RXP Upcoming Updates

[RXP 2,336]

Hi,

This message to let you know we are working on our next XPlane and FltSim updates which are going to be offered as RC (release candidates) soon. What is addresses so far:

- GNS V2 and GTN: added working IDENT mode. It overrides the NAV1/2 audio panel while active, while still permitting to change NAV1/2 audio selection in the GTN. It also work with GTN+GNS V2 on the same panel!

- GNS V2: avionics bus / battery bus problem introduced in the last update.

- GTN: XPDR reverting to 1200 during takeoff.

- GTN FltSim: make popleft= working with the SHIFT key (left click = touchscreen, SHIFT+left click = popleft)

 

We're also looking at way to mitigate the FltSim full screen window minimizing when opening the settings panel or the aircraft assistant.

Should you think of any other thing we've missed in the list, please feel free to discuss and remind us!

[fppilot 4,337]

3 hours ago, RXP said:

- GNS V2: avionics bus / battery bus problem introduced in the last update.

Is this the unintended power off scenarios?

 

[RXP 2,336]

@fppilot it is the fix for not being able to shut down the GNS V2 when switching off the batteries/avionics. Given the nature of the fix, It will probably correct the unintended power off but we've not been able to repro explicitly.

[RXP 2,336]

Hi,

I'm sorry it is taking a little longer but there are tiny details to take care off, and usually, these are the ones taking the most time.

We've reached a conclusion to the 'minimizing' FltSim window:

• We've identified the main reason why it minimizes.
• P3D3 and P3D4 are fixed.
• P3D1 and P3D2 are probably fixed (untested), otherwise, see below for the limitations.
• FS9 and FSX (SE,ACC,SP2) running full screen require SHIFT+ENTER, settings/assistant, SHIFT+ENTER.
  There is no workaround for this for a simple reason: these older FltSim display full screen with a special Direct3D exclusive mode, which prevents other windows to display above, and this is a Windows OS limitation. The only way to workaround would be to 'hack' FltSim and make it display an in-sim window which we would intercept to replace the pixels with ours... well, these are old simulators and SHIFT+ENTER is annoying only while configuring your devices, and we won't open the Pandora's box...

We still have a few more items to cross check and cleanup prior having a release candidate ready, but it shall not be long now.

[fppilot 4,337]

1 hour ago, RXP said:

There is no workaround for this for a simple reason: these older FltSim display full screen with a special Direct3D exclusive mode, which prevents other windows to display above, and this is a Windows OS limitation.

So it becomes an aircraft model prep checklist item. If settings changes are needed (seldom after gps installation and resulting aircraft/gps settings) check off that Windowed mode is necessary! 

Not a big deal. But in the future just a checklist item for ourselves when installing a new aircraft model.

Only question about the above is why then this was not an issue before the previous RC?  I did not experience it then.

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

On 11/14/2017 at 8:11 AM, RXP said:

- GTN: XPDR reverting to 1200 during takeoff.

And all this time I thought that it was only me.

[RXP 2,336]

9 hours ago, fppilot said:

Only question about the above is why then this was not an issue before the previous RC?  I did not experience it then.

Hi Frank, I really have no idea because it really is not possible at all with FS9 and FSX, and there was no code change related to these panel windows for a while except what they display (the options). Are you sure you weren't running full screen window instead of full screen exclusive Direct3D mode?

NB: there is an option in P3D3 for example which says "full screen black desktop" (close enough, from memory) which resemble a choice between borderless full screen window and full screen exclusive mode. However, it doesn't change a thing on our test systems so it might depend on the video card as well?

We'll further investigate a few more items about these, but it might prove there is no way around in a short term anyway. Hopefully, the annoyance remains minor vs the advantage to configure settings live without rebooting the simulator.

[driver101 26]

9 hours ago, jabloomf1230 said:

And all this time I thought that it was only me.

 I blamed the bloody engineer....

[RXP 2,336]

2 hours ago, RXP said:

there was no code change related to these panel windows

I shall have added: there was code changes that caused the FltSim window to minimize sometimes though, but no code change that would have made a popup window atop a full screen exclusive window not working anymore (or we've really failed to find such change if any).

@driver101 and you were right!

[RXP 2,336]

On November 17, 2017 at 7:12 AM, RXP said:

but it might prove there is no way around in a short term anyway

A quick update: at least if not possible to display our settings/assistant panel over the exclusive full screen mode, we automate window mode / full screen mode changes in the next update. This will make sure to restore your FS window as it was.

[fppilot 4,337]

18 hours ago, RXP said:

A quick update: at least if not possible to display our settings/assistant panel over the exclusive full screen mode, we automate window mode / full screen mode changes in the next update. This will make sure to restore your FS window as it was.

Sounds like a reasonable resolution.

[RXP 2,336]

Hi, a quick update on the updates ;-)

If all goes well, we've scheduled releasing release candidates for all our GTN and GNS V2 products tomorrow (friday).

In addition to the changes list in the posts above, we've also fixed the issue with the GNS power button reverting to off when starting in the VC and then opening a popup window.

We've also discovered a bug that might have been there before we've added support for the GTN 6.41 and which affects the way we control the trainer process affinity. We've never really noticed this before, but we were experiencing jerky zoom-in/zoom-out with the GTN lately, which we were first attributing to the 'debug' build and ongoing work on the update. However, it was strange enough to spend the time to look further, discover and fix this bug.

[Scotto123 0]

Hello Jean-Luc and thank you for the update.

Will this update allow the user to "pop-out" the windows in X-Plane 11.10?  That would be really nice.  If not in this one, will it be in the next?  It looks like X-Plane is very close to the Release Candidate of XP 11.1.

Also, have you ever considered offering the ability to exchange information with ForeFlight and the iPad?  Like the real thing, the user could build a flight plan in ForeFlight and then transfer it to the 750.  You should charge for this additional interface.

Thank you again for all the great work on these products!

[RXP 2,336]

8 hours ago, Scotto123 said:

Will this update allow the user to "pop-out" the windows in X-Plane 11.10?

Thank you again for all the great work on these products!

Hi,

Thank you for your kind words!

Pop out windows won't make it in this build yet, partly because most of the update work has been on stability enhancements and the addition of a couple new features, but also because XPlane is still in beta and the new SDK still requires some attention. This feature also imposes we use the new SDK, which works only for XPlane 11, which in turn forces us to have 2 release paths for X-Plane 64bits: one for XP11 and another for XP10 whereas they were the same code and release binary before.

However, we'll try our best for the next update, which shall focus on this feature alone right after. NB: the last update already implemented necessary lower level changes for this.

As for ForFlight or similar, I don't see this coming soon, there are too much other things to work on for now! It is interesting a function though, but it might be very limited in terms of number of users too.

[RXP 2,336]

Hi, the updates are now live with download links in each product forum!