setups

[Hardy Heinlin]

Hi Enrique,

I'm sorry, Retina displays do not work with PSX. They push the frame rate below 10 fps and render the panels incorrectly.


Cheers,

|-|ardy

[evaamo]

Hi Hardy thanks for your reply.  I will try my luck using Linux via Parallels or something like that and see the results.

Thanks for the warning tho', saved me some initial frustration and saved you a call for support :-D

cheers
-E

[Phil Bunch]

Hi guys!



The best point is: splitting sound outputs! Thanks to PSx' server / clients capability, you may get engine sound (and ground roll) via subwoofers located behind / below, and airspeed sounds via small speakers being the windshield screens... and so on. And that good sound ambiance is a huge part of the immersion, at least as much as visuals!

Last thing: during PSx testing, I got "trapped" several times, taking the computer-generated rain or thunderstorms for the real ones!

I'm still thinking a lot about how to best use my 7-channel, multi-subwoofer home theater system with PSX.  Your note caused me to think further about this exciting prospect.

Do I understand your note correctly, as shown below?

Should I manually select certain speakers and locations to optimize PSX's sound experience?  This is different from mostly relying on the assumed speaker channels in the multi-channel sound track on a DVD or CD.  There, one typically has at least 5 explicit audio channels with an additional 2 back-center audio channels being synthesized by some home theater receivers or pre-amps.

My initial thoughts are that since very low-frequency sounds aren't accurately localized by humans, perhaps it doesn't matter very much where my subwoofers are located in the room.  If your amplifiers and subwoofers are co-optimized for your room to minimize room resonance effects, I don't think it would require putting the subwoofers under your chair, as is done for the (still available???) "Butt-Kicker" brand of video game speakers.   Thus, my theory is that my subwoofers should work fine where they are (in the front of the room for the most powerful pair).  By "subwoofer", I don't mean a generic bass speaker, but rather a dedicated low-frequency speaker that can produce high-volume but high fidelity sound down to at least 15-20 Hz.

If all the provided sounds are actually two-channel stereo, it might work best for my home system to simply switch my receiver into what is called "all-channel stereo".  This receiver mode is usually used to take a two-channel sound track and spread it around all 7 speakers (which are approximately positioned as 3 across the front, 2 in rear corners, two on the rear wall behind your head).  The perceived effect is that you're surrounded by the audio instead of it just coming from two speakers in front of you.  It of course doesn't work for many sound tracks - music that was recorded and mixed for stereo usually works best if played back in stereo with 2 speakers.

I assume it will require experimentation to tune how I (or others) use our audio systems, as there are both personal preference issues and a wide range of speaker and amplifier characteristics that are in play.

If one crashes one's PSX 747, is the audio experience "memorable"?  (insert friendly grins here)

Regardless, having the flexibility outlined in your note is very encouraging since it provides a great deal of flexibility for the user.  

Hmmm...I think I recall correctly that my receiver can take in multiple audio channels and output them with adjustable flexibility to its 7 speaker outputs...  Also, each channel can be adjusted through a number of parameters...

I'm beginning to think that I may want to acquire some more computers.  Perhaps a rack of multiple circuit-board style PC "blades" would make up a good PSX system?

Just thinking out loud - please comment if you have any advice or suggestions.

[GodAtum]

Interesting comments. Here is my planned setup very roughly:



Avionics 1 & 2:
Xeon E5-2667 v3
Asus P9X79E-WS
Nvidia 780Ti


Main visual:
Intel 4770k @ 4.8 Ghz
Asus ROG VI Extreme
Nvidia 780 6GB x 3

[Russell Too]

My set up details are in the air at the moment.
I am thinking of using maybe five largish ~23" Touch Screen monitors' not including scenery view."I have no room for the p.n.f."which should give me a full size display with enough room for my stumpy fingers.

Does anyone know the dimensions of the 747's cockpit sections? or point me in the right direction. There seems to be a conspiracy of silence. I have obtained the Pedestal dimensions from Jerome Merryweather's site. any other information here would be most helpful.

@ Hardy,
Apart from the installation and instructor section, I anticipate not using a Mouse or keyboard.
The Preview Manual does not mention Touch Screen at all. so would I be safe to add,
or Touch Screen, whenever the use of a Mouse is mentioned?
Also most reasonably priced  monitors are refreshed at 60 Hz. or would a refresh rate of 100 Hz be essential, has this anything to do PS10.s 70 frame rates?

