest computer at St. Gregory house is a lowly PIII/850, 512 MB SDRAM, ATI Rage Fury Pro 128 MB video...During the course of development, I felt that "surely if I can run the 400A on my antique system, it should really fly (pun intended) on any of the newer computer platforms!"Clearly, this has not been the case (or else those with issues have much higher standards than I do). I am not now, nor have I ever been a "frame rate junkie," being more concerned with "fluidity." If I get a "smooth response" from the a/c at 12-18 fps, I am very satisfied.Is it a "resource hog?" Yes, but we are working hard to address the impact of the a/c on system resources.BillAVSIM OmbudsmanFounder and Director,Creative Recycling of Aircraft Partshttp://catholic-hymns.com/frbill/FS2002/images/BLeaming.jpg

Here is the quote:"Actually Bill, what we have is reflective surfaces. "Dynamic Shine" is a relatively recent technique that uses a specular color applied from within the modelling program itself. Using that technique eliminates (or minimizes) the need for reflective texture mapping. It's not that difficult to do, but we simply 'ran out of time.'"http://forums.avsim.com/dcboard.php?az=sho...ing_type=searchI really don't want to keep arguing, but the PSS Vulcan has both dynamic shine and reflective surfaces.[table][tr][td rowspan=2]http://timbo87.home.attbi.com/sig/valiant.gif[/td][td]

Tim Pinkawa

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Alpha Sims Texture Artist/Panel Designer

Tims FS Studio]

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Point well made Tim:-) I guess I read over that one:-)Seems that there is no small misunderstanding amongst simmers as to terminology on this subject:-)Glad to hear that the Vulcan has both techniques applied, I will make note of that for future projects. Who knows, we may even do an update down the road that would include both techniques.Checked your site and was pleased to see that you did an Embry Riddle livery...looks a lot like the one I did for the DF Cardinal:-)No argument here, no one is being forced into purchasing "or keeping" our aircraft:-)Best Regards,Ron HamiltonPresidentEaglesoft Development Group

Thanks, Ron! Glad we could keep this civilized. :)[table][tr][td rowspan=2]http://timbo87.home.attbi.com/sig/valiant.gif[/td][td]

Tim Pinkawa

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Alpha Sims Texture Artist/Panel Designer

Tims FS Studio]

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