FEATURE REQUEST: don't save position with Static camera

[Guest]

Hey Keven,

Is it possible to have an option to NOT save the camera position for Static Presets?  I like to setup static camera's for a specific task where there current position is not relevant ... for example I want a static camera that moves slowly, but has a rapid pan.  Or a static camera moves quickly but a slow pan.  But I do NOT want to save location data with the camera ... say for example I want move to an location quickly at a large airport to get the perfect shot, but once I'm at that location I want to switch the camera to a much slower speed/motion.  I can't do this with Preset because I'll be relocated.

On a side note, is there anyway to reduce the texture z-fighting via ClipMode setting in the various CameraDefinitions you create?  I get a lot of z-fighting which I think is attributed to your ClipMode settings.

Cheers, Rob.

[Keven Menard 658]

Hey Rob!

When you save Static Cameras, they come with their own camera speed and inertia settings. We can't really get away from that sadly.

What you can do is right-click on a slider and make it default. When you go in Static mode (without selecting a saved camera), the sliders will default to that new value.

From what I understand, the only disadvantage I can see for you is that you can only set 1 default with this method.

Edit: For the z-fighting, that's a very hard battle to win because there is always a compromise. You can safely change it in the cameras.cfg file

[Guest]

Thanks Keven, I'll experiment with ClipMode.

I seem to be having long frame issues (stutters) when I'm in any ChasePlane views (cockpit and outside and static) ... if I switch back to a standard views, then the stutters go away.  The odd part is that the stutters appear more frequently when I use a very slow speed (pan or move 0.18-0.28), if I increase the speed it's actually smoother and less stutters.

I seem to recall Pete (aka Froogle) was having a similar issue with CP but found a cure I think from you?  Do you happen to recall?

Great product BTW, really has some very impressive features ... I've just recently started using CP so it's all new to me, but like it a lot.

Cheers, Rob.

[Keven Menard 658]

It's possible and varies a lot on various systems. Is the sim having long frames or is it the camera movement skipping a beat?

[Guest]

Camera movement skipping a beat.  Not seeing any long frames.  I run 30hz with vsync on and triple buffer, I'll try target 30 FPS with vsync and see if it's any different.  I'll also try 60hz and target 30 fps and report back.

cheers, Rob

[Keven Menard 658]

Data is being pushed to the sim at 250Hz through SImConnect. Do you have other add-ons using SImConnect at the same time?

Another possible thing is Game Mode in Windows. Make sure it's turned off

[Guest]

Hi Keven,

Thanks for response, yes I do have several other products connected via SimConnect (HiFi, FSUIPC/WideClient, GoFlight/GIT, etc. etc. ... just about every add-on I have from aircraft to airport uses SimConnect in one form or another).  I'll trying disabling those that I can disable and see if that helps ... but I suspect you're on the right track as it very well could be SimConnect related ... is CP using legacy SimConnect or P3D V4 built in version?  (I think you know why I'm asking per LM update).  I have noticed that CP will sometimes quickly disconnect/connect (Red/Green) as if it's having a hard time maintaining connection, and I know LM recently fixed some legacy SimConnect issues.

As far as "Windows Game Mode" ... wow, never even realized that existed in Windows 10 Creators ... I'll try with it ON/OFF and see ... it currently is ON along with other Game options that I'll turn OFF.  Thanks for this tip!

Cheers, Rob.

[Keven Menard 658]

We are using the Legacy SimConnect for now (Because FSX) but we will be using the native P3D SimConnect for P3D connections at some point in the future.

If you have the connect/disconnect issue, generate a Report file from the Preferences and send it to us via email. We would be interested to look at it!

Thanks Rob!

Regards,
Keven

[Guest]

Hi Keven,

I made a little progress:

1.  Windows Game Mode On/Off, no difference
2.  Disabled many products using SimConnect, no difference
3.  Disabled a few background tasks that shouldn't have been running (Intel Accelerated Storage Manager), no difference
4.  Made a few tweaks in my Prepar3d.cgf, no difference
5.  Dropped AA from 4XSSAA to 2XSSAA and bingo, problem solved

Not sure why, I didn't think there would be any relationship between AA level and CP?  I did notice that my FPS monitoring tool tried to display in the CP main UI.

