X-Plane 10 questions

[nobody]

XView is a marvelous add on for PSX! I really enjoy using it and let X-Plane 10 provide the eye candy for my flights!
Still, there are few issues with X Plane 10:

1)   Most important: During cruise you can´t see very far, even FSX had a far better long range visibility. Can you extend it some way? This is REALLY annoying!

2)   How can you change the view? You can look left and right via selecting the respective screen layouts on PSX (unfortunately, you don´t see a lot because of the poor X-Plane 10 Cockpit layout). Can you freely move the view angle? Especially when you have selected the "looking ahead view"? I didn´t find anything helpful on the keyboard layout for X-Plane 10.

3)   Weather: I used a standard take off situation from Helsinki, after a few minutes I had blue skies on PSX while on X-Plane I was still flying through clouds. How precise is X-Plane rendering the weather inputs coming from PSX?

4)   Again a weather question (suggestion?): Can you deactivate the weather input coming from PSX? You can´t right? I guess it would be the easiest way to have the accurate weather on both Sims. You just download the real weather for PSX and separately for X-Plane.

[marcel]

1) I think this is an issue that is being worked on by LM.

2) Via the view> 3d commando look
    Pan around with the mouse while holding right mouse button.

3,4 ) don't know

[cagarini]

1) Just as marcel pointed out, it's a promised feature for 10.40 probably - more tiles visible around the current aircraft position.

3) X-Plane's weather rendering, even when using add-on products like SkyMaxx, is limited by the area being affected by the injected, metar-based, data, tile-based like the wan that restricts your long distance view at higher / cruise altitudes. You will also find that as soon as you get high enough above an OVC or BKN layer, all of a sudden it'll disappear bellow you, and you'll be able to see the ground as if it was CAVOK!

Honestly, if I had to use a visual companion for PSX, I would rather go for FSX, specially enhanced by ASN weather - don't know if it is possible given that it's PSX injecting the weather ( ? ), but even the default weather depiction will do a better job, IMO, than what we get in X-Plane 10.

It would be even better if we could use FlightGear, since then we would have much better slopped runways, and overall the world depiction in Flight Gear is really getting up to date with the most recent flightsims.

[GodAtum]

I am trying to record flights in XACARS but it is saying my engines are running even thou are are not. Any ideas?

[Zapp]

Hi all, as a previous PS1.2 - 3 owner, I am really enjoying PSX.

I am trying both P3D2 and X-Plane 10 for visuals, and both are very good under some points of view, while something is not quite right under others (weather in X-Plane, the occasional stutters in P3D2.3).

I was thinking that this http://www.outerra.com/demo.html could be the answer in the future (a lot of work to do, but it could be worth the effort)

Bye

Andrea

[stekeller]

Going back to X-Plane, the advantage there is that it is being updated. Now I know that FSX may have gotten a new lease on life from the Train Simulator developers who now have purchased the rights to it from Microsoft, but that is some way off.

The Laminar / X-Plane team is very approachable, and if there are features that would facilitate the interface between PSX and X-Plane, that should be conveyed to the Laminar team (i.e. regarding weather). I personally have requested features for Plane Maker (the airplane design tool that comes with X-Plane) and at least one was incorporated. There are many interesting ways of connecting X-Plane, one is with external apps to have things such as remote FMCs and the ForeFlight real world flying app, to name a few. The Laminar team is always updating and improving these tools, sometimes at user's request.

While I am firmly in the X-Plane camp (especially as a Mac user), I am not an FSX basher, it can look great and I own it along with several great add-ons, but I have found its utility to be less and less over time, due to constant crashing (and I don't mean aircraft impacting terrain).

- Stekeller
KORD

[mikeindevon]

I will have a look at the weather code.  There are eight weather regions in PSX and they may not be correctly interpreted by XView.  I could also add a switch to turn off the weather transfer from PSX to X-Plane.

The way in which weather is defined in PSX is different from that in X-Plane.  For exmple PSX has a high layer and a low layer for clouds, whereas X-Plane has three layers.  I did my best to fit the two together, but it will never result in a perfect match.

I will get a mod out for the weather code in the next few days. Give that a try before you turn off the weather exchange.

Mike

[dts]

Mike

What do i select to get the weather through X-view onto x-plane,

do i just leave it set to

"set weather uniformally....

