Hans J

Manuel, There is a version of the Portland airport in the Avsim library by Sydney Schwartz and Peter Ham. I know it's not exactly what you are looking for but it is freeware and if you have not tried it yet, then it could be worth your while. Fondest regards and welcome back in the FS2004 community,. Hans, from behind the dykes in the Netherlands. .

Neil, Can you please name one or more of your payware airports of which the scenery objects are blocked for placement in other sceneries within your own FS2004. Thanks in advance. P.S. Out of inquisitiveness I've also downloaded the FS2004 version of the "UK Common Library" and have found that about 50% of the textures therein needed to be mipped and have their compression changed from DXT1 to DXT3 mostly in relation to their existing ALPHA (= black transparency) channels. Hans

Neil, I see no copyright issues when using e.g. payware scenery objects, to enhance your own existing sceneries ----- as long as you do not re-post any of them, either separately or as part of any new sceneries created by yourself. Hans

A "Solomons" paint for a flyable DH-6 Twin Otter has in the meantime been uploaded on the Simviation site. Looks very good. Hans

WOW !! In real life and by the looks of this C-47, it was even an amphibian and not just a "floatplane". I say !! WOW !! again. But I don't think any such FS2004 AI or flyable C-47/DC-3 models/paints exist --- BUT --- you never know what may come up in this thread. Hans

Did such an aircraft ever exist in reality because it would have had to have very large floats ? Possibly very much engine power as well to be able to get off the water, especially if it had any onboard cargo and/or passengers. Hans

RJ, Yes, your link certainly did help. It confirms all my self developed basic ideas on the subject and as far as mipmaps are concerned, there's no point in the system fully rendering AI and scenery textures, which are out of visible sight anyway. Thanks very much. Hans

Hi All, I've understood right from my very FS2004 beginning that scenery object textures should always be mipped because such objects are structurally viewd from different distances. However, what about AI aircraft textures, which I have almost always mipped for the same reason, e.g. when parked at airports/airfields or when they become visible around your flyable aircraft ? Are there any rules on this subject ? Does it make any difference if these textures are DXT1 or DXT3, especially for AI aircraft ? Any comments are welcome. Hans

Michael, Thanks for your help. I was surprised at how simple your XML based solution really was. However, being a perfectionist, I'm now messing around with trying to get your steam plume to "lie down" along the whole catapult rail, instead of the single larger one going straight up, more or less at it's beginning. Oh well, such problems certainly keep me off the streets, as FS9 has done for 20 years or more !! LOL !! Greetings. Hans

O.K. Guys, a Solomon texture doesn't seem to exist for any flyable and in reality locally flown Twin Otters. So, I'll have to make do with a "visitor texture" instead because the Solomon Island archipel is basically a beautiful area to fly "low and slow" in. I'm also very busy with "dressing up" all it's airfields from their original rather sterile looks by adding tropical forests, lodgings, static aircraft, etc. via my EZ-Object placement program, while including AI activities at the same time. Another very well made Island archipel is the Seychelle one, which I have just finished transforming into a series of lush tropical forested islands, with all their airfields expanded with simple visitor attributes and of cause, with flights using flyable Seychelle textured aircraft. I now also have AI Seychelle textured activities between all the islands. Sadly, I cannot post any of these results, mainly because one of the EZ-Object placement program's functions is to scan FS9 for "Scenery Library Objects" and to produce a listing of them from which scenery objects can then be selected for (EZ) placement anywhere in the world. However, these can also include copyrighted, payware and otherwise protected objects. Long Live FS9 !! Hans

Does anyone know where I can find a flyable FS9 Twin-Otter in Solomons paint, for flying around the Solomon Islands ? Only a Solomons paint will do fine as well because I already have a number of different flyable Twin-Otters, any one of which should be able to correctly host such a paint. The nearest ones I can find are either AI or AI re-paints. Thanks in advance. Hans

