Unresponsive mouse clicks on Mac, result in 0.3 fps

[brucekn]

This seems somewhat similar to  another thread here (Direct-To in out to FMC on Mac causes 0.3 fps). I noted this a week ago when entering a flight into the FMC, where there was a delay between clicking an FMC key and the data appearing (this may be the way that the real thing works, my one experience ion with a Mac so I assume it's related to that).

The delay after clicking the FMC keys seemed to get worse,  After departure, I twice increased cruise altitude in the FMC (using VNAV).  This input was delayed similar to the above the first time, then the second time I got the "spinning wheel" on the Mac, which after a while disappeared and I got the 0.3 fps (which makes the pull down menus almost impossible to use).

Like most people I have installed many addons, so I did a fresh install of XPX, installed FlyWithLua and RTH, and the IXEG B733 only.  I did no FMC input, and the frame rate was around 26fps. I engaged the AP, then clicked ALT HLD on the MCP, which appeared to be non-responsive. I then clicked it again, and instant 0.3 fps.  This lasted foar about 5 minutes then it came back to normal 25-26 fps.

My Mac is a 2014 "5k" model, 32GB RAM, 4GB vRAM, and an i7 quad core.  I was running the B733 at 1080p resolution. I have a screenshot of the fps counter if ot would help.  

Any help most appreciated.  I get to "fly" XPX (my only sim) only an hour or two a week.

Thanks, Bruce.

 

 

 

[bigbasspic]

Hej brucekn,

sorry to hear you have similar probs, but somehow glad I'm not alone...
Will check if I get the error changing the cruise altitude tonight. Which system are you running?

Bassy regards
Benjamin

[Litjan]

Many users have reported that upgrading their OS on Mac helped them. Benjamin, did you try on your "other" Mac yet?

Thanks, Jan

 

[bigbasspic]

Hi Jan,

sorry, right now too busy working for the upcoming eurovision song contest and other stuff – I will definitely let you know when I got results! On the other hand I am pretty sure brucekn is on a recent OS, as he got a modern and very strong machine. Lets see when he reports his OS version ,-)

Bassy regards
Benjamin

[Litjan]

Roger - good idea!

Jan

 

[brucekn]

Hi Benjamin and Jan,

 

My OS is Yosemite, and am thinking of upgrading to El Capitan.  I have figured (looking at these threads) that this would be a good move so will proceed to do that.  I wish there was more to correlate the issue to so that testing was easier, my only clue is that it's mouse-click related and on a Mac.  But this issue aside,  this IXEG product is absolutely awesome and a pleasure to "fly".

Thanks, Bruce.

 

[bigbasspic]

Hi sirs,

just to confirm: Same effect on my side changing the cruise alt on the FMC when enroute and in VNAV. It manages to show the desired flightlevel on RK1, MOD lights up, EXEC lights up, but frames to 0.2 or less. Mouse lost, spinning wheel. *If* I manage to get the click through, back to lovely 30 fps.

But putting the plane back to VNAV directly after this does not make her climb (MCP set correctly), using vertical speed to climb works as intended. When up, engaging VNAV brings the plane into descend on the right point, working fine. May be pilot error / misuse... 

Bassy regards
Benjamin

Edited May 10, 2016 by bigbasspic
LK vs RK

[bigbasspic]

Bruce, did you see my post in the other thread? I guess I found my problem, it was Avast (antivirus software) running in the background. Turned it off, problem solved ,-)))

Bassy regards
Benjamin

[brucekn]

Thanks, Benjamin.....  Can you please remind me what OS you are using?

With Avast (which I also have), did you open Preferences, then disable the three shields? Or is there more to turning off Avast?

Thanks so much for the info! Much appreciated!

Bruce

 

 

[bigbasspic]

Dear Bruce,

yes, opened Preferences, disabled "File System Shield". Mail & Web were off already...
Next I will check which folder has to be excluded (File System Shield > Settings) so that I can turn it back on for the rest of my machine ,-)

Let us know of this works for you too!

