Greetings from Switzerland XP10

[jspahn 268]

These are stunning!  Are we looking at XP11 any time soon?  If not, I'll probably get myself a copy of XP10.  These pics do sell!

By my estimations we have 3-5 years of XP10 it could be longer depending on how far we extend it.......

[Murmur 3,940]

Personally, while I see where other simmers are coming from with XP lacking seasons and I feel it's something worthwhile to pursue, if LR do add this feature I hope it can retain the 'instant' dynamic time duration without having to load scenery. Pressing shift K & shift L and watching the time of day whizz forwards and backwards always impresses people when I show them. It's a very unique feature that I fear would be lost if we had seasons and had to re-load new textures each time we wanted to jump from winter to autumn.

 

I agree with you! :smile: As I already said in the past, IMO the best solution for the future is to implement seasons with shaders, instead of texures. This has a lot of advantages (among which it doesn't require textures reload). FlightGear is already using shaders to model autumn and snow cover, and it's already quite good even if the feature is still in experimental stage.

 

These are stunning!  Are we looking at XP11 any time soon?  If not, I'll probably get myself a copy of XP10.  These pics do sell!

 

Given the timeline of past and current releases, it'll be at least two more years before XP11. Possibly three.

 

However, a big update (10.30) with new features and improvements will be released on Q1 2014. Of course, it will be free for current XP10 users.

[uwespeed 497]

I agree with you! :smile: As I already said in the past, IMO the best solution for the future is to implement seasons with shaders, instead of texures. This has a lot of advantages (among which it doesn't require textures reload). FlightGear is already using shaders to model autumn and snow cover, and it's already quite good even if the feature is still in experimental stage.

 

On the other hand, as I pointed out already several times , seasons are implemented in X-Plane since years, although different as the most users would expect.

 

It is correct that you can't SEE seasons. But you will FEEL them, when flying XP.

What???  How? If you forget to turn on the anti-ice switches, you will fall from the sky. And you will have a much longer braking distance due to icy runways. Unortunately this can't bee illustrated in screenshots or videos - but seasons are definitely there ...

 

This is a general "problem" of X-Plane: there are many, many things you can't see in screenshots or videos, thus people believe they are not there - although they are simulated (but don't appear visually). E.g. wake turbulences of the planes flying in front of you (try the air refuel "mission" in XP and you will see what I mean), slipping, ...

At least for me, it is more important having things simulated (even if not visible) than having things which are visible, but not simulated - I'm more the form follows function guy, than function follows form <_<.

 

And some more (in my view) important features in regard of FLYING: http://forum.avsim.n...e/#entry2704551

 

Remark: of course there's nothing wrong with seasons also being visible ...

 

Apart from the above written: the screenshots are very impressive ...

 

EDIT

@hollow1slo: it seems you haven't installed the Europe library yet. It replaces the buildings with more european looking ones.

[Murmur 3,940]

On the other hand, as I pointed out already several times , seasons are implemented in X-Plane since years, although different as the most users would expect.

 

You know, in order to sell a product you have to give users what they expect. Insisting on the fact that seasons effects are simulated is useless at this point of X-Plane development and adoption. It's obvious that it's the feature most requested by potential users.

 

Bottom line, you won't convince potential users to buy X-Plane saying that seasons are there even if they are invisible. You convince them by making seasons visible. :smile:

[uwespeed 497]

You know, in order to sell a product you have to give users what they expect. Insisting on the fact that seasons effects are simulated is useless at this point of X-Plane development and adoption. It's obvious that it's the feature most requested by potential users.

 

Bottom line, you won't convince potential users to buy X-Plane saying that seasons are there even if they are invisible. You convince them by making seasons visible. :smile:

 

Yes ... I know ... although it's somewhat a pity. People are very often judging a product on "how it looks" and not "what is inside".

They like more sucking on colourful and very sweet candy although it's not this good to their teeth and their weight  :lol:  compared to a cough sweet which has the healthier ingredients.

EDIT: Or, to put it differently - if something LOOKS realistic, it is not necessarily realistic (for the "as real as it get's" fans ...)

 

But we are getting off topic ...

[jspahn 268]

Yes ... I know ... although it's somewhat a pity. People are very often judging a product on "how it looks" and not "what is inside".

They like more sucking on colourful and very sweet candy although it's not this good to their teeth and their weight  :lol:  compared to a cough sweet which has the healthier ingredients.

EDIT: Or, to put it differently - if something LOOKS realistic, it is not necessarily realistic (for the "as real as it get's" fans ...)

 

But we are getting off topic ...

You need to combine both in order to gain the WoW factor as we call it here.  I understand what you are saying as far as atmospheric conditions and all but if it doesn't look the part the right conditions haven't been realized......

 

Now with that being said there is someone out there working on it as we speak....

[skully 1,045]

That second and fifth shot are incredible!

Do you know what the time of day and date in the sim was?

Whatever it was it sure brings out the best in XP10's lighting and sun angles etc..

I've not seen any pics of XP10 like this. I may have to look into purchasing it.

 

More! :lol:

[Dillon 2,197]

I must say these are the best XP10 shots I've seen.  Shot 2 looks amazing.

[Noel 4,483]

 

 

I made a switch to XP10 and I`m not looking back.

