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Just to let you all know, guys. It's a SkyColors and environment pack i created from scratch. It's based on many observations and photos. Colors are not "invented" but taken directly from in-flight videos and photos. My custom shading/ lightning/ fog is included with the pack. It's designed to work with the new shader mod by Pe11e (highly recommended). Get it from here (for free): https://mega.nz/… ..and don't forget to give your opinion. I'll gladly modify any part of the day. previews: If you like it, i'll upload it here in the library. Best Regards, Vic

This is not a full fledged how-to, but I did want to relay my success with this mod to my Saitek Pro Yoke. Basically, I mounted the yoke into a cabinet on a platform running on ball-bearing drawer rails. I imagine this has already been done, but I haven't seen it. It has been a great upgrade to get smooth elevator action with no sticky points and no detents in the elevator. The idea here is to have the whole base move rather than the yoke rod, and fix a connection from the elevator pot to the cabinet. This makes the elevator control run on ball bearings of the drawer glides. I removed the elevator springs from the original yoke and pulled the yoke all the way back. To make it "fixed" in this position, I blocked it off with a piece of scrap wood attached to the plastic housing with screws. I put some packing tape on the front to keep it slippery against the plastic end cap of the yoke rod. I also have some blue tape there to give the wires a bit of abrasion resistance but it's a temporary solution. I made a base from 1/4" plywood, added 1x2 rails, attached ball-bearing drawer slides, and built a small particle board cabinet to support it all. Make a template and drill holes out for the screws that hold the original Saitek housing together, then you can screw down one half of the housing to the base, and access the screws to close it back up. To control the elevator potentiometer, I drilled a small hole in the armature and fitted it with a piece of push-rod used for RC aircraft. A hole is then drilled out the back of the original Saitek housing and attach the other end using an L-bracket and a wingnut. You'll need to make sure you have physical stops to keep the base from moving back and forth beyond the control range, else you'll put stress on the push rod and probably break the armature connected to the potentiometer. The range of travel of the Saitek yoke is about 3.5". There is about 3/4 to 7/8 of an inch between the bottom of the platform and the bottom of the cabinet sides, so you can fit springs or a bungee there for centering. I did not yet make a front panel, so there is only a plywood strip acting as a stop from the front. I will cover the front with two strips of 1/4" plywood and drill a 2" hole for the yoke rod using a forstner bit. Add some rubber feet to the base, and you can use some of that kitchen drawer lining as bumper material to soften the contact with the range stops. Of course you'll probably sand, maybe router the edges and paint it too... The weight depends on what you build the cabinet with. 5/8" particle board is pretty heavy but I may end up securing it with a clamp or screws system. This also depends on how stiff the springs or bungee centering system you come up with. If you're interested in getting a ball-bearing smooth elevator control, you might give this a try. I used 14" drawer rails from the big orange home store. The tolerances are decent in that there is no up-down play so when you're turning the yoke, there is no discernible bumping, etc. The original Saitek design also has the flaw of binding when you both turning and pulling/pushing the yoke..the drawer rails have bearings top and bottom so when you're turning, you're still rolling smooth. If you give it a try, let me know - I'm sure there are improvements to be made. It has made a world of difference for me especially on climb out and landing. Clear skies, Robert KPDX

Hi! I purchased the superb GTN 750 addon a few days ago and since then I've been trying to get it in the default Cessna 172 from Laminar Research for XP 11.10b5. I also have the Reality Expansion Pack for the C172, but it's not compatible with the latest v11.10 yet. As you may know, there was a compatibility mod for the C172 including two GTN 750 in the cockpit. I managed to adapt it to XP 11.10b5 and decided it should be interesting to update the GTN 3D model and textures. I heavily tweaked a base model (from a payware) and created my own textures and effects. The result you can see on the pictures below is a new model with accurate dimensions for the GTN, with custom textures and UV map (1024x1024) including night lighting, a PBR screen surface with reflections and subtle "dirt", but I had to ditch the master selection button from the original mod as I'm not familiar with the animation and logics process for the interactive elements. The original buttons remain functional (knobs, DTO, home). I just wish it would have been easier, as editing the cockpit interactive elements can be very tricky. Unfortunately, I can't afford the time to get into that level of details - so I kept the original layout with two GTN units. The current result with the default 172 is fantastic, and I'm really grateful we have the opportunity to use such an in-depth GTN device in X-Plane. Thanks to Reality XP and Jean-Luc! Mille mercis pour cette superbe réalisation !

