FDG B-17 'transparent props'

[brad kaste]

Hi All,
Does anyone know where I could pick up a 'solid' prop for the FDG2 B-17?
The one that came with the aircraft is transparent. Thanks ahead of time.

[Moparmike]

Hmm...I just checked the original textures and I don't have any problems with the stationary prop blades being transparent.

Did you do any changing of the "parts.bmp" texture at all? It should be in DXT3 and have a pure white alpha channel. Attached is a zip with the original parts.bmp. Just remove the .TXT from the file name after saving it and it's a regular ZIP file. Give that a try.

[OBIO]

Brad

Is it like that on all the FDG2 B-17 models? Have you done any painting to the parts.bmp sheets?

I just checked my install of the FDG2 B-17s and the props are fine.

OBIO

[brad kaste]

Thanks Mike and Obio,.....with a bit of sleuthing around,...I got the props to appear 'solid' how they should be. Some time ago I had installed Banana Bob's 'prop_us' as my default prop within the Main/Texture folder. As stated in his readme note,...his prop was designed specifically for all FDG2 Donationware
aircraft. (I think I was having a problem with the FDG2 Wildcat's prop being transparent at the time,....his prop solved the problem. I'll have to check more into that). I removed Bob's and fell back to the default one.
Anyway,...by using the stock/default prop bmp. that came with FS9,...all is well.
BTW,...is it better to install the prop bmp. into the aircraft's texture folder or just have it as is in the main/TEXTURE folder?

[Moparmike]

That "parts.bmp" is from the plane's Texture folder...one copy in each texture folder you've got. Not sure how many other FDG planes (or others) would be affected if you used it globally (in the main FS9 Texture folder). It also contains texture maps for the main gear tire/wheel/hubcap, landing gear struts, and some other stuff that I can't remember right now.

The BMP I attached in that last post is from the Belle since that's the one you had in your screenshot. Some of the other B-17s have different hubcaps or none at all. Here is the no-hubcap version from "Chow Hound".

If all of the FDG B-17s are affected by the prop transparency problem, I would go ahead and re-run the installer...you can run the installer into a TEMP folder and copy-n-paste the TEXTURE folders for each plane manually if you don't want to overwrite any other mods you've done to the plane (panel, aircraft.cfg, etc...)

Banana Bob's prop_us.bmp is for the in-motion props and isn't used for the still prop texture. that shouldn't have affected your props. I've got his prop_us.bmp in my FS9 install too (in the main FS9 texture folder) and everything is still fine.

[Desert Rat]

I had the same problem some time ago, don't remember installing any replacement tex's prior to that tho, may have done, just don't remember. I decided to fix it myself as didn't know there was a replacment. My first and only FS9 prop so far, lol.

Jamie