January 13, 201016 yr Hi folks,I'll split this post into two sections as I'd imagine they don't overlap too much...Contrails: What is the best contrail effect in existance for FS9 and where do I get it?I have tried the two from the library and find Jan Rosenbergs one to be great, apart from being flat, and Michael Thomas' 3D one (v2) to be too puffy and broken near the aircraft so that you see individual "puffs" of smoke near the aircraft.What would be ideal is a combination of the two but my efforts to mess with the fx files to achieve this had them floating apart after a while... Also, it would be good if the contrail would actually reflect the sky colour like the clouds do - the 3D contrail I tested does not do this.Window Rain effects: I'm not sure what the available options are here... the current effects for rain and snow are excellent when stationary or at speeds less than ~80kts. However, when flying faster than that, the rain is just moving too slowly on the window - at 250kts it should surely be zipping off really fast. Anyone know of a tweak or better effect?Cheers,Geoff
January 14, 201016 yr Hi folks,Window Rain effects: I'm not sure what the available options are here... the current effects for rain and snow are excellent when stationary or at speeds less than ~80kts. However, when flying faster than that, the rain is just moving too slowly on the window - at 250kts it should surely be zipping off really fast. Anyone know of a tweak or better effect?Cheers,GeoffOnly decent canopy rain effects I can think of are RealAir's... which are payware! I also don't think the droplets will move any faster than they do. There's only a certain amount of images I'd imagine. One for stationery, one for fast and one for slow. I don't think you'd be able to differentiate from that, I'm afraid.
January 15, 201016 yr Hi folks,Window Rain effects: I'm not sure what the available options are here... the current effects for rain and snow are excellent when stationary or at speeds less than ~80kts. However, when flying faster than that, the rain is just moving too slowly on the window - at 250kts it should surely be zipping off really fast. Anyone know of a tweak or better effect?Cheers,GeoffGood enough? :(
January 15, 201016 yr Author Good enough? :(Yup - that looks like the kind of thing I'm after... I hope the installer is selective enough so I can just choose some of the effects / textures...That's the rain sorted, now can anybody think of a good contrail effect to finish off my kick-@ss FS9 setup..?Geoff
January 15, 201016 yr Contrails for FS9 . . . get 'Contrails Pro' . . . payware but inexpensive. I've never looked back since purchasing.
January 16, 201016 yr Well I beg to differ as far as Contrails Pro is concerned. I don't think I have been so disappointed with a product much as this one. http://forums1.avsim.net/index.php?showtopic=264918&hl= Tristan Living in the beautiful Chilterns. FS System: intel e8600 core 2 duo cpu, asus p5q deluxe motherboard, 4gb ddr2 1066 corsair memory thermaltake 750w power supply, palit 9800gtx+ 512mb graphics card, 750gb sata2 hard drive, 500gb sata2 hard drive, coolermaster v8 cpu cooler, antec 900 case, xp pro 32 bit, creative xfi titanium sound card, 22x dvd/rw. Still sticking and rocking with FS9. "When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."
January 17, 201016 yr Author Contrails for FS9 . . . get 'Contrails Pro' . . . payware but inexpensive. I've never looked back since purchasing.I tried it and found several problems with it - most irritating was the fact that the 3D part and 2D part had different visibility in clouds and also became separated over time. Also, the merge between the effect bitmaps was celarly visible and extremely ugly. If you have got it working well please send screenshots and also tell me your settings - I am happy to download the trial again and be proved wrong about this addon...Well I beg to differ as far as Contrails Pro is concerned. I don't think I have been so disappointed with a product much as this one. http://forums1.avsim.net/index.php?showtopic=264918&hl= Exactly!Geoff
January 17, 201016 yr I tried it and found several problems with it - most irritating was the fact that the 3D part and 2D part had different visibility in clouds and also became separated over time. Also, the merge between the effect bitmaps was celarly visible and extremely ugly. If you have got it working well please send screenshots and also tell me your settings - I am happy to download the trial again and be proved wrong about this addon...Exactly!GeoffThanks guys,Always glad I come here to read before doing anything.I am going to hold off the contrails product but the weather fx looks intriguing. Anyone tried it that can give some feedback?-P Have a Wonderful Day -Paul Solk
January 17, 201016 yr Good enough? :( So....how did you get that? Care to post a link?regards,Joe The best gift you can give your children is your time.
January 17, 201016 yr So....how did you get that? Care to post a link?regards,JoeZinnertek Weather FX... Have a Wonderful Day -Paul Solk
January 20, 201016 yr Author So, as far as I can tell from these responses and my own hunting around... Contrails: What is the best contrail effect in existance for FS9 and where do I get it?This one was more tricky. After a bit of hunting around, I found that the best FS9 contrail is probably that produced as freeware by REX but then withdrawn, because people were having issues with it... The issues ONLY happened if the installation was not done properly, ie. the textures were not installed. This effect is somewhat hard to find but can currently be obtained from the discussion thread here: http://www.flightsimworld.com/forums/index...80799&st=20Window Rain effects: I'm not sure what the available options are here... ~ Anyone know of a tweak or better effect?Zinnertek's offering here is certainly better than the default effects by quite some margin - both for snow and rain effects. Annoyingly, the installer does not have a GUI to allow you to choose which components you do or do not with to install, but the effects are still very good (having said that, I immediately overwrote some of them with REX2004). The new lightmaps for the Shockwave 3D lights are pretty neat too...(Hope this helps others looking for good effects)Cheers,Geoff
January 20, 201016 yr I tried it and found several problems with it - most irritating was the fact that the 3D part and 2D part had different visibility in clouds and also became separated over time. Also, the merge between the effect bitmaps was celarly visible and extremely ugly. If you have got it working well please send screenshots and also tell me your settings - I am happy to download the trial again and be proved wrong about this addon...Exactly!GeoffGeoff, can't say I noticed any of the issues you mention. If I can find some time I'll post screenshots. It maybe that I'm not looking closely enough, but what I see is a sky with realistic looking contrails that change colour with time of day and close up texturing looks realistic. I should add that I'm not the 'rivet-counting' type so it may be that my expectations are lower than yours? :(
January 20, 201016 yr Author Is the REX contrail file only for FSX? Does it work for FS9?This whole discussion is wrt FS9 and this effect most certainly works in FS9. I think there is a REX contrail specific to FSX but I just think I read that somewhere and so it may or may not be correct...Geoff
January 20, 201016 yr This whole discussion is wrt FS9 and this effect most certainly works in FS9. I think there is a REX contrail specific to FSX but I just think I read that somewhere and so it may or may not be correct...GeoffYeah I know this is in the FS9 area of discussion, however, this is quoted from the readme file on REX mentioned - "REX Custom 3D ContrailsThis package updates the contrail system in FSX using a 3D smoke system." So, before I install it - does anyone know if it works in FS9?
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