Bassy regards
Benjamin

P.S.: OSX 10.9.5, latest update...

Edited May 14, 2016 by bigbasspic
added OS

[brucekn]

Hi Bernjamin,

I disabled all shields in Avast, after restarting the iMac to make sure I was on a newly re-started machine.  With no addons other than the IXEG (I had even uninstalled FlyWithLua and RTH, no mesh, no other a/c, absolutely a "virgin" install), I used the FMC and noted that entry of data fields did not have the lag that I saw previously.  So, that's a good sign.

I took off from KDEN 16R using VNAV and LNAV and the AP, flew to KBJC (only about 10 miles, KBJC is my real airport when flying RL), once again with no additional scenery. Landed after disconnecting the AP, brakes on, went to SHIFT-/ to activate the reverses and down to less than 3fps from 40 fps (using 1080p res).  

I'm now installing El Capitan, will see what happens then.

Is there any info from my system or XPX that would be helpful to you guys?  I will keep trying....when it works, this bird is amazing!!!

Thanks, Bruce.

 

[bigbasspic]

Hi Bruce,

just did a medium short flight LSGG EDDF (310 NM my route) and it worked well, all plugs on, FlyWithLua & RTH, SkyMaxxPro, RWW, XSquakbox et al. Voice on Vatsim has to be approved still, no controllers online :-( 
Worked fine, some glitches enroute, but never worse than a FlyJSim or Carenado ,-) No problems with reversers on landing, but I did map them on a different key (toggle reversers with shift-R in my case). Running a MBP 15' mid 2012 on full screen res (1680 x 1050) with NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1024 MB graphics, no photoscenery  – and working hard :-)

So far – apart from VNAV doing some funny dives, including "Drag required" – I could change levels, speeds and do some Direct To's without serious frame rate dropping. Will do your trip KDEN KBJC next time and see if problems arise on this route. Which airac are you using?

BTW, I fruitlessly tried to enter HOLDings on this flight, is this not yet implemented? Can fly this with headings and stopwatch, but this beast should be able to do it for me, am I missing something? Maybe Jan can provide info on this...

AND finally: Germany managed to get the "red lantern" in the Eurovision Song Contest (formerly known as the "grand prix d'eurovision") again this year. We are up to do do the hattrick 2017 :-)))

Bassy regards
Benjamin

[bigbasspic]

Ok, no HOLDings yet implemented ...(
Will do the heading/timer/DME stuff then ,-)

Bassy regards
Benjamin

 

[brucekn]

1 hour ago, bigbasspic said:

Hi Bruce,

just did a medium short flight LSGG EDDF (310 NM my route) and it worked well, all plugs on, FlyWithLua & RTH, SkyMaxxPro, RWW, XSquakbox et al. Voice on Vatsim has to be approved still, no controllers online :-( 
Worked fine, some glitches enroute, but never worse than a FlyJSim or Carenado ,-) No problems with reversers on landing, but I did map them on a different key (toggle reversers with shift-R in my case). Running a MBP 15' mid 2012 on full screen res (1680 x 1050) with NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1024 MB graphics, no photoscenery  – and working hard :-)

So far – apart from VNAV doing some funny dives, including "Drag required" – I could change levels, speeds and do some Direct To's without serious frame rate dropping. Will do your trip KDEN KBJC next time and see if problems arise on this route. Which airac are you using

Hi Bernjamin,

There is no airac, I'm using XPX (updated) as purely stock, no add-ons at all, nothing, other than the IXEG bird.

I haven't had much time to fly later today, bit did notice that the El Capitan seems to be a little faster with XPX than with Yosemite. Will be able to try more tomorrow.

Thanks, Bruce.

 

 

[Litjan]

Hi guys,

yeah, the ESC thing...beyond IXEG´s control, fortunately .

Good to read that you are making some progress, Bruce. If the new OS is no help, here is another hint regarding the thrust reverser-slowdown: Try to disable the option "Show custom animations in replay" in the PREFERENCES menu and try again?

