Blackbird686
"Beastmaster"

One of the things that helps drive the popularity of any specific payware or freeware model, IMHO... is the amount of enthusiasm shown by repainters, as well as those who like to enhance the effects, and FDE's and whatnot. When I am in the market to buy a specific plane, I'll look on various sites for repaints, as well as comments about the model from other forums, and reviews... if any.... before I lay down the plastic. I'll also spend considerable time reading about real life accounts from the blokes who fly the real deal. I have the Tornado F.3, I like it a lot. I believe UKMIL has done some repaints for this plane too. It's an excellent representation of the F.3 in my opinion, the 2d and VC are very functional, the jet seems to fly accurately, as compared to the real F.3 and the visual model has exceptional detail. I like flying low and fast with the Alpha/Virtavia F.3 Tornado, and she seems quite manageable when executing that task. Suffice to say, I never painted this one... I just flew the jet with the paint it came with. My only regret is that Alpha/Virtavia didn't do a GR.4 to accompany the F.3... but I guess you can't have it all. BB686:USA-flag:

Nice work Zsolt!:medals: BB686:USA-flag:

For all of you out there flying that Idaho ANG F-89 Scorpion, there is a patch out there that puts the Star and Bar on the fuselage sides (possibly some squadron lettering too). After flying my copy of the F-89, it jogged my memory. ALphasim posted it on their (then) website. I'm looking for the patch in my archives now and will share it with me fellow Scorpion drivers upon request. EDIT: The fix I was thinking of is for the Alphasim F-89D 61st Fighter Intercept Squadron. That repaint was done by Bruce Martin. Seems that the Idaho ANG bird is missing that part of the textures too. I'll keep looking for that one. If you lot need the fix for the F-89D 61st FIS, just let me know. BB686:USA-flag:

Check your PM's Jagd.... "Happy Hunting" with the Virtavia model... you'll like it. BB686:USA-flag:

Just grabbed the C-17... Very satisfied with the way it flies. Quite agile for a big jet. :medals: The rest has pretty much been covered in the previous posts here. BB686:USA-flag:

Virtavia offers both FS9 and FSX versions of their models in one download over at Flightsim Pilot Shop. I have quite the lot, and they have come with models for both sims. Now, the C-17... I can't say that about because I don't have that one. Area51's models are very nice... I have the U2-S Dragon Lady for FS9 and the visual model is outstanding. EDIT: The Virtavia C-17 over at Flightsim pilot Shop is FS9 only. Just went over and read the docs on the plane. BB686:USA-flag:

You'll like the Ka-50, takes some getting used to but once you get the hang of the flight characteristics, it's a blast. Takes off and lands pretty much like a helicopter, but get that baby cooking along and you can roll and turn like a plane. (Actually, looping it is more like a flip, be sure there is sufficient distance between you and the ground!). I found some repaints for it at Flightsim, including fictional USMC, British Army, German Air Force... etc. There's a bunch. BB686:USA-flag:

I re-installed the Alpha Hunter lastnight, and was pleasantly reminded of what a sweet model it is. I also re-installed Dave Garwood's T6 Hunters, and the FR.10's, as well as the export variants of the F.6. The two planes complement each other nicely, both having advantages and features that the other may or may not have. Dave Garwood's Hunters are excellent models and are still flown regularly in my sim. Like the man said... the price is right. BB686:USA-flag:

I have the Alpha/Virtavia Hunter.... I always thought it was a good representation of the real plane, from what I have read and the photos I've seen. Not a lot of repaints out there for it tho... The VC suits my purposes, The gauges are clear and very readable. The jet flies easy enough and looks very nice in the spot. Keep in mind that the system I am running it on has a 4.0GhZ Processor and 1GB of dedicated video memory. Since re-installing FS9, I haven't placed the Alpha/Virtavia Hunter back in yet, but I definitely have plans to. The freeware alternative is Dave Garwood's superb Hunters. I complemented my Alpha/Virtavia Hunter with Dave Garwood's versions that Alpha/Virtavia model didn't offer. EDIT: I just went over to the Pilot Shop at Flightsim.com. At $6.25 you cant go wrong! BB686:USA-flag:

Just grabbed the Supermarine Scimitar... quite an unusual but nice looking plane. Handles like a dream and complements my British Cold War jet collection of Hawker Hunters, the Supermarine Swift, and a host of EE Canberra's. BB686:USA-flag:

Thanks for the HU Duckie!!! :guinness: I just grabbed the He-111, one I have had me eye on for a long time. Also considering the B-24 Liberator. BB686 (Insert American Flag here...)

