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Hello Boxcar, my old friend!

I just took a few pics in both FSX:SE and P3D v4.5 at the same airport, in the same parking spot, at roughly the same time, in clear weather, to see if there were any differences.

To be honest I am not that impressed with the bare metal in FSX, I have seen much better! Admittedly I have not fired FSX up much since getting P3D and I have not gone through all the BS of tweaking the Nvidia Profile Inspector config files after updating video drivers a while back so it may not be at it's best settings for screenshots but this was just a test.

The bare metal in P3D looks a shiny grey colour which is what I expected. It really needs a PBR model and textures to really pop.

This is what I got:

FSX
bm1-fsx.jpg
P3D
bm1-p3d.png
FSX
bm2-fsx.jpg
P3D
bm2-p3d.png
FSX
bm3-fsx.jpg
P3D
bm3-p3d.png

At this point I don't think it's worth pursuing a PBR version for P3D yet, it's better to get it out as a FSX/P3D model and then I can think about a native P3D version later. I'd be interested to see it in FSX with decent settings though so maybe one of the beta testers can take some shots of it in their version because mine sucks at the moment! :(
 
While messing around with all this other stuff I also grabbed some time to try her out at night because I couldn't remember what the night lighting was like. Initially I was less than impressed with the cockpit flood lights as they were ones from a previous LDR project and they did nothing to illuminate the huge cockpit on the Boxcar! So I went through my VC light effects until I found one that gave the spread I wanted and then I had to edit the colour to make it the colour I wanted. I am quite happy now, what do you think?

Panel Only
VC_View_1_Pnl.png
Panel + Cockpit Floods
VC_View_1_Pnl_CPT.png
Panel Only
VC_View_2_Pnl.png
Panel + Cockpit Floods
VC_View_2_Pnl_CPT.png
Panel Only
VC_View_3_Pnl.png
Panel + Cockpit Floods
VC_View_3_Pnl+CPT.png
 
Panel Only
VC_View_4_Pnl.png
Panel + Cockpit Floods
VC_View_4_Pnl_CPT.png
Panel Only
VC_View_5_Pnl.png
Panel + Cockpit Floods
VC_View_5_Pnl_CPT.png

For the last one there was no point in a 'panel only' shot because it was all black but here's the cockpit flood lights in the back.

VC_View_6_Pnl_CPT.png
 
FSX
View attachment 174005
P3D
View attachment 174006

At this point I don't think it's worth pursuing a PBR version for P3D yet, it's better to get it out as a FSX/P3D model and then I can think about a native P3D version later. I'd be interested to see it in FSX with decent settings though so maybe one of the beta testers can take some shots of it in their version because mine sucks at the moment! :(
Interesting... looks like spec channel with shine, but the alpha channel is either not there or not dark enough, maybe.
 
The red lighting is very realistic and typical of the period.
A flashlight in the cockpit is a must for many 60's/'70's aircraft.
I am now wondering if the white backlighting for the text is may be a tad too bright and needs toning down just a touch? It's a quick fix on the 'light map' texture sheet, or I could go red too. :unsure:
 
"At this point I don't think it's worth pursuing a PBR version for P3D yet, it's better to get it out as a FSX/P3D model and then I can think about a native P3D version later. I'd be interested to see it in FSX with decent settings though so maybe one of the beta testers can take some shots of it in their version because mine sucks at the moment! "

Here's some bare metal shots in FSX:SE .....











 
So not too bad then Pete it definitely looks like my graphics settings in FSX:SE got porked with the last driver update! :(

p.s. Were you flying out of Queenstown by any chance?
 
I am now wondering if the white backlighting for the text is may be a tad too bright and needs toning down just a touch?
It looks about right Tako. In RL the white backlight often has a knob to vary its intensity.
I think it looks good now, based on your screenshots.
 
Here's some bare metal shots in FSX:SE .....
Pete, looking good. One note, I feel that it is a bit too reflective.
Except for the day they rolled off the assembly line, these were not beauty queens.
This may just be a matter of choice, I prefer a bit more subdued.
 
Pete, looking good. One note, I feel that it is a bit too reflective.
Except for the day they rolled off the assembly line, these were not beauty queens.
This may just be a matter of choice, I prefer a bit more subdued.
The amount of shine can be controlled by a texture tweak so no biggie. I don't know about US birds but in the UK it was rare to see a bare metal RAF aircraft after WWII. They were usually painted either pale grey or silver to prevent corrosion by the damp British air!
 
So not too bad then Pete it definitely looks like my graphics settings in FSX:SE got porked with the last driver update! :(

p.s. Were you flying out of Queenstown by any chance?

I was flying out of Te Anau/ Manapouri, about 55 miles southwest of Queenstown.
 
I was flying out of Te Anau/ Manapouri, about 55 miles southwest of Queenstown.
Ahh that explains a lot. I spent literally hours shooting approaches into Queenstown from nearby airports in all weather conditions, even down to a custom WX setting that gave us 2 miles of visibility with driving rain and heavy, gusting, winds! We were practicing for the flight sim 'Round the World Race' contest that SOH used to take part in every year. There was one year when Queenstown was a 'required' airport so we had to go there and needed to be able to get in or out regardless of the local WX. I had flight plans made that took me in on a 'straight in approach' from the south-west, basically clear the mountains and dive for the lake and one that took me around via several way-points from the ocean, up the fjiord and then a dog's leg turn over the lake. We were planning for the worst and hoping for the best and as it turned out when we got there it was dead calm, bright sun and as easy as pie to get in and out!

Happy days! ;)
 
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