I just noticed that in FSX, any material that includes a bump map will have no duffuse map when viewed at nignt. The diffuse map is actually there if you look reeeeal close, but it's extremely faint...subtle details like rivets and seems completely disappear. Try exporting the same material without the bump map and the diffuse map displays just fine. Has anyone found a way around this...other than eliminating the bump map?-Mick

Nope, I haven't. They are working just fine here on six different models I've been working on.How are you making your bump maps?I use the nVidea Normal filter plugin:1) Load the diffuse texture and make only the layers you want the "bump" to use visible.2) Use the nVidea Normal Filter to create a "Normal map." Be sure to set the scale factor to about .5 or thereabouts.3) Cut-Paste the Red channel to the Alpha channel, leaving the Red channel pure black.4) Invert the Green channelNOTE: You should now have Red channel=black, Green channel=image-inverted Normal map, Blue channel=white5) Flip Image Vertically5) Save As DDS/DXT5 using the nVidea DDS/DXT plugin.

My bump maps are totally kosher. There's a huge bug here...I just figured out what's going on.First, the problem...http://www.mickposch.com/Flight_Sim/Test_Bump_Map.jpgThe image at the top has bump maps in the materials; the one on the bottom has the bump maps removed. The diffuse textures are displaying correctly in the bottom (non-bump map) image; notice the orange seats, the dark detail on the bulkhead behind them, and the dark green color and subtle detail on the rescue hoist arm that's sticking out of the fuselage behind the cockpit. In the top image, all these areas are gray.After ripping a lot of hair out, I realized what's happening: There's a light in the cockpit (fx_vclighth), and that's what's killing the diffuse maps. So I added that "test" text to the side of the fuselage, and now you can see that the side of the fuselage - where the text is - displays fine. That's because it's not being lit by the dome light. But the objects inside the cockpit - as well as that rescue hoist - ARE. (BTW the rescue hoist and fuselage are both using the same material).So, somehow the combination of bump map and dome light causes the diffuse textures to revert to gray. Remove either the dome light or the bump map and the diffuse displays with no problem (notice that the pilot displays correctly in both images; he has no bump map).

Don't pull too much hair out until after FSX SP1 and SDK SP1a have been throughly vetted by the beta process and is released to the public. There are some changes coming that may - I stress may - address this lighting issue.

I didn't know that there was going to be an SDK update. Do they have an ETA ? I'm hoping to release this chopper in late May, so it might come out too late to buy me anything. It's good news, though.In the meantime, I'm removing all bumpmaps from the cockpit interior and rescue hoist (which don't need them anyway).-Mick