SkyMaxx Pro v4.9.6 Update Released!

[Cameron]

Hello All,

This will serve as a formal forum announcement that we have released the version 4.9.6 update for SkyMaxx Pro. All customers who have purchased SkyMaxx Pro v4 up till now have been sent an e-mail by X-Aviation with complete instructions on how to obtain your update. We have made this a very simple process! For those that purchase SkyMaxx Pro v4 from today forward, your purchased download will already be updated to version 4.9.6 for you.

What if I didn't get the update e-mail?

If you did not receive your update e-mail don't fret! X-Aviation has updated our system to allow all customers to update with ease, regardless of whether you received an e-mail for the update! Here's what to do:

1. Login to your X-Aviation account here: https://www.x-aviation.com/catalog/account_history.php

2. Find your original SkyMaxx Pro v4 download and re-download the file. It will download as the latest version!

For Mac users, please be aware Metal is not supported. You may still enjoy this v4.9.6 update when running X-Plane in OpenGL mode. You may read why here.

The following is a list of additions/fixes included:
 
What's New / Changed:

• Fixes fog effects inside solid or broken stratiform clouds, and cloud shadows, when using hardware MSAA in X-Plane 11.50 on Windows. With this, SkyMaxx Pro is fully X-Plane 11.50-ready.
• Performance Improvements

 

As always, thanks for purchasing from X-Aviation!

[777]

Hi there,

I get crash to desktop when I try to load the sim after installing latest skymax.

tried installing with the new gizmo and the stable gizmo.

opengl or vulkan doesn't seem to matter.

GizmoLog.txt Log.txt

[sundog]

1 hour ago, 777 said:

Hi there,

I get crash to desktop when I try to load the sim after installing latest skymax.

tried installing with the new gizmo and the stable gizmo.

opengl or vulkan doesn't seem to matter.

GizmoLog.txt 841 B · 0 downloads Log.txt 13.52 kB · 2 downloads

I think this might be specific to Windows users with AMD cards, running with HDR off (ie, medium or lower graphics settings on X-Plane.) Do you recall if you had HDR on or off?

 

[sundog]

OK - so it turns out this update crashes if you have an AMD/ATI card. But, I at least know why, and I'm building a fix for it now. Stay tuned for a patch release.

[Cameron]

We have now released a silent patch update as 4.9.6.2 which resolves the ATI issue. If you had this problem, please go to your account to download the new installer and re-install!

[giacer]

I confirm crash on AMD, but with 4.9.6.2 problem solved, thank you!

[OT2]

Great work guys and thanks for your listening to and supporting your customers!  I run nVidia, so I wasn't bothered by this one, but it's good to see your attention to your fans!

John

[777]

Hi, thanks for update, yes i run with hdr off, it's running now but I get some strange artifacts with skymaxx enabled now.... GizmoLog.txt

if i disable plugin in flight it goes back to normal

Log.txt

Edited August 22, 2020 by 777

[sundog]

5 hours ago, 777 said:

Hi, thanks for update, yes i run with hdr off, it's running now but I get some strange artifacts with skymaxx enabled now.... GizmoLog.txt

if i disable plugin in flight it goes back to normal

Log.txt 68.71 kB · 0 downloads

I think you'll find that if you either enable HDR, or disable anti-aliasing, this will go away. I see the issue and am working on a fix (it is specfific to AMD + Windows + no-HDR + AA + 11.50)

 

Edited August 22, 2020 by sundog

[jatar]

I'm very happy with this weather solution, because at a visual level it's almost perfect, only missing the feeling of clouds in the distance, but I have serious problems when the weather is in stormy conditions, I go from a broken or overcast of 40-50 fps to a few 12-13 in storm conditions, is it normal? any advice to solve it or configuration? 
Thanks and congratulations for the addon.

[sundog]

4 minutes ago, jatar said:

I'm very happy with this weather solution, because at a visual level it's almost perfect, only missing the feeling of clouds in the distance, but I have serious problems when the weather is in stormy conditions, I go from a broken or overcast of 40-50 fps to a few 12-13 in storm conditions, is it normal? any advice to solve it or configuration? 
Thanks and congratulations for the addon.

For more realistic clouds in the distance, you'll want to pair SkyMaxx Pro with Real Weather Connector, and turn up SkyMaxx Pro's "cloud area covered" setting.

I haven't seen performance drop to that extent in storms myself. It might suggest that you're tight on memory.

