64-bit support for PilotEdge

[Keith Smith]

The Windows build is done and was tested this afternoon, shall be released shortly.

 

Starting on the Mac build next.

[Cameron]

Awesome, Keith!

[chris k]

Awesome news.!

[horani]

Awesome, can't wait to fly on PE with 64bit! Have to wait for the Mac version thought.... ETA?

Edited January 2, 2013 by horani

[chris k]

Hehe. Keith Wins. I had a feeling he would.

 

- CK.

[horani]

Keith,

 

any update on the Mac ETA?

 

Thank you

[Keith Smith]

I did start on it, and it's looking good. There are a couple of other issues which are going to conflict (not directly related to the plugin) that I have to take care of first. It's high on the list, though.

[john82088]

That is good news! We will have an option to still fly online (PE) with 64 bit in case the Vatsim plugin is not developed for 64 bit.

[horani]

I will actually prefer to fly on PE even if XSqawkbox is ported to 64bit. Can you imagine VFR with some good photosceneries with rendering maxed out on 64bit.... To complete the dream: PE expands to NoCal, Alaska and some region in Europe. I wish them financial success which will allow this dream to come true.

Edited January 8, 2013 by horani

[john82088]

I have been considering signing up but the last few days I checked, the max number of people flying at one time has been six. Does not sound like busy skies. What draws you to it?

[horani]

When I've started I haven't checked the number of online pilots. I've seen so many planes around me and I said to myself - it cannot be. So that I've checked the website and there were 8 people online. That was the first time when I've realized they have about 500 drones flying around. They are drones, but still make the skies busy..

 

What I like? Well first of all it is guaranteed service for 14 hours a day (I believe). So that I do not have to catch the controller or wait for an event like on Vatsim. It happened to me many times (on Vatsim), that before I was ready with my preflight, the controllers went offline... PE is guaranteed - I know they are there when I fly. The other think I really like is the professionalism of their controllers. They really follow the rules yet they are helpful if you make a mistake. The only drawback is the coverage area.

I was also very skeptical at first, that is what the trial is there for. You should do the trial first as well and see for yourself.

Edited January 8, 2013 by horani

[john82088]

Thanks - I think I will have to check it out.

[Keith Smith]

15x7 coverage. We had 16 people flying around the other night (unusually busy). Horani has it right, though, the drones will keep you on the lookout for traffic if you're below FL180. We do have some commercial customers coming online in the next few months that will likely change the face of the network quite a bit (ie, consistently high traffic), but even without that, it's still valuable.

 

The fact that you get can guaranteed ATC presence and quality is probably the most important point. If that isn't important to you, then the rest of the features will probably not be enough to pull you in, but if you do want that ATC on a reliable schedule, and you want it to be high quality every single time, there really is only one game in town as far as I know.

 

I have to admit, when I fly on PE (and full disclosure, it's my network!), I really don't pay too much attention to whole else is flying. I use it to train and stay sharp, period. Whether the radio is busy or not, I have plenty to do in the cockpit between all the freq changes, flying the airplane, etc. Check out this short IFR flight from SNA to BUR to see what I mean:

 

[lwilliams]

I have been considering signing up but the last few days I checked, the max number of people flying at one time has been six. Does not sound like busy skies. What draws you to it?

 

Keith did a good job in describing it from his perspective, here is mine. If you like realism, the challenge of learning, this is your chance to do it.

If you are learning the real rules of flying, this is an excellent chance to be learning in an environment that will promote this.

 

The controllers are not only knowledgeable, but patient and helpful. The drones that are always present in Norcal and Socal always give you extra eye-candy and visual stimulus.

 

Finally, and most importantly for me as a learner, this will become an amazing addiction to learning, conversing with others and meeting great, friendly people.

 

Apart from that, try it and find out for yourself, you'll likely get hooked.

 

Lee

[horani]

Now the question remains open: ETA on 64bit for MAC?  

[chris k]

Mac64 is now dependant on a whole new Voice client + server system. Keith blogged about it on the PE website.

Apparently it requires changing both the server and all the plugins ( incl the ones for FSX ) to use a new voice protocol, which is the proper "way forward" not only for OSX x64; but for the entire system as a whole.

Keith needs to coordinate the migration as well as recode all the plugins so they all "line up" at the same time.

..... Or at least, this is the jist-of-it from what I read briefly.

Edited January 11, 2013 by chris k

[horani]

Any update on this?

[Keith Smith]

There isn't a 64-bit build of the current version of the voice library that we use. So, we have to move to the new voice library, which requires every one of our customers to upgrade on the same day..not something we can do without a lot of coordination. Once they've done that (or at the same time, I suppose), we can release the 64-bit mac plugin.

 

Unfortunately, I have a critical commercial project (read: about $12MM of sim hardware that's being connect to the network) which I have to make a priority. That will be completed in a week or so, then I can return to this issue, which is the 2nd most important thing right now.

[Keith Smith]

Horani, if you're willing to reduce your rendering options in the short term, you can make it work on 32-bit Mac. I sometimes get the feeling that people forgot that XP was ever 32-bit

 

[horani]

Horani, if you're willing to reduce your rendering options in the short term, you can make it work on 32-bit Mac. I sometimes get the feeling that people forgot that XP was ever 32-bit

 

Keith,

 

that's OK, I am still primarily using XP 10.11, which is 32bit. However you know how it is - there are already many good planes ported to 64bit, the scenery looks so much better in 64bit (as I can max out the settings) and one is getting inpatient to enjoy all this for a nice VFR flight

 

Nevertheless I understand that first of the XP 10.20 is still in beta, secondly that there are certain difficulties to move everything to 64bit and also that you may have other priorities on hand. I am sure I can stay in my inpatient state a little longer...

