FlyBaby

There is a fix for the HDR night lighting (version 10.20) at... http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=18742 I tried it and it works for me.

For software in general…. The testing piece of the software development life cycle is essential to ensure minimal bugs after a release. I don’t think many DEVs are investing in the QA for software these days because the quality is so poor. In addition, I don’t think that consumers are holding the DEVs responsible (demanding refunds etc.) to a degree where the DEVs feel the pressure to invest more in QA. When I worked as a tester for a software development company, our QA team was just as big (employees) as the coding team, and the coding team was responsible for a certain amount of testing (code review) before we took a shot at it with thousands of test cases to poke holes in the product. You won’t catch everything, but simple installs, compliance with 2 major graphic card manufacturers etc. would be covered. The simple errors that arise today indicate to me that QA is on the back burner for many DEVs. We are at an all time low in this industry where consumers actually pay to be testers (or employees) and are proud of it. We thank DEVs for fixing things they are obligated to do in the first place and should have done before taking our money. My company had a superb track record for low issues after a release, and as testers, we were on the hot seat if something major slipped by us. We had bug stats and our jobs depended on keeping the numbers within an acceptable range. I had 3 PCs that I could use at the same time (low, med, high spec), I could load and run 4 OS images on each pc, and I was 1 of 10….so we all could cover a lot of scenarios. Yes, most small DEVs won’t have those resources, and they should not be in the business of making false promises for ambitious software; because at the end of the day, the consumer gets nothing if they spend more time trying to get the product to work as opposed to enjoying it. I also develop software and testing takes time. I can code something in 10 minutes and spend the next 2 or 3 hours testing the impact. However, when you “sell” something knowing that you have not invested a considerable amount of QA to ensure that product performs as you advertised (pc requirement etc.), then you have committed consumer fraud. IMO, many DEVs intentionally do this and have fooled the market such that it is now the “accepted” norm. Good point!

I agree with the airport comments. AM can make a plausible world, but not make plausible airports in that world….this makes no sense.

I agree, I have owned and did not like the quality of the Flight Deck series by Abacus. I even spoke with their tech people who were not helpful in resolving some issues with their product. IMO, the freeware mentioned above is much better.

Thanks very much...will do when I get back to the sim!!!

I thought I read somewhere that you could remove the engine information from the PFD (left) screen. Right now, the info sits on the right of the screen, but I saw pictures of the PFD (including Carenado's instruction manual) where the PFD shows a full screen display without the engine information to the right. Is there a way to remove the engine information from the PFD?

Did anyone ever find a resolution for this issue? I am still seeing the flickering textures with the latest xp10 build.

At the end of last year I built a new PC in anticipation of both Flight and X-Plane10. Eventually I migrated back to FSX. Although the new PC ran fairly smooth with FSX, the images and buildings were not visually crisp & smooth and I saw jagged edges in the white runway lines etc. PC Setup - i5@4Ghz (OC), SSD, 8G RAM, HD 6970 VCard, 60inch LED TV My FSX (even with GEX, REX OD etc) never looked crisp like the youtube vids and pics I have seen on this forum. After looking at a friend’s FSX on a 46 inch screen, I was convinced it was my TV…so I exchanged it for a different one….3 times. My next step was to blame the video card, so I tweaked and tweaked…every setting looked the same…little jagged edges and just plain bland looking FSX world. I then blamed the HDMI cord,.. and so on. Exhaustion and other priorities caused me to give up simming for this spring and summer. Just this week, I fired up FSX again, and while playing with the TV options trying to get the screen darker, I ran across a VIEW MODE option, and I changed it to “PC MODE.” Words cannot totally explain the difference. I now have crisp images, the runway lines are no longer jagged etc. My FSX world looks “sharp”, just like the videos I have been seeing. I feel like I have a whole new sim. I’m just wondering if anyone may have had this experience because I never imagined that a TV setting would make such a difference. Oddly enough, when I fired FSX up again, it would no longer run (black screen in flight) with the anti aliasing option checked in FSX. Everything looked great again once I unchecked the option, I imagine that things are handled through my CCC for my video card. Does anyone have any optimal settings for CCC? Things looked great now, but I would not want to overlook look something simple again.

At first I was skeptical and even very critical of Flight. However, after watching the movie “The Descendants”, which was based in Hawaii, I became very interested in Flight because all of the sudden, Hawaii seemed big enough and much more than just a bunch of resorts on beaches. With that said, I will give Flight a try once I am back to simming in general, and I hope that MS adds more “light sport aircraft” like the Cirrus Sr20, Cessna SkyCatcher, FD CTLS etc. I think LSAs would be good for the smaller environment in Flight.

It seems cruel that the customers / fans (one way or the other) get the short end of the stick. Customers spend the money for the game / sim. Some just deal with the disappointment having wasted money, some engage in heated debates regarding their opinions; however, they are ultimately ignored by the developers. On the other hand, the fans that like it, sit waiting months for the next “small” update (or teaser) to keep them desperately holding on to a dev team who “seemingly” has no interest in fulfilling their fans “basic” needs. Is a VC with every plane really that hard…really? Meanwhile, somebody is making millions. The last six months has been a disappointment for two releases that have fell short of the expectations of many fans. Be it selling an $80 beta marketed as a full release with more bugs than the Florida Everglades, or once offering the world and now justifying an island with a lifetime of retail exploitation called DLC, there has been a blatant attack on the intelligence of consumers. However, there are fans who will argue to defend these marketing strategies, developers, and their games. Meanwhile, somebody is making millions. I think people will eventually lose interest in Flight because the interests between the developers and customers no longer complement each other. While MS nickel and dime fans for every piece of the puzzle that they (MS) offered in FSX., MS will make millions and the fans will be left with the short end of the stick…getting nothing for their money, wanting what was once commonplace in a MS product, and being ignored.

I always hoped that MS would (eventually) use Kinect for Windows to "replace" the need for TrackIR. I own both TrackIR and a Kinect for my Xbox. I would buy a Kinect for Windows in a heartbeat if I could use it with my various flight sims (fsx, xp etc.). With that said, I would not use a flight sim without TrackIR or something better.