I'm still working on z-fighting issues in CP, going to experiment per LM:

Quote

In the Sim.cfg or Camera.cfg add or adjust the following:
NearClipOverride=0.075
    Other values 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 5.0

Adjust the NearClipOverride on the Avatar objects camera, inside it's sim.cfg file. Should be inside SimObjects/Avatars folder. 
The defaults currently have "NearClipOverride=0.075" you may want to try 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 5.0, etc till you find a good value. For reference I believe the default near clip when inside the aircraft on the runway is around 5.
 

Cheers, Rob.

[Keven Menard 658]

CP is rendered using WPF (Hardware accelerated). Have you tried without the UI visible?

[Guest]

HI Keven,

I solved the texture flickering issue with CP camera def, I only adjusted for "Outside (ChasePlane)" and "Static (ChasePlane)" camera defs:

[CameraDefinition.024]
Title=Outside (ChasePlane)
Guid={0A2BD4CC-D651-4517-BE05-42377A2CCAE5}
Description=ChasePlane Outside Camera
AllowZoom=True
Category=Aircraft
ClipMode=Minimum
NearClipOverride=5.0
Cyclehidden=Yes
HeadingPanRate=0.1
HotKeySelect=6
InitialPbh=0,0,0
InitialXyz=0,0,0
InitialZoom=0.4000222000
MomentumEffect=False
Origin=Center
PanPbhAdjust=Swivel
PanPbhReturn=False
PitchPanRate=0.1
ShowAxis=False
ShowLensFlare=True
ShowWeather=Yes
SmoothZoomTime=0.1
SnapPbhAdjust=Swivel
SnapPbhReturn=False
Track=None
XyzAdjust=TRUE
ZoomPanScalar=0.0

[CameraDefinition.025]
Title=Static (ChasePlane)
Guid={CEA3D1B8-B2AC-4BBB-BE6B-4DE737486A8D}
Description=ChasePlane Static Camera
AllowZoom=Yes
Category=Custom
ClipMode=Spot
NearClipOverride=5.0
Cyclehidden=Yes
FixedAltitude=1730.47496
FixedLatitude=59.385984
FixedLongitude=-135.351296
HeadingPanRate=0.1
HotKeySelect=5
InitialZoom=0.4000333000
Origin=Fixed
PanAcceleratorTime=0
PanPbhAdjust=Swivel
PanPbhReturn=False
PitchPanRate=0.1
ShowAxis=No
ShowLensFlare=True
ShowWeather=Yes
SmoothZoomTime=0.1
SnapPbhAdjust=Swivel
SnapPbhReturn=False
Track=none
Transition=No
XyzAdjust=True
ZoomPanScalar=0.0

Something you might want to consider using (this is for 4K res users, but I would imagine it should be viable for all resolutions).  There is no downside to this setting and performance remains the same.

With or without UI enable, I was getting long frames in the VC when 4XSSAA ... I actually think this is specific to the aircraft and more specifically the MFP/PFD and how many are currently "in view" - in my test case with PMDG 737, there were 8 panels in view which I guess was perhaps too much for my GPU (titan x pascal) to handle at 4k res (GPU utilization at 99%) ... 2XSSAA is smooth and still looks good from the VC.  External and I step back up to 4XSSAA.

Cheers, Rob.

[Keven Menard 658]

We still have a bit of housekeeping to do with the camera definitions. Thanks for all those tests Rob, we will try those changes and possibly apply them to everyone!

Regards,
Keven

[Guest]

So far the NearClipOverride changes seem to be working well for me, put together a quick CP sample here with ZERO texture flickering in the external views (outside/static).

Still get a few stutters here and there but I'm ok with that since I'm running a very "loaded" environment with high graphics settings in 4K.  Enjoy the "effects" also, it's more than just a smooth camera tool.

Cheers, Rob.

[Keven Menard 658]

Great video, thanks again Rob! 

[Keven Menard 658]

Hey Rob,

We added NearClipOverride=5.0 to the Static Camera only. We found that 5.0 is too strong for the Outside camera and induces too much clipping when the camera is close to objects.

Regards,
Keven