I replied today to the Facebook page that handles all TDS plane Support.  I really enjoyed flying many of the TDS planes (737's, 757's, 787's), but because of their specific regulations regarding their name or patent information, it is easily possible to cause these planes to never occupy your computer again.  Here's what I wrote to the support forum on Facebook:

"I’m very disappointed in my inability to use the planes I once loved in P3d from TDS. Because of their unbelievable stringent copyright protection, or whatever it is, I cannot fly their planes with the stupidly “half wing” appearance. I don’t even know how it happened. I have a brand new Jetline computer and I thought if I downloaded a fresh TDS plane that it would work…because this happened to me on on previous computer. However, NO! I still get the deformed 737’s.

C'mon, TDS, LET US USE YOUR PLANES. Make it available to us as it should be."

If anyone on this forum has found a simple solution to this, please let me (and probably many others) know how we can correct this.

 

Hiroshi did thing specifically to stop copyright of course. What does title state in the aircraft livery config? It needs to state Freeware copyright blurb at the front otherwise you won't see the wings etc. You also need to make sure you have files in the e.g tds788 etc in the panel config with the utility panel. 

I stopped using TDS planes quite some time ago.  Unfortunately, I had to use them for my 787s as I wanted something better than a low quality AI model, but I may end up switching to Camsim's 787s I found which look pretty good.

I have asked TDS several times to provide models without the attached landing and taxi lights which blast the VC with light when turned on, but the first time I got a rude response and after that they never replied to further requests.

If you try to modify their models, or if you don't have the aircraft.cfg title exactly right, then the built-in protection will remove half the wing.  I think its just plain silly to have the tamper/copyright protection for a freeware model.

There are good freeware Project Open Sky models for the 737s, 757s, 767s, and 777s which work in P3D.  Then there are the Project Airbus A319-321 models and the Thomas Ruth A330 models which are very good.

Dave

If I remember correctly, there was a Windows update that borked this copyright protection method, and caused all TDS birds to appear with half wings. Hiroshi had to publish a new set of model files in their Facebook page to address the issue caused with this update. Since I moved out of FS9, I stopped using the TDS models (basically because I no longer felt like merging as in my FS9 days), so I can't confirm if this works or not.

PS: Hiroshi was one of the main developers at the good old Posky.

9 hours ago, spilok said:

I replied today to the Facebook page that handles all TDS plane Support.  I really enjoyed flying many of the TDS planes (737's, 757's, 787's), but because of their specific regulations regarding their name or patent information, it is easily possible to cause these planes to never occupy your computer again.  Here's what I wrote to the support forum on Facebook:

"I’m very disappointed in my inability to use the planes I once loved in P3d from TDS. Because of their unbelievable stringent copyright protection, or whatever it is, I cannot fly their planes with the stupidly “half wing” appearance. I don’t even know how it happened. I have a brand new Jetline computer and I thought if I downloaded a fresh TDS plane that it would work…because this happened to me on on previous computer. However, NO! I still get the deformed 737’s.

C'mon, TDS, LET US USE YOUR PLANES. Make it available to us as it should be."

If anyone on this forum has found a simple solution to this, please let me (and probably many others) know how we can correct this.

 

I did respond to your Facebook post but maybe you haven't seen it yet. Specifically, can you confirm which model are you trying to update? Go into the Aircraft, open the "Model" folder and confirm the name of the file ending _____.mdl

I agree with this to an extent, their copyright protection is over the top. However, your issue is probably related to Windows 11 and its 24H2 update, which broke TDS planes (and Aerosoft planes for that matter). Hiroshi made a fix which you can find on flightsim.com or their Facebook page/group.

14 hours ago, Ian S said:

I did respond to your Facebook post but maybe you haven't seen it yet. Specifically, can you confirm which model are you trying to update? Go into the Aircraft, open the "Model" folder and confirm the name of the file ending _____.mdl

Is that the post that asks what models I'm trying to use?  I did respond that literally all TDS models are affected  (737-800's, 757's, 787's, etc) I would appreciate it (if you have the time) that you PM me here at AVSIM or email me.  

Thanks

On 6/28/2025 at 1:26 AM, spilok said:

Is that the post that asks what models I'm trying to use?  I did respond that literally all TDS models are affected  (737-800's, 757's, 787's, etc) I would appreciate it (if you have the time) that you PM me here at AVSIM or email me. 

So, lemme get this straight, you're complaining about an excellent FREE model and demanding people fix it for you, and peeps in the FB group and this thread have offered to help you but so far you've made no effort to indicate what you've done to fix this yourself using their suggestions??? Right.....

