X-Plane 12 Early Alpha Video

[Andistio 44]

Just posted not long ago by Michael Brown on YouTube

Evolution in X-Plane 12 Early Alpha

[Pastaiolo 1,688]

Thanks, was going to talk about that.

I'll leave the physics, avionics and flight dynamics things alone since we all know that have never been the issue of XP and the biggest improvements coming to XP12 are the graphics one (i think).

Okay what it shows is that it is still obviously work in progress, but promising.

Clouds wise, they are dealing with the early steps of volumetric clouds like other titles did in the past. I noticed how clouds tend to be overly soft and not very dense, this could be an indication that they are adopting this solution to save on fps (that's what Il2 sturmovik did in its early volumetric clouds days, and even xEnviro). I also noticed there are some scenes where clouds behind other clouds are too visible (almost as if the first line of clouds wasn't covering the second one).

Scenery wise there are two things i noticed. Those, sadly all XP like, squares of roads without houses inside (either because data doesn't know if there are houses there or because some city blocks are removed to save on performance) and that the airport with the puddles, in the last part of the video, looks weird with reflections a bit too overly done and visible from the distance.

[strider1 575]

So happy Austin acknowledged the horrible roads, and they are working on those horrid coastlines.

[Andistio 44]

I agree, the puddles stood out. Hopefully it's more dynamic or subtle and not just

rain=puddles everywhere

Looking at minute 21:25 and later towards the landing it can be seen that the rain texture covers taxiways, aprons and the runway and it sticks out. To be fair it also is representing the alpha stage I have to say and so much can and I'm sure will change. Still excited and looking forward to the release. My initial thought is that the footage looks closer to XP11 than I thought. 

[GoranM 3,781]

Try not to scrutinize every little thing in a video titled "Showing off the Evolution".  They're, quite literally, showing the Lancair in an early alpha.  Treat the sim as a background thing, with the Lancair being the object of scrutiny.

If/when a video comes up, that is titled, "Showing off the clouds" or "Showing off the scenery", then, after taking into account the alpha/beta stage of development, go crazy with the criticisms on those items.

[strider1 575]

2 hours ago, Andistio said:

I agree, the puddles stood out. Hopefully it's more dynamic or subtle and not just

rain=puddles everywhere

Looking at minute 21:25 and later towards the landing it can be seen that the rain texture covers taxiways, aprons and the runway and it sticks out. To be fair it also is representing the alpha stage I have to say and so much can and I'm sure will change. Still excited and looking forward to the release. My initial thought is that the footage looks closer to XP11 than I thought. 

It looks bad because there is no snow or ice on the grass for whatever reason, probably Alpha. Watch the 'snow and ice A330' video and it all blends in. Clouds look pretty good!

[mSparks 2,094]

Its soooo nice not having to dissect screenshots and youtube videos in intricate detail....

OTOH, the feedback from those who only have that option is fairly useful imho, because it is easy to be blind to things that still need fixing.

Yes its an alpha, yes there is plenty of time to fix things that are off.

However, if issues aren't highlighted there is zero guarantees those issues will be fixed. There isn't even any guarantees issues that are highlighted will be fixed, but a lot more so than issues no one notices.

So to put this another way.

2 hours ago, GoranM said:

Try not to scrutinize every little thing in a video titled "Showing off the Evolution".

At this stage trying to assess the release state of scenery for XP12 by looking at a video titled "showing of the [lancair] evolution" is about as practical as assessing Russian troop movements in Belarus by looking at a satellite photo of a Chinese prison.

[Andistio 44]

I'm thrilled for the release and I'm very aware this is an alpha and that the focus of the video was the aircraft itself. I still look around and try to judge the state of the sim itself, hence the disclaimer that it is an alpha. 

[mSparks 2,094]

28 minutes ago, Andistio said:

I still look around and try to judge the state of the sim itself, hence the disclaimer that it is an alpha. 

yeah, I was saying "please continue".

But to do so in a more applied manner.

I.e.

rip holes in the lancair in the lancair video

rip holes in the runway ice in the snow and ice video.

But - as an example - compaining about the ground textures in the lancair video when there has not been any news on scenery since the few clips of a few new buildings in the xp12 announce video isn't a good use of anyones time.

[rka 916]

So when will it be acceptable to talk about ground textures, scenery and stuff? 

I mean it's not like people care most about the lancair with regard to XP12, I guess that should be undisputed?!

[mtaxp 666]

18 minutes ago, rka said:

So when will it be acceptable to talk about ground textures, scenery and stuff? 

I mean it's not like people care most about the lancair with regard to XP12, I guess that should be undisputed?!

Probably when the scenery stops to be literaly the v11 one as a placeholder while they are working on the new one.

[mjrhealth 832]

31 minutes ago, rka said:

So when will it be acceptable to talk about ground textures, scenery and stuff? 

I mean it's not like people care most about the lancair with regard to XP12, I guess that should be undisputed?!

When what they have is worthwhile or people will complain, they will complain anyway.

[Pastaiolo 1,688]

6 hours ago, GoranM said:

Try not to scrutinize every little thing in a video titled "Showing off the Evolution".  They're, quite literally, showing the Lancair in an early alpha.  Treat the sim as a background thing, with the Lancair being the object of scrutiny.

If/when a video comes up, that is titled, "Showing off the clouds" or "Showing off the scenery", then, after taking into account the alpha/beta stage of development, go crazy with the criticisms on those items.

The hype is obviously high and so are the expectations regarding graphics from what other simulators achieved or are trying to achieve too, besides the moment they release something to the public is the moment everybody will see and have an opinion on it. Nothing wrong with that, and it won't be my comment to move someone else buying preferences on X-Plane or even what LR will do.

However this is a forum and taking about what we care about and see is all there is too it, with the good and the bad things. Besides i am been the first to mention this is early alpha stuff (and Laminar have a tendency to care less about showing unfinished stuff compared to other companies) and i am sure there will be plenty of time to fix those issues.

Edited February 11, 2022 by Pastaiolo

[jcomm 5,994]

I do like the Eclipse !  Wow !

I do like the Weather Rendering and some aspects about  the colours of the sky compared to XP11.

I found it funny that Austin forgot (?) to retract the flaps throughout the flight 🙂

I look fwd into trying the aircraft in XP12 because I believe since Austin built both - the real aircraft and the XP flight dynamics - this should give me the "as close as real" I could expect from a simulation. That's what I dream about when I evaluate a flightsim ...

Scenery-rendering wise I didn't find this XP12 showcase that different from XP11, other than the way ice is now modelled on the runways / taxiways. It should probably also show accumulated over the terrain / structures / building around it, which still pretty much look clean to me (?)

Anyway, and above all, Austin is, indeed, a remarkable guy !

Edited February 11, 2022 by jcomm

[mSparks 2,094]

41 minutes ago, jcomm said:

Scenery-rendering wise I didn't find this XP12 showcase that different from XP11

because in this build of the alpha it is 100% identical to xp11.

The only snippets of xp12 scenery we (anyone outside of one or two people inside LR) have seen so far is the very early preview we got in the 60 second scenery section of

4 months ago.

 

 

Edited February 11, 2022 by mSparks