Archer II and C152 II (FS2004)

[Tulpenmuster 0]

Dear friends,

 

Incidentally I saw this forum for Carenado products. Perhaps your expert knowledge can solve two problems, which frustrated me in awhile.

 

First problemconcerns the beautiful Carenado Archer II for FS2004:

In VC view there is an immense gap between the left edge of the "glass" and the right edge of the center windshield strut. It actually looks like the "glass" of the windscreen is shifted off to the right. The gap is only visible fom inside in VC view.

I have contacted Carenado and they indeed have been very cooperative in trying to resolve this issue but in the end they could not figure out what would cause this trouble nor how to fix it. I already did a second try downloading the file from Carenado - without success. Actually I've made six - fruitless - attempts to reinstall. The gaps are always visible. Really frustrating.

I have attached a screenshot, just in case that I didn't describe this problem in a suitable manner.

Second problem concerns the Carenado C152 II for FS2004:

When looking back in VC, the tail of the plane is not visible. Behind the rear window there's just the antenna visible (without any link to the fuselage). But there's no tail. Looking strange behind such a wonderful cabin. Externally the model is flawless.

I use the freeware module F1View from Flight1 (a small module that installs into FS2004 and supplies simple mouse-based movements, panning. You can also move past the default view limits of FS2004 (good for strolling through virtual cabins)). If I scroll back in VC through the rear window, the tail of the plane becomes visible. Therefore even this issue is unique to VC view.

 

I run FS9.1 on a PC with the following main specs: Win7/64bit, i5-2500k, MB: Asus P8P67, Samsung F1 1 TB, 8GB RAM1600, Palit GTX 570.My sim is rather large (roundabout 100 GB) with more than 700 sceneries, and more than 50 aircraft, most of them payware. There are no other issues except for the ones I told you. Around a dozen of other Carenado planes work fine without any problem.

 

I'd be very thankful, if you could help. Thanks in advance for your replies!

 

Jens

[RotorRx 0]

Did you ever get your problem on the glass fixed? I just got a new machine with windows 7/64 bit, and now my archer has the exact same problem. I also have the missing tail problem with the 152.

 

Phil

[Tulpenmuster 0]

Hi, Phil!

 

thanks a lot for your reply!  I nearly resigned, thinking that no fellow in misery will ever respond.

But in fact there are quite a few people who reported those problems with the "shifted" windshields in Carenados Archer II and with the "invisible" prop and tail in Carenados C152. From time to time there are threads in the usual online forums regarding with these problems - until now to no avail.

 

BUT NOW we have the chance to narrow these problems down.

 

Firstly: Regarding the "gap" in the windshield I still have no clue. I can refer to my thread (with screenshots) in the flightsim.forums: http://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/showthread.php?239636-Gap-in-Carenado-Archer-II-Windshield&highlight=gap+carenado

 

Secondly: In respect of the C152 I worked out, that the clue lies in the the "Alabeo152prop".bmp (or something like that - I can't tell the exact name of the file, as I'm not in front of my sim PC at the moment). This texture file includes an alpha channel (responsible for reflections I understood). If you view the Bitmap with the most useful freeware porgramm "DXTBMP" from MWGraphics you can see the alpha in the upper right corner of the program window. The area which correlates with the windshield reflections on the bitmap file will show as dark grey against the black background. If you paint this area black (as the background of the alpha is), then import this modified alpha channel to the bitmap and save it altogether as the new "Alabeo152prop".bmp (backup the old file first!!!) , and fly from within the VC you will see the prop and even the Tail of the plane - but from inside you won't see any reflections on the windows any more. :-(

Until now I didn't find a way to "tune" the window reflections so that one can see them as well as tail and prop of the C152. Remarkably other parts of the plane (like the antenna on the rear fuselage) are visible. It's strange.

 

We share the same problem and I presume that all of your other addons (especially from Carenado) work fine, too - so there MUST be a coherence. Probably some addon or other software we both have installed is the culprit.

 

I run FS9.1 on a PC with specifications as follows: Win7/64bit, i5-2500k, MB: Asus P8P67, 2 x Samsung F1 1 TB, 8GB RAM1600, Palit GTX 570 with the newest Nvidia driver and nvidiainspector. 22'' Panel from LG with 1680 x 1050 resolution. I use the F1view module. Saitek pedals, yoke.

My FS2004 is a - legal and official! - german version from a single DVD without the need of inserting the CD4 in the drive. (But I also own a 4CD set - tried it even there, of course - unfortunately to no avail). I tried the Carenado C152 and Archer II even on totally clean installations of  both versions of FS2004 (DVD and 4CD), even on a PC with fresh WindowsXP, 32bit. Same problems there. Consequently I don't believe that Win7 64bit is the cause of our trouble.

 

What do you think?

Can anybody else help us? All the FS9-Experts out there, please help! Thanks in advance!

 

Jens