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Frank, Then I'll be very straightforward. This customer uses both and would dearly love it if your product were as good as, or better than, the competition. The Saab is. The IXEG, within their own stated limitations, is close. SkyMaxx, in my view, and with all due respect to your hard work and good intentions, simply is not. Perhaps not yet. Perhaps not ever. That's your riddle to solve. Best, Marshall

To be quite honest here, I wouldn't go that far and call an increase of the cloud draw distance by ~40%, resulting in 120km or 86nm from the cockpits perspective an increase to an insane degree. I asked for that before, I really would like to see a mid-haul flight video (going to high altitudes), any chances for that? There are some great weather transitions right now happening in central europe, e.g. flying from northern Germany to Austria or Switzerland. My biggest issue with SMP v3 at the moment are the bad weather transitions. They became especially noticeable in my recent flights to Salzburg and Geneva. Those two airports had some really bad IMC conditions, but the transition e.g. from Munich to Salzburg wasn't immersive at all. I was almost able to view Salzburg a couple nm outbound Munich, when all of a sudden the visibility changed to a couple hundred meteres in a matter of seconds with no clouds visible at all (there should have been some clouds according to the METAR). And yes I do use RWC. Pictures won't give me an impression whether that issue is resolved or not, so a video would be really appreciated. However, I do appreciate that you posted some high altitude screenshots here, though I'd love to know the METAR reports of the nearest station and the actual altitude of that shots. I for one am not able to judge the correct altitude simply by looking at a 2D picture. It is my believe that only videos are able to tell the true story, or at least give you a correct impression, of a weather addon. You are not developing a static scenery, it is supposed to be a dynamic simulation of the weather, with transitions and such. Although your screenshots do look nice most of the time, even freeware cloud textures can do so on screenshots taken at the right moment from the right angle. Best regards, BaBene

Yidahoo, I loved your pics The topics going fubar Slap pics up every ten minutes my good man ! I will endure the teasing, might even cool some collars down Peace Tony

I am totally relaxed and don't really understand your reaction to my comment, as I tried to be polite and calm. Of course I am focused on the visuals. I am not involved in the development of the product so why should I care much about the technical aspects? After all the outcome of your efforts will be a visual representation of the weather. This will solely be judged by it's visuals and performance, and not by the algorithms used. I'm neither debating nor arguing about stuff that I don't even have yet. I just put your published numbers into a different perspective and gave you my opinion that 86nm cloud draw distance isn't exactly what I would call "increase to an insane degree". If you don't agree than that is fine. The comment in the latter half of my post was based on my experience with SMP v3, a product which I do have for quite some time now. And as I said I do appreciate the previews you gave us. Don't you appreciate constructive and questioning user/customer feedback? As a customer I just wanted to make clear what problems I'm facing with SMP v3, since you are not going into much detail in your announcements whether these problems will be fixed I just kindly asked for a video.

Good heavens, relax. Not just you, but all of you. I stand by my statement of an insane increase. In order for us to extend it where we did we had to optimize to even allow it. You're so focused on the visual that it's not allowing you to see the technical. And, before you start bringing up what freeware may sometimes look like, or what a product in another FS may look like...consider SkyMaxx Pro 3 and its 3D properties (it took up until this year for MSFS to have its first 3D clouds from REX). We are not going to sit here with all these custom video requests. Trust me, YouTube will be filled with all of that within a week if not a day of release. For the moment we are very busy working with testers and using their feedback to improve on each beta build (5 alone in the last week). In the middle of it we are showing you previews as a little fun. We don't have to do it if you'd rather sit in here and debate or argue stuff about something you don't even have yet. I'm not offended here, but I know how hard these guys developing this software work, and I have a higher appreciation for it. Try appreciating the previews for now rather than figuring out how you can attempt to tear it down before it's even in your hands. We haven't even got the preview video out yet!

True. It is important to note, speaking for myself, that time spent feeding back here on the forum is a genuine effort to improve the product. The only reason I might have in comparing with other products is because it's easier to reference what they're already doing well than trying to describe in text. There is no criticism intended, I think SMP is great or I wouldn't waste my time here.

Cameron, Deduce? Sometimes I can barely find my way home at night, let alone deduce. :-) I only was saying that anyone using AS2016 would have easily spotted the problem I did. I mean, editors at The Times read The Washington Post. GM tears apart Hondas. Wal-Mart shadow-shops Target. That's what I was getting at. Best, Marshall

Cameron, You misunderstand. I wasn't asking whether you're interested in the platform. I was asking whether you, or the rest of the SkyMaxx people, look at a competing product, one that is widely seen as being state-of-the-art, and benchmark against it. Do you look at it, see how it renders a given METAR, how it draws and manages transitions, how it depicts clouds? It's like Mercedes buying BMWs, Lexuses, Cadillacs, etc., tearing them down, and using the knowledge to make better Benzes. They do it all the time. I guess I'm a little surprised that you don't. I was happy to help you fix a problem with low clouds and fog recently. Had you been benchmarking other weather apps that do it right, you wouldn't have needed me to bring it to your attention, and you'd probably have a better shot of finding other shortcomings sooner, fixing them and delighting your customers. Best, Marshall

okernel. One of the [cool ] features of the application is dynamic adjustment of CG based on the current weight. The application uses a specific formula to calculate it, and obviously applying the same formula on other planes will produce weird results. )) One thing occurs to me: if people are interested in using the ACARS function for other planes, I could make the CG adjustment optional (with ON by default) in one of the future updates. As soon as I am done with incorporating the real global winds into the application, I could consider it. Cheers.

some pictures from O'Hare Chicago developing, X-Plane 11. Be ready......

DC3 is not officially supported in XP11 yet. There is still testing to be done to make sure everything works, because it does use plug ins. I might have some time to run a few small tests over the weekend to see what I can find and get back to you, but no promises.

Hello Captains! I made a simple LUA-script for v-speed callouts. It includes callouts for 80 knots, V1, Vr, V2 (V2 is optional) and positiv rate / gear up. The script is tested on X-Plane 10.51 and X-Plane 11 on Windows 10. Feel free to leave a comment if you liked the script (or not) Requirement: - You will need FlyWithLua installed - http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/files/file/17468-flywithlua-for-xp9-and-xp10/ Installation: - Unzip the files in [X-Plane]\Resources\plugins\FlyWithLua\Scripts You should get a structure something like this. Settings:Edit the IXEG_vSpeed.lua for the settings. Set to true to enable "V2" callout and false to disable. true and false have to be written with lowercase letters.Enable_V2 = false Set to true to enable "Positive rate/Gear up" callout and false to disable. true and false have to be written with lowercase letters. EnablePosGearUp = true Sync the First Officers speedbugs with what you set on Captain side. Default = false. true and false have to be written with lowercase letters. SyncSpeedBugs = false Change "SoundLevel" to adjust volume for the callouts. Adjust between 0.10 min - 1.00 max (default 0.55) SoundLevel = 0.55 How to use: This is how I use the bugs. It may not be correct compared to real procedures. The required bugs you need to set for the call out to work is Bug_2 to V1 speed, Bug_3 to Vr speed, and set the MCP speed to V2 (if you use V2 callout). You can set the other bugs to whatever you prefere. Demonstration: Known bugs/limitations: - Speed bugs can only be set on Captains side. Credits: @xplana for his excellent voice for the callouts Changelog: v0.111- Made variables and datarefs unique to avoid conflicts with other lua scripts. v0.110 - Minor optimizing of the script. v0.109 - Added setting to sync the speed bugs on First Officers side with what you set on Captains side. v0.108 - Added setting to adjust volume for the callouts- Added setting to disable "Positive rate/Gear up" callout v0.107 - Speed bugs did not reset. Fixed v0.106 - Reseting speed bugs when loading script. To avoid callouts if you dont have set the bugs. - Some adjustment to the sounds. (not so much right panning). v0.105 - Changed the default for V2 callout to false (disabled) v0.104 - Fixed V1 callout when starting X-Plane/loading aircraft v0.103 - Fixed "Positive rate / Gear up" -callout when V2 is disabled v0.102- Added setting to disable V2 callout v0.101 - Fixed compability with X-Plane 10 v0.100 - inital version You can download the script here: http://forums.x-pilot.com/files/file/1029-ixeg-vspeeds-callouts/

Why are you telling me this? The quote you're referencing and responding to did not come from me, nor am I phased by what you're talking about. My skin is a bit thicker than that. SkyMaxx Pro has sold more units than any product in X-Plane. I'm quite sure it's well trusted, Marshall. This line is pure speculation...just because a handful of bar peanuts worth of people are complaining here means nothing. The many thousands of others are just fine, happy, and many often write in about their satisfaction all the time. Rich is subjective, and I've made no comment to allow you to interpret how much I make, but I do well enough to be quite happy and I'll leave it there. I have plenty in life to brag about, but I won't. Then perhaps don't buy it. There's no need to be witty and fill your short story posts here with a bunch of fluff like you're used to doing for the likes of Anderson Cooper and any other media in your normal day job. I'm sure our President-Elect would have some choice words in here too. Somehow he got elected...guess not everyone always agrees with the likes of you, eh Marshall? Anyways, the focus of this thread was to show some higher altitude shots. My asking to simmer down had nothing to do with saving pride...it's just not necessary for the time being. Right now we're all just wasting time. To all others: Enjoy. Until next time, thread closed.

No accurate estimates on when it will be done. We have to get our previous aircraft working in XP11, first. (A few things have changed regarding plug ins). For the Citation, if all goes well, we're looking at next year, hopefully, the first half.

First i read this Then i read this At this point in my mind cameron was leaking a release date (obviously i was kind happy), but then.... ...nooooo!

To Yidahoo, Lovely pictures. . .Now back to the fights. To Cameron, "Im really puzzled by this continued dialog which has undertones of distrust, frankly I am getting sick of it since it isn't what we are about." And there's the nub of it, wounded pride, and a sense of being misunderstood. A friend does high-level PR and hears this a lot. CEOs tell her this and she gives them a simple answer: Tough. Too bad. Suck it up. She also asks them to consider what they've done to earn this impression, because the alternative is they've got a uniquely different bunch of customers and, even if they do, it's suicidal to let the customers know that. So her bottom line to these executives is if they think they're misunderstood, mistrusted, etc., then they have somehow earned it. For Cameron, ask yourself why IXEG is not mistrusted, why LES is not mistrusted, why both have earned a reservoir of good will and SkyMaxx has not. As for your wounded pride, because you yourself know you're not getting rich, it's hard work, you put in long hours, the X-Plane platform makes it hard to develop weather add-ons in: All of that is praiseworthy. And irrelevant. Person-to-person? I admire it. Truly. Customer to company, especially if the product is subpar? I. Could. Not. Care. Less. Best, Marshall

please release it to end these discussions ... have no popcorn left

So did anyone like the pictures? I am a bit bemused by all this. I just wanted to share some images I took at altitude not spark an argument. It reminds me of an old sports commentary. "I went to the hockey game and a boxing match broke out"

Cameron, I'm just going to be blunt. The way you respond to your customer base is pathetic. You get a polite comment/question/critique and you for some reason take it personally and get super defensive about it. You're the face of the company, so you really should at least be as respectful if not more respectful in your responses than the person you're responding to. That is, if you care about you or your company's reputation. BaBene is absolutely right: Quote I am totally relaxed and don't really understand your reaction to my comment, as I tried to be polite and calm. Of course I am focused on the visuals. I am not involved in the development of the product so why should I care much about the technical aspects? After all the outcome of your efforts will be a visual representation of the weather. This will solely be judged by it's visuals and performance, and not by the algorithms used. Let's say Ford made a family sedan last year that yields 15 mpg. Their potential customers say big improvements are needed, and Ford improves that car the next year to get 18 mpg. Then the customers say it's better but still has a long way to go. How pathetic would it be for Ford to start throwing out excuses and saying the customer must not care about technical aspects of the process. What matter are results. Not excuses. All I'm saying is you need to chill out and quit telling other people to chill out. You have to be able to deal with polite discourse in the community if you're the face of the company.

I dont know. I dont want the script to be too complex. But I could maybe add it as an option and make it default disabled.

After some more input on this I changed the default for V2 callout to false (disabled)

No problem, I'll be patient. Conversely the team should be flattered by the attention!

Well if it were up to Marshall we will all be flying whats called P3D-Plane and HE will be happy. I am a bit concerned that your customer experience has been less then perfect for sure but some of your replies here are pretty harsh indeed. For one going after Frank and his abilities is downright rude and absolutely ridiculous...... I'm very curious as to what kind of background gives you the ability to make such rude comments? I see it very differently then you, and not because I am involved but Frank is an extremely talented and professional programmer. This is a completely different platform with a different set of rules and as we develop we are making progress with weather representation........Lets be direct we are not producing something and marketing it as anything else, comparing us to that particular Charlie Brown scene insinuates we are lying to you prior to purchase, and that is not the case in the least. We have our OWN vision and we are driving down our OWN path which is in turn influenced by our customers as we grow, onboard? No? that's OK My feelings are you're expecting something way out of line with what we are offering and just like any consumer look at all information we provide before you make a decision. If your expectations aren't met initially by all means vote with your wallet....

Gcharrie, I'll just say I'll be as happy as anyone if you're right. Best, Marshall

Appreciate it, Saul. Amen to recognition and acceptance. I know a news anchor who once praised a writer of his this way: "You take 'I hate it' better than anyone I know." Which, in this anchor's case, was really just extreme shorthand for saying that his writer knew how to mine criticism for ways of improving the end product. Ah, but we're speaking in parables, now, aren't we? And I'm looking forward to a high quality release, too. Best, Marshall

We focus on what our customers tell us, not on competitors.

Marshall-They're not understanding what you're getting at, but I do. Benz make better engines than Hyundai - if Hyundai recognise this and wish to improve that aspect of their product they could look at how Benz do it. But recognition and acceptance are prerequisites. On that note it would be great to see a video of improvements in SMP4 when going through clouds - previous releases tended to not give a sense of volume as you passed through clouds. But all is well and looking forward to a high quality release S

>>Hopefully that willingness was a delight as well. << It was certainly a plus. As is this conversation, believe it or not. :-) Best, Marshall

Thanks for quick response! No problem I can wait. Whenever you have a chance Sir.

Not really flying between cloud fronts but dipping into a break in the overcast as reported by the metar:

Just one more then. Taken at 30,000 above the Alps.

Flying the SR-71 at 58,000 ft and loosing an engine. Flat spin is impossible to recover in this plane.

Hello Guys, I'm a big flight sim enthusiast like you, too. I bought a lot Addons and when I had no keys or something like that, it was no problem to reset this. But now I have a problem with the X-Aviation Support. I can't download the IXEG B737, because I have no more downloads. But I requested 2 Times in 8 weeks and they didn't responsed. This is not really a good support. Made someone the same experience? What can I do? I hope this is the right corner in this forum to put this thread in. Greets Max P.S. My english is not very good because I'm from Germany, sorry for that

updated to XP11 pb2 today and yes, Gizmo window disappeared :-) I have one painful issue left, after that I might actually be able to do a full flight: the knobs (especially IAS/MACH) behave very strange (already before b2), the sound is plaid back like I was turning the knob very fast, but most important, it seems to turn only clock wise. I have to try a dozen of times until I pick up randomly a spot where it accepts to turn down (counter-clock wise) Now this said, I am not sure if this is a particular issue on my side since I am running a multi-monitor configuration and there might still be a few early bugs left with this brand new XP11 feature. anyone else noticed such behavior?

May I please ask why my response got deleted without notice or answer?

Thanks. I didn´t read carefully I guess

Nice window view of sunset.... John F. Kennedy Int

Great screenies guys this looks very cool. the one thing really missing from SMP so far is real looking Thunderstorms with properley rendered towering CB's which look menacing. Always been very happy with your rendering of normal clouds etc but we really really need proper Thuderstorms. I took these at work note the hard edges on towering Cu and CB's . hope you guys have something in the works to get the storms looking awesome as everything else looks great.

