Professional use of the simulator

[Will]

Which one of those little emoji icons is for embarrassment? Ah well.

Dear Juggler, if you are still reading this post from years and years ago, I hope you have long since found a satisfactory solution to your issues!

Now I'm going to go reply to some old posts on the PS1 forum from 1999... if I can find it, that is...

[cavaricooper]

Does anyone know if I can install this program on my laptop AND my desktop computers?

Yes- up to 4 instances per DVD (see license info and other details- http://aerowinx.com/board/index.php?topic=1592.0)

HTH- C

[Hardy Heinlin]

To be precise: Up to 4 copies within your LOCAL cockpit mockup, or within a class if you are an academy or airline.

Of course, you are allowed to use it on any computer you like. You are just not allowed to use it on multiple computers at the same time: E.g. while you are using it on your laptop, you cannot allow somebody else to use it on your desktop computer.

Simultaneous usage is only allowed within your LOCAL cockpit mockup, and only for up to 4 copies. This is a bonus for customers of the original DVD. For second-hand DVDs this bonus is not valid and only the regular 1-copy software copyright will be applied according to the law in your country.


Regards,

|-|ardy

[Phil Bunch]

Which one of those little emoji icons is for embarrassment? Ah well.

Dear Juggler, if you are still reading this post from years and years ago, I hope you have long since found a satisfactory solution to your issues!

Now I'm going to go reply to some old posts on the PS1 forum from 1999... if I can find it, that is...

Heck, I don't see anything wrong with responding to "slightly older" posts - that's one of the beautiful things about this forum.  It's timeless in so many ways, and contains information and truths that will last indefinitely (or at least as long as someone loves flying the 747-400 and similar Boeing airliners).   Practically everything else on the internet is transient.

Also, sometimes it takes many years to better understand some of our technical issues!  And, some of our issues may be refined many times as the years go by!!

<insert friendly grins here>

Long live PSX!

[Will]

My very first post on this forum, back in May of 2009, was asking about connecting PSX to scenery engines other than MSFS. (That was even before Prepar3d.) What's funny is that in the years since, I've been converted to a solid fan of native PSX visuals, which are not only immersive enough to get the job done, but also really quite appealing.

[cavaricooper]

Will-

I'd offer a counterpoint...



Now, THAT'S appealing

Best- C

[Will]

cavaricooper,

Show me a YouTube video of your setup on a departure with exactly those weather conditions, and if the graphics are as smooth as PSX throughout the entire takeoff, from pushback, to turning onto the runway, through gear retraction, then I will declare myself very impressed indeed! And I will shower your setup with praise.

I know that the external scenes can be amazing, but what gets me are those infinitesimal but noticeable little hesitations, jerks, and stutters. To me a fluid, smooth experience is more important.

But I recognize that your opinion might vary!

(One thing I would like to see in version PSX version 10.79 is green taxiway centerline lights throughout the entirety of every airport... one can dream...)

[cavaricooper]

Will-

I don't do videos... sorry.  I can tell you with careful optimization, prudent graphics option settings, and in my case locking the frame rates at 24FPS, I get completely acceptable performance with the current generation of scenery generators.  As with all things, individual experiences and opinions may vary.

I did not intend to try and convert you to my way of thinking, merely to offer a counterpoint to yours.  Neither position is better- they are just different.

Happy flying!

Best- Carl

[Will]

Happy flying to you too, Carl! And that is indeed a very impressive screenshot.

[mgeiss]

I'm also only using PSX visuals, although I have FSX, P3Dv4, X-Plane 10 and 11 installed. After trying out the various options for a while, I don't feel the need for it when flying PSX.

Of course visual approaches are more or less not an option without an external scenery generator, but if I want to fly one of those I just do that within the other sims.

[cavaricooper]

Will-

Thanks, I was merely illustrating my preferred way of using PSX.  There are indeed many merits to standalone use.

I think that is one of PSX's strongest, strongpoints. It allows flight experience in a 747-400 regardless of platform choice. I have learnt as much, and been entertained as much on an 11" MacBook Air without any extra HW, as I have been on my hybrid "flight-deck" with 5 screens, multiple PCs, a PFC Console and Pedals.

PSX enlightens and amazes in both cases. That collective affection for a unique program is what keeps this community special, and keeps me grateful to be a tiny part of it.

Best- C

[Britjet]

Will,

I absolutely agree with you about PSX!
Getting smooth graphics in the scenery generators is a complete chore, the main trick being to "keep it simple".
However, having spent a great deal of time and effort getting the whole thing to play nicely, I have to say that I wouldn't fly without my P3DV4. The thing is just beautiful sometimes..
As you say, each to their own, but PSX has transformed how I do my Flight simming. There is so much to see out there!
I am getting hooked on image-taking at the moment!
Peter.
http://www.hoppie.nl/forum/var/C659660D-37B2-4B26-8BED-0A986362D973.jpeg

http://www.hoppie.nl/forum/var/41F3259F-6416-4960-B696-30877AE1C320.jpeg

http://www.hoppie.nl/forum/var/0549DE27-3F66-46C6-B7DE-4E9763BCB642.jpeg

[Will]

Back when I was using MSFS, I would scan the Avsim and FlightSim.com file libraries for interesting things, and it amazed me how many users would be seeking the perfect "wing views."

So, for those who don't know what a wing view is, it's a view outdoors from a seat that's over or just behind the wing. The creators would frame it with a picture of a wide-open airliner window, and when you looked out through the window, you would see the wing, the flaps, and so on, as the aircraft flew over the scenery.

It's one of the aspects of this hobby that fascinates me: pilots going to extraordinary lengths to create and collect the best passenger visual experience! There truly was something seductive about getting that wing view just right.

