Hi everyone,

 

very happy with 10.40 so far myself. Obviously the increased visibility is the most obvious new feature and I love it!

 

I am also happy to see so many new airports included - I know that opinions on the lego-brick airports vary, but they are better than nothing. And if you look at what a dedicated designer can do with the current set... well, it´s not too bad, I think. Go to see the new EDDN, made by Beda, it is really top-notch!

 

I am also happy to report that with the current beta, almost all airports of former "West Germany" are now present as custom 3D airports (we are working on the remaining 5 or so in Bavaria that didn´t make the cutoff date). I invite you to take the GA plane of your choice and do some small-airfield-hopping in southern Germany (start at EDMF Fürstenzell and work your way west-southwest). With the Alps looming to the south and the blue-white sky of Bavaria above you X-Plane is at it´s best.

 

Here is a map of the current global airports:

 

You can stop by for a coffee or Bratwurst and chat with the locals at every airport you can see on the map - and then a few more (just check your local map in X-Plane).

 

I have also started to add helicopter landing sites in Germany - a fairly complete area is Hessen (North of EDDF). Many hospitals in that area have helicopter landing pads and I added custom buildings and scenery for quite a few of those.

 

I have also visited some of the airports other designers did, and I am generally very impressed with the quality. If you have a remark about a "global" airport you see, you can always give feedback at the scenery gateway by selecting the airport, and then leaving a comment. Here is an example for EDMF: http://gateway.x-plane.com/scenery/page/EDMF

 

I am also happy to see that there is so much enthusiasm about 10.40 on this forum - there is barely any discussion about it on that "other" forum, and I wonder why?

 

Happy flying, Jan

353.06

Do you notice any pauses with this driver? I had to revert to an earlier driver because they were so noticeable. My GPU is a GTX 770 4gb.

Hmmm.  I was away from the computer for a couple of days and my download went straight to the 10.40b2 version.  Never got 10.40b1.  No matter.  I had a terrible framerate on first loading (as several others have reported).  I shut it down and checked the log.txt file since I had installed some Custom  Scenery in the meantime since the last flight.  Didn't find anything other than the usual errors for taxi signs and such, so reloaded and it seems to be back to same old framerates even with DSF enabled.  Strange comments about "self-healing."  Serious testing later today is planned.

 

i7-4790K @ 5.0GHz, 32GB RAM, GTX980. 

I've the first beta installed and finally got some time over to make a flight. Performance seems to be about the same as before for me, and the extended DSF is just amazing. Relly enjoying the view now from FL350, flying into a sunset. 

Do you notice any pauses with this driver? I had to revert to an earlier driver because they were so noticeable. My GPU is a GTX 770 4gb.

I had to drop back.  Same symptoms that you noticed and same GPU.

 

John

I flew two short flights yesterday - both in the U.S. using HD mesh and DSF turned on.  I have not seen any framerate decrease.  In addition, there have been no "hitches" as tiles load which was occasionally noticed before.  Distance visibility is fantastic.  I'm still on older nVidia drivers under Win 8.1 and I have a LOT of RAM to load those DSF files.

So it looks like 10.40 will be the first X-Plane version in a while that will get me to re-install and fly around, despite being very early beta.

 

I'm not sure if I'll be able to get to the installation tonight, so I'd like to ask one of the intrepid testers the following:

 

On earlier versions, highway lights had a very noticeable cutoff as they got further out. Nighttime flying, while beautiful close-up, was a bit distracting with highways just stopping some distance away from the airplane. With the extended DSF feature turned on, are nighttime highway lights now extending further towards the horizon?

 

Thanks,

-Greg

Do you notice any pauses with this driver? I had to revert to an earlier driver because they were so noticeable. My GPU is a GTX 770 4gb.

That is really weird, because I had a decrease in FPS with new drivers but above all stutters/freezes and I had to revert back to 337.88 which is still the best version for me.

 

I've been complaining about 10.40 but in the end I've found that the guilty was the new nvidia drivers.

Now I see that you have the same video card as mine, quite curious and disappointing as I cannot upgrade to new drivers: I wonder if we shoulf file a bug to LR

I really don't get this...not really;

 

Beta XP40b1 comes out. I download like I always do. I install, defrag, and reboot system.

 

I run it. I lose at least 50 percent in FPS, of any normal scenery that I have run/enjoyed in v.36

---------------------------------------------------------------------

 

I re-download .40b1, install, defrag, reboot system.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------

 

I run it again...and all my FPS performance (and in fact, even great FPS potenial!) is once again in play.

 

Both times, the posted settings shown here, were in play...no different settings for lousy FPS, and stellar FPS.