 

BTW - does your big project means there are to be commercial pilots connected to the network = more online pilots present? That would be great. And of course, I wish you good luck with that project!

Edited January 22, 2013 by horani

[Keith Smith]

Thanks Horani. In this specific case, for the short term, it will only be two sims, so not a big impact on traffic. There's a high school aviation program coming online at the end of the month with 7 sims flying just once a week. We have another big aviation high school in the works with 30 sims that will fly 5 days a week. With more of the universities coming online throughout the year, they will have a definite impact on traffic, too. Lastly, we're starting to knock out quite a few flight schools (one sim at a time). When they ramp up, they will add 10-20 aircraft to the concurrent load as well. So, in short, yes...good stuff coming. 

 

I still maintain, though, that the value of the network doesn't change a great deal with the addition of more traffic. I know that sounds odd and is the benchmark by which online networks are usually measured. However, in our network, 30 people online doesn't guarantee that they're going where your going (unlike other online ATC networks where each facility has just one or two airports that draw traffic). Additionally, I suspect one reason that traffic is a good thing on those networks is that it translates to staffing. Well, we're staffed 15x7 no matter what, so that's a non-issue as well. I say all this because I've flown on our system when it's busy and when it's not busy, and there's lots of training value to be had either way. It really depends on what you're looking for, I suppose.

[horani]

Keith, thanks for your response. For me, the traffic on PE is not important for a "visual effect" as it can go other way than I do (and the drones would satisfy the visual needs). What I however like for training purposes is to listen to an ATC communication with other traffic while flying. That is maybe the only reason to have more pilots online from my point of view.

Staffing is not an issue on PE as you've mentioned.

 

What is more important for the future, again from my personal point of view, is the coverage. I believe we will se regular NorCal soon and maybe other interesting areas for GA flying (Alaska?). To draw more people to PE, I would also consider some parts of Europe. UK would probably be the best. There are many IVAO users in the UK and with (recent) problems of their network, these people might be looking for an alternative. The other thing is, that there are many GA sim pilots in the UK who would appreciate PE model and professionalism.

[Keith Smith]

Horani, thanks for the feedback. If one of your goals is to pracitce listening to ATC communications, the most efficient way to achieve that is to listen to our ATC recordings which are updated on an hourly basis. Better still, try the recordings that cover the entire previous day. Many of our listeners use these during their commute in the car, bus or train to/from work as a training tool.

 

We may well expand beyond norcal/socal at some point. When we do, it's very likely to be as a result of a commercial customer. Some of the customers we're talking to are talking about some fairly large commitments to the network. They may well allow us to expand. I'm adament that expanding within the US for retail customers doesn't make much sense because it will send our costs through the roof, creates very few NEW training opportunities, and ultimately, will just reduce traffic density in existing facilities. Now, outside of the US, I could see that being different because there are certainly pilots in Europe who are not going to use PE in its current form because of the coverage area and operating hours issues.

 

Something tells me we'll be 24/7 before we expand, so it'll be interesting to see what the European traction is like once the hours of operation ceases to be an issue.

 

It's interesting that you'd mention the UK. I was under the impression from years ago that the UK generally has great coverage on VATSIM/IVAO (simply due to the limited size of the airspace) and that our offering of guaranteed ATC presence would not be as of much interest. Perhaps I'm wrong?

 

[horani]

Keith,

 

I do practice listening to the ATC recordings, however in-flight ATC communication is yet a little different.

 

PE operating hours is an issue for us, European pilots. I can easily catch PE morning hours, but the traffic is taking place more in the evening US time I suppose. I know many fellow pilots (forums, VAs, friends) from Europe who are quite interested at least to try PE. The operating hours is not the only factor for them, I think the other is kind of known environment (and rules to fly in. Therefore an area somewhere in Europe would bring some of these on board for sure.

You are right the UK has great coverage on IVAO and VATSIM. However IVAO has a lot of problems with their servers and many pilots are looking for alternatives. VATSIM is one of them, but it is far more suited to a bigger metal / airliners. And that is exactly the reason why I've suggested UK. There are many people in the UK who are VFR or smaller planes IFR pilots. The other viable regions in Europe would be France or Germany (forget the rest), but here comes another issue. Many pilots (not all) from France or Germany may be hesitant to join PE due to the language barrier. Most of them are quite comfortable on Vatsim, however the communication demands are higher on PE. I know many American sim pilots who are hesitant to join PE just because of this, and for them English is a native language.

[Keith Smith]

It's early days, but we are looking into a presence in Europe with PE, as a test if nothing else.

 

Also, regarding 64-bit, I have exhausted all options regarding the use of the current library, there isn't isn't a 64-bit Mac build available and the developers are unable to make one for us. So, we are committed to moving to the latest production release of the voice library in the coming months, which will allow us to move to 64-bit on Mac (right now it's only available for WIndows because they did have  64-bit build of the Windows lib for the version we're using).

 

I'll post updates about both the European presence and the 64-bit situation as they develop.