Here's a great mod from Sabach, just wanted to share it with you guys incase you haven't already heard about it. http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?showtopic=66227 This is a great mod that will enhance the sky colors and fix the terrible default looking clouds in X-Plane 10. It's an ongoing development so things will get better as the project moves on. But so far this looks much better than the original.

Everyone is different and everyone likes different add ons etc for fsx. That goes without saying. For some, certain mods work great, and others have problems with the same mods. I want to share my thoughts on ezdok/ezca and the enb mod. Both mods are awesome without doubt. If cameras are your thing, then ezca is the supreme program that will give you unlimited camera views, head shake and buffering effects, and a bunch of other things. However, from what I've read online, a lot of people simply like the head shake effect and buffering illusion. Also, if you've tinkered with ezdok, you know that it's quite complicated and can sometimes have issues. It's not idiot proof. Personally, I was having a lot of problems with ezdok (technical issues) and ended up uninstalling it. Luckily, I wasn't too obsessed with the camera views and am quite happy with the default cameras of fsx. I do however loved and missed the wiggling, undocked head effects. The other day I discovered AccuFeel. this:http://www.a2asimulations.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=49 This program is extremely simple compared to Ezdok, but will give you instant, accurate head shake, stall buffeting, and ground shake in all your aircraft including addon aircraft simply by installing the software. It detects the type of aircraft, reads and understands it's flight specs and creates a shake profile for it. It also adds a whole plethora of improved sounds which are really amazing. This program is not a camera program though, so you will use the fsx camera system. You install it and forget about it. It's customizable if you want to tweak it with a really easy to use slider menu that appears in your add-ons tab. Regarding the ENB series mod....once you use it, it's hard to tolerate the default, washed out values and tones of fsx. It really gives fsx a photographic look. But as many know, there can be some serious issues the mod including crashes, burned out skies, difficulty getting the mod to work in all types of time themes etc. For me, it was the single cause of CTD and fatal error messages. You can approximate most of the effects other than bloom by simply adjusting your desktop colour settings. Run fsx in it's own window and adjust your gamma, contrast, lightness etc until you get a richer, more contrasty look. Just playing with these sliders, you can exactly match the HDR effect of ENB....darker richer darks, brighter, more blown out lights etc. And at night, you can really get the high contrast, rich velvety blacks that are so much the prize of the ENB tweaks. On my LED tv, fsx looks awesome, and exactly matches the values of ENB minus the bloom softening. I liked the soap opera gauziness of enb, but got tired of the persistent crashes and problems. Maybe yours works great...I don't know. Aside from bloom, all the other effects can be had by changing your desktop colour settings....gamma, contrast, brightness, vibrance. Also play with your TV/monior settings as well. The nice thing about doing it this way is that you don't lose colour saturation or detail in blown out whites. It gives you a lot of customizability. I don't know, just my thoughts.

I just saw that the owner of the TBM mod cannot continue the development. https://github.com/guifarias31/msfs_tbm930_project Is there anyone that can take over its development in order not to loose this great plane with upcoming MSFS updates?

