OpusFSX

[Opus Software 84]

Read our Flight1 forum, the Announcements topic tomorrow (in about 36 hours from now) and you will be reaching for your credit card :-)

 

We will be announcing the immediate development of a MAJOR upgrade to the LWE. Buy it now and save some money!

 

Ask our existing users and they will tell you (or check our Announcements and early General topic posts), we continually develop, improve, enhance, add new features etc. and release every major and minor improvement as an upgrade or a beta. We have been known to post two upgrades in one day - not bug fixes just improvements and additions. This process is ongoing. The improvements are ongoing. The new features are ongoing. The LWE is one of our MAIN feature and this will ALWAYS be improved and WILL be available for networked operation - probably within a month or so. It has always been in our plans.

 

Regards

Stephen

 

I have just edited this post ...

 

I wanted to say, we do not claim our software is perfect, it is not. But it is definitely moving in the right direction. The LWE you will be using around christmas time will be greatly improved, and its already second to none as it is. I've given a hint what we will be doing with the networked 'client-side' LWE. The existing LWE running on the server does not have any impact on the server's performance, but it does have to do all its processing slowly in the backround, a little bit at a time so as not to interfere with FSX. The network LWE will not need FSX installed on its client computer and in such cases will run much faster and ... read my announcement tomorrow :-)

[kevinfirth 1,393]

Hi Stephen,

 

I saw OpusFSX somewhere a few weeks ago and thought it sounded interesting, but passed it over because my primary interest was regarding multi-monitor views. After reading this thread I can see that the support and feedback from you as a developer is first rate, so I wonder if you could clarify a couple of points for me that I'm still not clear about please?

 

a) I recently invested in 3 28" monitors and a Radeon 7960 card in an attempt to get decent framerates with an eyefinity display. Maybe I should have done more research but I was very disappointed with the zoom level that FSX applies to the 5760x1200 resolution I was running, it appears far too much like a letterbox view for me. I usually run single monitor with a zoom of 40 and I wanted to really just widen my viewpoint with extended peripheral vision without changing the zoom. So, when I saw OpusFSX at first I thought it might help me get round this problem, albeit at the cost of running 3x systems! Would I be able to use OpusFSX to create the view I want over 3 rigs? If so, would I need more than one copy of FSX?

 

B) Will the proposed SkyDemon link operate like Plan G, with us being able to follow the flight on the chart? Will that be able to be done on a client as well to reduce processing impact? Have you looked at the new Plan G v3 as well and considered whether support for that could be incorporated?

 

c) How long do you estimate it will be before TrackIR support is completed please? I would NEVER give my trackIR up now :)

 

I'm interested, but critical for me is would it solve my view issue? Then I need to decide if I'm willing to build 2 more rigs to run it properly... :o If it could support Plan G and Track IR as well then I'd be more likely to buy, but I'm unsure at the moment whether it would be beneficial to me, or whether it would just result in me having to buy extra things as well to make use of it :s

 

Cheers

k

[Opus Software 84]

Hi Stephen,

 

I saw OpusFSX somewhere a few weeks ago and thought it sounded interesting, but passed it over because my primary interest was regarding multi-monitor views. After reading this thread I can see that the support and feedback from you as a developer is first rate, so I wonder if you could clarify a couple of points for me that I'm still not clear about please?

 

a) I recently invested in 3 28" monitors and a Radeon 7960 card in an attempt to get decent framerates with an eyefinity display. Maybe I should have done more research but I was very disappointed with the zoom level that FSX applies to the 5760x1200 resolution I was running, it appears far too much like a letterbox view for me. I usually run single monitor with a zoom of 40 and I wanted to really just widen my viewpoint with extended peripheral vision without changing the zoom. So, when I saw OpusFSX at first I thought it might help me get round this problem, albeit at the cost of running 3x systems! Would I be able to use OpusFSX to create the view I want over 3 rigs? If so, would I need more than one copy of FSX?

 

B) Will the proposed SkyDemon link operate like Plan G, with us being able to follow the flight on the chart? Will that be able to be done on a client as well to reduce processing impact? Have you looked at the new Plan G v3 as well and considered whether support for that could be incorporated?

 

c) How long do you estimate it will be before TrackIR support is completed please? I would NEVER give my trackIR up now :)

 

I'm interested, but critical for me is would it solve my view issue? Then I need to decide if I'm willing to build 2 more rigs to run it properly... :o If it could support Plan G and Track IR as well then I'd be more likely to buy, but I'm unsure at the moment whether it would be beneficial to me, or whether it would just result in me having to buy extra things as well to make use of it :s

 

Cheers

k

 

Hi Kevin

 

a.

 

You only need a single copy of OpusFSX and you can hook up as many client systems as you want (well up to about 16 max without the future Live Trafic, or 10 with it).

