I'm still seeing the sky blue, flat water in FlyII and would like to make an improvement (a darker blue, some kind of animation, etc). I believe I've done my due diligence in searching on AVSIM forums and file libraries for a solution, so I thought I'd ask...where can I find resources/tips/downloads to make my water look more realistic? I've tried the "more realistic ocean animations" downloads in the scenery forum, but notice no change.Could my flat, sky-blue water have something to do with my graphics settings? (I'm limited by the fact that my GeForce2 GTS has only 32MB of ram)Should I be looking for a download, configuring Fly settings or changing a configuration file?I've been noticing screenshots that others have taken and see that some have much better looking water. In particular, the amazing looking water on Andy's previews of the NZ scenery (I realize that may have something to do with his scenery).Anyway...any help here?Dan

Check the First Timer post for a link to the VFR water.You can change attributes of the water in the fly.ini file. You can change the transparency among other things...http://www.thesalters.org/images/Avsim_sig_KS.jpg

Thanks Ken for replying so quickly. I am using the VFR water animations...I did notice that I forgot to change the water tiling density to 2. Now I see the water animations, but I still have the sky blue water. Any way to change the color? Or could this have to do with the Terrascene I'm using? Here's what I see:http://home.earthlink.net/~finsdad/FlyII/p...kybluewater.jpg*** one more question ***I'd like to piggyback a question on this post to avoid another listing...anyone know what the primary difference is between DirectX 8 and DirectX 8 T&L? I'm using the texture and lighting selection now with my GeForce 2 GTS (32 MB) and am noticing a several FPS improvement over the standard directx 8. Just curious as to the difference and whether I'm using the right one.Thanks!Dan

The water reflects the sky color. If you change the sky color, the water changes. Also, if you change the transparency of the water, you can make darker.http://www.thesalters.org/images/Avsim_sig_KS.jpg

Dan,T&L (Transform & Lighting) would be the best choice IF you have a card capable of using it (nVidia chip on your GeForce is). With it, you can get some of the great lighting and environment reflections you are seeing.Also, though I am no expert on this, I believe the portion of the chip that handles T&L is not used for other purposes - when you activate T&L in the sim, you are using your card's capabilities more efficiently, allowing for slightly increased performance.

Thanks for the tips...does anyone know how changing the water transperancy in fly.ini affects the color? I've been doing it by trial and error and can't really see the pattern. Also...what is the range on transperancy values? 0...256? I'd like to get the grey-ish looking water I've seen on other's screenshots. Most of mine look light blue, but perhaps thats because I'm using a "happy blue ski" ini. This sky/water tweaking seems painstaking. Any resources out there? Is there a post I'm missing?Dan

You can definitely get grayish water - try setting to a very low number.You have to restart Fly! II for the changes to take affect.http://www.thesalters.org/images/Avsim_sig_KS.jpg

Alright...I finally got what I wanted! Thanks for your help, Ken. In a similar post on the developer's forum, you suggested I set the water transperancy to 200. I did this and voila! my water looks much more realistic. For anyone having the same problem with bright, light blue water...here are the steps I went through:1) Download and install the VFR water animation from AVSIM (link found in Fly first timers faq)2) Set fly.ini with the following:waterTransparency=200waterTilingDensity=23) Make sure you restart fly!II and you should be good to go!Thanks again, Ken...and here is a shot:http://home.earthlink.net/~finsdad/FlyII/p.../waterfixed.jpgDan