Virtavia Blenheim and Hampden in FSX

[sjrichardson]

Hi All

In spite of their limitations I have a soft spot for these two aircraft in FSX, but can anyone help with a couple of specific glitches?

• Neither aircraft will start using the starter switches (and yes, I have followed proper manual start-up procedures). The switches just pulsate on/off and the engines won't fire up. Ctrl + E starts them automatically with no problem, but I like to do things the 'proper' way....! Am I missing some sort of control set-up?
• The Hampden's prop blur textures are transparent when looking through them at ordinary ground, sea and sky textures, but they block the view of clouds and 3D ground objects such as trees. Would a different set of prop textures make a difference and, if so, can anyone suggest which?

I'm not sure whether the problem is me, my set-up or the aircraft. Has anyone else found the same? Any suggestions or advice gratefully received. Many thanks.

Simon.

[Paul K]

The Hampden's prop blur textures are transparent when looking through them at ordinary ground, sea and sky textures, but they block the view of clouds and 3D ground objects such as trees. Would a different set of prop textures make a difference and, if so, can anyone suggest which?

You mean this sort of thing ?







In my case, it was down to a flaw in the files originally downloaded from Alphasim. A few years ago, Mal998, who is connected to Alphasim/Virtavia, provided me with the correct files. Hopefully he will see this thread and respond.

[Bradburger]

Hi All

In spite of their limitations I have a soft spot for these two aircraft in FSX, but can anyone help with a couple of specific glitches?

• Neither aircraft will start using the starter switches (and yes, I have followed proper manual start-up procedures). The switches just pulsate on/off and the engines won't fire up. Ctrl + E starts them automatically with no problem, but I like to do things the 'proper' way....! Am I missing some sort of control set-up?

Simon.

You might want to up the starter torque figure in the Aircraft.cfg.

I don't have the Hampden or Blenheim so don't know what they are set too, but under the [piston_engine] heading, look for this: -

normalized_starter_torque = 0.0674, and up the value until the engines start with the VC switches.

Cheers

Paul

[tommieboy]

Yeah, I'd be interested in a cure for the Hampden FSX prop / cloud issue too.

Tommy

[Paul K]

Yeah, I'd be interested in a cure for the Hampden FSX prop / cloud issue too.

The problem that Simon refers to in the opening post is not the well known problem with FS9 port-overs, where cloud textures seen behind the aircraft obscure the prop disc when viewed from the front . Is that what you have a problem with ? Simon's problem is something else altogether.

[sjrichardson]

The problem that Simon refers to in the opening post is not the well known problem with FS9 port-overs, where cloud textures seen behind the aircraft obscure the prop disc when viewed from the front . Is that what you have a problem with ? Simon's problem is something else altogether.

Thanks very much for the swift replies, Guys. And yes Paul, your pictures illustrate exactly the prop texture issue I've got.

Re the starter switch problem, I've tried upping the normalized starter torque x2, but no joy. The starter spins the props up OK, but after a second or so the switch itself seems to go into spasm and starts pulsating rapidly on/off/on/off etc - very odd!

Simon.

[Paul K]

Thanks very much for the swift replies, Guys. And yes Paul, your pictures illustrate exactly the prop texture issue I've got.

Okay, good. Mal998 should be able to sort you out. You might need to send him a PM and link him to this thread. Let me know how you get on.

[mal998]

Here ya go. Thanks to Bob Rivera for this alternate prop texture on the Blennie.

[mal998]

Here are the replacement prop textures for the Hampden.

[Paul K]

This should be typical of the end result - the Hampden in winter, P3DV2:

[Roger]

The screenshots in post #2 look more like an mdl issue than a texture problem. I have the Hampden and it does not show as in post #2 in FsX.

[Paul K]

The screenshots in post #2 look more like an mdl issue than a texture problem. I have the Hampden and it does not show as in post #2 in FsX.

That is my feeling too. This isn't a texture issue - its something more.

Mal998, you may not remember, but you and I spoke on Skype a long time ago about this problem, and in the end you provided me with a lot more than simply replacement prop textures. I still have the file you sent me - do I have your permission to send it to Simon if necessary ? PM me if you wish.

[mikezola]

Greetings, all-
What I have had to do with some port-overs with prop disc problems like that is to open the .mdl file with MdlMat and modify the alpha of the material assigned to the prop disc by lowering it to a value of 2 or so. This trick doesn't work with all models, but I've had a high percentage of success with it. You're still stuck with the prop/clouds issue, but the disc no longer obscures the scenery. Unfortunately there's no way to determine which material is the one to change other than trial and error. Been there, done it!

Good Luck! - Mike Z.

[Paul K]

Greetings, all-
What I have had to do with some port-overs with prop disc problems like that is to open the .mdl file with MdlMat and modify the alpha of the material assigned to the prop disc by lowering it to a value of 2 or so. This trick doesn't work with all models, but I've had a high percentage of success with it. You're still stuck with the prop/clouds issue, but the disc no longer obscures the scenery. Unfortunately there's no way to determine which material is the one to change other than trial and error. Been there, done it!

Good Luck! - Mike Z.

But that isn't the problem here, Mike. This isn't the usual problem with FS9 models in FSX where clouds behind the aircraft obscure the prop disc, although your fix does alleviate that particular glitch to some degree. The prop-disc issue that Simon has is different, and is the same one I had, as shown in post #2.

Simon...have you tried the textures Mal998 sent you ?

[Roger]

Simon,

I would consider redownloading the Hampden as my version definately doesn't have the prop problem. If you can't, because you bought it as an Alphasim product, with Phil's permission, I will send you my .mdl files.

