Clouds sync across montiors

[Pete]

Always afraid to post as someone usually has better google skills than me but I am really having a hard time keeping clouds synced across two monitors (each powered by their own PC).  I have RWC and Skymaxx on both systems hoping that they would mirror.  Have tried disabling RWC on the 2nd pc in case that forces that pc to follow the master.  Tried disabling both RWC and Skymaxx on both which helps but the default xplane clouds never sync well either.

Sometimes, which is the worst thing to trouble shoot (no pattern) the clouds do sync pretty well   not perfect but good enough.  Anyone have an idea what the basic install order or what plugin should be on which PC to start with?  Thanks!

Edited November 16, 2016 by Pete
correction

[sundog]

In this case you should have RWC and SMP installed on both PC's, and I would recommend setting RWC to "always" mode. What's critical is that both PC's have the exact same settings for SMP; you may want to copy the resources/plugins/silverlining/settings.dat file from one PC and copy it to the other to be sure.

 

[mmerelles]

@Frank

 

This happened always to me from the very first version of skymaxxpro, i do run xplane on 2 imacs for achieving 130 FOV and i would say the clouds are not in sync 80% of the time. It is actually rare when they are in sync properly.

I am running now latest SKMP + RWC on both machines, tried all possible settings combinations, nothing seems to work to have consistent sync. 80% of the time they do not sync and the experience is pretty weird having overcast one side vs scattered, nothing vs broken, different altitude formation on both sides, raining one side but not the other, etc.

The interesting thing is, when i do disable SMP via plugin manager on both machines, default xplane clouds are always perfectly in sync. But i do not like them and they reduce my sim performance.

 

I already put about this issue here, asked the same thing to beta team if someone is testing this scenario when new versions were announced, but no luck. I am a bit frustrated on this topic honestly, i was waiting for V4 to come alive to start my own thread about this and being more active myselft (my fault) on properly opening a ticked for support.

If you want any testing, evidence, video, screen capture based on SMP3 i can certainly assist on this troubleshooting for V3 or using this info yourself for V4.

 

I am highly interested on this topic as well. Off course this is not a problem for multimonitor setup, problem is multimachine setup.

 

EDIT: i forgot to mention if matters, the "static" high altitude cirrus layer seems always in sync. Haven't seen any problem to that.

 

 

Edited November 16, 2016 by mmerelles

[Pete]

Good catch!  This is certainly multi-system not one pc stretched across multiple monitors.  I tried some more troubleshooting following @Frank suggestions and I'm still where @mmerelles is.  At best, 20% chance of a decent sync.  In part the blame is on LR for forcing us down the multi PC path.  Lots of 3rd party aircraft have systems sync issues too (777, x737, etc)   Support for SLI and mutli-monitors (on one system) would really really help!!!

[Denco]

17 hours ago, Pete said:

Support for SLI and mutli-monitors (on one system) would really really help!!!

1

You can use multiple monitors on 1 system. I'm currently using my Ultrawide monitor with my old monitor and it works without problems.

 

Edited November 17, 2016 by Denco

[Pete]

I had that fisheye warp when I used NVIDA surround too.  plus adjusting to make up for the bezel was not easy to do.  So I went back to two separate PCs

[Pete]

 

@mmerelles

 

Tempted to give xEnviro a try?  A bit pricey to find out it has the same issue but I'm tempted... just need a little peer pressure!

[Pete]

And now that v4 is out with an updated RWC, do we have better multi monitor sync?

 

[sundog]

We didn't make any changes in SMP4 with multi-PC sync in mind, and we don't have such a setup here to test with. It *should* sync if every PC is receiving exactly the same weather conditions, and every PC has exactly the same SMP and RWC settings in place. Many commercial customers of SMP's underlying cloud engine use it in multi-channel simulators all the time without issue.

Also keep in mind that a license issue on one PC will result in that channel displaying clear skies.

Now, there were a couple of changes in SMP4 that *might* affect sync, so if you already bought the upgrade it's worth a shot. It uses a new pseudo-random number generator internally, and fixes a bug that might cause individual cloud puffs to rotate differently based on how long the PC has been on.

 

[donoscar]

the alternative would be to switch to XP11, no need for a second PC and therefore all is in sync. now you can use new projection method to prevent this fish-eye distortion. It has a few bugs still, like click-spots being messed up, and of course low fps in beta state, but it looks very promising:

3x60° multi-monitor view on XP11:

 

Edited December 20, 2016 by donoscar

[Defiance_co]

Hiya Don,

Dang, that's one nice setup

Tony

[donoscar]

Just now, Defiance_co said:

Hiya Don,

Dang, that's one nice setup

Tony

thanks Tony, a bit fps hungry to be honest, but optimization is yet to come... but soooooo nice :-)

[Defiance_co]

Heya Don,

Ahh, Optomization, the second best thing i dream of lol

I'll know who can help me sort a three mon setup then hehe, as i have no idea whatsoever lol !

Have Fun

Tony

 

[donoscar]

have a look at this post, I posted some schemes and instructions how to set up, feel free to shout if you need more help

http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/forums/topic/110792-multi-monitor/&do=findComment&comment=1088918

 

[Defiance_co]

Hiya,

Niceone

Thankyou very much

Bookmarked

Much Appreciated

Tony