Matt2218

I thought I was going crazy - noticed the same phenomenon! Not a complaint, just an observation...for a 4 year old product to get an update is amazing and if that is the worst thing... (Heads out to fire up the Poseidon).

Probably, but I found it by chance Ken! Have a happy (and quieter) new year

Gents; Go into the FMC... Click "PMDG Setup" Then "Options" Then "Sound" Then, where it says "Volume Levels", click "Adjust" This will bring up your options. Set the "Ambience" to a lower number and see how you like it. Even with Ambience of "0" you can hear the engines and alarms.

The alpha channel controls where 'holes' will appear in the fuselage. You need to make the alpha channel 'black' in the places where you have windows. Then you can see through the window. You also need to make the alpha channel white where there are window blanks or you will have extra holes in the side of the plane.

Dave's advice is on the money, but one thing I would also suggest is work on one thing at a time. In other words, focus on flying the approach over and over again until you are consistently coming in over the runway threshold on speed, on centerline, and at an appropriate rate of descent. Once you can do that regularly, you can start to experiment with the exact moment and amount you need to flare in order to touchdown without floating too much or slamming the pavement. Until you are arriving at the flare point consistently though you will be chasing your tail trying to figure out the flare because there will be a bunch of new (and ultimately extraneous) variables each time. If you've already mastered that, then I don't have much wisdom to share other than to say that if you have even a few knots too much speed you will have to bleed it off in the flare. If you have too much descent rate and then have to pull up abruptly at the flare point you will probably balloon quite a bit. I don't know if it is "right", but another thing I have noticed with landing the NGX compared to GA aircraft (simulated or real life) is that unlike the Cessna where you're "holding it off until it stops flying", you literally are flying the jet onto the runway. So you raise the nose a couple of degrees to check the rate of descent and then see what the result is and adjust from there. I tend to 'over flare' a little bit sometimes and need to ease off a little of the back pressure on the yoke to get it to settle again. If you 'feel like you are flaring' you are probably flaring too much in the NGX. I hope that helps. If not, at least it was free advice LOL. Congrats on the new computer BTW.

The "alpha channel" of the texture controls where the window openings appear on the model in the sim. In Photoshop (or whatever program you are using) you need to make sure the alpha channel is 'black' where there are windows and 'white' where there are blanks. You can always use the alpha channel from a forward fuselage texture of another -900 paint as a place to start.

FSX is crazy. I have another addon where every once in awhile you end up flying around with the ground power cart attached. LOL

No good deed goes unpunished, Dan.

Here's the -200LR version: Will do a final quality check and try to upload to AVSIM tomorrow.

Interesting - did not know about the Jackie connection. Either way I'm glad a lot of people seem to be enjoying this paint and I'm looking forward to doing the LR. Technically speaking it should be very easy to downsize the work that has already been done.

No problem. I'm out of town for a couple of days but I will try to push out "31000" over the next week or two. B)

Update...I uploaded a fix for the nose stripe (the texture mapping is rough up there). It's in the Avsim library now. I think AF1 is one of those things that will probably just never change...like the light saber it's "an elegant livery for a more civilized age." Other than silver paint on the belly once they have a cfrp fuselage. I think the recurring operating expenses for a 777 would be lower, but the acquisition cost for the 748 might actually by cheaper if they get the last few off the line. That said, presidential travel is such a big, expensive undertaking that I think the difference in the economics of the aircraft would be a rounding error! Looks good Max!

Awesome, enjoy!

I'm happy to help... I've uploaded it here: http://www.mediafire.com/download/1s7k4m6gdbechaj/PMDG_NGX_VC_N_Number.dds If mediafire doesn't work, PM me an email address and I can send it directly!

I can do it right now - what is the number?

I made some tweaks to the coloring and shined up the belly. Uploading to AVSIM library now...enjoy!

"Digestive Multitasking"! Rob - while we can never be sure (this is FSX we're talking about!), I am not planning to do anything unusual with the files, so the sim should treat it just like a regular PMDG repaint. Just to be safe I will use the "configuration options" file from a default paint downloaded from PMDG, and package it up using the operations center so it will be easy to remove cleanly if you don't like the result. If it gets cold enough

This is what I have heard as well. I suspect the requirement to fight and win a nuclear war, on the toilet, while simultaneously conducting a video teleconference with both the International Space Station and a submarine at the bottom of the Marianas Trench might have a little bit to do with that.

Yes...or Army One, or Navy One, Marine One, Coast Guard One depending on which military service's aircraft is being used at the time. This specific livery is particular to the aircraft assigned to the President 'full time' (currently VC-25A/747-200s)...differs somewhat from the other light blue, white, and gold official livery that is on the C-40/737 or C-32/757 flown by the Air Force for VIP travel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_C-32#mediaviewer/File:USAF_C-32A.jpg

I'm glad I did all of my flying around in helicopters BEFORE I came to understand the dark magic required to keep them in the air! :o

Well, sure. But on the other hand when you consider the fact that I'm pretending to fly a 750,000lb airplane around in my bathrobe, my imaginary POTUS 'settling' for a 777-300ER is probably not too big of a leap.

Had some free time yesterday and took a shot at painting the -300ER in the livery of Air Force One: Still working on it - will see if I can boost the shine of the bare metal belly a bit and darken the color on the outer edge of the Presidential Seal. If there is anything else I've missed let me know!

Since most of the work was already done (almost a year ago!), I did a fictional "AA Cargo" version of the 747-400F in higher definition (2048) for FSX: Will kick the tires a bit to find any errors and then upload to AVSIM.

Ok, a couple more shots - I believe it is done but will give it a day or two before I upload to AVSIM:

Here's my first cut on B-2485, the new 747-8 for Air China. I will need to resize the tail logo and haven't added registrations to the wings yet, so it will be a little while before it is finished.