[DaveB]

I've just pulled my Hampden out of retirement (Alphasim not Virtavia) and I didn't see that problem either Roger. My prop blur was dark.. too dark but Mal's revised files have fixed that. Is this the FS9 version or the FSX version (both were included at the time)??

EDIT: I've just put the FS9 version into FSX and it looks exactly the same as the FSX model before adding Mal's prop textures so I'm really not sure what the heck has happened above. I'm not 100% sure the FSX models were 'native' anyway.. they certainly weren't SP2/Acc compatible hence the need for Mal's revised prop textures. PaulK.. make sure you rename the original 3 prop textures.. put an o after the name or something like that otherwise the model will read the bmp's not the dds files. I know FSX should read dds first if they're there but this doesn't always happen.. it didn't when I just tried the new files
ATB
DaveB

[Paul K]

Hi Dave,

I don't have a problem with the Hampden any more, as you can see in my shot of the aircraft in post #10.

The shots in post #2 are very old screenies from when I first tried it out in FSX, and the transparent prop discs were the result of a flawed download ( the flaw was in the files, not in the download process itself ). Mal998 at first provided me with the three prop textures as above, but that didn't resolve the issue. Eventually he provided a correct version of the download and everything was fine.

So now I have two Hampden downloads - the faulty one and the corrected one. Out of curiosity I deliberately installed the faulty one this afternoon into P3Dv2.4, and strangely enough it was all okay. So it seems the transparent prop discs as shown in post #2, and which Simon is now experiencing, is specific to FSX.


And another thing I've just noticed with FS9 port-overs in P3DV2.4 - the clouds-in-front-of-the prop-disc glitch has gone !! I need to test this out further with some other old models, but with the Hampden, fitted with Mals three prop.dds files above, the cloud textures no longer obscure the prop disc. LM must have done something during their rendering development that has sorted it out.

[DaveB]

Ahh.. sri Paul, yes.. it's Simon with the problem

ATB
DaveB

[sjrichardson]

Hi Everyone

Thank you all so much for your suggestions and advice. I've just got back on the PC and tried Mal998's new prop textures for the Hampden, but I'm afraid it hasn't cracked it. You can see that the textures are different, but they still block out the clouds and 3D objects. And I've also re-installed the Hampden, but no change. So it could indeed be a mdl problem. If Roger or Paul are able to get the appropriate permission to send me replacement mdl files to try, that would be great.

Incidentally, the issue I mentioned in my forst post about the Blenheim and Hampden starter switches not working properly for me, I found Wells Sullivan's YouTube flight in the Virtavia Blenheim, and he commented on the same starter problem too. So perhaps it's not just me on this occasion....:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uohU7yJfv3M

Thanks again for all your help.

Simon.

[mikezola]

But that isn't the problem here, Mike. This isn't the usual problem with FS9 models in FSX where clouds behind the aircraft obscure the prop disc, although your fix does alleviate that particular glitch to some degree. The prop-disc issue that Simon has is different, and is the same one I had, as shown in post #2.

Actually, what is shown in the pictures in post #2 is exactly what I had experienced before modifying the alpha of the prop disc material... I don't mean to claim that what I've done fixes the cloud anomaly, but along with the right prop texture, the cloud problem will be minimized (but not eliminated) as well.

-Mike

[sjrichardson]

Hi All

Still open to further suggestions, but for now I've taken the pragmatic approach and installed both the Blenheim and Hampden into FS9. They still look good, the Hampden has transparent prop textures and the starter switches in both aircraft work - oh, joy! And as a bonus, my set-up gives me double the fps in FS9 than I can get in FSX......

Maybe that's the better way to look at these two planes - very nice FS9 aircraft rather than limited FSX ones.

Any more ideas?

Simon.

[mal998]

Paul K,
Were the files I sent you model files? If so, go ahead and send those files over to Simon. Let's see if they correct the issue. The Hampden is still for sale so I hesitate to post them for public consumption. It occurs to me that the issue being discussed may have corrected when the aircraft in question was updated for use in FSX.

mal

[Paul K]

Paul K,
Were the files I sent you model files? If so, go ahead and send those files over to Simon. Let's see if they correct the issue. The Hampden is still for sale so I hesitate to post them for public consumption. It occurs to me that the issue being discussed may have corrected when the aircraft in question was updated for use in FSX.

mal

Hi Mal,

You sent me the entire download. The original Hampden I downloaded from the shop was named ALPHA Hampden FSXv1.1 whereas the one you sent me was ALPHA Hampden FSX.zip ( Yes, I have that the right way round...faulty one was v1.1, your one had no version number ). The faulty one had only one prop texture, named prop_3.bmp, and assuming that to be the problem, you sent me the three prop.dds. As with Simon above, the replacement dds textures didn't cure the problem, and so you then sent me your full replacement download. I have linked Simon to that replacement download, and hopefully he will report back success or otherwise.

Paul.

[DaveB]

How confusing! My version is suffixed FSX with no update or version number. I've a few Alpha models that had version updates but not the Hampden. My pc couldn't run FSX at the time but I downloaded the FSX version anyway.. rude not to
ATB
DaveB

[sjrichardson]

Paul and Mal - thanks very much for the replacement. And interestingly, my original Virtavia download also had only one prop texture file, prop_3.bmp.

First off, I tried Mal's version with the default prop textures; as Paul has suggested, they are indeed quite dark. It was possible to see 3D ground objects through them, BUT now the cloud textures were appearing in front and masking the props - perhaps they were trying to get their own back!

However. I have now put in Mal's three dds prop texture files instead and - hey presto - I can see clouds through them as well as the ground objects. So that's solved the prop issue and I'm extremely grateful for all your efforts - thanks again.

Now I'm just left with the starter switch conundrum with both the Hampden and Blenheim in FSX, though no problem in FS9. But that can be for another day....

Simon.