Dude, keep in mind SkyMaxx Pro is just me and another guy working out of our houses in our spare time. SkyMaxx Pro involves something like 100,000 lines of native code. It's not just a collection of textures, so every platform has its own quirks we need to deal with.  We just don't have the resources to provide technical support for every flavor of Linux that's out there. That's all it is.

 

Hopefully that will change as X-Plane's user base continues to grow!

 

Thanks for all the kind words guys. It's what motivates us to keep making it better over time.

But guys, X-Plane does a lot of things for you. Most of OpenGL code is the same for all platforms. I don't know what quirks are you talking about. I have some experience with coding for all three major desktop platforms and I never had problems with supporting Linux after I did MacOS part. The only thing is to compile the code - but gcc is the easiest compiler there, imo.

I can help you with Linux if you want. I'm sure there are a lot of people who would gladly help you with Linux, too.

But guys, X-Plane does a lot of things for you. Most of OpenGL code is the same for all platforms. I don't know what quirks are you talking about. I have some experience with coding for all three major desktop platforms and I never had problems with supporting Linux after I did MacOS part. The only thing is to compile the code - but gcc is the easiest compiler there, imo.

I can help you with Linux if you want. I'm sure there are a lot of people who would gladly help you with Linux, too.

 

The quirks involve distribution-specific shared object system dependencies. And it's not just about development - when someone pays $40 for something, they rightly expect you to help them to get it working. So if someone has a problem that's specific to CentOS 6 or whatever, that means we have to go install CentOS 6 on a partition somewhere before we can even start helping that customer. It just doesn't scale.

 

I really, really don't want to get into a Linux flame war though. I develop on Linux every day and I certainly have nothing against it. This thread's about good add-ons for XPX; let's keep it that way.

SkyMAXX is powered by Sundog Software's Silverlining tech. They also happen to make Triton Ocean. I would like to believe they are (SkyMAXX and Sundog) working on improving the water behavior in X-Plane 10.

 

Well, it's certainly something we think about Normally you'd want to integrate Triton at a much lower level than what is exposed to add-on developers, and I'm not sure there is a way to disable the existing water effects. I think it would only happen if Laminar licensed Triton and integrated it themselves as part of X-Plane (like P3D did.)

 

Meanwhile, there is John's BeachMaxx add-on which adds more visual interest to coastlines at least.

I use X plane extensively in linux on the laptop , yes it misses Skymaxx. :( the default clouds just chew up fps.

 

Yep there could be issues with distros with X plane because of kernel versions / libraries etc... , all don't use Ubuntu as there are so many desktop distros. 

 

Plus there could also be problems with the GPU stuff who knows.

 

Can't skymaxx be built with it's own libraries ? I am no programmer but I have good hands on linux servers .

Nobody will run X-Plane on CentOS 6. X-Plane is built under Ubuntu 10.04 and that's the only distro you need to support. Shared libraries can be distributed along with the package or even built statically.

 

A lot of X-Plane add-ons developers support Linux and I never had any problems, despite the fact that I have custom non-standard distro (Gentoo on ~amd64 with a lot of customizations). I just think that supporting two desktop platforms where X-Plane supports three means not using its whole potential.

Personal speaking the default cameras in X-plane and the way you can configure them to your own liking is fantastic

 

Sky Max Pro is great, a Little pinch Of Real Terra Haze and you have a perfect mixture.

 

World2xPlane and all there team does a great job.

 

My one real annoyance with X-Plane is the price of the scenery equals the quality for example 27 euros for an Aerosoft airport, compare this in quality and price to any of the Orbtx stuff, not in the race at all.

After spending most of the evening tweaking SMP I have to eat humble pie and say I have now found a much better depiction than before. The biggest change for me was the Overcast Quality which is just SO much better on High. Consider Med if your PC is crap, but don't bother with Low at all as it just gave me a thin flat layer. I then whacked draw distance up to max and fiddled with the various cloud size options to find a nice compromise. Well done chaps, I was wrong. I doff my hat to SMP 2.1.  B)

 

P.S. I notice that from certain camera angles the sun shines through the clouds but you probably already know about that.

You set it to high? Does that whack FPS? also, does the draw distance not whack FPS too? I have a GTX 770 4GB, should i be able to handle it? i5 4670k at 4GHZ.

You set it to high? Does that whack FPS? also, does the draw distance not whack FPS too? I have a GTX 770 4GB, should i be able to handle it? i5 4670k at 4GHZ.

Hi Ian, I have the same i5 running @ 4GHz, but my graphics card is just a notch up (GTX780 3Gb).

If I were you I'd try the overcast on high but keep the draw distance down at half to three-quarters perhaps.

I guess it depends upon the type of flying you do and altitude.

Have a play!

To be honest, while I considered SMP to be a must-have add-on prior to 10.30, I've found I'm not using it with the newest versions.  Laminar made some big changes in cloud handling for 10.30 and the stock clouds now look really good to me in most situations.   SkyMaxx is definitely still better in the FPS department, but to me it looks a lot more "painterly", wherewas 10.30+ stock clouds seem more realistic.   Perhaps if you don't have the rig to handle stock clouds at high quality it might be different.   I'm definitely going to keep an eye on SMP for future developments, and I'm not going to discourage anyone from buying it, as it's a quality product that works very well and I got many hours of happy use out of it.  It just seems less of a must-have to me at the moment than it used to.

Well, it's certainly something we think about Normally you'd want to integrate Triton at a much lower level than what is exposed to add-on developers, and I'm not sure there is a way to disable the existing water effects. I think it would only happen if Laminar licensed Triton and integrated it themselves as part of X-Plane (like P3D did.)

.

Every thing is possible (SMP cloud shadows for example ...)

 

If there will be WaterMaxx it's going to be popular just like SMP , or even more !