>David >The fastest way to see the effect of time/sun position on >your water, is to hit SHIFT-T to go back half an hlour and T >to go forward an hour. The effect is virtually instantaneous >so you should be abe to see the whole of the daylight >changes in a couple of minutes. >Ben This was what I was referring to do a few posts back. I have a 64 meg G3 and the water will be grey, green-blue to light blue depending on the time of day. I guess I'm lucky because I get all the colors posted!

DeanI think you 'must be lucky'because as I toggle 'T' and see the time step through I get only the the slightest change in water color!

Back on the 64Mb machine, I've changed the water mask to 50% gray instead of all black (where the water is). I'm now seeing a wonderful change of water color with 'time of day'!. It still isn't showing much of the 'underlying texture' but I'll try the mask with a lighter gray still.Om to the 'night image'next! DaveT

I stick with the grey color by having the water effect box - unchecked. I think the greyish color is much more realistic than the other options I've seen. Geforce3Ti500 video card. L.Adamson

DaveJust a thought but do you have TS 2.1 on both computers?This is taken from the TS 2.1 Read me.

Hi Dave,I've noticed a great deal of changes in the water colour using the editor. When overhead, looking straight down, I get the same bright blue colour, but if I angle the view and, say, do a 360, I get all kinds of wonderful hues.On a different note, I tried to reply to your mail today, but it bounced back with a strange error. I'll be home Wednesday and will reply from there (with the error message)Colin

>"Pure" water reflects the sky colors. It should change >depending on the time of day, cloud cover, etc. >I hope you also mean "pure" water hardly exists in nature. If on the other hand you mean that sky dominates the color of water than unfortunately it is not true. At shallow angles water with no ripples (say a lake) will reflect sun rays and its overall apperance will by 'glossy'. But such an effect is more likely to be observed by an angler standing on the shore than a pilot flying above. Inland water (rivers) have usually highly dirty look and there is very little 'sky' in them. Oceanic waters also have little sky in them. The bottom line - water reflectivity in FLYII does a very poor job in imitating water effects. For best oceanic water effects (truly spectacular in realism) I invite everyone to take a look at Ed Truthan's (he is oceanographer) work for FS2002. Michael J.

>I stick with the grey color by having the water effect box - >unchecked. I think the greyish color is much more realistic Right choice. ;-)Michael J.

.. Oceanic waters also have little sky in themMichalI have no idea what you're talking about.If you live in an area where cloud cover is predominant , you will (predominantly :-)) have grey ocean.If you live in aa area where cloud free skies are predominant you will (predominantly :-)) strong rich blues.Ben

You're right Dean.Not enough sleep lately :-)Ben

>.. Oceanic waters also have little sky in them >>Michal >I have no idea what you're talking about. >If you live in an area where cloud cover is predominant , >you will (predominantly :-)) have grey ocean. >If you live in aa area where cloud free skies are >predominant you will (predominantly :-)) strong rich blues. Today, I made it a point to notice the colors of a rather large lake that I was working nearby. As I approached from about 10 miles away, it looked rather "grey", although the sky was quite clear of clouds. When just a few hundred yards away, but another angle, the lake had a blue appearence. Of course none of these colors match that "neon" blue I see in FLYII. So in the meantime, "grey" with the water option off............. does appear to be a better choice!L.Adamson

Ben,How often did you look at water from a flying plane ? I urger you to pay more attention next time you fly.In the Bay Area where I live water is mostly green (and I mean green and often brown in some areas - no matter how much Sun there is. The weather factor is actually irrelevant. The lakes around Dallas are almost black in appearance - saw it with my own eyes about 2 weeks ago (and the weather was very sunny). The Missisipi river on that very same day was just grey/brown muddy thing.The only 'blue' and 'pretty' (but deep blue) water I have seen from a plane was in the Cancun, Cozumel Mexico area. Oh, South Lake Tahoe (the site of Avsim conference) has a nice blue water too. Such places are in minority however.You want to see some examples of excellent water coloring in FLY ? Try Rhein-Ruhr scenery for FLY2k - rivers, lakes all done superbly (not to mention the ground of course).Michael J.

Hi, sorry about my disapperence.>the houses are 'too few' and 'in the wrong places'.I placed them roughly based on the default textures in Fly2. When you upload your scenery I'll correct mine to blend the houses in with the new textures.And thanks for the comments :)

MecoYes I do have TS2.1 on both. The reason I wasn't seeing a change in color as I 'stepped thro' time' with the 'T key' was of course owing to not noticing that I'd taken 'Water Effects' option off in the Graphics menu. I know what Colin means about the reflectivity changing with the viewing angle now-I had'nt paid much attention to 'water color' or the reflectivity before and was surprised to find that I got 2 different colors from the same scenery 'pod'. I guess when you have 'water effects' off then Fly leaves the setting 'where it last was'.

MichalYou're using inland water as examples of ocean water blue - doesn't work. I live pretty close to the ocean at an altitude of about 100 ft. I see the ocean everyday from a 'final approach' perspective :-)On clear sky or small cloud coverage ( a majority of days ) the the sky is blue with clouds that look just like Fly!2 and the water is deep blue.I don't think Fly!2's awesome zenith,etc sky color editor ( ALT-7) has been anywhere near utilised to achieve its full potential but it comes close when you use :1: Brilliant blue sky - ocean, incl. Meditteranean :-)Ivan Aiello's "Real_sky3"" With this skies.ini you have a brighter sky, an high contrast intense blue and a very nice evening enviroment..... try this if you want to fly in a clear day:)"2: Inland - especially with Jure's Big MamasJure Dolanec's "BrightSky""The sky is much brighter at dusk/dawn , the pink is gone as well. While not perfect, this set does a good job on imitating the colors of the sky where I live. Thanks to Matt and Jaime, their skies.ini files were great help."Allen Kriesman has uploaded a program called FlyStart which enables starting Fly!2 with a skies.ini file of your choice.Ben