Everyone is different and everyone likes different add ons etc for fsx. That goes without saying. For some, certain mods work great, and others have problems with the same mods. I want to share my thoughts on ezdok/ezca and the enb mod. Both mods are awesome without doubt. If cameras are your thing, then ezca is the supreme program that will give you unlimited camera views, head shake and buffering effects, and a bunch of other things. However, from what I've read online, a lot of people simply like the head shake effect and buffering illusion. Also, if you've tinkered with ezdok, you know that it's quite complicated and can sometimes have issues. It's not idiot proof. Personally, I was having a lot of problems with ezdok (technical issues) and ended up uninstalling it. Luckily, I wasn't too obsessed with the camera views and am quite happy with the default cameras of fsx. I do however loved and missed the wiggling, undocked head effects. The other day I discovered AccuFeel. this:http://www.a2asimulations.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=49 This program is extremely simple compared to Ezdok, but will give you instant, accurate head shake, stall buffeting, and ground shake in all your aircraft including addon aircraft simply by installing the software. It detects the type of aircraft, reads and understands it's flight specs and creates a shake profile for it. It also adds a whole plethora of improved sounds which are really amazing. This program is not a camera program though, so you will use the fsx camera system. You install it and forget about it. It's customizable if you want to tweak it with a really easy to use slider menu that appears in your add-ons tab. Regarding the ENB series mod....once you use it, it's hard to tolerate the default, washed out values and tones of fsx. It really gives fsx a photographic look. But as many know, there can be some serious issues the mod including crashes, burned out skies, difficulty getting the mod to work in all types of time themes etc. For me, it was the single cause of CTD and fatal error messages. You can approximate most of the effects other than bloom by simply adjusting your desktop colour settings. Run fsx in it's own window and adjust your gamma, contrast, lightness etc until you get a richer, more contrasty look. Just playing with these sliders, you can exactly match the HDR effect of ENB....darker richer darks, brighter, more blown out lights etc. And at night, you can really get the high contrast, rich velvety blacks that are so much the prize of the ENB tweaks. On my LED tv, fsx looks awesome, and exactly matches the values of ENB minus the bloom softening. I liked the soap opera gauziness of enb, but got tired of the persistent crashes and problems. Maybe yours works great...I don't know. Aside from bloom, all the other effects can be had by changing your desktop colour settings....gamma, contrast, brightness, vibrance. Also play with your TV/monior settings as well. The nice thing about doing it this way is that you don't lose colour saturation or detail in blown out whites. It gives you a lot of customizability. I don't know, just my thoughts.

Hi there, I just finished editing an updated GTN 650 3D model including an optional PBR glass effect. The GTN is fully functional but a few adjustments are still required in that C337 cockpit (Carenado) (instruments size is non-standard). The GTN normal map is also still missing. When this mod will be ready, I'll be able to share it with the community, thanks to Carenado/Thranda's permission. Also, I'd like to thank Jean-Luc from Reality XP for his invaluable help and availability. The opportunity to learn and use these realistic instruments would not exist without his work and skills.

Hello all. I'm currently hours into the installation of the flight plans, liveries, and such for the AIG Traffic Manager. The OCI installer was chugging along fine until it encountered United Airlines; in particular the repaint for the 737 MAX 8. As I type this, it appears to be stuck at 0%. I'm somewhat worried to close the application as I've pretty much invested my whole day to let it download and install. I'm appreciative of any feedback and ideas! Here's a screenshot for more context:

Hello! I am unable to make simple sun mod run as expect inn my Prepar3D v3.2. I always have an awkward sun and lens flare effects... And none of the beautiful sun effects I have seen on videos and screenshots. Luckily someone here has "cracked the code" and is willing to help. At this point I don't know what I am doing wrong... Could the RSP v1.1 be the culprit? Cheers, Luís

