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brucek

Two basic questions (XP 10.31)

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I ahve come back to XPX after a hiatus of using P3Dv2, and have a couple of very basic questions that I can't see answers to here or on the web- maybe don;t know how to word the query well enough..... I'm sorry about the basic nature of these questions...

 

1. Controlling turnable knobs on the panel with the mouse. Some knobs have eithet a right semi-circle with a + symbol, of a left semicircle with a - symbol, depending on where the mouse is positioned around the knob- these are easily maniplulated by pressing the mouse left button.

 

OK. But some knobs, for some unknown reason, have both a right and left semicircle around the knob at the same time, and moving the knob appears to be related o clicking and then dragging the mouse... I can make the knobs turn bit it's unpredictable and I can't seem to figure out the relationship between which direction to fdrag the mouse to make a knob turn in a given direction. Is there a tutorial on this somewhere? Any alternatives to struggling with trying to drag the mouse?

 

2. Are cloud shadows on the panel and terrain functional in XPX (10.31)? I always thought they were but I'm not seeing them, unless I'm doing something wrong- I have an add-on that chnages the clouds if that's important (SkyMaxx).

 

Thanks... Bruce.

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Hi Bruce,

 

Question 1...there's help on the way as Carenado are implementing scroll wheel tuning of knobs. Otherwise, large semi-circle + or - signs are click spots and the circle + and - are mouse drag. Drag in the direction you need, + or -. Does that make sense? :lol:

Question 2...you need version 2.1 of SkyMAXX Pro to get the cloud shadows and moving clouds. I believe it's a free upgrade for original purchasers.

 

hope that helps a little

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Hi Bruce,  Yes the knobs to the various controls can be awkward and a bit erratic to control at times. The direction to "CLICK and DRAG" the dials will be different depending on your view angle, and your zoom level in the cockpit. Generally, I have found the more you zoom in, the slower the dials will change. Keeping the knobs centered in your field of view makes things a little easier. Do you use MOUSE VIEW in the Cockpit? if so, you will find that even small subtle changes in your view direction can make a big difference to the ease of manipulating the knobs. It is certainly a feature of X-plane that can be rather trying, particularly if you happen to be in a busier phase of flight. Carenado have released some aircraft to Version 3 that include Scroll Wheel support for manipulating the knobs and from the limited experience I have had with them so far it seems to work very well. If you happen to have some Carenado aircraft for X-plane it would be very worthwhile for you to look into it.  

Regarding cloud shadows, I understand that yes, X-plane 10.31 has cloud shadows. If you have Skymaxx Pro installed it will override the cloud rendering  in X-plane. Skymaxx Pro 2.1 supports cloud shadows but previous versions do not. Since you are not seeing cloud shadows, perhaps you have an earlier version installed? If so, there is a free upgrade to 2.1 available.

You can also try disabling Skymaxx Pro thus handing the rendering responsibilities back to X-plane itself. Hope this helps.

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Thanks Michel and James,

 

Yes, I do have SMP v1, so will go get the free update to v2.1. That explains a lot.....

 

And thanks for the discussion on the knob turning... I will go look at the Corenado v3 planes too.... although I will soon be migrating my XPX to a new Mac, and I'm not sure if they have mouse scroll wheels or not.... maybe I just need more patience :)

 

Thanks for your help, much appreciated.

 

Bruce.

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The beautiful thing with your new Mac Bruce, is that it can adapt just about any scroll wheel mouse if the stock mouse is not what you need/prefer. i personally don't like the stock mice Apple offers. Back OT, I am really starting to enjoy X-Plane these days. Still bounce back and fourth between FSX. Anyway, enjoy!

 

Best, Jeff

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Hi Jeff,

 

Thanks, that's interesting, I never knew that Macs were flexible with different mice....

 

I was using XPX until "Santa" got me P3D late last year, and have been using that until recently, prompted mainly by the new Mac.... I fired up XPX again last weekend after updating to v3.1, it loaded the default C172 at night at one of the enhanced airports in the sim, and the lighting effects were amazing- as was the immersion of flight. So, I'm planning addons....

 

Thanks, Bruce.