I suggest you provide some more feedback in the FB post, and take up Hiroshi's suggestion of sharing a ZIP archive of your aircraft folder so he can see what's up. 

On 6/28/2025 at 6:29 PM, deeknow said:

So, lemme get this straight, you're complaining about an excellent FREE model and demanding people fix it for you, and peeps in the FB group and this thread have offered to help you but so far you've made no effort to indicate what you've done to fix this yourself using their suggestions??? Right.....

I suggest you provide some more feedback in the FB post, and take up Hiroshi's suggestion of sharing a ZIP archive of your aircraft folder so he can see what's up. 

Yes.  That's right.  I have texted quite a few times on FB, but I've pretty much given up on it.  There is life beyond TDS.

2 hours ago, spilok said:

There is life beyond TDS.

This. Their biggest threat is obscurity, not piracy. TBH I only ever hear about TDS here - almost none of our users are using their models.

Cheers

On 7/3/2025 at 2:53 AM, Luke said:

This. Their biggest threat is obscurity, not piracy. TBH I only ever hear about TDS here - almost none of our users are using their models.

Cheers

Obscurity? - I don't think so. There is a solid community of simmers enjoying their excellent freeware products. I take it none of your users are into modern aircraft such as A350s then. The issue actually has nothing to do with piracy, a windows update  caused some issues which Hiroshi, the lead developer, fixed quickly and at no cost.

2 hours ago, Ian S said:

There is a solid community of simmers enjoying their excellent freeware products. I take it none of your users are into modern aircraft such as A350s then.

Actually, lots of my users love the A350. The IniBuilds, that is. P3D is under 5% of the user base, and most folks are using payware. FSX is a little different, but most people there are actually using the OpenSky versions of aircraft. In fact, I'd suggest that the vast majority of simmers have no idea who TDS is. Let's not confuse ourselves that the P3D forum at AVSIM is anything more than a very small niche.

2 hours ago, Ian S said:

The issue actually has nothing to do with piracy, a windows update  caused some issues which Hiroshi, the lead developer, fixed quickly and at no cost.

Explain to me what exactly Hiroshi is doing with the XML library that caused it to break? Isn't that the same janky "protection" code that removes half the model if you rename the aircraft title? Because no other aircraft seemed to have this problem....

Cheers

8 hours ago, Luke said:

Explain to me what exactly Hiroshi is doing with the XML library that caused it to break? Isn't that the same janky "protection" code that removes half the model if you rename the aircraft title? Because no other aircraft seemed to have this problem....

Not only do the models contain the strange protection code, but the multiple, confusing model updates which have appeared on Facebook from time to time come with little to no explanation and have odd names which make no sense.

Frankly, I don't know what this Hiroshi fellow is doing and I'm not sure he does either.  His models do look good, but I've stopped using them as he flat out refuses to fix the broken landing and taxi lights.

You are right that P3D has become very niche in the flightsim world.  I find this sad as it is a great simulator and quite stable since v5, with v6 being even better.  I'm from the old school so for me P3D with ORBX addons is remarkable, but I get that younger folks go for MSFS with better scenery and more eye candy without the need to do a lot of arcane tweaking or to buy a lot of addons to make it look good.

Dave

14 hours ago, Luke said:

Actually, lots of my users love the A350. The IniBuilds, that is. P3D is under 5% of the user base, and most folks are using payware. FSX is a little different, but most people there are actually using the OpenSky versions of aircraft. In fact, I'd suggest that the vast majority of simmers have no idea who TDS is. Let's not confuse ourselves that the P3D forum at AVSIM is anything more than a very small niche.

Explain to me what exactly Hiroshi is doing with the XML library that caused it to break? Isn't that the same janky "protection" code that removes half the model if you rename the aircraft title? Because no other aircraft seemed to have this problem....

Cheers

 For what its worth, Opensky actually evolved into TDS and Hiroshi didn't break anything, the Windows update did, along with multiple other products. 

Edited July 5, 2025Jul 5 by Ian S

The "model matching dance" is certainly a pain point, same could be said for the Posky and SkySpirit stuff (common factor there I guess), but despite that there is still a steady flow of repaints released to this day for the 736/7/8 NG, the Max variants, the 757s, and the cargo variants for the TDS models. It's pretty impressive IMHO, and a testament to what can be done w a freeware model, that the projects are still in use.

I think what the guys at Simviation do is useful where they bundle an entire working package w each repaint, saves those that don't have the time or patience or experience the bother of finding required elements themselves.