Black Canopy Glass

[brettt777]

I have the F/A18 by Daisuke Yamamoto and Hiroaki Kubota with official FSX update by Team KBT in FSX Accel SP2 running in Win7 64. For some reason whenever I am in the cockpit, the canopy and windscreen glass is black and I cannot see through it at all, except where the HUD is. Outside the plane the glass looks fine. I have tried both the "E" and "F" versions of this Super Hornet and they all do it, even the older ones without the KBT update. What do I need to do to cure this?

[ShaneG]

It's a hit or miss problem that has never been solved.

Some people get the black glass, while others have no issues at all.

Several of us have tried in the past to figure it out, but with no luck.
Our best guess was that it's not a texture issue like most FS9 to FSX conversions, but one in which the glass texture is defined in the mdl file, which cannot be fixed.

Here are some previous threads on the subject that may or may not help.

http://205.252.250.26/cgi-bin/yabb25/Ya ... 1229126946
http://205.252.250.26/cgi-bin/yabb25/Ya ... 1235599095

[Callahan18]

I got exactly the same problem.
Yes, and in the same plane...

Perhaps we can make a list in here:

-F 18 E
-F 18 F
- Boeing 737 - 200 (ricardoTV)



In some cockpits I got the same problem!

[Jetranger]

Lord knows I've had my share of this problem on quite a few aircraft. 

I use FSX Gold / Acceleration Edition, with Service Pack 2. 

Also, I'm using Windows 7 on a 64 bit machine.

Sometimes I can swap the - Glass Texture file from another Aircraft, and make it work, providing that you KEEP the exact same file name that was in the ORIGINAL aircraft your trying to Fix !!!!!!!

Then sometimes, its rare, but I've had it happen, that YOU Don't change a file name and directly SWAP a Glass Texture file straight into the Aircraft with the problem, and leave the file name un-changed, and it works,, somehow ,,,,,

Also, I've used my DXT BitMap Converter to check file structure and sometimes,,,  have changed the file from , example: a DXT3 file , and converted it to a  Bitmap 256 colors or a bitmap 888 file structure and that sometimes cleared up the problem,,,,  SOMETIMES,,,,, 

Theres another Aircraft on here too that has Glass Texture problems, I've recently encountered, but I managed to FIX IT somewhat, after spending , 6 Hours tinkering with the Texture, NOT my 1st go around doing this, just have to have a TON of Paientence , and I mean a Ton too, because its Frustrating going back and forth, Testing, and re-testing, and testing again & again, till you get it right.

The other Aircraft that has this problem is the : " FS2004-Laird Turner Meteor " 
Link : http://simviation.com/1/search?submit=1 ... or&x=0&y=0

YES, its for 2004, and Yes I know that, the Glass displays a kinda all white substance, in my FSX Gold / Acceleration edition with DX10 turned "off" !

I've downloaded now - Thousands of Aircraft from all kinds of sites and Most generally, there isn't this particular problem with the glass textures. ( I have 3,875 Aircraft in my Simulator ! ).

Typical Example would be those Aircraft from the Great Aircraft designers like those of - Milton Shupe and Ken Jennessen, whos aircraft always seem to work without a problem, along with Eric Cantu's Aircraft as well , and "Thomas Ruth" as well !!

So, what I sometimes do, guys, is use one of the Great Designers named above, and go in and use one of their Files from their Aircraft ( its Trial & Error really), and Swap it out with the badd file thats giving you a problem and see if it works, sometimes it does - sometimes it does not. 

Again even after swapping files and if that doesn't fix it, trying on some files if you'll notice, pay close attention,,,,, now ,,,, the file might say something like - GLASS.BMP   - ,,,, you might try doing this - change the name of the file to read - GLASS_T.BMP    ,,, did you see the Hyphen ,, between the Glass and the letter T,,, that Hyphen can be very important as to rather its read properly or not , doesn't always work, but, its worth a try anyway !  worked for me a few times !!!!

Have fun but be very very Patient, kinda like rebuilding a Radial Engine or a Beautiful JT-8 Jet Engine, work on it, learn, enjoy the Frustrations and what a pain in the keister it is , and cuss like there ain't goin to be a tommorrow,,, I find that kinda helps    !! 

If All else fails - grab a Big Ol' Hammer, and Bust out the Glass so you can see to Fly 

[Boikat]

For the "Laird Turner", use DXTBmp to invert the alpha channel if the vitres.bmp, or create an alpha template, and then use "invert alpha" from the "alpha" dropdown, then send the inverted alpha to your graphics editor and lighten it up just a tad to keep some canopy glass texture.

Nice aircraft, too! 

[Jetranger]

Well, I really like the Hammer idea better, and its much funner, BUT, I'll try your idea, and see how it comes out, thanks for the Input O' !