Yes, Benjamin, holdings are not yet implemented (as mentioned on the list we published many months ago here:

http://forums.x-pilot.com/forums/topic/8526-things-that-are-not-going-to-be-in-v10/

We tried to be upfront with these shortcomings, but I think many users were not aware of this list...

Jan

 

[bigbasspic]

Thumbs up, Bruce!

Thanks, Jan – did read this before I bought the plane, and forgot about it during my first frustration after purchase... Will read again now, 'cause this beautiful 733 and me are getting there 

Happy Pentecost everybody!

Bassy regards
Benjamin

[Morten]

7 hours ago, bigbasspic said:

AND finally: Germany managed to get the "red lantern" in the Eurovision Song Contest (formerly known as the "grand prix d'eurovision") again this year. We are up to do do the hattrick 2017 :-)))

Doubt you'll beat Norways record of 0 points for a long time though

[bigbasspic]

40 minutes ago, Morten said:

Doubt you'll beat Norways record of 0 points for a long time though

Wrong, Morten  
0 points has been 2015: http://www.eurovision.de/teilnehmer/Deutsche-ESC-Teilnehmerin-Ann-Sophie-im-Portraet,deutschland606.html (german)

[Morten]

Well, we have had 0 points 4 times AND ended last 11 times, thats pretty unbeatable

(But, we have the record of most point as well, 2009 Farytale)

Edited May 15, 2016 by Morten

[bigbasspic]

25 minutes ago, Morten said:

Well, we have had 0 points 4 times AND ended last 11 times, thats pretty unbeatable

(But, we have the record of most point as well, 2009 Farytale)

Ok, now I see what you mean, Morten... BUT you got a-ha ,-)
https://www.deutscher-radiopreis.de/radiopreis/gala_2015/kuenstler/index.html 

Edited May 15, 2016 by bigbasspic

[brucekn]

Thanks Jan..

"yeah, the ESC thing...beyond IXEG´s control, fortunately"

I'm not sure what this means, maybe referring to a prior post in this thread?

"Try to disable the option "Show custom animations in replay" in the PREFERENCES menu and try again?"

I looked at this-  if I understand the graphics of the buttons in the Preferences menu, the round gray "button" means "off", and when the black "indented spot" appears in the middle, this means "on".  If I'm right, the ""Show custom animations in replay"" was "off" anyway.  But the "Debug" option was 'on", so I turned that to "off" (still not sure what that does).

The more I try this bird with El Capitan installed, the more I see perf increases, so hopefully this will help too.

On the reverse thrust issue yesterday-  I tried that same flight again (KDEN-KBJC), as well as the reverse thrust (before installing the new OS). I did;t get the problem, and reinforces the fact that the fps slow-downs are sometimes very random in nature as to what causes them- to be honest, it's hard to correlate them to anything, other than the FMC button presses that disabling Avast AV seemed to fix.

If I can help any further please let me know (trying things), and I will continue to post here of any experiences.

Thanks, Bruce.

 

[Litjan]

Hi Bruce,

the ESC is the "Eurovision Song Contest" held yesterday in Stockholm. Off-topic banter ;-)

Be aware that Mac computers have a function that vastly decreases CPU frequency when they get too warm. They seem to be more prone to this than "normal" computers, so what they lack in raw computing ability they make up in style and design, it seems .

One of our developers also had this problem and solved it by putting one of these cooling pads underneath.

Could this be the case in your random slow-downs?

Jan

 

[brucekn]

Thanks for the info on ESC

Yes, I have heard about the Mac slowdowns due to heat.  I'm a recent Mac convert myself, and also have a home-built PC in "mothballs" that I could use (my significant other bought me one of the new 5k Macs in December of 2014, which wasn't cheap either  , so I figured the "safest" thing to do was to not use the PC for simming-. Which was also my intro to XP, for the obvious related reason. Now I love both the Mac and XP.....

Thanks again, the support here is the best!

Bruce