Problem with Alphasim Avro CF-105 Arrow VC

[PutPut]

I have been a fan of the Avro Arrow for years; I even created a version back in the FS2000 days. I was delighted to see it show up recently on the Virtavia freeware site, including a FSX zip file! I downloaded it immediately even though I figured it was a port-over (it is). It works very well in FSX with the exception of the VC. (I am running Acceleration) See the photo below. Everything looks OK at first glance in the panel.cfg file so I am afraid the problem is caused by lack of transparency in the material for the panel to which the gauges are pasted. This is in the .mdl file itself and not fixable. If anyone has other things to try please post them here.



Thanks, Paul

58470 58471

[OBIO]

PutPut

I used Martin Wright's MDLmat to take a look at the material settings. I set all the black or near black materials in LOD2 (the VC LOD) to 0 Alpha (meaning 100% transparent) and it made no difference in the VC of the 105. Looking at the VC in ACM, it looks like the panel is built with white or near white material....and there's a lot of white or near white material in LOD2. Will tweak each and every one of them to see if I can get the VC to work properly.

OBIO

[OBIO]

Tried every thing I know to get the VC panel to work....nothing. Luckily, it works perfectly in FS9....which is where I do 99.9 percent of my simming.

OBIO

[Dev One]

If it works in FS9, have another look at the panel.cfg & see if there are any -ve positional values for the gauge placements. (I do not have this a/c but have experience the -ve problem before). FSX does not recognise -ve's.
HTH
Keith

[gavinc]

I was testing on my system to see if I had the same problem and I did,
however I noticed as I cycled thru the views that at one point as I went into the VC view the gauges were briefly there before being covered by the black cloth.
Not sure what this means and if it helps anyone but I put it out there for what it is worth.

Gavin

[PutPut]

I have been able to duplicate Obio's results including a couple of other utilities I use. It looks like the panel polygon has no transparency. It is impossible to change this without the original source code. Too bad; would love to fly this in FSX Acceleration. Thanks for everyone's efforts.



Best, Paul :frown:

[mal998]

I've emailed Phil to see if he can recommend a fix.

Being that it was released as freeware I'm not sure how he'll respond.

If there is a fix I'll post it here.

[rdyoung]

Try editing the Vcockpit01 section of the PANEL.CFG file, substituting texture=$vc_guages (spelled like this in .MDL and copied from my file) for texture=$vpanel. I vaguely recall seeing this reference in the .MDL file when I purchased this model for FSX a few years ago. It appears to work for me in FSX with Acceleration and I do not recall having to do anything else (?).

Rick

[PutPut]

Try editing the Vcockpit01 section of the PANEL.CFG file, substituting texture=$vc_guages (spelled like this in .MDL and copied from my file) for texture=$vpanel. I vaguely recall seeing this reference in the .MDL file when I purchased this model for FSX a few years ago. It appears to work for me in FSX with Acceleration and I do not recall having to do anything else (?).

Rick

WOW! This certainly is a step in the right direction. I did as suggested and got the results in the screen shot. Looks off center and it appears a bunch of knobs are MIA. However, it is enough to fly.

Many Thanks, Rick.



Best, Paul

58519

[hschuit]

Try editing the Vcockpit01 section of the PANEL.CFG file, substituting texture=$vc_guages (spelled like this in .MDL and copied from my file) for texture=$vpanel. I vaguely recall seeing this reference in the .MDL file when I purchased this model for FSX a few years ago. It appears to work for me in FSX with Acceleration and I do not recall having to do anything else (?).

Rick

Thank you Rick :salute:. Now I know what the name is for the VC texture, I could fix the misplaced gauges issue Paul was having: Just leave the [Vcockpit01] section as it was and add this new section (after the [Vcockpit02] section) :

[Vcockpit03]
Background_color=0,0,0
size_mm=1024,1024
visible=0
pixel_size=1024,1024
texture=$vc_guages

58547

Now I still have another problem I could not fix: The exterior shine is lost in FSX, the jet looks flat and dull. I tried to fix the specular/specularity of the MDL file with the MDLMat tool but only to find that it is already in there (a.o. LOD 01 23), it just refuses to show in FSX. Does anyone know the cure for this??

cheers, Henk.

[delta_lima]

You know Henk, between the F-4, the Lightning, and who knows which others, you've developed quite the im"port"ant talent for our hobby ... :icon_lol:

Nice to see this lovely FS9 gem resurface in this sim. Not at my sim pc now, but does it look better with one of Pierre Llereux's paints? Just a thought.

In addition, I found the flight model really "off" in FSX - inordinately high landing speeds, inability to reach max speeds at altitude, and some other weirdness with throttles http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?56209-Stuck-Throttle-on-Alphasim-Aircraft-F-104-and-CF-105&highlight=arrow.

Looking forward to getting this model sorted - it's lovely. Yes, the Xtreme version is out there, but the exterior model, and limited paints never grabbed me like the AS model did.


cheers,


DL

[Daube]

Thank you Rick :salute:. Now I know what the name is for the VC texture, I could fix the misplaced gauges issue Paul was having: Just leave the [Vcockpit01] section as it was and add this new section (after the [Vcockpit02] section) :

[Vcockpit03]
Background_color=0,0,0
size_mm=1024,1024
visible=0
pixel_size=1024,1024
texture=$vc_guages

58547

Now I still have another problem I could not fix: The exterior shine is lost in FSX, the jet looks flat and dull. I tried to fix the specular/specularity of the MDL file with the MDLMat tool but only to find that it is already in there (a.o. LOD 01 23), it just refuses to show in FSX. Does anyone know the cure for this??

cheers, Henk.

Try inverting the Alpha Channel of the external textures.
Alpha Channel defines the transparency for transparent parts, and reflection for reflective parts, as far as I understood. In both case, the meaning of the colors of Alpha channel in FS9 is inverted in FSX SP2/Acceleration.

[hschuit]

Try inverting the Alpha Channel of the external textures.
Alpha Channel defines the transparency for transparent parts, and reflection for reflective parts, as far as I understood. In both case, the meaning of the colors of Alpha channel in FS9 is inverted in FSX SP2/Acceleration.

Thanks for your advice Daube. I tried with inverted alphas' (RGB=0,0,0) but then those parts became invisible. Then I tried with grey alpha's (RGB=190,190,190), this time I got a semi-transparent jet LOL.

cheers, Henk.

[Daube]

Then I was wrong... I thought the meaning of the Alpha Channel varied depending on the nature of the surface (transparent or reflective). Sorry for the loss of time :/

[mal998]

Great fix for the panel. Thanks!