PSX Instructor: Mac and Vista

[Hardy Heinlin]

Good evening,

here are some comparisons, fresh from the construction site.

(Just click on an image to enlarge.)









Regards,

|-|ardy

[Mariano]

Hardy,

As expected from you, extremely detailed and abundant features. Every time I see a new screenshot, I can't believe I will have my hands on this monster next year (I must admit, I have saved every PSX screenshot you have put out so far so I can try to piece together a rough picture of what the whole thing will look like.) Proud to be labeled a PSX-addict this early in the game!
Instead of asking if PSX will simulate this or that, I guess I should be asking what will PSX NOT simulate.
For the one thousand time, THANK YOU for coming back and giving us PSX!

Mariano

[Will]

I'm impressed.  That seems like remarkable progress.

[Pierre Theillere]

Hi Hardy!

Wow, that's very impressive! Just a suggestion: on the "Situation / Aerodynamics" pages (and also maybe for the date and time stuff), could you add some "numerical indication" (as an addition to the "sliders") to enable precise entry / readout of the values?

[Michel Vandaele]

Hi Hardy
Wauw, wauw, ones again it is very impressive.
This will be really a real life simulator  .
Thank you so much for bringing it to us.
My cockpit is waiting.
B. Rgds from Belgium
Michel

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

"Assumed real world UTC now:" -- does this mean this should be real UTC but the sim can only read the computer's clock, not go out and poll NTP servers, so it may not be actual UTC?

The word "assumed" may induce doubt whether this is simulated UTC. It may be better to drop the word altogether?

[Edit] And for balance: the date/season, will that be set to real world as well (after all, UTC includes the date), or is that another button to press?

Of course, I have World Flight and other "live" online events in mind, where it is useful to have the sim time locked hard to UTC. I understand there may be complexities that disallow a true permanent lock. For example, what to do after a sim pause? In my ACARS there is a feature that pops up a FMC message as soon as real world UTC deviates more than 2 minutes from simulated UTC, allowing the instructor to manually kick the time. This may be interesting for PSX as well.

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

On the "Situation / Aerodynamics" pages (and also maybe for the date and time stuff), could you add some "numerical indication" (as an addition to the "sliders") to enable precise entry / readout of the values?

This would likely disturb the pretty, clean layout... but it is possible that the Java library supports showing this digital readout while sliding (or pressing up/down keys).

At first, I was surprised about the missing "straight numerical entry" feature, as I am so used to seeing these for nearly everything. They are very small compared to the sliders and convenient to operate. Then I realised that in very few cases you want to set exactly a figure. The exception is "real UTC". In nearly all other cases you want to go "somewhere near X" and a slider is likely the interface for this.

[delcom]

I'll get to the point straight away. Far out. Thanks Hardy.

regards,
delcom

[Hardy Heinlin]

Good morning all,

thanks a lot.

"Assumed" UTC: This is derived from the local computer clock and its time setting.

Time injection is possible by addons. PSX itself won't play with the Internet in the background. You only need Internet syncronization when you need Internet syncronization. Else, the computer's clock is precise enough for the sim's daylight and weather effects.

Clicking the button will copy the value to the UTC slider and season slider.

The season slider is a season slider, not a birthday slider.

...

Editable digits. Jeroen has hit the nail on the head :-) They would destroy the easy and elegant analog look and feel etc. pp.

Typing in, say, 15678 feet digits is like entering 156.78 knots, or 15.678 % MAC, or 156.78 tons. Which instructor needs and wants to bother with this kind of precision just to set up a new situation? Also, the sliders are alive, they move with the aircraft, the aircraft will immediately fly on at 15678 ... 15685 ... 15671 ... so all the precision entered would be gone in the next moment anyway.

The sliders are long :-)

And the world is not sterile as a theoretical Excel sheet. The world is rough and dirty and ... panta rei :-)


Cheers,

|-|ardy

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

Instead of "Assumed UTC", consider "Computer clock time". Nearly all modern computers (operating systems) already sync their clock to UTC from the internet, and are aware of time zone position to display the local time to the user. Here you would ask UTC from the computer clock. PSX will never need to talk NTP by itself, for sure.

Alternatively stated: I would not try to be nuanced here. Just say: this is UTC. Don't say: this may be UTC if the user has correctly set the clock etc. etc. etc. "Assumed UTC" still rings the "this is simulator UTC" bell to me, even if a bit further down there is a "simulated UTC" option.

Still simpler: you have simulated UTC and real UTC. You don't want to claim "assumed UTC, possibly real UTC but could be off, depending on what the computer owner did to his clock".

Nobody will use PSX as a UTC reference source  

Those live sliders ... they move as the plane moves, and when you manually move them, they forcefully drag the plane/planet around?