 

 

Go figure...., and on another note...what a PLEASURE, to run marine-flight simulations now in this sim!   No more gun it...and take off from the water body. This sim...now lets you know there is DRAG upon those pontoons...and you'd better be around 65 knots with one or two notch's of flaps, before the Carenado Skywagon 185 will even THINK about leaving water drops behind...it cranks the immersion level way up there. In FSX:MS and P3D v2.4....it really doesn't matter the wind direction...or wave action...or whether the pontoons are wide-body or not...just crank the engine..and eventually, you will rotate.

 

It was exactly the same in XP, prior to .40b1.  Get 'er done...and you rotate.

 

NOW...waves, and water roughness plays BIG,... in if you are even going to successfully rotate...or become a case for coast guard extraction. I taxi'ed out of PAJN...and headed out, disregarding water/weather, wind conditions for a .36---->.40b1 water-takeoff...

 

I brought the prop up....had the right flap configuration...and all I did...was blast across the waves...almost lost control...had to back down...and no generation of knots, close enough to gain rotation lift. What a blast, for reality!  I then (properly!) then turned around into the wind (in MS or P3D...sorry, you can 'bully' and B.S. your way into the air...no water drag, or actual reality of lift generation....nope....can do it any time I want...no matter what...) and started my run. The waves were stronger...as I was coming against them...wow...and I saw my knots build stronger...and over a longer run down the bay...finally felt the lift, and I rotated. This is new....very new...and so very welcome!

 

So...there are glaring differences between the .3x series (DSF Extended) and not so glaring tweaks and twacks (proper dynamic and physics for water/hull/pontoon interaction, but now there.... between the two series...and opening our arms, to the .4x series coming from Laminar. 

 

In this shot...I am about to go under a road-way bridge over an ismus on the lake, and wind is pushing me, crab-leg...with a constant need to correct my course. Folks...there truly now is WATER...below your pontoons...and it is totally affecting your ride....  Beautiful....absolutely, beautiful....thanks Ben....beautiful!  Oh, and Ben,...if you are reading this..and say to yourself..."well, I/we didn't actually target water"...what I will say back to you...is by goofing around with coding on something else, then...you inadvertently, corrected one huge bug (water/hull literal bouncing into the air off the water) and other physics for water interaction. I know...for I am a marine flyer...in a big way...whether in your XP...or both MS franchises. The difference now is day/night between yours and the MS franchise...when water is in the mix....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So it looks like 10.40 will be the first X-Plane version in a while that will get me to re-install and fly around, despite being very early beta.

 

I'm not sure if I'll be able to get to the installation tonight, so I'd like to ask one of the intrepid testers the following:

 

On earlier versions, highway lights had a very noticeable cutoff as they got further out. Nighttime flying, while beautiful close-up, was a bit distracting with highways just stopping some distance away from the airplane. With the extended DSF feature turned on, are nighttime highway lights now extending further towards the horizon?

 

Thanks,

-Greg

 

I asked that in the blog , and the answer is no.

But Ben said that he'll have to look at it this if it's some coding stuff or just something that he might change in the settings.

I hope he'll look at it in 10.40.

It's not a bug or something , it's something from the 32bit only days.

That is really weird, because I had a decrease in FPS with new drivers but above all stutters/freezes and I had to revert back to 337.88 which is still the best version for me.

 

I've been complaining about 10.40 but in the end I've found that the guilty was the new nvidia drivers.

Now I see that you have the same video card as mine, quite curious and disappointing as I cannot upgrade to new drivers: I wonder if we shoulf file a bug to LR

It's funny because I got better frame rates with the new driver but I also got the pauses. I wonder why this card has a problem?

 

 

I asked that in the blog , and the answer is no.

 

Thanks for the follow up!

smooth so far

Sounds nice..

I wonder how SMP3 (seems like brinigng some nice features for IFR flying) + 10.40 weather will be..

 

Did you test only in the US or in Europe also?

 

I hope I'll get some time testing this in the weekend.

Sounds nice..

I wonder how SMP3 (seems like brinigng some nice features for IFR flying) + 10.40 weather will be..

 

Did you test only in the US or in Europe also?

 

I hope I'll get some time testing this in the weekend.

 

 

tested US only, winds change direction and intensity while climbing/descending at different FLs as supposed to be in real life. Very dynamic. Transitions are very smooth, seems XP is interpolating, the aircraft doesn't shake violently as in the past.

 

I only did a few flights yet but liking a lot this improvement.

Like a lot of users, I had a massive fps drop - around 30%. Takes me under 20 fps so it had to be removed as unflyable.

 

I am using older NVidia drivers, so suspect that is not the issue in my case. I am watching the betas - hopefully the next one or two will fix the problem.