Sigmoid Posted April 30, 2013 Report Posted April 30, 2013 Hi! I've been flying around in the demo version of X-Plane 10 for a short while, and my experience is extremely mixed. My main qualms:- The selection of actions at joystick setup is painfully missing some obvious operations, like cycle through views, zoom in/out, etc.- I wanted to set looking around on the joystick on my gamepad, which resulted in a jerky, oh-my-god kind of movement in the 3d view. No smoothness at all.- No looking around in 2d panel mode.- The virtual cockpit mode is ugly beyond description. (Really, the Laminar guys should just take a look at FlightGear, and the kind of cockpits they did. Terrain in Flightgear looks like crap, which on the contrary is good in XPlane 10. So I guess the two sims should just learn from each other.) So anyway, I'm thinking that maybe there's a plugin for that. Is there any plugin that might help me get a "better view"? It would be awesome to get a proportional shifting view control (ie. the joystick controls the movement of the viewport, not the viewport itself - push it up a little, view shifts upward slowly, push it up a lot, view shifts upward fast).Also, since 3d cockpit doesn't look usable, at least not in the Cessna 172, it would be nice to be able to look around in 2d mode. In Flightgear, the panel just disappears if you look in some other direction except straight ahead. That would be fine... Also, any plugin or tool that is generally known to improve user friendliness would be welcome. The UI of XPlane 10 has been exceptionally unwelcoming so far... Quote
Michael_Chang Posted April 30, 2013 Report Posted April 30, 2013 A lot of these factors can be addressed by modifying your settings in XP. As for the VC stuff, having been a former flightgearer, I can vouch for the fact that these cockpits are much nicer. 1 Quote
Flying_pig Posted April 30, 2013 Report Posted April 30, 2013 As far as the 172 cockpit goes that's because it's the same one from v9 if you fly alot of ga try the baron or birdog also you can move around in 2d panel mode just use your arrow keys and for the 3d cockpit movements there are commands that make it not jerky if you can't find those look into track ir5 or use the right mouse button and ABOVE ALL ELSE read the manual Quote
Cameron Posted April 30, 2013 Report Posted April 30, 2013 - The selection of actions at joystick setup is painfully missing some obvious operations, like cycle through views, zoom in/out, etc. Cycle views has never been in X-Plane, but zoom in/out is. Simply go to the joystick settings, then click the 'Buttons: Adv' tab. Hit the button on your joystick you would like to assign something to, then hit the radio button that says 'general/'. You will then see various options for zoom. - I wanted to set looking around on the joystick on my gamepad, which resulted in a jerky, oh-my-god kind of movement in the 3d view. No smoothness at all. Can't say I've ever used a gamepad with X-Plane, but I can't think of any logical big reason why it wouldn't work unless the gamepad is registering as a button click in an awkward way. With a joystick hat switch the pan is very smooth. - No looking around in 2d panel mode. Sure you can. Press 'Q' or 'E' when in 2D, or use the arrow keys to pan sections of a large 2D panel if it's not all in view. - The virtual cockpit mode is ugly beyond description. That's a baffling statement. Are you using some old aircraft? Check out the new default planes like the Baron, Kingair, 747, etc to see what 3D cockpits look like. You can see other examples of images taken in 3D cockpit mode on our Saab project here: http://forums.x-pilot.com/topic/4189-saab-340a-cockpit-preview-december-10-2012/ (Really, the Laminar guys should just take a look at FlightGear, and the kind of cockpits they did. Terrain in Flightgear looks like crap, which on the contrary is good in XPlane 10. So I guess the two sims should just learn from each other.) You surely must be using an aircraft not intended to have a 3D cockpit then. Is there any plugin that might help me get a "better view"? It would be awesome to get a proportional shifting view control (ie. the joystick controls the movement of the viewport, not the viewport itself - push it up a little, view shifts upward slowly, push it up a lot, view shifts upward fast). You can certainly assign this type of stuff already using the button advanced section of the joystick. It's a matter of finding the datarefs you want to assign to buttons. Otherwise, just use the keyboard. Use '<' for moving backwards, '>' to move forward, use either with shift held down and this will produce faster movement. Do this in 3D cockpit mode (Shift 9) or in exterior (Shift 4) mode. Again, use 'q' or 'e' in the 3D cockpit mode to "walk" right or left. Also, since 3d cockpit doesn't look usable, at least not in the Cessna 172, it would be nice to be able to look around in 2d mode. In Flightgear, the panel just disappears if you look in some other direction except straight ahead. That would be fine... As said, already exists. Use 'q' or 'e'. Also, any plugin or tool that is generally known to improve user friendliness would be welcome. The UI of XPlane 10 has been exceptionally unwelcoming so far... It's a new platform for you and you're just going to need a little time to warm up to it. It's not unlike a lot else, and with flight sims you take what you can get. 2 Quote
Sigmoid Posted April 30, 2013 Author Report Posted April 30, 2013 Yea... Point is, I'd like to keep off the keyboard as much as possible. I assigned the "view left/right" and "view up/down" axes to two joystick axes, which works in 3d view, even if it's extremely jerky. It doesn't work in 2d panel view. And "use the arrow buttons" is no help here, when I want to line up for a landing or something similar, it would be nice if the axes just simply worked, and I could use the joystick. Yep it seems the 3d cockpit was so ugly because the Cessna 172 is an old model. Quote
Cameron Posted April 30, 2013 Report Posted April 30, 2013 Yea... Point is, I'd like to keep off the keyboard as much as possible. I assigned the "view left/right" and "view up/down" axes to two joystick axes, which works in 3d view, even if it's extremely jerky. It doesn't work in 2d panel view. And "use the arrow buttons" is no help here, when I want to line up for a landing or something similar, it would be nice if the axes just simply worked, and I could use the joystick. Yep it seems the 3d cockpit was so ugly because the Cessna 172 is an old model.So assign some buttons to 'q' and 'e' key bindings and you should then be able to use the joystick.All I told you above can be assigned to the joystick. I was giving you keys to have another work around in a lazy way and as examples if you wanted it. Quote
Sigmoid Posted April 30, 2013 Author Report Posted April 30, 2013 Thanks It seems it takes some getting used to... XD I'm sure everything can be done, it's just that some things aren't where I'd expect them to be. For example, I made my acquaintance with the view axes, and they work fine with a gentle touch. Maybe I'll make a camera control plugin in Lua or something as a final solution... Quote
BWolf7 Posted May 5, 2013 Report Posted May 5, 2013 If you don't have any nice addons or anything the default planes are quite nice eye-candy but are very limited in procedures and functionality. This was done on purpose to leave room for 3rd party developers to take over with the high-quality addons. Laminar's priority is the flight-model and the real time blade-element calculations. I do not know much about FlightGear, but my guess is that it is predetermined flight model calculations, and their main focus (like MSFS and many others) is the eye-candy and marketability. It is a common complaint that Laminar focuses on their highways and do not take much time making an easy to use GUI, but that will take some getting used to since you are switching to a very different sim. Hope this cleared some stuff up Quote
pryoski Posted May 6, 2013 Report Posted May 6, 2013 (edited) Views in X-Plane are the most versatile I reckon ... I hated the limited options in FSX an P3D .IMO to get the best out of the X-Plane experience you need TrackIR ... and use the Pilot View plugin (it's VERY versatile). Come to think of it, you can use the Pilot View plugin even without TrackIR ... and then you can adjust your views to be exactly the way you want. Understand though that the Pilot View plugin (I think it's by Sandy Barbour) requires that you setup the keystroke assignments for all your 3D cockpit pan, scroll and zoom functions etc. beforehand. Cheers! P.S. I'd tell you which function assignments that I use .. except that I'm still at work! P.P.S. .. and definitely get the full version of X-Plane and a payware plane ... I'd recommend the Jetstream 32 by JRollon to get you started ... an absolute gem of a plane (especially if you fly 64bit),and when the IXEG 737 comes out I believe it will be a crowning moment for the X-Plane universe! Edited May 6, 2013 by Kris Pryo Quote
Sigmoid Posted May 8, 2013 Author Report Posted May 8, 2013 (edited) I wonder, is there a really good model of a small, trainer class single engine airplane around? A 152, or something comparable... Edited May 8, 2013 by Sigmoid Quote
Cameron Posted May 8, 2013 Report Posted May 8, 2013 I wonder, is there a really good model of a small, trainer class single engine airplane around? A 152, or something comparable... http://www.x-aviation.com/catalog/cessna-p-57.html Quote
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