I find it interesting that some folks are eager to point out FlightGear's deficiencies without offering any help to fix them...

 

You could help supply better cloud textures for instance.

 

But I‘m not interested in developing clouds and seem to spend too much time correcting deficiencies in my own work!

 

mgh: Right-clicking and hitting "Open With" is something any experienced Windows user will automatically do if they suspect the file is a text file that doesn't happen to follow a 30 year old naming convention.

 

That’s just what i did.. The reason the "30 year old naming convention" has lasted so long is because it’s very convenient – one click instead of several.

The reason the "30 year old naming convention" has lasted so long is because it’s very convenient – one click instead of several.

 

The Unix naming convention is at least 10 years older than that, and the general train of thought is, "Who cares what those DOS weenies/Windows noobs think? Developers should broaden their horizons.

 

And it's TWO clicks, not several.

 

I never cared for the 8.3 naming convention anyway.

 

Hook

i'd agree ther

and the general train of thought is, "Who cares what those DOS weenies/Windows noobs think?

 

I agree there's a "Real developers don't use Windows" attitude.

 

It's more than two clicks if tyou don't already know which application will open the file.

Not really. there’s no indication whether the latrest version of FlightGear is 32 or 64-bit. "Force 32 bit install on 64 bit systems" is checked which with most installers means it the default/preferred/recommended option. Also, if it’s left checked FlightGear fails to install, even on a 64-bit system.

 

I've never noticed this option when installing FG 2.10 on Windows. And it installs just fine.

 

 

The FlightGear developers are disadvantaged and we should make allowances if FlightGear isn’t up to standard because its developers are disavantaged?

 

The sublime "This isn't better that that." attitude is what's disturbing me.

If you find bugs in FG, report them.

If you say what area could be improved and *how* it could be improved, make a suggestion to the core developers.

 

But if you prefer FSX over FG, keep it to yourself. Just like one does with freeware planes.

 

 

 

I ran the video again with an eye on the plane, and the shadowing on the plane does look good. I like flying from spot view a lot in FSX. I'll have to try that with FlightGear tonight.

 

As I can't run Rembrandt and thus verify this, I can't guarantee that this feature is in the official release though.

 

Glad someone still uses Soft Horizons. I don't get much feedback anymore on it--a lot of payware add-ons overshadow it these days.

 

Don't worry, it's free, so it's my #1 choice.

 

FlightGear's greatest potential, I think, is that it performs pretty well out of the box, with every option maxed. One does have to take the time to dig through the configuration options since by default they don't show the sim at their best. Water especially, can be vastly improved by moving its slider to the right and I did not see any hint of a performance penalty.

 

Well, FG and FSX are rather demandin on the hardware

 

I'm going to check out some of the other add-on aircraft that I've been alerted to, but its a pity there are not many GA options.

 

The default Piper Seneca and C172 have a nice and fully functional cockpit.

Everything else will have to be developed and/or improved.

 

Fortunately, since FG is GPL, you can simply muck around with any models in the official repository without extensively asking for permission.

New panel texture? Upload it into the repository.

Modified flight dynamics? Upload it into the repository.

 

 

I think the cloud textures in FlightGear are finely done. How to make them a bit more transparent or "wispy" looking I couldn't possibly understand without knowledge of the coding, which is done with a language I don't use (All my programs I've distributed are VB--just about anyone can create VB programs with no formal training, like I have).

 

The clouds themselves are textures, just like in MSFS.

 

Your spot on about use of "open with". However mgh is an experienced user--he's a developer. I found his feedback earnest and out of concern for others who might not know what to do. In my case, I don't even use "open with". If I suspect something is a text file meant to be read, I affix a .txt extension to it so I can review it at will with a simple open.

 

If more peculiarities realted to Windows can be found, it might warrant a "FlightGear on Windows" article in the wiki.

 

If I find an area where I can contribute in Flight Gear, I probably will. Since my profession is software testing, I think sifting through the programs for bugs, documenting them, and reporting them back to the developers is what I can do best. I'll certainly try to do that with the most current release.

 

Before reporting bugs, I would look in the forum if a similar observation has been made and then do the same at the official bug tracker before submitting anything new.

https://code.google.com/p/flightgear-bugs/

 

There are many ways to contribute to the project.

Since the core developers are almost exclusively Linux users, power-user level experience and support for Windows is rather neglected. So there would be another construction site.

mgh being an open source project you could help fix the deficiencies you see, such as renaming the text files so they work in both Linux and Windows and maybe crating a wiki page on your experiences for installs on 64 bit Windows?