YBWW does not exist in my default FS9 scenery airports. However, YTWB (Toowoomba) does exist in Australia's Queensland province, also as an addon but this may not be what you are searching for. Hans

Thanks Robin, it's the same now with my tanslations to English. Moreover, if one has years of FS experience, then the accompanying "Read Me's" etc. in (partial) Russian, are no problem. I still believe that the sudden and unexpected loss of translation was somehow caused by an automatic Windows update. Hans

Robin, You seem to never have had problems with the translation into English for the basic Avsimsu site itself but is everything also translated normally when clicking around within the same site ? E.g. forums, etc. ? Hans

Charlie Aron, Thanks for pointing my nose in the right direction. I've now found the procedure for automatically translating anything from the Internet from Russian into English. It turned out to be a standard method within windows, which I had never seen before, maybe introduced via a recent automatic Windows update and without me noticing it. Even my old bookmark pointing to Avsimsu now automatically translates the whole site as soon as it is opened. Thanks again. Hans

Charlie Aron, Can you please supply a link to your "neat little goody" and explain how and where it should be installed Thanks in advance. Hans ++++++++ Robin, Your supplied link does not connect to the Avsimsu English version but only to the Russian one, while the "translate to English" click spot on the site itself remains blocked. Hans

Andrea, I have exactly the same problem as you have - the English version is somehow not available ---- yet. I/we certainly hope that their technical guys can fix the problem soon. Hans

Robin, Just a shot in the dark here, like I did for my AVSIMSU bookmark URL because I don't have a sim-outhouse bookmark to try it myself. It still remains a mystery why this worked for me but it did ----- somehow ?? Try deleting and re-typing the exact sim-outhouse URL in your existing bookmark. If this doesn't work then no damage will be done anyway. Greetings Hans

I deleted the existing URL from my Russian bookmark, typed the URL in from the above post and suddenly it's working again, even although it was exactly the same as the deleted one ??? Great mystery. Hans

Hey, that's strange. If I use the link above then the Russian FS site opens normally and in full. However, if I use my own manny years old and trustworthy Bookmarks link, which is exactly the same as the above link, I get the message that the site is down. Very strange indeed. Hans

Andrea, Even allthough the Russian FS site now seems to back on line, do not forget the old faithfull SIMVIATION.COM site. Hans

Hi All, Out of most probably the same inquisitiveness as Steve0616 above seems to have had, I downloaded the Portland airport scenery via his quoted link but did not see blurries of any kind from whatever vantage points I tried. Hans

AC799 If you open an on land flight or scenery anywhere in the world and you press your "Y" key, followed by selecting "top-down view" and then pressing the "-" (minus) key more than a few times, you will sooner or later always get to see your default "weird square" (= a fat cross). However, the first altitude at which you see this square/cross, should under normal circumstances be extremely high and above any normal flying altitudes. Therefore, when I say that I do not see your problem in my FS9, I mean that I never (try to) fly at such altitudes myself and also that I do not purposely seek any of the possible FS9 scenery or hardware limits. At what altitude does your weird square firstly become visible and is that altitude the same anywhere in your FS9 world ? Hans

Michael, Thanks for all your efforts and especially for your tutorial. However, I've never had the payware "Instant Scenery" program and am for that reason not able to follow your tutorial. Moreover, all those "simple" things put together do seem to make the whole issue very complex indeed. Also, please explain: The original steam plumes (1 to 4) on the freeware carrier Waikato, are produced by 4 separate (SCASM) BGL files and when having disassembled each of them, a call for any of the installed "fx_steam_fx" effects, are nowhere to be found in any of them. My basic question is therefore: Can a (SCASM) BGL file somehow create such a steam plume without calling for a named effect file ? I've tried to contact the original author a number of times but alas, no replies. If I would quote the exact geographical position, altitude and the effect name of my wished for steam plume to you, would you then be able to create the necessary BGL file for me. It would save a lot of sighs and I would be extremely greatfull. Very best regards. Hans

Michael. I've sent you a PM. Greetings Hans