Your post has me downloading the demo just to finally see for myself.  

[hollow1slo 246]

Thank you guys. Uwespeed, thanks for the link.

 

The funny thing is that these are actually my first shots, and I didn`t even care much about lighting, shades, clouds etc.

I just thought It looked fine and took a couple of them. But as I sad before, you don`t have to look for the sweet spots around too much, as the currently available addons simply do it for you.

That second and fifth shot are incredible!

Do you know what the time of day and date in the sim was?

Whatever it was it sure brings out the best in XP10's lighting and sun angles etc..

I've not seen any pics of XP10 like this. I may have to look into purchasing it.

 

More! :lol:

How do you like these?

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/428500-and-some-more-from-nice-france/

 

The shots were taken in December, at approx. 15:00 LOC. A big plus for XP10 is that the time of day selection doesn`t reload the whole sim all again, so you can basicaly do it  on the fly.

[uwespeed 497]

To make it clear and avoid misunderstandings - I said:

 

Remark: of course there's nothing wrong with seasons also being visible ...

 

Regarding the WOW effect: I (very) often have seen postings like "Oohh, this looks impressive, I must have it ..." - with the implication "This is also simulated? Who cares?" (I have never seen a question if it is also simulated).

But isn't the primary task of a simulator to simulate something and secondary to show it also visually, rather than first have it implemented visually and second (if at all) simulated? Otherwise it would be not more than a game.

 

In other words: what is realism in a simulator? When it looks (more or less) realistic or when it's simulated (more or less) realistic? Of course both :rolleyes: ... but if you have to choose what to implement first ...

 

Well ... and as we know, there is somebody working on seasonal textures. Hooray :yahoo: .

 

 

By the way - but, shhhh :smile: : there are already two not very well known solutions - although not perfect and need some work by the user:

1. Simple Season
2. Simultools

[skully 1,045]

That second photo could very well be " The Photo That Shook The FS World!"

[Noel 4,483]

I installed the XP10 and the first thing that was apparent was a frame rate of 17 w/ all effects checked to be on.  What is recommended to start w/ to regain excellent performance can I ask?  Wrong forum but...

[uwespeed 497]

The disease commonly known as "maxing everything out" :lol:. If you were a racing driver trying to take the corner at max. speed at the first attempt, too see if it works, you were dead :Skull: . In a flight simulator, fortunately you only have low fps ... but are still alive ...

 

The best would be to try driving slower, or in this case setting the rendering options to, say, medium and pushing them up to your liking one by one to see the effects.

Nevertheless, some hints: big framerate hogs are "world detail distance", shadow detail, clouds need not be 100% (and using SkyMaxx also helps a lot - payware though) and of course HDR.

 

Also not a bad idea: posting a screenshot of your rendering options, to see how much VRAM is used.

[Murmur 3,940]

I installed the XP10 and the first thing that was apparent was a frame rate of 17 w/ all effects checked to be on.  What is recommended to start w/ to regain excellent performance can I ask?  Wrong forum but...

 

The correct procedure would be to start with all the settings at the lowest (in the rendering options, there's a button called "set all rendering options for maximum speed" for that) and then work your way up from there.

 

In your case, since you have a pretty powerful PC, as a baseline you can start putting EVERY ITEM CHECKED AND EVERY SLIDER TO THE MAX, EXCEPT:

 

.) "number of trees", "number of objects", "number of roads", "number of cars", "world detail distance", "airport detail", "shadow detail" and "water reflection detail" to their lowest setting (usually it's "none");

 

.) "Cloud detail" to lowest (10%) and antialiasing to "none";

 

.) No AI aircrafts.

 

Exit and restart X-Plane.

 

From there, you can work your way up, first increasing those options that affect the CPU, then those that affect the GPU (so you can have a balanced setting and not be bottleneked by either of the two). Set max visibility and heavy cloud coverage, then put the aircraft in a place with lots of roads, lots of trees and large water bodies (the most demanding situation).

 

STEP 1) Increase one by one the "number of trees", "number of objects", "number of roads" and "airport detail", and observe how each of them impacts FPS. You should settle with settings that leaves a good reserve of FPS that you will "use" for the step 2;

 

STEP 2) Increase, one by one and very carefully, the "world detail distance", "shadow detail" and "water reflection detail". Those 3 settings can have a BIG impact on the FPS, so you want to find a good balance for them. Keep in mind you won't be able to max all the three and have high FPS, but it's not necessary either. Low/med settings are more than enough for good visual results, and you'll keep good FPS. My advice is: "world detail distance" to "low"; "shadow detail" to "3d on aircraft"; "water reflection detail" to "medium". At the end of this step, you should have reached your FPS target.

 

STEP 3) Move on to the settings impacting the GPU; increase the "Cloud detail" and "Antialiasing" level until your FPS begin to decrease. At that point, you mean you reached a GPU bottleneck. Take the settings a step back to regain your FPS target, and then you should be done.

 

:smile:

 

EDIT: Some tips from developers:

 

http://developer.x-plane.com/2011/12/tips-for-better-frame-rates-pt-1/

 

http://developer.x-plane.com/2007/04/cpu-or-gpu/

 

http://developer.x-plane.com/2010/01/to-tune-framerate-you-have-to-hit-rock-bottom/