Question Mark On FSX Aircraft Menu Thumbnail

Hi all,

1- Just wondering what does the 'Question Mark' on the picture thumbnail in FSX aircraft menu means?

2- How can we removed the '?' thing (if possible) and

3- Can we change to our own photo?

TQVM

Autothumbnail2.

Cheers,

1. Every livery of an aircraft/object needs a file "thumbnail.jpg" or else the ? is displayed. Happens most with aircraft that were not made specifically for FSX.

2. Put a thumbnail.jpg into every /texture/ subfolder of your aircraft

3. It does not matter what is in the picture, not even the size matters (they get resized when displayed - but this can cause memory problems - better stick to default 256x128). Just the name is important.

1. Every livery of an aircraft/object needs a file "thumbnail.jpg" pixel or else the ? is displayed. Happens most with aircraft that were not made specifically for FSX.

 

2. Put a thumbnail.jpg into every /texture/ subfolder of your aircraft

 

3. It does not matter what is in the picture, not even the size matters (they get resized when displayed - but this can cause memory problems - better stick to default 256x128). Just the name is important.

TQVM nuitkati

And for any raw newcomers out there, one way of making a thumbnail is by starting a flight with the plane, then go to external view and hit key 'V' to take a screenshot of it.

That should automatically put the shot into an FSX screenshots folder in 'Windows Pictures'.

Grab it from there and resize it with the standard Windows Paint program, Save it as the plane's name, then copy it into the individual plane's texture folder in FSX.

You should now see the thumbnail instead of a question mark next time you go to the Aircraft Selection screen.

Save it as the plane's name

That ain'ta gonna work! Save it as thumbnail.JPG and shove it into the texture folder for that aircraft.

Personally, I'd rather look at the picture I'm using as a replacement for the ? aircraft. The fact that I download and test so many aircraft, I rarely make a thumbnail.JPG unless I'm planning on keep that bird. Besides, Kate Upton is pretty cute!;)

That ain'ta gonna work! Save it as thumbnail.JPG and shove it into the texture folder for that aircraft.

Sorry, it's been so long since I did it that I'm a bit out of practice. (I tell my disappointed ladyfriends the same thing)

PS- for good measure I just found an old thread in which I said-

"Name your picture thumbnail.jpg, resize it to 256X128 and drop it in the texture folder for the aircraft.

To capture a screen shot, hit "v". The picture will be in your My Pictures folder"

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And here's a reply from somebody- "I have followed the instructions above with some success, thanks. One problem however. When I "re-size", using Photoshop I unhinge size so as to size at 256x128 but this produces an elongated picture in Planes selection screen. If I let photoshop control size (hinged proportion) I get undistorted pic but not filling full space in aircraft selection menu. Whats-up?"

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And a hotshot answered- "I have found that it is better when in Photoshop (well I use PaintShopPro) to mask out an area similar in shape to the 256x128 and paste as a new picture, resize it and then save it."

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And somebody else chipped in with- "Yes. Crop it to a 2:1 ratio before resizing to avoid distortion. When capturing the screen shot keep the 2:1 format in mind. I like to "shoot" from 10 to 11 o'clock high of the target if that is the sunny side, otherwise 1 to 2 o'clock"

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See, there's nothing the FSX gods don't know, I might even ask them to explain the rules of baseball to me one day..:)

Who's on first? Nobody. Etc, etc. Rules of baseball? Google it.

Get IrFanview (free, fast, small size, lots of codecs, etc). Use 'Print Screen' key(s) to place a pic in clipboard. Open IrFanview, and click Paste. Go 'Image/Resize...', choose 333 x xxx (making sure 'Preserve Aspect Ratio' is checked) and then save it to texture folder as 'thumbnail.jpg'. Done.

Once you learn how to do this you can use it to capture ANYTHING on your monitor screen (pics, text, graphs, etc). Web pages too. A page out of a PDF, etc. Use my head.

Chuck B

Guys,

I have re-sized it to 256x128 in jpeg format & paste in the texture folder & it failed. What I did wrong? ;(

Guys,

 

I have re-sized it to 256x128 in jpeg format & paste in the texture folder & it failed. What I did wrong? ;(

A little more detail would be helpful...

What file? How was it called? Where did you put it? Which program did you use to resize it?

For a test you can drop any old jpg file in there as long as it is named "thumbnail.jpg".

A little more detail would be helpful...

 

What file? How was it called? Where did you put it? Which program did you use to resize it?

 

For a test you can drop any old jpg file in there as long as it is named "thumbnail.jpg".

OK nuitkati. I got it. I named it by the aircraft type. Now after change it to 'thumbnail' it appears. TQVM friend :o

Just to digress slightly, I downloaded a Ryan ST and put it in Sim Objects> Airplanes just like I've done with a zillion addon planes before, but it's not showing in the Aircraft Selection screen (sniffle).

All 6 required files are there- Model/Panel/Sound/Texture/Aircraft/Air, so why can't I see it?

(I know other people have asked the same question from time to time but a search with keyword 'Selection' threw up a haystack of mostly irrelevant stuff which'll take til doomsday to sift through)

Check the following:

1. Panel - Is there a .cfg in the Panel folder. If yes does the entry in the file point to a valid panel. If your not sure if the panel it points to is valid change the entry to point to a default aircraft panel and see what happens. Also note that if the panel folder contains additional files/folders other than or as well as the .cfg file there may need to be referenced in the PANEL= entry contained in the aircraft.cfg file

2. Check the aircraft.cfg file. Does it contain the correct model info in the TITLE= and SIM= entries.

See, there's nothing the FSX gods don't know, I might even ask them to explain the rules of baseball to me one day..:)

The first rule of Baseball is you don't talk about Baseball....Or was that fightclub? I can't distinguish between them anymore...