DillonI've sent you an email in response.Toni.

>I think you got it all wrong BIll.>>The popup windows (IRS and FMC) are not 2Di. Only the main>panel views (captain and first officer).:-hah>>And yes, that is something to really get excited about, since>noone else has come up with the idea to combine the 3D panel>with 2D gauges, >for smooth and stutterfree gauges, with excellent framerates>as a result. ;-)Nope. I have it exactly right. Here's the difference...The typical panel.cfg has both Window00 and VCockpit configurations. Whenever a gauge is loaded on both a Window00 and a VCockpit entry, then TWO copies of the same gauge are loaded to memory, effectively doubling the load on the sim. Once loaded to memory, both copies will persist so the computer's resource load never changes.If you omit the Window00 (2d) panel entirely, and only load the gauges via VCockpit entries, then only ONE copy is loaded to the sim, hence the overall load on the computer's resources is halved from the "typical panel" configuration."Popup" panels will only load the gauge into memory as long as the window remains open. Once the sub-panel is closed, the computer's resource allocation is freed.The net result is - of course - smoother gauges because of the reduced load on the system's resources. There is nothing special about the gauges themselves, it's simply mathematics at work... ;)There are, of course, other techniques that may be used to have both 2d and VC without suffering from the resource overloading issue, but that is really only effective with vector drawn gauges, where you can simply program the gauge to "stop drawing" whenever it isn't visible.

Bill so what your saying is I can go into PMDG's panel.cfg file and disable the entries for the 2D panel and get better framerates from the VC... I thought most payware add-ons (Eaglesoft included) required you to load the plane up with the 2D panel first in order for everything to be displayed properly in the VC or better yet for the plane to load up at all (or have a CTD trying)...

>If you lose the files, well, apparently, you are then #### out>of luck.Then excuse me for suggesting this,...Why don

I can only agree to that, Staffan. To do a backup of every downloaded software is always wise, no matter if from Ariane or from any other supplier. As per the impressions, see here a couple of screenshots. Although it's posted in german forum, it will give you a good impression.http://forum.fs-zone.de/thread.php?threadid=954btw. the textures are not for sale and not available as freeware either.CheersMartin

Well, I downloaded the various files from Ariane's webpage. The "install instructions" alone are 50 pages long, with every other sentence being WE'LL SEND ARMED MEN IN UNIFORMS WITH BIG GUNS AFTER YOU IF YOU STEAL OUR SOFTWARE!!!These guys seem to be mighty paranoid (note to Ariane: spellchecking helps to convey a professional image). Basically, the punch line is: if something goes wrong during the install or the keys don't work it means YOU'RE EITHER STUPID OR YOU WANT TO STEAL OUR PRODUCTS AND SHARE THEM WITH FRIENDS. Maybe I'll write a blog about this or something; should be fun. Lol, I remember people complaining about having to give Flight1 their email address and phone number. I should also note that the install and activation instructions are for another Boeing series in their line-up; the instructions refer to 5 install files you're supposed to have downloaded, when, in fact, there are only 4 install files plus an additional file containing instructions, which, bizarrely enough, also contains the nav data exe file. Ariane will also charge you 10 pounds if you lose your receipt. Here is a representative sample of the kind of lecturing and hectoring tone they've adopted for their manuals:"What if I change my PC and need to re-activate.We note that one person tried to change his PC 3 times in one month and so we donot think it necessary to give out any more than one offline key. The OFFLINEKEY DATABASE is compared to the ONLINE KEY DATA on our website andany discrepancy in type isa also reported to the secure system. So please do not tryto override the activation process for friends. That is piracy we will not allow."ricardo

Hi,And who can blame them for beeing piracy hostile?They sure have a reason to be fed up with all piracy atempts. You know,...not everybody are honest like you and me. :-hahThe activation process is far from complex, like for some other producers. ;-)Happy landings,Staffanhttp://www.scandicair.com/images/as_banner.jpg

Staffan, are you really the manager at Ariane ?!!!

>Staffan, are you really the manager at Ariane ?!!!Are you joking or what? Do you ask the same question to everybody in other threads who are in favour for a certain product? :-hmmmI just think the products should be judged for what they are. The majority who judge, don

So Ricardo, have you installed it yet? What are your first impressions?John.

>Bill so what your saying is I can go into PMDG's panel.cfg>file and disable the entries for the 2D panel and get better>framerates from the VC... I thought most payware add-ons>(Eaglesoft included) required you to load the plane up with>the 2D panel first in order for everything to be displayed>properly in the VC or better yet for the plane to load up at>all (or have a CTD trying)...You can certainly do that for MANY a/c models, but for those that have special "initialization gauges" that need to be present on the 2d panel, such as the CitX, B400, 400XP and Premier I, no. However, that said, as these products reach their update cycle, that requirement will be eliminated...

People need to read what is stated on Ariane's website carefully: if you lose the downloaded files, Ariane will NOT send you replacement files under ANY circumstances. Once you download the files from their server, the files are GONE. No such thing as reactivation, redownload, etc. Therefore, after downloading, I immediately burned the files on a CD and also moved a copy of the files to a separate folder on my harddrive. Ariane instructs you that you are only supposed to use winzip to extract the files, which I did. 3 of the 4 .exe files installed without problems, however, the fourth one is buggy: it's supposed to write an entry into the scenery.cfg, but it sometimes doesn't do that (as Ariane admits in their manual), so you have to run this file again. (The instructions in this regard are a bit unclear; it took me a while to figure out that I have to rerun the original .exe file).After installation I fired up FS9 and realized, as Dillon reported earlier, that Ariane changes the bitmap for both the airplane selection screen (the spinning airplane thingy) and the bitmap for the loadout manager. Not a big deal, but an annoying intrusion. The airplane selection menu now contains an entry for the BBJ (under "Boeing"), you can select from two paint schemes. After the plane is loaded, you will need to cycle through all the views to ensure that the virtual cockpit was installed correctly. The plane cannot be used until you activate it. I tried several times to do it online but it wouldn't work; so I sent off an activation email, as instructed. The process is tedious and cumbersome, and the instructions in the manual do not actually match what you are seeing/getting as you go through the activation process. Ariane claims in the activation manual that it "may take 48 hours or more" to get activation keys, so you might be grounded for a long while. Lol. Overall, I found the manuals (it totals to over 500 pages) to be very good in terms of describing the various systems. I'd say the level of detail is higher than what you'll find in the manuals of other addon developers. Everything is also very nicely illustrated. Obviously, I can only comment on the visual quality, which I think is very good. The virtual cockpit loads fast, and didn't notice much of a frame rate degradation, at least in the cold and dark state. Exterior details are very good, too; as is the texturing in the virtual cabin. that's all for now.ricardo

"Ariane changes the bitmap for both the airplane selection screen"Ricardo contact 'Bobbo' at Ariane to send you a utility to reverse those changes... They have a utility which I thought by now would have been included with the package. :-hmmm

I do have to make a correction to this last posting I made. I discovered that ASV will work with the Dreamfleet-FFX merge by Peter McLeland. I am absolutely delighted about this and am going back to fly a little more.

I should note that Ariane responded in a timely fashion to my request for an installation key: I got the key after a day and a half. ricardo