Good news.... Always happy to read your posts and watch the progress of your projects. Especially when we get the chance to fly your artistry. BB686:USA-flag:

Probably just an oversight, TuFun.... I wouldn't take it on the chin. Happens to the best of us. This is not the first time I've heard of these kind of issues here in the forums. I have every intention of flying your beautifully restored Howard 500, and I'm sure that others do as well.... given the effort that everyone here has taken to find the "hiccup" and fix it. BB686:USA-flag:

Hmmmm... there is already an fx_1 texture file in my textures folder, which appears to be in 32bit format. (Just guessing at this point) I don't think any of the scenery I have re-installed uses that texture. Alphasim's superb F-105D "Thud" has a texture file that looks identical to the one being discussed... (Except you can SEE the 8 little fireball effects in the file, as opposed to not seeing them in the texture folder, without running them through DXTbmp). I had this happen to my FS9 when I loaded and flew the Howard 500, but when I removed the model and all it's parts (as you spoke of, Falcon), all was well. BTW I am starting with a fresh install of FS9, and have only added some of my scenery mods and payware packages. No planes yet other than the payware Alphasim F-105D. FS9 comes with it's own fx_1 file, interestingly enough. The Howard 500 will go back in... less the fx_1 texture it comes with, hopefully this time I can get further than five miles outside the apron of the airstrip....:salute: BB686:USA-flag:

And all this time I have been "fixing" these texture issues manually. I believe the DxtFixer works for FS9 as well as FSX. BB686:USA-flag:

Check your PM's, mate. BB686:USA-flag:

Which "normal" site are you speaking of? Can you provide a link? BB686:USA-flag:

I think I read somewhere that things were going to be addressed with GlobalSign... maybe Pete, or other flight simmers... or whoever feels that the whole bit about the security breach might be salvageable. At this point, probably not, since Pete has gone to all the extent of re-creating both FSUIPC packages for FS9 and FSX without the cert from GlobalSign. I'll head over to the support forum at simFlight to see what's what. Having spent 35 years in the I/T Industry and having been everything from a programmer, to a network admin, then a systems admin, I have learned to take NOTHING for chance. I use Norton Internet Securities and when I tried to run the installer for version 3.999x, the AV quarantined the whole executable.... not just part of it, citing "suspicious activity" or "malware". Sounded convincing enough for me. At any rate, I hope I can get the update and install it, without too much trouble..... BTW Ian... thanks for your input. Much appreciated. BB686:USA-flag:

As is my 3.8 version as well. I just flew the gauntlet in a plane that requires FSUIPC at 02:45 MDT and all worked just fine. I also went into the modules folder and checked out the logfile for FSUIPC, and it appears that it is reading everything and working properly. BB686:USA-flag:

After careful reading (just to be sure I didn't misinterpret anything) it sounds like the affected module is titled: FSUIPCx.dll. (If you have a file in the modules folder entitled “FSUIPCx.dll” (x is dependent on the FS version) then you need to update, in order for FSUIPC to keep working. Upon examination, the module in question I have in my FS9 modules folder is "FSUIPC.dll" Version 8... it's an un-registered version. So am I to think that the "FSUIPC.dll" module is unaffected by all of this latest excitement? That the only FSUIPC modules that need to be updated are ones having the specific character after the FSUIPC module name as described above....? Sorry, but this sounds a bit confusing to me.....:isadizzy: If someone has a better handle on the jist of this whole thing and would like to take the time to clear the air a little, I'd be grateful. BB686:USA-flag:

Very nice, Ed. Man... the little dH-80 is really making the rounds these days. BB686:USA-flag:

Thanks for the HU, Steve... I need to add a helicopter or two to the new install. Something about helicopters, I've heard that they really cannot fly, just that they're so ugly the earth repels them. Russian Heli's are very unique... they have a homeliness all unto themselves. BTW, I really like the AvsimRUS site. I have found some really unique and unusual goodies there...:medals: BB686:USA-flag:

Milton was prolly typing the same time I was... :isadizzy:beat me to the punch he did. Glad he was able to help you quickly tho... I was in the middle of looking at 2TB of flight sim archives. Have a good flight. BB686:USA-flag:

SSI01 -- I believe I have that model on my backup-archive drive. Lemme check. If I find it I'll let you know via PM. BB686:USA-flag: