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To be constructive, it's most likely that you are running out of memory on your video card if you're experiencing a performance loss with SkyMaxx Pro relative to running with equivalent default cloud settings. SkyMaxx Pro uploads new cirrus textures and the geometry for all those clouds to your video card, and if you were already running close to the limit due to other add-ons and custom scenery, it's always possible that SkyMaxx Pro's resources is just the straw that breaks the camel's back on some systems. The very small percentage of users reporting this sort of thing is consistent with this theory. If you start off with your VRAM almost exhausted, install SkyMaxx Pro, and that pushes your system over the edge - there's not a whole lot we can do about that. You might try reducing the settings in Skymaxx Pro for cloud draw distance and detail, and selecting the low resolution cirrus texture, to reduce its memory footprint and reduce the amount of work SMP needs to do each frame. I feel the need to respond to some of the other statements in this thread.... SkyMaxx Pro is in fact stable as a rock. It is not some buggy piece of software released prematurely. SkyMaxx Pro involves close to 100,000 lines of C++ code, and it did undergo beta testing over a lengthy period on multiple systems and platforms prior to its 1.0 release. The fact that you don't see lots of complaints about SMP crashing, despite the huge variety of systems running it in the wild, speaks to the QA that was done. Instead, the feedback you do see is largely aesthetic and related to performance on a handful of systems. We've been extremely responsive to feedback from the community. SkyMaxx Pro 1.0 did in fact perform better than default clouds on most systems we tested it on, as the product description claims, but user feedback was that it still wasn't fast enough for some of our customers. So, we hunkered down, got some help from Laminar, and issued version 1.1 within a couple of weeks which pretty much doubled performance. Then, we started seeing a few complaints about the slight delay that happens when new weather conditions come in from X-Plane while running with real weather on. So, we hunkered down and found a way to make handling weather updates four times faster in version 1.2. User feedback on 1.2 indicated that it made the delay almost un-noticable for most users, which is pretty remarkable considering SMP needs to re-generate thousands of new clouds when new cloud conditions come in. If this is still unacceptable to you as a user, you can reduce the cloud draw distance and detail settings to make this delay smaller. We also got some reports of a slow memory leak (which is outside of SMP itself) affecting long-haul flights on some systems, and a fix for that is imminent in 1.3. I think perhaps we've been TOO responsive with updates to SMP, as it seems to create the impression that there have been lots of bugs that we needed to urgently address. Rather, we've just been eager to implement improvements suggested by the community. So, if you're reading this thread trying to make a purchase decision about SMP - know that it's providing an upgraded visual representation of the sky and clouds in X-Plane with increased performance and great stability for the vast majority of our customers. In the unlikely event that you run into trouble, the developers are here and act in response to any problems we see reported.

I think the username says it all Cameron, we have someone here who likes to poke whenever they can.... Back to Lee, I think you need to really look into your X-Plane install and try to figure out whats going on. Your initial impressions are way out of line with the vast majority of users of SMP. Keep in mind also we are always available to help out, but you will attract more bees with honey over vinegar.....

The only time I drop below 19 FPS is when I exhaust my VRAM on my video card - Like Cameron, I have a much lesser system than your iMac/GTX780. If you drop to 2FPS you are clearly swapping VRAM. - Is Texture compression on? (You can easily over-fill a 4gb card with 'native' texture resolutions and no compression) It does work as advertised for me. The statement is true. Rewarding people like John et al for spending their hard-earned time to develop things for the rest of us (who don't have the time to do it) - I don't think anyone in the entire X-Plane community does development as their primary source of income at all. i.e. the people developing this program is not some "faceless corporation" trying to scam you....they are real people, who are on this very forum, who are very intent on providing an excellent add-on. I don't see *any* level of "sell it and we'll fix it later" attitude going on here - I see quite a professionally packaged product, with the authors who take the time to respond, to enhance, and support their product. I don't think anyone's getting rich here. BTW the same guys have spent a lot of time in the community developing numerous free add-ons for us over the years - this is one of their first forays into a paid development model. They deserve to be rewarded for taking a good stab at fixing the XP10 cloud system, once and for all... and as mentioned, it does work (and works very well) - but for some reason, not for you. Wait a sec... $40? ​Are you serious? All this over $40? If this is indeed the case, I don't know how you afforded a 27" 2013 Haswell iMac. Wow... I just re-read your computer. Thats a $3000 system.... *that* is the definition of hard-earned cash - $3000. Not $40. I suppose you also know that the TDP limits in your iMac cooling prevent the i7-4770 in your machine from turbo-ing up for more than a few minutes right? (Meaning, you paid $3000 for a computer that does not operate at the turbo-speeds advertised by apple - By the same logic, I think you should be badmouthing apple on the forums and be demanding a refund from Apple too.... since that was a $3000 mistake, not a $40 one.) ​Anyways, it appears that it just doesn't work for you. No need to badmouth - since it obviously does work for many many others. And - You could always ask for a refund if this is a special circumstance - and you can choose to do it in a classy manner.

I was fortunate enough to be on the beta team, and I can vouch for the progress Frank and John, with the help of Cameron, made over the past few weeks. The early beta I got was already stunning, and I am not just talking about the wow effect : it was already very solid for a beta, because the technology Frank had been implementing was proven. I experienced one crash in hours of testing, and torture testing SkyMaxx, and excellent frames from beginning to end. With the latest updates, my fps kept increasing. Even on an aging Mac Book Pro. The whole SkyMaxx crew is doing an incredible job refining an already excellent piece of software. But they can't do much about users with suborbital-high expectations.

The update to resolve this memory leak you spoke of IS coming. Please bear in mind the time of year, we all have families, it is not your exclusive right to enjoy their time. I'm sorry that this impedes your enjoyment of your product but I can assure you that I suffer the same things at this time of year for much the same items. That said, it's now the second week of the new year. Perhaps the first real business week for many coming back online. The bug has been found, the fix has been written. We're now in the final stages of QA and making the update worth everyones time. I try to address multiple issues with each plugin update, I hope you can see the value in that. The real world is by no means perfect anywhere you look. It's not an excuse to do a tardy job, it's an observation that best effort is necessarily a human thing and subject to failure, no matter your budget, team size, or brand name. A fix exists and will be offered as soon as possible. (This is public information posted in the relevant thread..) Please monitor the forums for news and updates. Alternatively; an email will be sent to your registered address when an official update installer is available. Thank you for your patience and support.

Today, is one year from the first release of that project! I would like to thanks all of you guys for the 3500+ downloads so far!

I've uninstalled Skymaxx Details...... Before Skymaxx, I ran X-plane on very high settings with default clouds:- Texture Res - Extreme Res - Highest res on iMac 27" HDR - Off Pixel lights - On Gritty Textures - On Buildings - Tons Trees - Sparse AA - off Anisotropic - 8x World Detail - High Airport Detail - Extreme Cloud Puffs - 100% iMac 27" (Late 2013) 3.5ghz i7 8Gb Ram 1Tb Fusion Drive GTX780MX 4Gb video card X-Plane 10 Global With the settings and system above, I can run X-Plane at 25+ FPS without fail. No stutters, weather updates are smooth, nice transition between cloud layers and distant clouds. When I install Skymaxx, the FPS is wild, it goes from 2FPS upto 19 FPS, Stutters and practically stops the sim on updates. I have everything on the Skymaxx set to the lowest possible setting i.e off or far to the left sliders or number 1 option. On the website, it clearly says there is an improvement in frame rates above default setting, I've not seen this anywhere in my experience and if that means lowering my sim settings then yes you will get better frame rates much like the default would. I have to say, Skymaxx Pro is broke, looking foward to an urgent update. Seems harsh I know but I'm sick of developers selling products that don't work as advertised and expect customers to use there hard earned money to fund the beta testing and future development. Why state it increases frame rates when it doesn't, quite the opposite and it's not just me either having searched the forums is various places. I've read there is a memory leak in the program, it may explain the problems people are having, these are fundamental problems that should be eliminated before it is sold, it's old school that ensuring memory leaks are plugged. I wouldn't buy a car with a leaking fuel tank, that's what I've done here. It's not on, customers expect better than this. I want to give the developers a chance to rectify this, fix the memory leak, improve the FPS and transition updates and work towards a better product, it after all is very good at representing the sky, some spectacular views but I'm very disappointed with my purchase so far. You have got to get an update out ASAP. Cheers Lee

Doing some fly-arounds BlueHawk Virtual Airways

Just keep it in V10, it will make development much easier and allow for a better finished product. Support for V9 will end up being dropped at some point in the future anyway, may as well make it now before you put too much more effort in.

I know people who wouldn't pay Apple's or Bose's premiums. I also know an overwhelming amount who would. You can't use simple percentage points as a way to gauge costs of an add-on. If that's how you apply logic, a reality check is in order. Supply and demand play a very large role in economics. Laminar's reach of people who buy the sim JUST for the sim without add-on's allows them an afforded opportunity to lower the cost of the sim. I remember when X-Plane was $299 prior to its growth spurt, and I suppose all the MSFS developers have it wrong now too. Heck, I can buy MSFS X for $19.99! Someone better write in to REX and PMDG about their deceptive, greedy profiteering quickly!

How do you get that? It reads to me: Most of, almost all, majority, not all...but most. Your mileage may vary, but I'd say (as have others here) that the statement holds true for an overwhelming majority (and also clearly on the very reviews section you speak of). The wording is very clear. You're trying to interpret it as "SkyMaxx Pro guarantees you 100%, without doubt, improvement in FPS over default"...it doesn't say that.

Ford recalling 465,000 2013 models to check for fuel tank leaks http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/03/us-autos-ford-recall-idUSBRE9520LA20130603

Trying to convert captainsim 737, but it is a very tough one.

I really can't believe that. Reading through the comments and most people calling it a game SERIOUSLY?

That's what she said.

Aaron, I am going to be diplomatic concerning this situation but I do feel it is an obligation to air out a few things regarding how you have done business in the past and a few notes on my involvement with you. Recently you started pushing this sky product by providing very few and vague screen shots of your work. Only when I asked you to show more detail did you post more shots. Terrain Europe XP was marketed the same way. You asked for pre-orders and when anyone ever asked you for more screen shots you didn't provide much of anything. You also promised updates and landmarks as part of the product. Recently you did a 180 and decided not to support the product any longer which angered a lot of individuals in the community. In conversation with a friend of mine, from the community, you touted the sucess of your Terrain Europe XP, but here in a public forum you are telling people it wasnt a sucessful product. I think you may have lied to that individual in order to get something out of him..... Additionally you recently reached out to another friend of mine asking for his services to create a product better than UrbanMAXX, this is OK but you were making all kinds of promises as to a "new technique" to place textures and line them up with the roads.....This is all OK, but you were looking for this individual to figure it out, which isnt possible BTW.....Not without code anyway. If you did have this at your disposal why would you need to enlist someone from the community to do the work for you? That seemed very fishy..... And lastly you reached out to Sun-Dog, looking for them to develop another cloud add-on as work with me and Sun-Dog were already underway. And you found out pretty quickly that we were under an agreement. I don't mind that you did this, but again it shows you are trying to exploit the talent around you..... How could two versions of the same product compete? I think you were trying to cut me out, not good..... Another point is you do not even participate in the community, side converations, development threads, not an ounce. You show up out of the blue and try selling stuff with little information and thin content. Becoming a good developer in this community requires you to become a part of the community. Developers need to have a true relationship with the user base. You found out how strong mine is recently and I continue to work hard to maintain this.... Don't underestimate the intelligence of this community, they can see past shifty answers. Always be honest and open with them, especially in the area of how a product works...... Im not telling you what to do, or telling you to ignor the business side, but you should never let business take over, you need to keep a leash on it until you develop a reputation.... Plus a few of these points noted above are why you are having a hard time winning over the community. Frankly it is very painful to watch...... My Involvment With AWG Ok there is some hear say above so let me hash out my involvment with AWG. Aaron contacted me wanting to use UrbanMAXX with his Terrain Europe XP. So we started talking and I said that may work out. During our converations on skype I asked about reporting of sales and Aaron replied that he did not have a way of reporting sales statisitics RED FLAG.. I let that red flag slide and kept in the back of my head that we will just work that out later. During this time I offered him up some custom glacier textures which he put into his terrain europe product. One thing we discussed was a formal announcement of the product and our partnership. A blog post came out showing the glaciers and touting them as a feature in his product, with NO mention of Maxx-XP....RED FLAG I was a bit irrate at this point and after a conversation he added a little something down at the bottom of the blog post.... Around this time a member of a popular X-Plane review site contacted me with some concerns surrounding Aaron, Ill be honest I dont remember the details but it was surrounding his use of OSM and another irrate X-Plane developer. RED RED RED RED FLAG This review site was going to run a piece on AWG but decided to back out because of his reputation......And that was the straw that broke the camels back....I contacted Aaron and said he can have those glaciers and Im out....... Many other details were left out, but these are the facts I remember and this is why you have a hard time around here Aaron....... Dont get angry, really read this and try to take something away from it......But Im afraid you may have already have tarnished your reputaion to the point of no return.....

Where there's smoke there's fire, and there's plenty of smoke around you buddy.

Reputation.

The real issue we have with you, Mr. Graham, is that you're trying to sneak in a community full of generous and talented people. X-Plane has the ability to create healthy communities, spark initiatives. You, on the other hand, are just not fit. We have seen enough of your generosity, or lack of thereof, and nothing here, after dozens of posts, helped to prove your actual talent. I have no doubts about your opportunism, however.

Sounds like you're waiting for just the right asset to appear so you can "borrow" it......

Tweaked lights: Chris K's Modified Lighting for X-Plane 10. Why don't you throw in some wide taxiway markings and HD Taxi signs?

9 different sky themes- done by sabach's HDR mod enchanced 3d effect?-Sabach's HDR mod HD Glaciers- John's GlacierMAXX HD Runways/taxiways-FlyJSim's textures Sun/Moon halo-also modded by Sabach in his HDR Mod and by more?

Public domain here, supplied by John there. Freeware work from Pierre here. Freeware work from John there. Seems these days it's easy to find a loophole, package it, sell it. You should try this with FlightGear as it's all free. Oh wait, thats already been done by another opportunist. Come on man, Seriously ? Not knocking what you do (well I am actually) just how you go about doing it. Where did you get the clouds from by the way ? If this post gets me banned or put on vacation for a while I'll take it gladly. You know, there's some real satisfaction in doing the work, owning it and saying look what I did. The things that the two guys that posted on this have done for the community for FREE should remain so. Well thanks for listening and I'm off to find some freeware without any disclaimers to sell. FREE HD MOON !

Why windows compatibility only? From the looks of this all you are adding are different sky colors. Why not just have the user install them into the proper folder. Seems like you are complicating this add-on. Additionally are you adjusting the colors of the sky or are you working on or also the ambient lighting to include cloud color and sunlight color? These are affected by the skycolor.png The reason I ask is because all I see in your images are clear skies and to put together a nicer set of colors one should look at all the ways those PNG's are working in the sim. And the effort of adding an installer does not justify a pricetag my friend...... Now please refrain from ever mentioning me and any of my stuff in a post ever. I am not threatened by what you have going but you operate as someone who manipulates others to do all the work for you. You have no interest with being part of the community, only to profit from it and I have serious doubts you know how to properly develop at all. Aaron I have kept my distance from you, I advise you to do the same...... Folks he tried manipulating my time and effort out of my hands to include I offered a version of UrbanMAXX with his OSM add-on but was insistent on trying to take credit for it . His glacier textures included in the OSM package are mine, I told him go ahead when I cut ties with him. The OSM add-on is freely available BTW and his version does nothing to warrant a price tag. I am seeing my name thrown around by you on different social outlets and to be honest I am starting to get tweaked. I refrain from posting anything even though I know you are a fraud because it will seem self motivated. It isnt guys and I am sincerely trying to keep an eye out on the community. I see how he operates.....