Unusual Windscreen / Windshield Fogging...

[MrYorkiesWorld 3]

Hi there everyone,

I'm currently having an issue in the PMDG 747-400 (Not tested it with the 747-8) where the windshield will develop a "foggy" or "steamy" effect.

I've attached two screenshots below, one of which shows the colours of the simulator outside of the cockpit, and the other one showing the colour inside.

You can clearly see there is some sort of fog effect on the windshield which is causing visibility issues at times, and more importantly it is taking away some of the great colours from the internal views of the aircraft looking at the outside surroundings through the windows.

Having read through some other forum posts, as well as referring to Page 196 of the PMDG 747 QUOTS II Introduction document, I can see there is a new feature called RainMaker, however according to the Intro document, this is only implemented in the 747-8, and not the 747-400.

Are there any other methods that I could use to get rid of this effect, or is this just an effect designed to make the experience look and feel more immersive?

Regards,

--Yorkie

[vc10man 732]

Did you try turning the Window Heat on?

 

[scandinavian13 5,192]

21 minutes ago, YorkiesWorld said:

Having read through some other forum posts, as well as referring to Page 196 of the PMDG 747 QUOTS II Introduction document, I can see there is a new feature called RainMaker, however according to the Intro document, this is only implemented in the 747-8, and not the 747-400.

Are there any other methods that I could use to get rid of this effect, or is this just an effect designed to make the experience look and feel more immersive?

It's in the 400 now, too.

Please ensure that you follow checklists. They're extremely important. In this case, it seems as if your window heat has not been turned on.

If you're sure that you have done so, then something else is at play here - using any add-ons like PTA, or tomato-whatever?

[MrYorkiesWorld 3]

4 minutes ago, scandinavian13 said:

It's in the 400 now, too.

Please ensure that you follow checklists. They're extremely important. In this case, it seems as if your window heat has not been turned on.

If you're sure that you have done so, then something else is at play here - using any add-ons like PTA, or tomato-whatever?

 

4 minutes ago, vc10man said:

Did you try turning the Window Heat on?

 

 

Hi both!,

Yes I definitely have the window heat switched on in the sim - I'm currently using TomatoShade with the R&D Preset, and I have a reflection profile for the 747-400 from R&D as well if that helps?

I'm willing to turn off RainMaker if needed, but if there are any other suggestions as to how to get it working correctly that would be great!

Regards,

--Yorkie

Edited February 8, 2019 by YorkiesWorld

[vc10man 732]

I do not use stuff like TomatoShade, and no need for it AFAIC, but have never had a 'fogging' issue in either aircraft.

[scandinavian13 5,192]

19 minutes ago, YorkiesWorld said:

I'm currently using TomatoShade with the R&D Preset, and I have a reflection profile for the 747-400 from R&D as well if that helps?

Could be this, then.

19 minutes ago, YorkiesWorld said:

I'm willing to turn off RainMaker if needed, but if there are any other suggestions as to how to get it working correctly that would be great!

To be honest, this is unlikely the cause if you're sure you have the window heat on (especially because I see a weird artifact in the image you've provided, which points to something else).

[PopsBellNC 21]

Greetings All,

What the heck is TomatoShade? I went to their website and still couldn't figure out what is was. Not being critical (well, perhaps critical of their uninformative web design), just curious as to what TS is supposed to do.

Patrick

[downscc 1,327]

17 hours ago, PopsBellNC said:

Greetings All,

What the heck is TomatoShade? I went to their website and still couldn't figure out what is was. Not being critical (well, perhaps critical of their uninformative web design), just curious as to what TS is supposed to do.

Patrick

Hi Patrick, you'll find many that like the visual effects obtained from such 3d party addons as PTA and TomatoShade but in my opinion no such effects are required for P3Dv4.4 to perform to my satisfaction.  If you want deeper blues and brighter pinks and apparently shinier surfaces as in arcade games than this stuff is for you.  I freely admit I'm an old fart and this is my opinion, and that I also have stereo speakers that were designed for a concert hall and I detest bass boost.

[donkey20048 19]

I use tonatoshade with R&D preset and do not have this issue so it is definitely not related to that unless there was an issue with the installation of the profile 

[PopsBellNC 21]

7 hours ago, downscc said:

I freely admit I'm an old fart and this is my opinion

As am I, Dan... I had just honestly never heard of, nor seen, this Tomato-thing. Bottom-line, P3Dv4.4, a PMDG aircraft, and Active Sky & Cloud Art, all make me very happy.😎

Cheers!

Patrick

[scandinavian13 5,192]

21 hours ago, donkey20048 said:

I use tonatoshade with R&D preset and do not have this issue so it is definitely not related to that unless there was an issue with the installation of the profile 

To be honest, the first time I installed it, the planes all looked like they were plastic wrapped, and I'd followed the directions as well as I could. It all uninstalled/restored just fine, so I followed the directions enough to get it in there and back out well enough. It might've been my own fault, but with PBR coming out, I never really bothered to try going back in with it.

----------

Tangential discussion:

The sim crowd seems to have quite a number of hobbyist (I say this as a descriptor and not a pejorative - I was a hobbyist before I came here) devs wanting to make the sim better without having/taking the time to either protect users from messing things up, or prevent their own tool from messing things up (though TomatoShade at least backs things up, from what I recall). A lot of these tools are powerful and neat, but they can have unintended negative consequences. The odd part, to me, is that people install these things, see something odd, and usually immediately blame the plane.

To be clear: I'm not at all upset by these tools in the sense that, when used responsibly/reasonably, things usually work out (even if you have to back the changes out). The issue, though, is that people will install some things that were cobbled together in someone's free time and expect them to be bulletproof, and/or expect the products they interact with to be bulletproof against them. Nobody can reasonably make their product bulletproof in all cases. If a tool messes with our models, or the sim's rendering, then all bets are off.

I know I've referenced this before, but my car didn't automatically unlock the doors when you turned it off. This meant that you had to pull the door handle twice to get out (or hit the unlock button). After backing everything up, I used a (note: again, I'll re-state the descriptor over pejorative use of) hobbyist-made tool to change some config files in the car's "brain" to automatically unlock the car when I turned the ignition off. It is entirely possible, however, that I can completely brick my car by using the tool in certain ways. This isn't the manufacturer's problem, nor is it the developer's problem. The tool is the tool. It has a specific use. If it isn't used properly, problems can arise.

TL;DR: We have an advantage over most industries in that a lot of this crowd tends to be "natural tinkerers" (esp in the XPL cohort). The upside to that is that we get all kinds of neat tools to make simming more interesting. The downside is that a lot of the people who aren't tinkerers don't realize that installing some of this stuff can have negative consequences - some by the nature of the operation, some by simply not following directions. With so many tools out there, it's increasingly difficult to keep track of what's out there, and how it can impact each product.

 

 

...going back to the thread here: the artifact in the picture doesn't look like anything I've come across, or have seen reported. I still believe that something else is at play here.

Edited February 13, 2019 by scandinavian13