10.04 beta 7

[chris k]

Note: LR has merged the "Installer" and the "Updater" into one program now. To load 10.06 Beta 7 - You will need this new installer/updater, which can be found here:

( http://www.x-plane.c...lane_10_update/ )

From the beta release notes:

__________________________________________________________________

X-Plane 10.04 Beta 7

Beta 7 is out now. Note that to get it you need the new 3.1 installer. If you try to run the old installer, it will give you an error; if you simply update from the "about box", the new installer will be downloaded for you. With this new installer, the installer and updater are one program. See here for more info than you ever wanted to know.

Lots of new art!!!

• The C-130 is included!
  
• Lit textures on cities and more city facades.
  
• Tuning of spill lights in the airport library to improve fps.
  
• Tuning and revision to natural terrain textures and forests.
  
• For users with the X-Plane 10 Global DVD, you will get Aerosoft's European airports if you install scenery for those areas, or if you update and have those areas already installed.
  

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed crash when loading airplanes or quitting, introduced in beta 6.
  
• Fixed crash at EDDM on Linux (due to ATC taxi layout autogen running off the rails.)
  
• Fixed missing sky and clouds with P180, x737 and other wide panels when 4x SSAA and HDR are in use.
  
• Fixed the nasty bumps that airplanes were seeing when taxiing on runways at high altitude airports.
  
• Fixed multithreaded scenery load on Windows. This may help some users with flashing triangles.
  

Rendering Engine & Scenery

• Object exclusion zones now also exclude autogen, so scenery packs that get rid of default buildings now get rid of the v10 default autogen. There is not going to be an "Exclude autogen" - just use the objects exclusion zone!
  
• Objects placed at high altitudes should now be at the correct location.
  
• Latest apt.dat data from Robin included.
  

Plugin bug fixes, included in this beta:

• XPLM returns a version with an extra digit, to match v9.
  
• XPLM load/save data file APIs fixed.
  
• De-icing failure datarefs fixed.
  
• Datarefs.txt now matches the sim
  

I've highlighted a few notable things above Ive been waiting for.

Begin the dissection!

- CK.

Edited March 5, 2012 by chris k

[GrahamH]

WOWOWOW! I'm excited. Running the updater now. Thanks for the notification Chris.

[dpny]

The new airports are wunnerful.

[chris k]

Not bad at all re: the Aerosoft Additions. Some are just using the XP10 facade library system only. (which is pretty easy to do)... I was kind of expecting more I suppose. The ones they've done with their custom objects and orthophotos, yes indeed are nice!

I can still use HDR on my nVidia 330M if I dial down the texture resolution. A good release (rendering wise) from what Ive seen so far in the last 30 mins of playing with it. Very smooth even at complex sceneries.

I purposely "nerfed" down the clouds... (There's that word again Simon!) so I'm still getting a great framerate with reasonable sky quality.

I noticed that Rain/Precip isn't dropping my FPS in half like it used to... although this may be an improvement in a previous build (never tested that earlier).

KSEA - Can put objects to Mega Tons, and it's not a slideshow! (yay)

- CK.

Edited March 5, 2012 by chris k

[dpny]

I can use HDR, but it's Low Frame Rate Theater in any built-up area.

[dpny]

BTW, I can see the effect of the new art: cities are no longer filled with large swatches of suburban homes. They're now filled with endless blocks of three, four and five story apartment buildings, which really is an improvement.

Edited March 5, 2012 by dpny

[chris k]

Yep - Having great success with 10.04 beta 7 so far.

Just spent the past 2 hours with it, cranking up objects all over the place with little FPS penalty hit.....The Aerosoft Airport additions are a nice touch.

I think we have a winner with this beta.

Check out the FPS at Objects "Extreme" at the NZWN Photoscenery location below. Hory Mackalore... and this is on a Laptop with an nvidia 330M. Sweet.

- CK.

[Simmo W]

Hey chris, by nerfing the clouds, what do you mean? 0% or 2 or what?

[larjeet]

What update Im not getting any update :lol: just kidding . Wow and to think that Xplane10 is only 2 month old . lots more tweaks and improvements to come .

[chris k]

Hey chris, by nerfing the clouds, what do you mean? 0% or 2 or what?

Lowest is 10% now... I had 'em at 20% when I was testing cloud FPS hits. Default is 40% now I believe.

[Simmo W]

Ta chris. Yeah, I had mine at 50-60% which I guessed was just above average (surprisingly!). Every update requires a big revisit of settings. It's like Christmas every week!

[karingka]

Yeah, this update is really pleasing! The three airports LPFR, EDLP and LFMN are extremely well done. Not to mention the spectacular C130 aircraft included as well!!

Well done aerosoft and Laminar!

[Phantom88]

Fantastic news,it gets better and better

[Jim Kallinen]

Does anyone have a list of the Aerosoft European airports included in this update. Checked out LPFR and WOW.

