jabloomf1230

I wanted to comment on this separately. It's not so much that the implementation is unstable. It doesn't seem to have very many bugs, so to speak. Rather it is that the implementation is both simple and "cast in stone". trueSky's SDK is not a dynamic link library that P3d calls. Rather, LM uses the trueSky SDK to tailor the binary shader files to allow access via the PDK. Many P3d5 and FSX users are familiar with the HLSL shader source files. The difference with trueSky is that the shader source code is not included with the sim. Thus, 3rd parties can't alter the shaders. Although a lot of creative things have been done by 3rd parties in modifying the FSX/P3d5 HLSL shader code, I think it's a wise choice by trueSky to not expose their hard-earned work to thievery and modification. So whatever functionality is exposed in the PDK limits what 3rd party developers can do. Over time, LM will probably go down two parallel paths with trueSky. First they will continue to refine the atmospherics. An example of that was making the sun and moon the correct size in HF2. They will also probably add additional elements to the PDK. For example, one item that is missing in the present implementation is any ability to create distinct weather regions within the user's reality bubble. trueSky has this ability, but it's just not in the PDK (yet). There is also no way to gradually change the weather when the METAR changes at the user's location. The cloud shape and sky conditions do change, because there are animations built into trueSky. But the weather is static until it isn't. It's sunny, then bang it's cloudy and raining.

I might be wrong, but the complaints about CB were more related to the shapes of the tops of the clouds. With the EA beta, it doesn't seem that upper level winds affect the cloud tops for towering CB. As to the coloration and overall shape, I agree with you that the beta EA does a good job with CB. As to rapid changes,like all animations in 3D apps, trueSky is keyframed and the animations gradually change between each keyframe reference condition. The SDK comes with a sequence called rolling storm clouds, which for an example does a pretty good job of CB buildup, including rain and lightning.

3D clouds are a whole nuther beast programmatically than simulating clouds with a bunch of flat billboard textures. CB is a continuum from puffy fair weather cumulus clouds. They build vertically and the tops are a function of wind speed and temperature. The present implementation just uses the default cumulus parameters combined with a high maximum altitude. That's unrealistic, but give LM some time to experiment with the trueSky SDK. I think Rob A. might have a copy and I do. I can tell you that the cloud parameters in the SDK are versatile and require experimentation to get clouds that match real world cloud types. Stratus is easy, as is cumulus and cirrus. But everything else requires fiddling around. The SDK comes with sample cloud sequences for basic cloud types, but that's it. And don't expect MSFS 2020 to lack these issues either. 3D clouds in even the best video games, for example RD2, are primarily designed to be viewed from the ground. It increases the complexity to also make them immersive while flying at altitude and also conform to changing weather conditions. BTW, the gridding that's seen in trueSky is from a combination of not properly adjusting the cloud noise factors and performance deficiencies on specific hardware.

It's not you and and it's not P3d5 either. It's trueSky doing that and it's a performance related issue that's causing the clouds to appear that way. Try setting the clouds to either medium or low, until LM has a better feeling for the trueSky settings. At least the sun doesn't look like it does from the surface of Ceres anymore and is the correct size for the earth, unlike what was seen in HF1.😊

The P3d5 beta is being tested at the moment and this is an issue that is being addressed, so I've heard.

Maybe if you look hard enough you can find a plaque with all the P3d staff's names listed.

Yep, it's dead Jim.

12>11

If it isn’t a single airport product, which Calgary isn’t, ORBX isn’t likely to update it. Your only option is to update the airport with ADE. Or find another 3rd party version.

I think that if an organization is using P3d for training, they are likely to be using VR and minimizing the number of consumer 3rd party add-ons. They might have a specialized complex aircraft like the ones A2A sells to the military. Do they need a state of the art system? Probably not. Would it help? Sure.

And the classic techno remix by Laziest Men on Mars:

LOL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_Wing

I have both of those and have never had that issue with VOXATC in P3d4, so I'll still bet there was something amiss with the scenery library. The sim itself ignores many scenery library errors (it has its own built in Indexer) and usually just acts like everything is okay. VOXATC's Indexer gives up with any inconsistency.

This is probably due to those airports being updated with the P3d5 BGL compiler.

It is. That's why fsaerodata updates stock airports.

You didn't specify what P3d version you are using but the freeware website clearly states that only parts of the package are compatible with P3d5. There are as of yet no ILS updates for P3d5. The fsaerodata developer initially expressed reservations about producing a V5 version because LM made changes to the SDK. But he figured it out. Until LM switches to either Navigraph or a similar format, updating the navigation database with each AIRAC release will continue to require fsaerodata.

fsaerodata has 17/35R and 17/35L.

Just use the Win10 emojis: https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2018/02/05/windows-10-tip-get-started-emoji-keyboard-shortcut/

Wait there's more! In the forum's mobile app, the "mark everything as read feature" either does nothing or generates an error.

You have an error in your scenery library. Either there's a typo in an add-on.xml file or the same scenery is added with both the add-on.xml method and is active in scenery.cfg. Download Lorby's Add-on Organizer and it will find the error(s) for you: https://www.lorby-si.com/downloads.html

The dlls in that folder are all 32 bit. P3D5 won't call them and probably loads the ones from: C:\wimdows\system32 Which are the 64 bit versions.

It worked again this AM but now it's dead again.

Yep. Broken again. It seems like anytime there's a specific type of update to the site, activity streams are subsequently disabled.

Another option is to use the Control Panel speech applet to turn on the Win 10 speech recognition, open Notepad and dictate some ATC terminology. NOTE: The Win 10 speech recognition applet should not be open when using P2ATC. By dictating phrases and words into Notepad, one can see what the SR is getting wrong. Sometimes it's the microphone. Other times it's having too high a level of ambient noise. It can also be your speech rate and pronunciation. My setup has issues distinguishing my Gs from Ds, so I spent more time using the trainer with words containing those sounds. In addition to automatic speech training, the speech Control Panel applet also allows training on specific words. These words are then added to the dictionary in your SR profile.

I think we're talking about two different components of speech recognition. The way that Google Home and Alexa work is that they have an extremely limited vocabulary. If you deviate slightly from what the assitant expects it won't respond correctly. Both the Google and Amazon servers create training profiles, so over time the SR improves for a specific user's voice. The ATC apps work in a somewhat similar manner. For example, VOXATC has two modes.The standard mode allows no deviation from accepted ATC phraseology. The expert mode allows a bit of flexibility in what spoken terminology will work. The Windows 10 speech recognition is only responsible for converting your analog spoken words to digital text equivalents. It is still up to the ATC app to match those words to the limited vocabulary. Both Pilot2ATC and VOXATC have training utilities. Prior to your flight, you enter the name of your flightplan file and the utility creates a specialized training session just for that flightplan. I have found that the best approach is to use a headset to reduce ambient noise and sim produced sounds, combined with a high quality desktop mic. Personally, anything else is basically back in the dark ages with FSX.