I have a request for info about something that's bothered me in FSX for years.
Ever really look at your contrails? They've left a lot of room for improvement. Although thankful they're present, I certainly would like to know how to improve them.
If you've flown in the sim, then you know that they look something like this:
But in reality, they have life, volume, and seem to have behavior patterns, where they swirl around from the wingtips, curl over, and continue to curl long after the airplane has passed. There's physical/scientific terms for all these effects and phenomena, but for simplicity...
The detail is poor as stock, and I'm sure that the current effect file is all that needs to be edited. I don't really know how to do much of this. I've tried blender, and a few other programs, but it seems like all I can do with it is eliminate unsuccessful attempts at changing something.
(Edit) I am aware of a couple 3rd-party programs that modify these effects, but none have really "hit the nail on the head", so to speak.
Does anybody know how to "decode" the parameters of FX files? Not really change the image associated with it, but rather modify the file that tells the image how to behave? I know they have a structure in the .fx notepad file, but I don't know which line or parameter makes the thing do what.
If stock airplanes and AI stuff had great contrails, it would add so much to the sim. I think that it may be simpler than I think, but I don't know.
Coaching, anyone?