[777]

34 minutes ago, sundog said:

I think you'll find that if you either enable HDR, or disable anti-aliasing, this will go away. I see the issue and am working on a fix (it is specfific to AMD + Windows + no-HDR + AA + 11.50)

 

yea, it looks normal if I enable hdr. thanks

[sundog]

13 minutes ago, 777 said:

yea, it looks normal if I enable hdr. thanks

Another workaround would be to choose a sky color option in SMP other than Hosek-Wilkie - it seems that is also required to trigger this odd issue.

It's starting to look like a driver bug as I'm debugging the issue, so not sure I can fix this case on my end.

For others reading this - garbage being rendered on the screen seems to be specific to using X-Plane 11.50 with Vulkan, on an ATI card, with HDR off, anti-aliasing on, and with the Hosek-Wilkie sky colors selected. If you're seeing this, changing any of those things should fix it.

 

Edited August 22, 2020 by sundog

[777-300]

Hi,

I am on a Mac. I have turned  Metal off. I can't get 4.9.6.2 to follow the real world weather. I can hear the rain falling but it's not visible and when it shows the weather to be stormy it's looks almost clear. I do have follow real world weather checked and use and use Real Weather Connector. I have tried several downloads and I am still unable to get the actual weather conditions.

[sundog]

12 hours ago, 777-300 said:

Hi,

I am on a Mac. I have turned  Metal off. I can't get 4.9.6.2 to follow the real world weather. I can hear the rain falling but it's not visible and when it shows the weather to be stormy it's looks almost clear. I do have follow real world weather checked and use and use Real Weather Connector. I have tried several downloads and I am still unable to get the actual weather conditions.

It sounds like a license issue; if your license doesn't check out for some reason then SkyMaxx Pro will not display any clouds. If you can post your log.txt it might tell us if that's what's going on.

[777-300]

2 hours ago, sundog said:

It sounds like a license issue; if your license doesn't check out for some reason then SkyMaxx Pro will not display any clouds. If you can post your log.txt it might tell us if that's what's going on.

Hi Frank,

I appreciate the help. Using KPNS as test airport  now and it's showing clouds and I hear rain but it's not visible.

Andy

SkyMaxx Log Txt.pdf

[danhenri]

Hello,

Since 11.50 RC1, I got multiple crashes 5-10 mn after the sim is loaded. I sent a bug report to Laminar. One of the log.text ends by these two lines :

G64: 602.806: Memory Allocation Error: Run(gfx): OnDraw_Gauges_3D: not enough memory
G64: 602.829: Memory Allocation Error: Run(gui): toast_Windows_OnDraw: not enough memory

I've tried many new settings since yesterday and finally tried to uninstall SkyMaxPro (although I love it so much...). And for the first time after the release, I had no crash after more than a hour of flight. So, I'm afraid that AMD is not only concerned, because my GPU is a Nvidia RTX 2080 Super. And in my settings, HDR is on.

Thank you for investigate if SMP may be the issue.

Cheers,

Daniel.

Log(4).txt

Edited August 24, 2020 by danhenri

[sundog]

1 hour ago, danhenri said:

Hello,

Since 11.50 RC1, I got multiple crashes 5-10 mn after the sim is loaded. I sent a bug report to Laminar. One of the log.text ends by these two lines :

G64: 602.806: Memory Allocation Error: Run(gfx): OnDraw_Gauges_3D: not enough memory
G64: 602.829: Memory Allocation Error: Run(gui): toast_Windows_OnDraw: not enough memory

I've tried many new settings since yesterday and finally tried to uninstall SkyMaxPro (although I love it so much...). And for the first time after the release, I had no crash after more than a hour of flight. So, I'm afraid that AMD is not only concerned, because my GPU is a Nvidia RTX 2080 Super. And in my settings, HDR is on.

Thank you for investigate if SMP may be the issue.

Cheers,

Daniel.

Log(4).txt 267.46 kB · 0 downloads

I don't think SkyMaxx Pro is directly causing your issue, but it uses additional memory and may just be pushing your system over the edge. I see you're running with a lot of custom scenery, and even with an awesome video card and lots of RAM it might be tight. Your log states pretty clearly that the crash originated from some aircraft trying to draw guages and running out of memory.

I just ran a test to make sure SMP itself is not leaking memory, and it doesn't appear to be. However it's possible that X-Plane's OpenGL bridge for Vulkan has a memory leak, which we make use of. If this doesn't happen with Vulkan disabled, then I think you did the right thing by reporting it to Laminar.