Went to run FlightGear the other night, and ran into an odd issue. I was flying the Cub. FPS was very smooth looking in the direction of areas with high detail. But looking in the opposite direction where nothing of note was displayed, fps suddenly turned into a slide show. I'd pan away, and everything would be smooth again. It has to be some setting I played with. I am thinking of an uninstall/reinstall.

 

Also to note, given flight dynamics the cub is my favorite so far. Seems worth investing more time with this sim--seeems to be kind of a "learn as you go" and don't mess with more than one setting at a time.

 

John

Went to run FlightGear the other night, and ran into an odd issue. I was flying the Cub. FPS was very smooth looking in the direction of areas with high detail. But looking in the opposite direction where nothing of note was displayed, fps suddenly turned into a slide show. I'd pan away, and everything would be smooth again. It has to be some setting I played with. I am thinking of an uninstall/reinstall.

 

Why would you want to do that?

 

The great thing about FG is that nearly every setting can be activated/deactivated without leaving the simulator.

 

It could be that no-man's land was covered in clouds or using a special shader that dragged down performance for you. Instead of using the "shader quality" slider, you can also use the "custom" button and deactivate shaders one after another to find out what was incurring the performance hit.

 

 

Also, depending on how well FG runs, you can also try to enable Rembrandt. But that has to be done in [FG folder]\preferences.xml (search for <Rembrandt> and replace the "false" with a "true").

[FGFolder]\data\preferences.xml

Why would you want to do that?

 

The great thing about FG is that nearly every setting can be activated/deactivated without leaving the simulator.

 

It could be that no-man's land was covered in clouds or using a special shader that dragged down performance for you. Instead of using the "shader quality" slider, you can also use the "custom" button and deactivate shaders one after another to find out what was incurring the performance hit.

 

 

Also, depending on how well FG runs, you can also try to enable Rembrandt. But that has to be done in [FG folder]\preferences.xml (search for <Rembrandt> and replace the "false" with a "true").

 

I tried working with FlightGear a little while longer but consistently ran into the same issue--fps would go from 30+ to as low as 5 given the view direction. It didn't matter if I lowered shader quality or not. I've decided to give it a rest for now. It has to be something I juggled, because the first night I flew the sim it was fluid in all directions with all the sliders cranked up. I had to have changed something that was best left alone.

 

John

Woah!

http://www.flightgea...=178221#p178200

 

 

 

[FGFolder]\data\preferences.xml

 

Oh, right. Stupid "data" folder.

 

 

I've decided to give it a rest for now.

 

Software testing doesn't work that way.

 

You could try to disable everything and enable optios one by one or do a bisection*.

 

 

*Enable 50% of options. If good, disable them again and enable other 50%. Once the error pops up, disable 50% of the enabled options and see if it's still there. If not, disable the other 50% and test again, etc...

Woah!

http://www.flightgea...=178221#p178200

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, right. Stupid "data" folder.

 

 

 

 

Software testing doesn't work that way.

 

You could try to disable everything and enable optios one by one or do a bisection*.

 

 

*Enable 50% of options. If good, disable them again and enable other 50%. Once the error pops up, disable 50% of the enabled options and see if it's still there. If not, disable the other 50% and test again, etc...

 

Don't want to quit my day job for this testing, so yes, I'm giving it a rest.

Don't want to quit my day job for this testing, so yes, I'm giving it a rest.

 

*Sigh*

*Sigh*

 

I think you took me a bit too seriously! During the work week I decompress when I get home so last thing I want to do is figure out what most likely was a self induced issue. I'll revisit this issue when I have time, which is usually on a Saturday afternoon while my wife and daughter are out shopping in those stores that dudes don't care to visit.

 

John

Also, depending on how well FG runs, you can also try to enable Rembrandt. But that has to be done in [FG folder]\preferences.xml (search for and replace the "false" with a "true").

 

Or if you prefer the command line, you could type (in Linux):

 

fgfs --enable-rembrandt

 

You can probably do something similar in Windows.

I think you took me a bit too seriously! During the work week I decompress when I get home so last thing I want to do is figure out what most likely was a self induced issue. I'll revisit this issue when I have time, which is usually on a Saturday afternoon while my wife and daughter are out shopping in those stores that dudes don't care to visit.

 

In that case, excuse my expression of discontent.

 

I thought you were going to throw the towel for good, which would be just as useful for others having the same problem as exclaiming "I SOLVED IT!" without ever explaining how.

 

 

 

Or if you prefer the command line, you could type (in Linux):

 

fgfs --enable-rembrandt

 

You can probably do something similar in Windows.

 

If you start FG via command line, I think yes.