Edited March 5, 2012 by Jim Kallinen

[dpny]

Does anyone have a list of the Aerosoft European airports included in this update. Checked out LPFR and WOW.

[chris k]

Something else I think we've discovered:

Demo Users - XP10.04 Beta 7 ignores any /Custom Scenery/ (other than KSEA) now.

However, Full (Retail DVD) users - Even if you only have a Demo Install, it works fine as long as you have the Disc.

Sorry Demo Users - Time to pay the piper it seems....

Cmon.. Cmon... You've had 3 months to save up the $80 by now. =)

- CK.

Edited March 6, 2012 by chris k

[dpny]

And if, IMO, v10 isn't yet a replacement for v9, it has made enormous strides since release.

[Gjalp]

Hiya Chris,

was looking at your settings......you can ditch the hires textures in orbit thing......I have and it doesnt affect the sim any

Also, I found AA to be a bigger hit on FPS than having HDR, I have HDR on all the time now and.......and the hit isnt that bad....in fact less than when I tried AA!!!!!

Remember, if you want to use HDR you have to turn it on and turn off AA.....they dont play nice together!

Slainte,

Andy

NZCH

[karingka]

Funny, AA doesn't touch my FPS... all the way up to even 16x!

[chris k]

Heh Andy.

Not on my Nvidia

AA = No FPS hit at all. All done in Hardware on the Nvidia 330m... get the exact same frame rate at No AA and 2xAA, 4xAA and even 8xAA only drop 1-2 FPS for me.

I normally have the hi-res orbital textures off because of the heavy-use VRAM scenery I'm working on.. I'll take every inch of VRAM I can =). Dunno why it was on.

- CK.

So, what's the verdict? I'm calling Beta 7 a "Win" so far.

Edited March 7, 2012 by chris k

[dpny]

Funny, AA doesn't touch my FPS... all the way up to even 16x!

On any modern card AA should't effect frame rate much at all.

[ALH]

Hi everybody,

I am new in this forum and trying to learn about X-Plane 10 before making the jump. I am an old MSFS since the very begining (I don't want to count the years ;-) and I have already a question about hardware.

I know I have a semi old PC with the following configuration:

- Windows 7 umtimate SP1 64 bits

- Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550, 2,83 Ghz, 3 Gb RAM

- GeForce Nvidia 9800 GT 1 Gb

I know I have to "renew" the system, but would like to know, how do you think XP-10 could perform with this configuration? Could it help changing only the Graphic Card to a Nvidia 570 for example or the Quad is to old for it?

Currently I am flying FSX always from VC with IFLY 737, MADDOG 2008, Cap Sim 757 and 727, and getting average 20 to 30 FPS everywere, but 11 to 15 in busy airports. Not so bad. No sttutering and running quite smooth also with low FPS.

Thanks for any comment or hint to move forward to XP-10. Any help is very welcome.

Best Regards,

Rolando

[zoltron_rulez]

Hi everybody,

I am new in this forum and trying to learn about X-Plane 10 before making the jump. I am an old MSFS since the very begining (I don't want to count the years ;-) and I have already a question about hardware.

I know I have a semi old PC with the following configuration:

- Windows 7 umtimate SP1 64 bits

- Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550, 2,83 Ghz, 3 Gb RAM

- GeForce Nvidia 9800 GT 1 Gb

I know I have to "renew" the system, but would like to know, how do you think XP-10 could perform with this configuration? Could it help changing only the Graphic Card to a Nvidia 570 for example or the Quad is to old for it?

Currently I am flying FSX always from VC with IFLY 737, MADDOG 2008, Cap Sim 757 and 727, and getting average 20 to 30 FPS everywere, but 11 to 15 in busy airports. Not so bad. No sttutering and running quite smooth also with low FPS.

Thanks for any comment or hint to move forward to XP-10. Any help is very welcome.

Best Regards,

Rolando

Download the demo and see what frame rates you get. You most likely will have to lower your graphics settings to get any reasonable frame rates.

Edited March 10, 2012 by zoltron_rulez

[chris k]

Hrm... a Core 2 processor and a 9800GT should work reasonably well... but don't expect miracles though with that configuration.

As Zoltron correctly mentioned, you will probably need to dial down a few of the settings in order to get a reasonable experience. However, the 1Gb VRAM Video card will come in handy; as well the 9800GT was a pretty top-of-the-line card for that series. The quad processor will also help out, as XP10 does do some limited parallel processing.

The Demo would be your best bet. As it stands right now, pls check the [X] Enable Beta Downloads in the demo - So it will pull down X-Plane 10.04rc1; which is not only the latest release but a rather stable one which has made some great optimizations for nVidia cards.

- CK.

[Kieran]

Dont worry about how many fps you get, worry more about whether you are happy with the detail you get at a decent fps.