You might try flying with a different aircraft, or without custom scenery, or turning off HDR - I suspect any action you take that reduces memory usage, which includes disabling SMP, would "fix" things for you.

Edited August 24, 2020 by sundog

[sundog]

5 hours ago, 777-300 said:

Hi Frank,

I appreciate the help. Using KPNS as test airport  now and it's showing clouds and I hear rain but it's not visible.

Andy

SkyMaxx Log Txt.pdf 70.93 kB · 2 downloads

It might just be something specific to the weather conditions at KPNS at the time you were flying; perhaps visibility was too low for the clouds to appear. Can you try some other locations, or see if setting up weather manually works? I don't see any indication of a problem in your log.

SkyMaxx Pro does not work with Metal, but you said you had Metal disabled (note you have to restart X-Plane for changing your Metal setting to take effect)

Edited August 24, 2020 by sundog

[777-300]

I did try other airports in the storm zone and had the same issue. All the airports I tried were with poor weather and clouds has a similar result. I will give the manual a try and let you know.

[danhenri]

9 hours ago, sundog said:

I don't think SkyMaxx Pro is directly causing your issue, but it uses additional memory and may just be pushing your system over the edge. I see you're running with a lot of custom scenery, and even with an awesome video card and lots of RAM it might be tight. Your log states pretty clearly that the crash originated from some aircraft trying to draw guages and running out of memory.

I just ran a test to make sure SMP itself is not leaking memory, and it doesn't appear to be. However it's possible that X-Plane's OpenGL bridge for Vulkan has a memory leak, which we make use of. If this doesn't happen with Vulkan disabled, then I think you did the right thing by reporting it to Laminar.

You might try flying with a different aircraft, or without custom scenery, or turning off HDR - I suspect any action you take that reduces memory usage, which includes disabling SMP, would "fix" things for you.

Thank you for your answer. The log I sent to you was just one among others after application errors. Of course, I did some tests with only one scenery loaded (but a big one), because I'm using x-organiser. And I had same crashes. Laminar devs have soon identified an issue that should be solved with rc2, but for now, SMP is unusable. I well understand that SMP is not a cause of crash in itself. To make it clear, I will report if I have a new crash without SMP installed.

[sundog]

2 hours ago, danhenri said:

Thank you for your answer. The log I sent to you was just one among others after application errors. Of course, I did some tests with only one scenery loaded (but a big one), because I'm using x-organiser. And I had same crashes. Laminar devs have soon identified an issue that should be solved with rc2, but for now, SMP is unusable. I well understand that SMP is not a cause of crash in itself. To make it clear, I will report if I have a new crash without SMP installed.

I just checked in with Laminar and yes, there is a bug in RC1 that will lead to random crashes if you are using orthophotos. It's likely that's what you're experiencing.

[danhenri]

I am not an expert of course, but I doubt orthophotos are really the source of this issue. As I told you, I could achieve my first flight in rc1 version with several ortho files loaded... I made a new test with the last version of FFA320 (number of airports and all ortho sceneries covering French territory loaded via x-organizer), and for the moment, no crash (SMP desinstalled for now).

Wait and see

Edited August 25, 2020 by danhenri

[sundog]

6 hours ago, danhenri said:

I am not an expert of course, but I doubt orthophotos are really the source of this issue. As I told you, I could achieve my first flight in rc1 version with several ortho files loaded... I made a new test with the last version of FFA320 (number of airports and all ortho sceneries covering French territory loaded via x-organizer), and for the moment, no crash (SMP desinstalled for now).

Wait and see

I just spent an hour or so making sure that SkyMaxx Pro is not leaking memory itself, and I'm fairly certain it isn't. I can observe memory use rising slowly over time in X-Plane as a whole, but it happens at the same rate even if I modify SkyMaxx Pro's plugin to literally do nothing and execute no code at all while flying.

Ben Supnik from Laminar has confirmed that rc1 can crash under random circumstances, and my money's still on that. Maybe SMP is just stressing your system enough to make it more likely to be triggered.

I'm also tagging @Ben Russell as your error message seems to be coming from Gizmo, and there's a small chance that Gizmo is leaking memory that he might want to investigate.

[danhenri]

Thank you very much for your investigations. I just had a crash after one hour of flight. You're right, SMP is just a contributing factor.  Hope rc2 will solve this issue.

Edited August 25, 2020 by danhenri