Mark (totallyfrozen)
Mark (totallyfrozen)
TraineeTrainee
Joined: Jul 18, 2008 Posts: 66 Location: Alaska, U.S.A.
Asked

OK, so maybe I'm the biggest sucker of them all (if you feel the need to laugh at me go ahead--quietly in your head, thank you).

I was enticed by the eye candy and the great descriptions and reviews of Aerosoft's Hughes H1-B "Special" addon. It was an expensive addon (which possibly makes me even MORE of a punk). 😕

I downloaded & installed the plane, but when I tried to use it in FSX, it doesn't look anywhere NEARLY as cool as the "screenshots" on Aerosoft's site!

Their site barks up and down about "No return/No refund" etc. so I know if I tried to contact them, they'd tell me it's my fault for buying it (although I used PayPal so if I REALLY pushed the issue, I could probably force a refund).

The screenshots and the demo video showed the plane looking like brushed aluminum. On my PC it just looks flat, charcoal grey (sure the wings are blue and the cockpit looks good) but the exterior of the plane is dark grey--NOT silver!

My video card is so outdated that I think Thomas Edison probably built it himself by hand. I have the NVIDIA GeForce 5200FX Ultra. I have an upgrade on the way, but do you think the problem is with my hardware or software settings?
Has anyone else tried this plane?
Anyone else have the same poor quality textures on their display?

To be fair, so far the poor quality exterior graphics are my only complaint right now. The plane is actually a challenge to fly and has very good audio (and the Virtual Cockpit is stunning). If you can get it to look the way it's advertised, I'd recommend it to other simmers because it really is a challenge to fly!

Answers 8 Answers

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Orion (ollyau)
Orion (ollyau)
First OfficerFirst Officer
Joined: Nov 04, 2006 Posts: 192 Location: California
Answered

I don't know about that plane, so therefore, I don't have it or tired/experienced the issues you are describing.

I'd think your problem is that your settings aren't high enough, and your old graphics card doesn't support alot of the higher settings also.

What are the rest of your system specs (e.g. CPU, RAM, etc...)

RadarMan
RadarMan
Chief CaptainChief Captain
Joined: Aug 25, 2003 Posts: 17928 Location: U.S.A
Answered

The aircraft is too graphic intensive for that older card.
Do search in the 2004 general forum 4-5 years back and you'll see everyone with FS9 is getting rid of it.

Radar

Luke (warlord40)
Luke (warlord40)
First OfficerFirst Officer
Joined: Nov 19, 2007 Posts: 452 Location: Western Australia
Answered

Yeah ....unfortunatly... i was fine with what you had said, until I saw what graphics card you were using, and the date of the addon, ouch!
Personally, and as a lot of people here would recommend, an upgrade would be a worthy attribute.
Be sure to stick around as most fs deciples know here... 'what's hot, and what's not'
Good luck on all fronts,
Sincerely FSX fan

Mark (totallyfrozen)
Mark (totallyfrozen)
TraineeTrainee
Joined: Jul 18, 2008 Posts: 66 Location: Alaska, U.S.A.
Answered

Thanks for the replies.

Yeah, like I mentioned, I have a video card upgrade on the way. The "art" of upgrading is always a balancing act between: what's necessary, what the REST of the system can support, and how much you can afford to pay. Unfortunately, balancing all of those factors, the best upgrade that I could grab at this time is the NVIDIA GeForce 7600GT AGP.

2 of the major limiting factors were that the MB is an AGP board; and that I had just upgraded the PS from 250 watts to 410W (I was limited by what I could fit in the tower). The system is a slightly upgraded Dell Precision 340 Workstation (circa 2003). This was surplus from my employer.

The sys:
* CPU = P4 2.4Ghz
* RAM = 1 GB (RIMM RAM), (I believe ECC because this PC was used by my engineering firm for drafting/design work using AutoCAD and other software)
* Monitor = 21" Dell Trinitron
* Sound = SoundBlaster Audigy SE
* HD = The game resides on an external 750GB Maxtor One Touch 4 Plus (7200 rpm). This system actually has a total of 4 HD (2 SCSI, 1 internal IDE, and the external USB 2.0 mentioned earlier)
OS = WinXP Pro (SP 3)
PS = 410W Silencer 410 Dell 2 (read 400 watts/450W peak)

The hole system is pretty antique. I will upgrade the entire system in the (preferrably near) future once Microsoft fixes or replaces Vista.

I'm pretty excited to find this site/forum. In addition to finding out what you guys use to squeeze the most out of your FS and learning new system/game tweaks, there are some pretty high quality addons here!
BTW, I'm having a blast on mulitplayer. I use the same username on the multiplayer (GameSpy) system as I do here so keep and eye out for me. I have a mic so I can chat while I try to keep the nose from banging into any mountains!

Rodney Jacobs (GundamWZero)
Rodney Jacobs (GundamWZero)
CaptainCaptain
Joined: Dec 29, 2006 Posts: 525 Location: Ft. Bliss, Texas
Answered

You are going to need more than that....especially when you are talking RIMM....

Aerosoft makes awesome aircraft; they are the only team that actually gives you auto hover controls on their helicopters. The only groups that outperforms them is Nemeth Designs, with Commercial Level Simulations following up.

Luke (warlord40)
Luke (warlord40)
First OfficerFirst Officer
Joined: Nov 19, 2007 Posts: 452 Location: Western Australia
Answered

GundamWZero wrote:

Aerosoft makes awesome aircraft; they are the only team that actually gives you auto hover controls on their helicopters.

You should try out the new blackhawk from alphasim Gundam...simply awesome!

Mark (totallyfrozen)
Mark (totallyfrozen)
TraineeTrainee
Joined: Jul 18, 2008 Posts: 66 Location: Alaska, U.S.A.
Answered

GundamWZero wrote:

You are going to need more than that....especially when you are talking RIMM...

What do you mean?

"more" of a video card? 😕

Turns out the one I was going to get was "sold out" so I still have to shop around anyway.
RIMM RAM is very fast. It'd be faster if it wasn't EEC (but I don't know if it is or isn't at the moment--I'm feeling too lazy to check). Eventually, this computer will be replaced. In the meantime, I'm trying to milk some more performance out of it and enjoy some video games.

Mark (totallyfrozen)
Mark (totallyfrozen)
TraineeTrainee
Joined: Jul 18, 2008 Posts: 66 Location: Alaska, U.S.A.
Answered

RadarMan wrote:

The aircraft is too graphic intensive for that older card...Radar

Well, wudda ya know! Sure enough, I finally got my video card upgrade and installed it. The plane looks JUST like it supposed to.
Another groovy thing that I had been missing out on (and I didn't even know what I was missing until now) is that when I land a float plane on the water, I can see the reflection of the plane in the water! I'd been so used to using that old World War I surplus video card that I didn't even know the game could look this good!

Once I put my big-boy pants on and do a REAL upgrade to a new system with PCI-e, I'm afraid I'll just slip into a coma when I see what things can really look like!

Then I'll be gaming with the grown ups! 😉

Thanks for all help, gang!

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