I’ve uploaded a new livery for the beautiful Albatross 
Pictures by @ryanbatc
https://flightsim.to/file/96056/microsoft-grumman-hu-16-albatross-n99tp-dynamic-registration
I saw on the Livestream that the Albatross update is supposed to be included with Sim Update 3. Does anyone know if it is already available in the Beta, or will it not be released until the final version of sim update 3?
@zac0006 No, it’s not included in the SU3 beta, but I think it should be out shortly after the sim update’s public release. There is another small update coming after that one though, and that might be part of SU4 beta.
Cheers.
Very Good!
Just took a 3 hr flight in the Albatross. I’m considering going around to see all the Nat’l Parks of the United States.
In any case, the reflections/glare on the windows are so bad you almost can’t see through them in VR when flying in dark clouds. I’m have seen it in other aircraft - possibly not quite this bad - so I know it’s a sim thing. Is there anything that can be done about that? Even turning off reflections did nothing!
You can cast your vote here:
@TheBlackWind977 Can you please get a screenshot of the issue for me? I fly in VR all the time, and through some pretty nasty weather, and I haven’t seen any reflection problems.
That being said, I did change the windshield reflections significantly a couple of months ago, and those changes will be in the big Albatross update coming with sim update 3, so that may solve the issue for you.
Cheers.
For sure, I’ll go fly now and see what the weather’s like.
It’s not just your plane. GotFriends Wildcat is like that too. They told me it was a known issue with the sim and they’d fix it as soon as they could. One of the real problems is that it’s a Cessna 172 reflection which is exceptionally silly… But they said that also wasn’t fixable until they were able to create a reflection of the Wildcat - or that’s how I understood it.
Ohhh that’s so strange! I haven’t done a ton of flying in FS24 yet, but I can’t say I’ve seen this issue.
Man I hope it’s a setting and I can get rid of it. It’s done it since Day 1, but if you don’t fly in dark clouds it doesn’t show up badly. When the light and heavy clouds is just right though - oh boy. And it wouldn’t be SO bad if it wasn’t a Cessna in pretty much every single plane.
@TheBlackWind977 Ahh… yup the cube map issue. I fixed this awhile back, and it’s in the next update, so you shouldn’t see this problem after SU3.
The main issue is that there are only 6 choices of interior reflection cube map, the setting to change it is kind of obscure, and the cessna 172 is the default, so that’s why you see it all the time.
It’s a bit of an improvement over 2020 at least, which only had one cube map option, the DA40 interior.
Devs really need to be allowed to create our own cube maps per aircraft. I’m hoping Asobo adds this option at some point.
For me it’s much worse than in 2020. It’s just something I easily forget when comparing the two because all summer long I’ve been mostly flying in good weather.
Is there no way to just disable window reflections? Honestly I’d rather just have that.
@TheBlackWind977 I don’t know of any way to disable cube map reflections entirely in the sim, you can only set their resolution (which has a minor performance impact). The sim definitely has a tendency to overdo them in heavy dark cloud though, for some reason. There are only a few knobs I can tweak in the materials for these, and as I said the only real solution is for developers to be given the option to create our own cube maps. Full reflection ray tracing would be the ultimate fix, but we’re a long ways off from that.
Anyway, this is how that side window view will look in heavy cloud with the SU3 Albatross update. Much improved I think.
If it needs further tweaking I will look into that for the follow-on minor update for SU4.
Cheers.
The work you continue to put into this aircraft is incredible. Thank you very much!
Is it live in SU3 yet, or only after SU3 goes “live” for everyone? I backed out of the beta recently because I found out photo mode doesn’t work at all in it.
@TheBlackWind977 Thanks, doing my best. 
It’s not part of the beta. I think it will be out with SU3’s full public release, or shortly after that.
Can’t wait for this update! Man, we’re all so grateful for a dev like you are! THX so much for your continued afford!
Does anyone know of any nice Air Manager 5 instruments for this lovely bird ?
This is absolutely my favorite waterplane in a sim! 
Hey Mike, can you fix that both cowl flap switches is possible to use same time when using mouse? This works on an oil cooler switches, but not with a cowl flap switches.
Also question about these flaps, in reality are they really that fast to open or close? It takes something like 3 seconds to open or close oil flaps fully, cowl flaps it take maybe second longer. Only comparison I have in a sim is BKSQ Piston Duke, it takes about 14 seconds to open cowl flaps. Of course Duke is different plane from different manufacturer and year, but still…
@Zwoop68 Thanks very much, glad you like it.
On the oil cooler flaps, the main reason the switches move together is that oil cooler doors in the sim are not indexed for some reason. Cowl flaps are, but not oil coolers.
As far as making the the cowl flap switches move in unison, it might be doable. I’ll add it to the wish list, but can’t make any promises right now as I have lot on my plate. The cowl flap speed though might indeed be a bit fast, and I’ll look into slowing them down a bit for the SU4 update, but I’ve never been able to find any data on how long it takes for them to open or close.
The only related information available is that the cowl flap motors can be operated for a maximum of 3 mins every 20 mins, to avoid burning out the electric motors.
By the way, in the coming SU3 Albatross update the oil cooler flaps, cowl flaps, and landing lights will all have individual and cumulative drag penalties. The performance loss from having all of them fully extended will definitely be noticeable in climb and cruise, along with yaw moments if they are differentially set. 
Cheers.