 

You can of course use OpusFSX to create a default camera view for your 5760x1200 display using your own zoom level if that would help. You could also use OpusFSX to create three views, one main view of your server, and one main view driven off two client systems. You will a bit of tweeking to get the three view lined up, there has been numerous posts and web chat on the difficulties. OpusFSX just provides you with the means to do it and tries to simplify the task of aligning the views that's all.

 

b.

 

SkyDemon will be like PlanG on steroids. It will work just like in the real world and yes OpusFSX will substitute for the GPS and you will be able to track your flight and use the full VFR navigation tools. We will be including the SkyDemon interface very soon, certainly within the next two months. No I have not looked at Plan G v3 but I will. Don't know if any support will be needed though, you could run PlanG on any client system. We keep FSX up to date.

 

Be warned though, just because they are clients, you will benefit by using high spec machines, not as powerful as your server but good none the less.

 

c.

 

Within two weeks, we already have the TrackIR SDK in our pocession. See our Announcements forum later today.

 

All I can say is OpusFSX helps and supports networked systems. We will support SkyDemon, don't know if we need to do anything to support PlanG on a client it will probably work now.

 

Regards

Stephen

[kevinfirth 1,393]

Wow thanks Stephen that was quick!

 

I'm still not absolutely clear though maybe I'm just having a 'thick' day! With a single 1920x1200 display the range of zoom fsx allows me to have is sufficient for me to create a view (0.40) that I am comfortable with, in that I can see out of the front, the main intruments and just sufficient peripheral vision to not feel like I'm looking out through a letterbox from a foot away inside! With the eyefinity 5760x1200 resolution, the range of zoom fsx allows seems to be changed and this is what I didnt expect to happen. The maximum zoom out in that case still feels like much restricted vision, and although in one sense it seems more realistic because the instruments etc appear at a more realistic distance from your eyepoint, that results in the letterbox effect, as in the screenshots :(

 

 

Would OpusFSX allow me to get round this problem and create the same view I get with one screen, but just with peripheral vision and without the letterbox effect please? Or is this something that is hard codced in FSX that I just won;t be able to get round?

What I want to achieve is the following view, but just expanded 100% left and right!

 

 

Cheers

k

[Opus Software 84]

Hi Kevin

 

I don't really know how to answer this one. OpusFSX allows you to create the camera view and adjust the zoom level for that view, the rest os down to FSX or P3D. We do not warp the view or anything like that, just provide you with a set of user-friendly tools to assist you in your quest. We also provide the smoothest updates of the client systems using high-performance IPC links, I typically get 40 to 70 updates per second on my client system(s) over a Gigabit LAN. But of course, FSX is FSX and you still need high spec hardware and lots of RAM and Win7 64-bit etc. etc.

 

My best recommendation would be to buy it now and start playing and conducting tests with your views. If it turns out to be a big mistake (which it won't) then you can get a full refund within 30 days. But we believe you won't be able to find any more user friendly tools anywher to create and manage your views, or align them, but we don't claim to provide a 'warpliser' type feature. You will always have all these user friendly camera control features that can only help, and also you will have the Live View networking support and a great Live Weather Engine to boot. That can only benefit you.

 

Regards

Stephen

[kevinfirth 1,393]

Thanks Stephen, I appreciate your quick replies.

 

My problem still lies with the way FSX creates views with different resolutions I think. My suspicion is that if each copy of FSX generates its own view and those views are then just synced by OpusFSX, I should be able to keep my existing 1920x1200 view and just create another duplicate on each side of it, retaining the look without inducing the letterbox feel that the eyefinity resolution gives me. But, I'll hold off buying until there's some evidence that it will actually do what I want it to rather than base decisions on my own very probably flawed knowledge!! (If it does work I'm then in the market for 2 whole new systems to back it up but I obviously don't want to spend that unless I know it's going to work, and I unfortunately can't test it without having the additional kit!! :P)

 

I use EZCA at the moment and am pretty ok with that, and REX essentials which is ok enough (even if it does induce a performance hit with heavy weather), so it would be just the peripheral vision extension that I'd be really wanting to pay for :D

 

Cheers

k

[Opus Software 84]

Hi Kevin

 

What do I say, I have said it all. FSX is FSX. I think you will be waiting a very long time since FSX is certainly not going to change and we are not going to become a warpliser program.

 

Stephen

[kevinfirth 1,393]

Please don't take my comments the wrong way Stephen, I am not knocking you or the product!