Or

"set random....
"Paint weather...
"Grab weather from net....
"Grab weather from master....


also  .. standby for this one,  i am currently flying as NPF on multicrew,  i dont have xsqkbox running, so how do i see traffic on xplane from over the net from the PF machine

[mikeindevon]

Hi,

I use "set weather uniformly...".  In fact XView completely overwrites the weather variables within X-Plane, so it probably doesn't make much difference which you use.  I update the weather, when I receive data from PSX, but off-hand I am not sure how often Hardy publishes this.  It could be that X-Plane manages to change it between Hardy's updates.  I will have a look at the code and see what improvements I can make.

".. standby for this one..."  Good question.  I would suggest two experiments.
a) on your XView associated with the PNF check the box in the settings for "draw PSX traffic".  Presumably the PF machine will pass on the traffic positions to the PNF machine and this can then relay that on to X-Plane via the PNF XView.  You will see only a maximum of 7 planes as this is the maximum supported by PSX.
b) try setting up multi-player on X-Plane with your PF (Settings, Net Connection).  If this passes over the traffic positions, then you would want to check the box "Draw XP traffic" to have it appear on your ND.

I am not sure whether either of these experimants will work, so some feed-back would be useful.  My bet is that (a) will work, but possibly not (b).  (b) would be the better solution if it works as X-Plane updates the traffic positions much more rapidly than PSX.

Let me know.

Mike

[mikeindevon]

... in either case you would have to set the PSX traffic to be "Externally controlled".  You can do this on the instructor screen: Situation, Human, Traffic.

Good luck!

[mikeindevon]

... just to complete the picture, on the PF / X-Plane machine you would have to set XView to draw X-Plane traffic (in the XView settings window) and set PSX to have externally controlled traffic on the PF / PSX machine.

[dts]

PF uses P3dv3  I use X Plane, managed to see aircraft but incorrect type, what should have been a a320 was showing as an Auster,

[mikeindevon]

There is no information in PSX as far as I am aware about the aircraft types of the traffic planes.  It is therefore impossible for XView to draw them correctly.  You would need to set up the traffic aircraft type within X-Plane.  This is of course not ideal, but I am afraid it is where we are at the moment.

By the way I got the configuration (a) above to work.  PF/PSX was the main server and PNF/PSX was the main client.  PF/XView connected to PF/PSX main and Boost as usual.  PNF/XView connected to PF/PSX Main and PNF/PSX Boost.

Mike

[Hardy Heinlin]

I think at least one aircraft in PSX uses Airbus strobe light timing, the others use Boeing strobe light timing.

What aircraft types they are exactly -- I dont know either. Whenever I get very close, they disappear, like ghosts. Can't identify them ...


|*|ardy

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

By the way, when flying online, the traffic injection typically is reversed. The online client injects into X-Plane (or FSX), the link program picks these up and injects into PSX. This route typically will show the correct plane type.

[Hardy Heinlin]

Did I misunderstand this subject? Is it about identifying PSX as a 744 in online ATC simulations?

But ...

should have been a a320 was showing as an Auster

[dts]

multicrew

1 network running P3d and vpilot

2nd network  running xplane, and other aircraft appear as a Auster

[nobody]

1) I think this is an issue that is being worked on by LM.

Any idea when the update will be released?

2) Via the view> 3d commando look
 Pan around with the mouse while holding right mouse button.

I know that but you have this ugly flight deck of X-Plane blocking your view. I want to look around without having the cockpit textures of X-Plane. So I guess there is no way to look freely around except in the 3d commando look?

[GodAtum]

Are Skymaxx and UrbanMaxx worth it?

[mikeindevon]

I personally have requested features for Plane Maker (the airplane design tool that comes with X-Plane) and at least one was incorporated.

Hi,
Did you email Ben directly about your requests - what to you suggest as the best approach?  

I am interested that you are familiar with plane maker and any tips relating to this cockpit problem that you might have would be useful.  I spent a huge amount of time trying to get rid of the cockpit interior in the side views - even modifying the plane model in AC3D - but I couldn't find a way to do it.  If you remove the cockpit from the model, you get a hole in the outside - to be expected really.

nobody wrote ...
"... you have this ugly flight deck of X-Plane blocking your view. I want to look around without having the cockpit textures of X-Plane."

Yeah, it's a real pain.  As you see I tried to get round it while developing XView but without success.  I will ask around and see if anybody over on the X-Plane forum has any ideas.

Mike