This topic is a copy/paste (and improved) version of the original Outerra forum thread. I was under the impression that some simmers here would like a less pristine world and are sometimes too lazy to dig into the official forum Alaska test scenes Download v0.2 - 26mb Presentation This is a work-in-progress test scene on Alaska. Two airports are included : Ted Stevens (ANC), with a fairly low detail level. No surroundings, only the runways and taxiways layout and some placeholder buildings. I have created this basic airport layout for Levi's A380 (hard to land this thing on a gravel airstrip). Since Anchorage is a very dense scenery, working on it with current tools would be really hard so I'm just gonna keep this basic version for big airliners, and will focus on smaller density airports. Talkeetna (PATK) is one of these. More detailed, located in a fairly nice landscape, not far away from Denali park. Disclaimer: yes, this is not ORBX. I have started to create these scenes mostly because I was under the impression that, without human made landmarks, it was really hard to get a true perspective of distances in Outerra. The engine only allow for the moment creation of roads and buildings placement. There is no terrain modification tool, no possibility to modify the vegetation distribution (outside than a dull hack involving a blank road vector). Everything is hand made. Even limited, the current tools are extremly powerful : Ted Stevens scenery was made in less than 3 hours. I hope you will enjoy it, this is a work in progress and updates will come! If you have suggestions to improve the current Outerra road tools, check here. Installation Unzip the archive. Copy the content of the cache folder in your own Outerra folder (not the program files one), located by default in Yourname/Outerra/cache/. If you want a quick and easy access to these airports, you can copy the content of the campos folder included in this package in Yourname/Outerra/campos/earth. It will add two new entries in the Locations menu (F2). Warning! Please note that tthis operation will erase all roads and object placement you may have done in this area of the world. Files included are : cache/earth/object/+z/11, 12 and 13. I included a map in the .zip wich show what region of the world is modified. I strongly recommend to make a backup of you own cache/earth folder before installing the new ones. I will try to update this scene when I have time, so I don't recommend you to add your own roads in this region, any new update using my cache will erase them. Required models This folder only contains roads data and buildings position data. It does not however, come with these buildings. I have listed below all the models used in this scene. You can install them and thanks their creators :smile: . Most of the models use the .otx format. You just need to click on the file, follow the instructions and the content will be installed in the proper location. If you load the scenery without having installed these buildings, the console will pop-up and show a wild number of red errors (and these models won't be here, of course). You can close the console using the "p" key. Even with all the models installed, you will still get errors messages, from a broken model. This is gonna be corrected in the future. Buildings list (v0.2): NewS's awesome Scandinavian houses pack: http://forum.outerra.com/index.php?topic=1546.0 Murkz's hangar type k: http://forum.outerra.com/index.php?topic=2050.0 Deathevor's Soviet Building: http://forum.outerra.com/index.php?topic=1469.0> (yes, in Alaska :rolleyes: ) and his Outerra Billboard: http://forum.outerra.com/index.php?topic=1561.0 NewS's locomotive pack (with a few buildings): http://forum.outerra.com/index.php?topic=1536.0 Mori's models: http://forum.outerra.com/index.php?topic=2065.0 Planets's radio telescopes : http://forum.outerra.com/index.php?topic=2655.0 I couldn't find back the thread for ProfessorX various models I'm using in this scene, so I have included them in this package. You need to extract it in YourName/Outerra/packages/ProfessorX. World2XPlane models will be added soon, as well as other various buildings. Screenshots (Outerra does not support rivers vectors, yet) Changelog: v0.2 Talkeetna modfications Improved roads and additional buildings. Added a few missing locations at the east of the city. Added roads, buildings and fields on the west bank of Chulitna River Two dirt runways on the west bank of Chulitna River Changing snow levels can be cool on that specific scene. HiFlyer have done a complete tutorial for that here. Talkeetna region under snow is visible in this video from user M7: http://youtu.be/8saphXmNvXc.