I used to fly with Active Sky, and I had an add-on set of clouds that looked really nice. I can remember some very pretty and majestic pictures, but like what you shared above, Peter.

My intent was to upgrade my system as needed to be able to fly with an excellent scenery generator connected to PSX, but while I was thinking about what route to go, I discovered that PSX as a standalone was immersive enough. And so here we are. (Still could use those taxiways though, lol.)

[CarlBB]

Hi Will,
This video is of course X-Plane and of course not as smooth as P3D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58LPVuynhdc (I don't fly with the PFD on top btw!)
But I get each and everyones opinion re: graphics - my original purchase of PS1.3 was driven because it ran smooth and was immersive by itself. Fast forward to PSX and I use with/without visuals for the same reasons.
- Carl

[cagarini]

I've also long given up on using any of the presently available image generators with PSX, and started using it standalone.

For a start, my PC is old, not suited to running PSX and either FSX, P3D or XP at the same time and deliver acceptable performance under all scenarios, although the experience with XP was the smoothest, and the fact that we can import X-Plane's runways slopes ( actually more like "bumps"...), for the good and for the bad, makes it even more interesting than MSFS / P3D world where every runway is plain flat.

But both sims distort the experience I can get out of PX standalone, specially in occasions when a landing is performed under adverse weather conditions. Either the smoothing algorithms used to blend PSX's aircraft 6dof positioning and the corresponding model in the visuals sim isn't fast or efficient enough, or it's my hardware that really puts limitations on the required performance but fact is that, for instance, the 20 knot Belgium airport approach or the tricky moderate turbulence approach in Greece, that come as default SITU's, feel far from the experience they give me when flown in PSX standalone.

Just like Will, I also miss lateral views for visual approaches and taxiing, taxiways and proper / more detailled airport lighting, and, btw, proper daylight according to day of year and place...

[Will]

Hello Carl,

Thanks for posting the video. It is a great example of why I fly with native PSX visuals! (Again, this is a taste thing, and there's no right or wrong.) I do like the beginning of the video when there isn't much ground detail, but when the aircraft is about to land, you see all the jerks and stutters creeping in. And you can really see it dramatically starting at the 3:30 point when the aircraft turns off the runway.

Yes, of course, that is the part where the scenery generator has to work the hardest. I understand that, but it's also the time when it's most important to deliver a good visual experience of what it's like to be on the ground. Let's call it the fundamental irony of scenery generators: the time when it's most important to show the ground happens to be the time when it's hardest to achieve that.

Some people may not even notice the stutters at 3:30. Perhaps they've trained their eyes to ignore them, or else they've just agreed to compromise. I've made a different compromise. I can't see any mountains or taxiway signs with PSX, but I've trained my eye to not need to look for them.

Someday someone will make an earth simulator that is both buttery smooth and richly detailed, and then I'm in!

[evaamo]

My personal preference is to use PSX as a standalone simulator as well. There are some thing I'd like to see changed graphics-wise, but these are not show stoppers at all. The fluidity of native PSX is something I miss when using P3D or XP11, and is even more evident when PSX is connected to any of these.

If there are two things I'd beg Hardy to implement (Kickstarter project, Hardy!? ;-) ), they'd be:

- Open file format for the navdata used in PSX, so any of us programmers in the community could create a Navigraph converter, which would only be allowed for entertainment or personal use and not professional training (I'd still buy the yearly update from Navtech just to support the effort by Hardy).

- A modification in PSX that would allow reading from a (set of) file(s) a format comprised of a set of points (lat/lon coordinates, altitude, color, blinking or not...something of sorts) that could become part of the scenery and be displayed by PSX graphics engine natively. Then, it being an open format, we could develop a 2D editor for building taxiways, beacons, obstructions, even gates or parking stands not shown on the actual gates DB.  Maybe even read a BGL file (not too difficult) and generating the necessary taxiway lines in PSX format.

Anyway, we can always dream can we? ;-)

There's a third thing I'd have liked to see native in PSX, which is now a free add-on I'm programming on my (sadly, scarce) spare time, is a stand-alone wind's aloft and SIGWX injector based on GRIB2 format. No ETA yet, sadly (maybe it will come out at the same time as Hardy's 747-200 simulator :-D )

cheers to all!
-E

[Martin Baker]

It seems that with every improvement in hardware the graphics get more complicated so that there's always a difficulty ($$$) getting really smooth external visuals.

My desire would be to see the development of a global scenery that is like a more advanced version of the Sublogic ATP scenery - basic features (roads, rivers, mountains, seas, lakes, urban areas) that would run ultra-smoothly on a really low-spec PC or Mac. I like the fact that this type of scenery leaves much to the imagination. It would be a half-way house between PS10 visuals and the FS/XP stuff that's out there, but - to me - more rewarding to work with as it would have the complete fluidity of PS10 - something that none of the other available options do. M

[CarlBB]

Hi Will,
Thanks for your thoughts and of course yes on the ground turning is where the stutters come in.
I just fired up PSX with it's own visuals (nothing else) - something I have not done for a long time. I tried the same landing again and another challenge in LGSK. According to the touchdown analysis I was in the zone for both (honest!) and yes, it was a very smooth experience.... Nice to have these choices of course!
Regards
Carl

[Britjet]

I have a recurring nightmare that all the money I have spent on scenery with P3D will be worthless when someone connects effectively to the likes of a next-generation Google Earth.
At present the 3D version of GE is quite "blocky" and many of the buildings look as though they have been made by a 5-year-old out of plasticine, but at least the graphics are smooth!
I took a 'trip" over Anchorage last night just using Google Earth VR and it was a way better experience than using the latest add-on for P3D. So much detail...maybe one day..
Peter