I don't want to throw this thread sideways, so this will be my last comment on this one That is exactly what I mean. You know John enough, we don't. How on earth should we've known that there was humor in his answer? Putting a smiley after that statement would've helped a lot. That's what i mean with "think before you post". We argued about this one before. I think you falsely assume that people asking for linux support, and especially the way they are asking for support, do represent the majority of linux users. After all none (or a majority? not sure on this one) of your addons support linux at the moment, so there are not much "casual" linux users hanging around here. You will never see a "normal" linux user thanking you for not supporting linux. The ones that do post here are passionate linux users that desperately want your addons to support linux. Try create an awesome X-Plane addon for linux only and watch how the windows user are going to react or demand support. Give them the cold shoulder, post a polite and respectful template and everyone will be happy in the end. It's not so much what you do, it's the way you do it. I can't imagine how awful it is to deal with such annoying customers from your perspective. I can only tell you what impression i get from some of the statements. Best regards and my final words on that in this thread (I promise), BaBene

whats strange is if your start the battery the menu works again.

XPL11's lighting looks so real I still can't get my head around it!

It seems to me , that you all guys have interest in defending you friends developers. We can eat without spoons and knifes too, but I dont think you do this, like we can fly without wingflex. But nowdays it is important to have wingflex. If you dont want it go to Xplane 5 and fly on windows 95. I wonder , why you write something here and make developers never even think about wingflex. Shame on you !

Lining up runway 05R at Dusseldorf, Germany [EDDL] Overflying Zurich area, Switzerland Crossing The Alps southbound Hand flying localizer approach into Calvi, France [LFKC] with Flight Director and Autothrottle off

Messing around the Alps Messing with RTH+SMP 3.3.1+RWC and also Realistic Sky Colors Messing with new plane lol

I do believe I mentioned earlier this doesn't affect me in that way. It's human interaction, and I'm not going to sit here and allow one way pounce action. This is not Ford or any other big corporate company. This is a group of individuals bringing stuff to hobbyists alike. My point is there is some very unnecessary drama being created in a pre-release preview thread. It's quite frankly silly. Bear in mind I see all posts on this forum daily, and I may have a bit more context than you when it comes to the history of a specific individuals postings in another thread. I don't expect you to have that same context in mind.

You mean the one which starts with x and ends with o ? I have to come to defend SMP here a little because that product, while it can look okay in some screenshots looks quite awful compared to SMP (even v3) after a closer inspection - low resolution, completely flat, endlessly repeating cloud sprites that look very bad in motion (see some vids on YT). Not to mention the steep price for what looks like a beta release with missing features (custom weather). To me the only issues I had with SMPv3 was somewhat low view distance from up high (I mostly fly airliners) and I am looking forward to see how v4 will perform. One thing that nobody can deny is that SMP clouds are nice and volumetric, not ugly 2d blobs like its 2006.

do you know the difference between a nice-to... and a Must-have? shame on you not having understood what you have in your hands, nobody defends a developer, on my side at least I give my advice to let devs know not everybody is keen on fps killing animations. The interest we have is to keep this add-on free of useless rubbish that would impact its performance. This add-on, unlike others, that cannot cope with systems qualities, does not need any nice to have eye candy animations to be what it claims to be: the best simulated 737 out there!!! it is a master piece as such and no distraction is needed. as many stated, if you would try to master what is in this X-Plane jewel, you wouldn't even have the time to go outside of the cabin to watch "flex", on my side I would not even miss any objects outside of the cockpit... too much to do in the cockpit, but that is just assuming you actually fly this thing and are not touching yourself watching the plane land by itself in Autoland mode. and if you still miss those, I would recommend you take on some other sim/ad-on combination to satisfy your very personal need for aviation-pornography! Have a look at JAR, they do some very nice ones, or the classic FSX/Aerosoft-cartoon-plane-on-the-rails-simulators. But please guys, stop the rubbish about wingflex. There are more important things to fix.

Hmmm, well, I guess that means the market we cater to doesn't seem to care as much about that product then (no matter how great it may be). Good thing you've used it I guess! I'm sure they do.