(I hope I'm in the right sub-forum, sorry if I'm not) I may have found what I'm looking for right before I was about to post my original question. But I figured I would still make a post just for some clarification, if you would. Also, this is my first post, hello everyone! Looks like a great community and I'm grateful to have found it. I had FSX for a while, recently made the switch to X-Plane, and I'm really liking it so far. For FSX, the only modding I really did was getting REX and the REX4 Textures. I'm kind of a graphics junky, and really want to get into turning X-Plane into more of a treat for the eyes. I have a 3930k+780Ti, so hardware isn't an issue. I just want the most realistic scenery possible, and after looking around the past few days, I was kind of overwhelmed at first but I think I might be getting the hang of a few things. Still have some questions though and would like some tips on getting some heavy-duty graphics modding done. I know there's cloud/plane/airport mods, but wanted to focus on the terrain first. The first thing I found and downloaded was the HD Mesh V2 packages. While an improvement, they didn't seem to be exactly what I was hoping for. Like I said, I was a bit overwhelmed at first and this mod seemed quick and easy to install. In my quest to find more, I've come across all of the quite popular ones- PhotoSceneryX, SimHeaven.com, osm2xp, RealScenery... Now from what I can gather, RealScenery looks like it's easy, just a download. But they don't cover many states (I'm in the US). SimHeaven also looks like one of the quicker options, but I'm not sure which one is better to go with, the 'N. America' OSM package or get a ton of US cities from the Photo Scenery section? I guess what I'm asking is if taking the time to get a bunch of the Photo Scenery section will be worth it over the single OSM N. America package. Also, are the files in the Photo Scenery section what would be produced by tools such as osm2xp and PhotoSceneryX/ImageToolX? Which brings me to my next question. If the files in SimHeaven.com's Photo Scenery section aren't as good as what can be done with those tools, then is there anywhere I would be able to download that scenery, or do I have to use the tools? osm2xp doesn't seem too difficult, judging from the Quick Start section- http://osm2xp.com/?q=quickstart, as long as that's really all it takes. PhotoSceneryX's guide seems a bit more complicated. osm2xp is what I meant by that first sentence- it seems to be what I'm looking for but I'm still wondering if there's easier/better scenery to be had. I've just seen some amazing and accurate X-Plane videos and don't quite know what direction to head in yet. I mean...if someone came out and said "The only way to get the most realistic graphics is to use osm2xp and make them yourself", then at least I'll know where to focus my time and energy. I'm intrigued by all the real-world scenery that can be added to the game, just kind of looking for some insight on my options. Hope it wasn't too long of a question :unsure: but thanks in advance for any and all advice.

Hi! feel free to try : https://www.dropbox.com/s/akwkuuvv59f2cx4/photoreal_night_project_p3d.rar?dl=0 I created night sky textures and a milkyway texture based on real life pictures.

I've been trying to make use of the small displays in the default Cirrus jet. The GTN 750 wouldn't fit and the dimensions aren't good either for the GTN 650, but with a few compromises it's possible to improve the flight experience (even if the cockpit is not fully realistic). I also added a glass effect on the windshield and side windows while I was at it ;) (XP 11.10 beta 8) Of course, there are a few limitations (the G1000 and the GTNs are not synchronized (FPL, DTO, etc.)), the pop-up windows is required for a few operations. Not shown in the video, but the three buttons on the side are functional (HOME, DTO, pop-up window). I'll share the files soon. That little jet is getting much more interesting…

