Blackbox Trislander Prop Disc

I was flying the fantastic Blackbox Trislander, which is fantastic in all alreaas of textures and graphics, except a really important one: the propellor.

I noticed the props are completely flat. They seem just like 2d renders. When you move the prop lever, nothing happens. You should see the prop disc grow and shrink as the prop blade angles change. Anyone else notice this as well? I’m wondering if it’s an issue on my end or it’s just how it is.

I think that is just the way it is. In my experience, most sim aircraft don’t bother modeling the change in blade angle for a moving prop visually. It’s kind of a waste of time and resources, sort of like modeling every single rivet in the fuselage in 3D.

That’s not to say that there isn’t a demand for that kind of detail, because clearly there is. But I think you probably shouldn’t expect to see it on anything but the most premium aircraft, and even then, it’s a pretty minor detail.

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Probably best to discuss this in the dedicated Trislander thread. The dev is pretty active there. Britten Norman Trislander (Study Level) AVAILABLE NOW

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except that is actually pretty common in flight simulators these days, and MSFS is supposed to be next-gen so it would be expected to expect details like this as well. I just don’t think a lot of people that haven’t played other flight sims realize this.

Both DCS World and X-Plane have planes that model prop movement as it’s an important part of flight simulation (and they are last-gen!). and it looks simply amazing.

So maybe the devs will read this and realize it’s an important feature that will up their simulation to current-gen standards. however it’s also possible that MSFS doesn’t allow 3d prop disc graphics at this point. hoping to get some feedback to know for sure.

P.S. check out the prop textures in this video to get a sense of what we’re missing in MSFS: New WWII Propeller Technology - YouTube

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They certainly can do better prop disks. At least put in a side view texture to give them some depth.
Blackbox planes have never been particularly strong in the visual department so it’s kind of expected here IMO. Though even surprisingly Milviz with their otherwise excellent 310 has ugly flat prop disks.

Carenado with the C337 and the PMDG DC6 have probably the best prop effects I’ve seen in MSFS but they sadly don’t hold a candle to what DCS is doing by default. For a next gen sim it’s should really be a standard graphical effect tbh.

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yup! glad you agree.

i also agree Blackbox isn’t going for ultra-realism, but at least a basic 3d prop graphic would be nice. for the higher-fidelity add ons it should 100% be the standard. the technology is indeed there and has been for some time.

I agree wholeheartedly. The 2D prop disks ruin a good many models in these MSFS parts. In fact, I won’t buy a model if the disks look too FSX’ish. And I also agree that Carenado have the best props in the sim thus far.

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Have a quick Youtube search of DCS’s new(ish) 3d props. They are absolutely amazing.

Maybe if someone started a wishlist for it we can get something like that on the cards for the future.

4th post, I shared a link to DCS prop design :wink:

Yeah agreed, I play DCS all of the time and their WW2 prop graphics are next level. also the new AH-64D rotor animations are better looking than even real life :smiley:

if we can get those in MSFS it will drastically increase the immersion and realism

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Unless I’m mistaken, the Savoia-Marchetti that just came out has 3D prop discs during the spin/blur animation. Maybe this can start being the norm!

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oh for real? nice i’ll have to check that out.

where did you see that? trying to find it