Kind regards.
Russell

[GodAtum]

For dimensions, I think this has some great diagrams:

http://www.mycockpit.org/forums/downloads.php?do=file&id=95

According to this post

Also, keep in mind that PSX works with touch screens but has by no means been developed FOR touch screens. It is not a Metro app, it is not touch-wipe-tap-drag-pinch-turn enabled. You want a mouse with a wheel, probably. And you definitely want a keyboard.

And this interface stuff probably is more important for your experience than CPU power or display pixels anyway. It depends on what you want to achieve. If you want to handfly with any reasonable accuracy, you don't want to be stuck to a touch screen with touch pad only. But if you merely want to explore the systems while flying on A/P, you can probably do with just the touch screen.

[Hardy Heinlin]

Phil, Russell, GodAtum, and all mockup constructors,

please, before you start buying any big hardware, first try PSX on your existing "normal" computer and check the network features, the mouse functions, sound options etc. and then evaluate the entire system and then decide what additional hardware might be useful for your personal plan.


Regards,

|-|ardy

Also most reasonably priced monitors are refreshed at 60 Hz. or would a refresh rate of 100 Hz be essential, has this anything to do PS10.s 70 frame rates?

Not directly. But, should the 60+ rate ever be a waste of CPU energy, you can always limit the PSX frame rate to 60 fps (and lower).

[Russell Too]

Thanks Hardy,
Thanks GodAtum

For your Quick Reply
Kind Regards
Russell

[John Golin]

Phil, Russell, GodAtum, and all mockup constructors,

please, before you start buying any big hardware, first try PSX on your existing "normal" computer and check the network features, the mouse functions, sound options etc. and then evaluate the entire system and then decide what additional hardware might be useful for your personal plan.


Regards,

|-|ardy

THIS.

I totally understand the excitement and enthusiasm to hit the ground running with PSX, but having been fortunate enough to see the development progress during Beta, PSX can provide a lot of flexibility that won't become evident until you try various things yourself.

Try to start from a clean slate - while you can create models and plans based on your experience with other simulators, you will probably find there are simpler or different ways to achieve as good or better results.

[744kid]

Have any beta testers run PSX on a laptop satisfactorily and, if so, could you please tell me which laptop/specs? My preference will be to often run PSX on a 15" or 17" laptop as I travel a lot. My Retina Macbook won't cut it for PSX but is there a viable laptop alternative?

Thanks.

744kid

[John Golin]

It's impossible to answer with specifics as what is satisfactory will vary from person to person and situation to situation.  

Hardy has posted the required specs here:

http://aerowinx.com/forum/topic.php?post=14695#post14695

Suffice to say any reasonable, modern laptop should be more more than okay. (excluding Retina displays)

Hardy - maybe make a sticky (locked) thread at the top of the forum with the specs and any other info (price, availability, date etc) as it comes to hand so it is easy to find?

[SwissCharles]

Hi Folks,

Re OS: Running Win7 Pro here.

What version of this OS would you recommend - 32 Bit or 64 Bit (not stated on the link given by John) ?
I am building a full cockpit (FDS with either their interfaces or Phidgets, using at least 5 PC's from DELL, connected by TCP/IP).

Are there any (hidden to me) facts which make either of the two variants more suitable for the task than the other?

Thanks for your thoughts guys!

Charles from Basel, Switzerland

[GodAtum]

Unless you want to pay for Windows licenses, I would say Linux.

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

32/64 bit is basically irrelevant, you just install the right JRE and the rest is transparant to PSX. Typically 64 bit should be a tiny bit faster, but the real advantages of 64 over 32 are in memory management and PSX does not see that.

If you read about 32/64 bit Java, it is usually in the context of a web browser, which is irrelevant for PSX as PSX does not at all use the web browser. This also applies to the security concerns. No web browser, no security concerns.


Hoppie

[SwissCharles]

Hi Jeroen,

Thank you very much for your - as always - thorough answer, most appreciated.

@ GodAtum: I know that, but am much too old bothering to learn yet another environment like in "...some people won't eat anything they've never seen before..."  OK, that shows my age

btw... Win 7 Pro OEM licenses can be had for as little as EUR 24.-- nowadays..

Charles