Hi, I've been experimenting a little bit with the XP11 shaders. Unlike using external tools like SweetFx or similar, which intercept the OpenGL rendering prior display and add a lot of 'plumbing' behind the scene, I've decided to just alter the stock XP11 shaders a little bit. The neat effect is that one of the enhancements below comes for free, the other advantage is that this works on Window, Mac and Linux! This also works in VR mode! NB: this is a copy of my post here: https://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/forums/topic/149559-enhanced-rendering-for-free-and-post-processsing/&tab=comments#comment-1422161 All modifications are done in "XP11\Resources\shaders\tone_map.glsl" Deeper shadows and brighter highlights: The first item is about the tone mapping which I find a little bit too soft, especially with high contrasts (sun and shadows in the cockpit). This one just changes the XP11 tone mapping function and has no additional pixel shader instructions than stock! Post Processing The second item is about post processing the pixels. Here are 3 functions you can add to the tone_map.glsl right before the function tone_map_uncharted. This is super easy to do and gives instant rewarding look-and-feel to the simulation. Obviously, the next time you update XP11, these will be deleted, so make sure to make a backup of the original tone_map.glsl file if you want to restore the genuine shader, and to backup the modifications and reapply them should the tone_map.glsl file gets updated in the future! How to: Here is a simpler way to try out and experiment, plus, it could serve as the basis to extend the effects more easily. 1) open any text editor, copy the following, save into XP11\Resources\shaders\postprocess.glsl #define POST_PROCESS_EFFECTS 1 #define POST_PROCESS_TONEMAP 1 #if POST_PROCESS_EFFECTS vec3 PostProcessWarmth(vec3 rgb) { // other: 1,35, 1.20, 1.10 const mat3x3 warmth = mat3x3( vec3( 1.10,-0.10,-0.10), vec3(-0.10, 1.15,-0.10), vec3(-0.10,-0.10, 1.20)); rgb = rgb * warmth; return rgb / (rgb + 2.2) * 3.0; } vec3 PostProcessSaturation(const vec3 rgb, float saturation) { vec3 base = vec3(0.2125, 0.7154, 0.0721); vec3 lum = vec3(dot(rgb, base)); return mix(lum, rgb, saturation); } vec3 PostProcessVibrancy(const vec3 rgb, float vibrancy) { float hi = max(rgb.r,max(rgb.g,rgb.b)); float lo = min(rgb.r,min(rgb.g,rgb.b)); float saturation = 1.0 + (vibrancy * (1.0 - (sign(vibrancy) * (hi -lo)))); return PostProcessSaturation(rgb, saturation); } vec3 PostProcessTonemap(vec3 x) { float A = 0.25; float B = 0.29; float C = 0.10; float D = 0.20; float E = 0.03; float F = 0.35; return ((x*(A*x+C*B)+D*E)/(x*(A*x+B)+D*F))-E/F; } void tone_map_uncharted(inout vec3 rgb, in float gain) { #if POST_PROCESS_TONEMAP float ExposureBias = gain; vec3 curr = PostProcessTonemap(ExposureBias*rgb); vec3 whiteScale = 1.0f/PostProcessTonemap(vec3(tonemap_gain.w)); rgb = curr*whiteScale; #else float ExposureBias = gain; vec3 curr = Uncharted2Tonemap(ExposureBias*rgb); vec3 whiteScale = 1.0f/Uncharted2Tonemap(vec3(tonemap_gain.w)); rgb = curr*whiteScale; #endif rgb = PostProcessWarmth(rgb); //rgb = PostProcessSaturation(rgb, 1.15); //rgb = PostProcessVibrancy(rgb, 1.1); } #endif 2) open tone_map.glsl and edit the following lines: 61: #include "postprocess.glsl" 62: #if !POST_PROCESS_EFFECTS 82: #endif This should ressemble this: ... #include "postprocess.glsl" #if !POST_PROCESS_EFFECTS void tone_map_uncharted(inout vec3 rgb, in float gain) { // dumb clamping // rgb = clamp(rgb,0.0,1.0); // naive coolor Reinhardt - needs srgb // rgb = Reinhard(rgb); // Dawson - no srgb // vec3 x = max(rgb-0.004,0.0); // rgb = (x*(6.2*x+.5))/(x*(6.2*x+1.7)+0.06); // uncharted 2 float ExposureBias = gain; vec3 curr = Uncharted2Tonemap(ExposureBias*rgb); vec3 whiteScale = 1.0f/Uncharted2Tonemap(vec3(tonemap_gain.w)); rgb = curr*whiteScale; } #endif void tone_map_gifford(inout vec3 rgb, in float gain) { // rgb = to_srgb(rgb); vec3 blend_rat = pow(clamp(rgb,0.0,1.0),vec3(bias)); rgb = mix(rgb,1.0 - pow(clamp(1.0 - rgb,0.0,1.0), vec3(gain)),blend_rat); } ... That's all! To enable post processing effect: change the first line in postprocess.glsl to: #define POST_PROCESS_EFFECTS 1 otherwise, change it to: #define POST_PROCESS_EFFECTS 0 To select which effect: un-comment only 1 of the PostProcessXXXXX line. For example, to select 'saturation' instead of 'warmth': //rgb = PostProcessWarmth(rgb); rgb = PostProcessSaturation(rgb, 1.15); //rgb = PostProcessVibrancy(rgb, 1.1); To add your own post processing effect: define a new PostProcessXXXX function, and add a line to call it below the other ones! Please note the effects I've presented are mutually exclusive, but you can cascade effects, that is should you have a 'heat distortion' pixel shader effect, you can add it after post processing the colors like this: rgb = PostProcessWarmth(rgb); rgb = PostProcessHeatDistortion(rgb); etc... Here are some comparative pictures: Default: Alternate Tone Mapping + PostProcessSaturation(1.15) Alternate Tone Mapping + PostProcessWarmth (my favorite) Side by Side (default vs warmth): Inside default: Inside Warmth: