SMP4 doesn't seem right on XP11

[Jose Almeida]

I will say right from the start that I am running XP11 demo and I'm not sure if that could explain what I observe. I compared XP10 and XP11 on the same location (KSEA)

I think the images speak for themselves. I've attached the log.txt and the wrx files from XP11.

As further information, I'm using the new Macbook Pro with Radeon Pro 460 graphics.

Log.txt

MAXX_METAR.rwx

METAR.rwx

Edited December 30, 2016 by Jose Almeida

[sundog]

I loaded up your MAXX_METAR.rwx file in XP11, and it worked here. So at least whatever is going on isn't something systemic:

A couple of ideas:

It looks like you have one sim set to "Solid Stratiform" and the other set to "HD Cloud Puffs". If you set XP11 to "HD Cloud Puffs", does it look as you'd expect?

Your log looks like you were switching RWC on and off, or turning real world weather on or off, during your flight. If you have "never change visible weather" on in your RWC settings, perhaps some weather state from your manual weather settings was kept in place as a result? Disabling "never change visible weather" would be something to try if this happens again.

 

 

[Jose Almeida]

Frank,

I tried your suggestions and it didn't work, I then downgraded to SMP 3.3.2 and it still doesn't work; I was wandering if it could have something to do with this Radeon graphics, although it is the same for XP10.

José

 

[sundog]

I don't think so; the Mac I develop on has a Radeon card and it seems OK.

Try un-installing SMP and re-install SMP4. Could be a missing file or something in your XP11 installation.

[Jose Almeida]

I already did that, I reinstalled SMP 4, I believe it did delete everything there was from the previous instal. I wii soon get through my activation slots.

[sundog]

Do you see any clouds at all in XP11? Or is it specific to this scenario at KSEA?

[Jose Almeida]

I'm running the demo, so I only have this scenario, but I've tried in diferent airports and I can only see cirrus. Could this be specific to the demo?

[sundog]

Don't think so. What if you disable RWC and set up cloudy conditions manually? Still nothing?

If so, then perhaps it is some system-specific issue - or it could be a license issue. SMP won't render cumulus or overcast clouds if the license check fails. Although there's no indication of that in your log that you sent.

 

[Jose Almeida]

Tried that and there is some difference but it is featureless, like a cloud layer appears just as fog. Furthermore, as I was increasing the camera altitude, x-plane crashed, reportedly due to Silver Lining.

Log.txt

[sundog]

Your log suggests you're running out of memory - but it looks like you've got 16GB installed. Are you running anything else at the same time as X-Plane?

Perhaps a reboot would help to clear things out?

 

[Jose Almeida]

I'm not running out of memory, how could I if there's no scenery? We've discussed this before and my conclusion was that the available memory reported by SMP on a Mac is nothing like the real available memory (I know you disagree). Anyway, if I switch to XP10, with loads of scenery an plugins, everything runs smotthly with very acceptable FPS. Also, if you look at my first picture you'l notice that XP11 was running at 20 FPS, which confirms that there is no lack of memory.

Is it possible that in a reinstal something is used from a previous version or is everything erased? I could try to erase everything manaully and do a fresh instal, instead of the reinstal. I'm not sure if that counts against my activation slots, which are probably running very low.

[sundog]

A fresh install couldn't hurt. My understanding is that activation slots are only tied to individual PC's; you shouldn't run out by re-installing on the same system.

If you're low on memory, I would expect things to run fine until you actually ran out. Again there may be things running in the background on your system that is consuming it all. I do agree that the way MacOS reports VRAM usage is complex, but it's reporting low system RAM in your case.

 

[Jose Almeida]

I did a fresh instal, rebooted the computer and I can tell you that if this is how it is supposed to look in XP11, I much prefer XP10. I won't insist since I'm not flying in XP11 anyway.

Thanks for your time and attention.

José

[Jose Almeida]

Frank,

I was going to abandon this subject but Then I had an idea to try and increase the visual effects; it was set to medium and I managed to get clouds by increasing to high. This is an unexpected limitation, but there you are.

[sundog]

That is strange; we tested with HDR both on and off in XP11. I'll double check though; perhaps something changed in pb3 or something.

[sgabriel]

I've got some crazy stuff happening with SMP4 on my iMac with X-Plane 11 b3.. Seems to happen only sometimes. Anyone else seeing this?

[Cameron]

31 minutes ago, sgabriel said:

I've got some crazy stuff happening with SMP4 on my iMac with X-Plane 11 b3.. Seems to happen only sometimes. Anyone else seeing this?

That's a classic example of a GPU going bad on the Mac side.

[sgabriel]

Can you elaborate?!

[mfd529]

On 1/7/2017 at 6:32 PM, sgabriel said:

Can you elaborate?!

Hi sgabriel, I had a 10 year old MacBook Pro do something like this. In my case just the normal desktop looked all patchy, similar to your screenshot. My GPU had some pins desolder themselves. Everything on my screen was messed up. The thing that's very odd, if anyone suspects a graphic chip going bad, wouldn't the cockpit view also look the same? i.e. the instrument panel should look all patchy as well. Do you ever have this patchy look with any other applications? My 2 cents. 

[sgabriel]

Hi mfd529,

Yes, I know what you're talking about. My computer (which is brand new as of three days ago), however, behaves fine in all other situations, running X-Plane 11 or not. Only when SMP4 is active does it occur. Furthermore, it occurs only outside the aircraft! That is to say: when viewed from the cockpit the cockpit textures are normal; only the "world" outside displays the effect pictured. It goes away when I deactivate the SMP4 plugin; it returns when I re-activate it.

 

Puzzling.

[sundog]

It may be some object specific to that view is triggering the fault. Every time we've seen this sort of thing, it's turned out to be a hardware failure. Apple has quietly recalled some GPU models that are prone to this; you may want to do a Google search for your video card model and the word "recall" to see if it's on the list. (If you don't know your video card model, it will be listed near the top of X-Plane's log.txt file.)

[sgabriel]

I'm sad—or happy—to say that doesn't seem to be it. It's a brand new computer with a current-production video card (AMD Radeon R9 M380, 2GB). Not a monster card, but runs XP-11 marvellously...except for this issue with SMP4. Weird.

[sundog]

If it's brand new, I'd seriously consider exchanging it if you can. Even if SMP is all that triggers the fault on your system, it's still not something we can address from our end.

[MontanaAP]

On 12/31/2016 at 3:49 AM, sundog said:

That is strange; we tested with HDR both on and off in XP11. I'll double check though; perhaps something changed in pb3 or something.

 

I'm having the same problem as reported above with XP11 and the SMP4.1 (just installed today) where I only get clouds if the "Visual Effects" settings in XP11 is set to High. Is this a known limitation of SMP4 or something with my install/settings?

Running on a MacPro with 64GB ram, AMD FirePro D500 3GB 

Thanks, MontanaAP

[sundog]

No, it's not a known issue - clouds appear just fine at lower visual effects settings here. It might help if you post your log.txt after experiencing the problem; it may help us figure out what's happening with your system.

X-Plane re-loads everything when you change the visual effects setting, so it's possible new, clear weather conditions got loaded at the same time due to a METAR update.