[Holger Wende]

Hi Hardy, great to see your progress

Just two comments/questions:
* For comfort of other non-metric cultures I guess you offer an option to toggle the weight related slider scales between kgs and lbs?
* If "true altitude" is MSL then it should support slightly negative values as well to fit some airports. Or is true altitude = AGL?
* I am wondering what the purpose the season slider might be. Does PSX offer a very basic default world-wide weather model (temps/winds)? Or does this slider set a variable for external weather generators?

Regards, Holger

[Shiv Mathur]

The season slider is a season slider, not a birthday slider.

I can't stop laughing at this !!

[Pierre Theillere]

Hi Holger!

I guess the "season" slider is to enable PSx to correctly simulated accurate daylight depending to position / time of year combination. PS1 had a simple model, that was good for "around equinox"  period (i.e. Sept, 23rd or Mar, 21st) where sunlight nearly only depends on longitude. I guess (and hope) that PSx features a nice complete daylight simulation, with the famous endless daylight / nighttime beyond polar circle...
Oooh, and just a question for Hardy: will PSx external window feature sun's position? Probably, a daylight simulation leads to knowing the azimuth and elevation of the sun, so that could be something quite easy to do... if useful! I didn't ask for a moon and planetarium simulation... but who knows?

[Shiv Mathur]

Those live sliders ... they move as the plane moves, and when you manually move them, they forcefully drag the plane/planet around?

I guess they would be as potent as the "New Position/Time" in PS1.
That too will 'forcefully drag' the plane, and you might get all kinds of
overspeed and other warnings.

Cheers,
Shiv

[Hardy Heinlin]

Don't say: this may be UTC if the user has correctly set the clock etc. etc. etc.

Hm ... why not say this? On the Mac there is a switch to set the clock via Internet. It may be switched off intentionally, e.g. if an Internet connection is not desired, or if a user in, say, Asia may set his personal Mac clock to America time or whatever – intentionally. The "assumed" UTC is derived from the data listed in blue directly above the "assumed" UTC indication.

I don't insist on that "assumed" word. But I need good arguments against it before I remove it. I'm trying to avoid misunderstandings as much as possible. For exampe, I added the word "now" after "daylight saving time hours" because without the "now" it's not clear if it refers to the general political convention on that time zone – or the current status today.

Those live sliders ... they move as the plane moves, and when you manually move them, they forcefully drag the plane/planet around?

Yes. And it's a pleasure to work with it. You see the aerodynamic effects immediately as you move the sliders with your finger tip. No more number typing, no more OK buttons, no more menu tree clicking, ... it's all direct and without pausing.

* For comfort of other non-metric cultures I guess you offer an option to toggle the weight related slider scales between kgs and lbs?
* If "true altitude" is MSL then it should support slightly negative values as well to fit some airports. Or is true altitude = AGL?
* I am wondering what the purpose the season slider might be. Does PSX offer a very basic default world-wide weather model (temps/winds)? Or does this slider set a variable for external weather generators?

* Yes
* Zero sets the aircraft on the ground, be it La Paz or negative EHAM
* Daylight and weather (if an addon wants to read it also, then do it)

will PSx external window feature sun's position? Probably, a daylight simulation leads to knowing the azimuth and elevation of the sun, so that could be something quite easy to do... if useful! I didn't ask for a moon and planetarium simulation... but who knows?

I tried it and with my yellow sun "disk" the outside view looked like a children's painting :-) I really had to laugh :-) It was just a plain vector arc with a sharp border. Without blurring glow effects it just looks ridiculous. Blurr effects in the high speed animation are extremely expensive. So, no way. I'm sorry.

I also tried white instead of yellow, but then the sun looked like the moon.

The brightness of the sky and the white clouds on the monitor – i.e. the active monitor light – is pretty realistic. I mean the intensity. – When a sun is added, the sun is simply too dark compared to the rest. when the sky and clouds have the original brightness on the monitor, the sun should have the orignal brightness as well. Otherwise it looks like a photo or children's painting. It destroys the illusion somehow.

Stars and the moon are easier. But it's too much work to program the positions.


Cheers,

|-|ardy

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

Instead of showing the actual sun disk, it may be interesting to wash out the complete window with white if heading directly into the sun.

[Hardy Heinlin]

I think that's a good idea. I'll try it when I'm at that chapter ...

|-|


P.S.: But not with a semi-transparent white layer. That's too expensive. I have to make another color algorithm inside the existing (3) color transitions. (top sky to shortly above horizon, shortly above horizon to shortly below horizon, shortly below horizon to ground).

[Hardy Heinlin]

A good point against the word "assumed": The label on the button just reads "real world UTC to ...", not "assumed real world UTC to ...".

In order to make it clear that the button refers to that assumed UTC, the word should be at both places, or at none. Better at none, as the button is too small for another word.

|-|

[Hardy Heinlin]

That sun thing ... that will probably be confused with the fog effect ...

[Walter Kranl]

Will the instructor station (and PSX itself) support touchscreens?

Walter