 

To the contrary, on the balance of probabilities I think Opus looks good and might do what I want it to, it's just that I can't afford to risk 1,000s of ££ on the chance, especially with my other half breathing down my neck wanting kitchen gadgets! Put simply the decision is down to whether 3 machines running 3 separate views on 3 separate copies of FSX generate a different combined view to 1 machine running 1 eyefinity view on 1 copy of FSX, and if so whether that view is synced up sufficiently to believably be just one :P I realise that's partly out of the span of control of Opus, which would just manage the syncing of the views, but unless someone can confirm the answer to my view question definitively I'll need a 2nd machine at least to be able to test it (which I dont have at present) So, when I can put a 2nd PC together cheaply enough without generating too much marital discord I will see if I can make it work ;) And in the meantime I'll keep an eye on other developments you're making :)

 

Cheers

k

[boris4356 4]

Wow thanks Stephen that was quick!

 

I'm still not absolutely clear though maybe I'm just having a 'thick' day! With a single 1920x1200 display the range of zoom fsx allows me to have is sufficient for me to create a view (0.40) that I am comfortable with, in that I can see out of the front, the main intruments and just sufficient peripheral vision to not feel like I'm looking out through a letterbox from a foot away inside! With the eyefinity 5760x1200 resolution, the range of zoom fsx allows seems to be changed and this is what I didnt expect to happen. The maximum zoom out in that case still feels like much restricted vision, and although in one sense it seems more realistic because the instruments etc appear at a more realistic distance from your eyepoint, that results in the letterbox effect, as in the screenshots :(

 

 

Would OpusFSX allow me to get round this problem and create the same view I get with one screen, but just with peripheral vision and without the letterbox effect please? Or is this something that is hard codced in FSX that I just won;t be able to get round?

What I want to achieve is the following view, but just expanded 100% left and right!

 

 

Cheers

k

 

Hi Kevin,

 

Have you tried using wideview=false in your FSX.cfg with your eyefinity setup? That may help you achieve what you want.

 

You can achieve any view desired in OpusFSX. The interface is very user friendly. The problem is that FSX does not play nice when you try to have the virtual cockpit stretched on a multi PC networked setup. You can easily setup the VC views with OpusFSX, but they will jump out of alignment when you bank or taxi etc..This is a limitation of FSX, not OpusFSX.

 

You probably would be able to achieve what you want using OpusFSX with eyefinity on a single PC. If you want to go multi PC, you will have to go with 2d views, and use a separate monitor on the server PC for gauges..

 

Bill

[kevinfirth 1,393]

Thanks Bill, I really don't want to go 2D at all, I just want some peripheral vision in my virtual cockpits :) If you think it might sort it using just my one PC and eyefinity I'll give it a go in September and report back....

Cheers

K

[kelvinr 58]

Stephen,

 

I hope you can answer my question. Malwarebytes has detected fsopus.dll as trojan.scar. Can you confirm that this is a false positive (or not)?

[Opus Software 84]

Stephen,

 

I hope you can answer my question. Malwarebytes has detected fsopus.dll as trojan.scar. Can you confirm that this is a false positive (or not)?

 

I can confirm FSOPUS.DLL is a perfectly valid and necessary library. Most definitely a false positive. :smile:

 

Regards

Stephen

[Jean-Paul 167]

Stephen, 2 questions please, sorry if you already answered them before :

 

- Track-Ir, now that you have the SDK, will one be able to adjust the viewpoint in a similar way as with EZCA while using TIR (using keyboard shortcuts ) ?

 

- Weather : one of my biggest gripes with FSX/P3D and third-party weather engines is that FSX only renders the weather immediately around you :

i.e.you fly from A to B and land at C each having different weather conditions (A : scattered, B: clear C: overcast). In FSX, when at B the sky will be clear all around you, with no visible scattered clouds behind you nor overcast in front of you. Is this solved using your "theme" approach ?

[bluepilot76 0]

Jean-Paul Mes

Whilst you wait for a definitive answer I can tell you my experience from a flight earlier. I flew a STAR into Gatwick. I could see the weather matching the METAR at Gatwick (clearish) as I came in from the north around the south and back in from the east (sort of a anti clockwise STAR). Meanwhile I could see banks of low cloud out to the east, somewhere beyond Biggin Hill, there must have been a different weather report from out there but no ATIS' to find out. I swapped my 737 for a Lancair at Gatwick and headed out after the low clouds. I Flew past them, by then I could see there was towering Cumulus out over the English Channel.. so I went and flew around them then landed at Manston, swapped into a GosHawk and flew back to Heathrow, passing the same sequence of weather.

 

In summary it seems to me like when you are at B you can see the weather at A and the weather at C. Which is nice. Also every airfield I have been to has matched the RW METAR in terms of QNH, cloud coverage, wind, ceiling and visibility. I think Temp as well.

[Jean-Paul 167]

So with Opus, weather is visually predictable, not as with FSX where you only find out you enter a thunderstorm area once you are already inside it. If that is the case, well, wow !