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No problem Bruce, glad to help.

I actually work on both  2009  and 2011 imacs for work related stuff. My flight sim was on my 2009 imac until i built a new PC 2 years ago now. I am most certain, just about any mouse should work. I use a logitech wireless with scroll wheel and have also used the Microsoft optical mouse. Best of luck to you. :-)

 

Best, Jeff

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Thanks Jeff...  I will certainly be trying a mouse with a scroll wheel, I use that wheel almost subconciously when scrolling.  My current "Mac" mouse does not have one of course, and getting scroll bars on a window seems to be a tyrick that I still have to learn with Macs too...  :)

 

Thanks,  Bruce.

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.......Regarding cloud shadows, I understand that yes, X-plane 10.31 has cloud shadows. If you have Skymaxx Pro installed it will override the cloud rendering  in X-plane. Skymaxx Pro 2.1 supports cloud shadows but previous versions do not. Since you are not seeing cloud shadows, perhaps you have an earlier version installed? If so, there is a free upgrade to 2.1 available.

You can also try disabling Skymaxx Pro thus handing the rendering responsibilities back to X-plane itself. ......

 

 

I have just downloaded and updated SMP to v2.1 (was v1.x before).  I now see cloud shadows in the water while flying under a scattered sky, they look quite cool.  I was flying the C172S (stock version),  however did not notice the same shadows on the aircraft panel.  It may just be done differently to P3D and not so pronounced, also may be the time of day and the actual clouds at the time-  I only had time to try it with the new Sky Maxx Pro v2.1 for a few minutes.......  Is there something else that I am missing?

 

I must say the the new clouds are awesome, and flying the C172 into a landing is so immersive and realistic (I have several hundred hours in the RL aircraft).

 

 

Thanks for any answers (so many questions.... )

 

Bruce.

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I was flying the C172S (stock version), however did not notice the same shadows on the aircraft panel.

 

Hi Bruce,

 

Did you set up shadows in the rendering options? I ask because you should be getting cockpit shadows and they're very well done.

 

cheers

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Thanks Michel.

 

My bad- I should have updated this post of mine later-  I later googled the topic and got a link to the "rendering" portion of the XPX manual.  I read there that there may be settings I need to enable to get the cloud shadows as I expected them to be... I'll try that tonight.

 

Thanks for your reply,  Bruce.

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Hi Bruce,

 

glad to see you back! It was kind of a return for me too, very recently, after having had the chance to use, for the first time, aircraft models ( prop aircraft ) fine tuned with the new datarefs made available for version 10.30.

 

X-Plane 10, although many users are probably unaware, and some developers conservative in their words, is for me a new flight simulator. It's like Austin announced XP11 as an evolution from XP10 based primarily on a fix to those awful prop effects on roll.

 

I have spent some time tweaking the default prop GAs myself, using the technique Dan Klaue introduced for the first time in the Carenado Cessna C185 and will most probably extend to the rest of the Carenado fleet.

 

Together with the much smoother ride that the latest versions are offering too, and the incredible effects made possible by SkyMaxx v2.1, X-Plane 10 is now at it's maturity in terms of flight dynamics and weather rendering.

 

Can it get better - certainly it can, just like any other sim, but what we have now is considerably superior to the first version being released more than 1.5 yrs ago.


Main Simulation Rig:

Ryzen 5600x, 32GB RAM, Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti, 1 TB & 500 GB M.2 nvme drives, Win11.

Glider pilot since October 1980...

Avid simmer since 1992...

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Thanks comm-  I'm enjoying XPX……  the flight models in planes that I have actually flown in RL is amazing…..  and now that I am getting deeper into the world of add-ons, most of which provide huge enhancements to the base sim, the "eye-candy" and immersion is becoming progressively more appealing.  

 

Something I have noted is the color palette not a criticism but more a question…  the lack of color seems to be a gray color, and some things that are not specifically colored otherwise seems to default to this- like he buildings at airports…  I;m curious as to why that is so.

 

Thanks, Bruce.

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You're right about the shadows being well done,  Michel.....  awesome.  !!

 

Bruce.

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