Rudolph the red nosed.....Airbus?

[jonkjon1959 1]

Has anyone seen this on their QPAC A320? I just saw it tonight flying into KRIC.....It's really much more noticeable at different angles and at night it's really bright. I tried different liveries too and it is still there.

 

[jcomm 5,930]

I believe it might be related to the strobe light effects.

 

You've probably noticed the strobe lights have an option for effects inside or only outside of the cockpit. In fact, I always have them on, even when selected  off in the MCDU QPAC Menu.

[GlidingKiwi 2]

Hi Jonkjon!

 

Congratulations, you are the first one to find the reason, why I demoted the version from "final" to Beta 4 only. I was surprised, that a good 2 weeks since the release of beta 4, nobody else complained about this yet. When I found it first, I gave it the same name btw; in my "outstanding work" list, it runs under the "rudolph"-bug.

 

Unfortunately, this bug is very difficult to analyse and fix, which is why I left it in for the beta 4. I tested beta 4 on 9 (!) different platforms ((Win/Mac/Lin) X (XP9, XP10 32 bit, XP10 64 bit)), and it only occured on one so far, and it does not occur in a repeatable fashion either.

 

We do not even know if it is our plugin causing this, the "external lights object" that we added for beta 4 or the aircraft file itself. And due to the lack of repeatability of this bug, it is very hard to pinpoint the culprit. (I can try the exactly same configuration 5 times and I get the bug only 2 times out of the 5)

 

You can help us by giving us details of your computer configuration (OS, exact X-plane version, time of day when this occured and position of all the external light switches at time of occurence.)

 

Fortunately, this bug is really a simple nuisance that does not inhibit you from flying; so while we are working on it, it is not something that needs solving by tomorrow.

 

Thanks for pointing this out,

 

GK

[jonkjon1959 1]

Hi Jonkjon!

 

Congratulations, you are the first one to find the reason, why I demoted the version from "final" to Beta 4 only. I was surprised, that a good 2 weeks since the release of beta 4, nobody else complained about this yet. When I found it first, I gave it the same name btw; in my "outstanding work" list, it runs under the "rudolph"-bug.

 

Unfortunately, this bug is very difficult to analyse and fix, which is why I left it in for the beta 4. I tested beta 4 on 9 (!) different platforms ((Win/Mac/Lin) X (XP9, XP10 32 bit, XP10 64 bit)), and it only occured on one so far, and it does not occur in a repeatable fashion either.

 

We do not even know if it is our plugin causing this, the "external lights object" that we added for beta 4 or the aircraft file itself. And due to the lack of repeatability of this bug, it is very hard to pinpoint the culprit. (I can try the exactly same configuration 5 times and I get the bug only 2 times out of the 5)

 

You can help us by giving us details of your computer configuration (OS, exact X-plane version, time of day when this occured and position of all the external light switches at time of occurence.)

 

Fortunately, this bug is really a simple nuisance that does not inhibit you from flying; so while we are working on it, it is not something that needs solving by tomorrow.

 

Thanks for pointing this out,

 

GK

You are right that this is really a simple nuisance. I believe I have found the trigger for this, at least in my case. It is reproducible if I load the AC with the "always track date and time" option unchecked and choose the sunset frame. I have the plane situated on RWY 16 at KRIC. It doesn't seem to matter where my external light switches are positioned. If I load the plane in the daylight, this doesn't occur unless I transition into sunset. If I load the plane at night it doesn't occur. Once it does occur, however, the only way to get rid of it is to reload the plane with a time that is well after/before sunset. All of these scenarios occur with HDR "off".

 

I have also tried changing AA settings as well as global shadows and they don't seem to have any affect. 

 

You can simulate this by changing the date and time setting to "19:00 locl 00:00 zulu" with the date set to Jun 30 ( i assume that is the default date) with 0 hrs GMT correction and then go to "Aircraft >> Open Aircraft >> Open Aircraft" (to reopen A320 since presumably you'll already have it open) Afterwards, making sure HDR is off, you should see the light....(no pun intended).

 

In the MCDU menu options: Ovrd xp start=no, ILS align=no, cold start = external power on, NWS with AIL =auto, strobe flash= only outside.

 

XP is set to start with the engines running.

 

I have subsequently noticed that if I change the option to overide XP to yes, and have the plane load cold and dark, the light doesn't appear.

 

Here is the information you requested. I hope it is helpful......

 

xplane 10.25 64 bit

Processor:i7 3770k

Processor Cores:4

Processor Speed:4.2ghz

RAM:16 GB

Video Board Manufacturer:nVidia

nVidia Driver Version 332.21

Video Board Model:GTX 770

Video Memory:4 GB

Mother Board:ASUS P8Z77-V Pro

Hard Drives:Intel 256 GB SSD - WD Velociraptor 500GB

Operating System:Windows 8.1

System Time 8:25 PM 1/18/2014

 

Airport KRIC RWY 16

Date And Time Setting: 19:00 locl 00:00 zulu O Hrs GMT 

[GlidingKiwi 2]

Thanks!

 

That about the most detailled bug report I have seen in a while. So, my assumption that it might be limited to Mac (that's the only system where I encountered it) is wrong - it does happen on windows too...

 

I might have to ask Ben Supnik if he has any idea what causes this; could be weird combination of things between us and x-plane...

 

Thanks again,

 

GK

[jonkjon1959 1]

Thank you for making this great AC!! I have enjoyed it immensely. You are certainly welcome for the info and I'll be glad to provide whatever I can. Thanks again.....

 

Jon

[jcomm 5,930]

Yes, the fact that this aircraft does not yet have a 3d cockpit should really be no reason to miss the opportunity of using what I really consider to be the best FBW model available for X-Plane 10, together with Peter's A320/21 fleet.

 

For me the QPAC goes a few steps further in providing already features that are really unique, like the separate AP simulation on the FMGS, some graphic features of the ND, the possibility to have popup FPD and ND / pedestal displays ( I miss Peter's MCDU popup here, but at 1600x900 I can read the MCDU... ). And that "jump to next waypoint", with calculation of consumptions, etc.., is yet another great feature.

 

The systems simulation, starting in the ADIRs and going through the electrical, hydrauclics, etc, are very well done too, and with the next two versions, IMO, this aircraft will be on pair in the iXEG 737 in terms of a true Airbus simulation and even training software.

 

I believe a 3D cockpit is planned, but honestly, for me, I couldn't care less about it - I'm looking forward for the 2nd B747-400 simulator of my life, Aerowinx PSX, and it will be, just as PS1, 2D!, and to give yet another good example, ELITE, while it has 2D panels, I couldn't yet find a simulator capable of replicating the characteristics of prop aircraft like it does!

 

I stongly recommend this QPAC A320, and, together with Peter's A321, these are the two best simulated Airbuses I ever used in any simulation platform, less the CAE one at Air Portugal training center :-)

[GlidingKiwi 2]

Just a quick note from the QPAC development team: A popup MCDU has been agreed to for the basic version and will be provided with one of the next updates. (That should set an end to the strain on your eyes.)

 

Also, we are compatible with AirFMC which allows to have the MCDU on an iPad for much more convenient MCDU access.

 

Regards,

 

GK