sundog

11.50b15 essentially broke SkyMaxx Pro. Laminar is aware and they believe they have already found the problem on their end. Should be resolved in b16, but for now either use OpenGL mode or an earlier version of X-Plane.

Just heard from Laminar that they may have a fix for this coded up already. Stay tuned.

Just heard from Laminar that they may have a fix for this already. Stay tuned....

Beta 15 seems to have caused all sorts of problems. I'll let Laminar know about it. The only way to "fix" this is to not use unstable beta releases of X-Plane! Or stick with OpenGL mode until they fix this.

Thanks for letting me know. This is almost certainly a bug in 11.50b15; they said they introduced some "fixes" to how the depth buffer works and this is almost certainly related to that. I've let Laminar know about it, but for now, you'll have to chalk this up to instability in the beta process and stick with a stable version (or OpenGL mode)

The trouble is that the ocean is reflecting X-Plane's own sky, as it doesn't have any access to ours. The only way to fix this would be to select the "default" sky option in SkyMaxx Pro, then restart X-Plane.

We filed the bug and provided all the details they asked for. Just not something they've gotten to yet I suppose.

We've rolled out changes to make the effect less noticeable, but it is still something you can notice in VR when you are close to a cloud and turning your head. Ultimately a new rendering technique will be needed to eliminate the effect entirely.

Totally makes sense. If fsgrw.rwx is present it assumes you are using FSGRW, and will show whatever weather it last published.

I've seen some users report that switching RWC to auto mode and then back to external injector can clear this up. Might be that the config for RWC is corrupt and that can clean things up. Also check for other rwx files present in your x-plane directory that might be confusing the system.

Maybe I missed it in the video, but I don't think you ever tried the "force weather reload" item in the SkyMaxx Pro menu. It's also possible that the storms blew in from a nearby location, even if the weather at the airport itself was clear.

I think the full process for forcing everything to sync up with ASXP immediately would involve using ASXP's Debug screen to force it to publish new METAR data, followed by "force weather reload" in the SMP menu. If maximum accuracy in the current real world weather is your primary concern, make sure "never change visible weather" is off in the RWC settings as well.

SkyMaxx Pro does not integrate with aircraft radar. The radar will display weather that X-Plane's built in weather system knows about, but there's no way to connect it to the specific placement of storm clouds. This would only be possible if aircraft developers queried SkyMaxx Pro to retrieve that information from us.

@LKN, have you tried using the "force weather reload" menu item in SMP to sync up with ASXP's weather? If you have "never change visible weather" enabled in RWC, that might be necessary to pick up new conditions being published by ASXP.

We read the METAR provided by ASXP directly, and the METAR in this case is only saying there are broken clouds. No indication of storms there. If that's not matching what you see out the window, then it's an issue with ASXP or the data it is receiving.

I think you either have some sort of disk failure going on, or you have multiple copies of X-Plane installed and you are manipulating the wrong one.

Can't say I've tried that headset. It sounds like a color bit depth issue or some sort of compression going on within the headset or its drivers.

It depends on how you define "realism". With "never change visible weather" on, you'll never see the clouds around you suddenly change in response to new weather data. It's not realistic for the clouds to all change at once like that, but it also means you're not necessarily seeing the most recent weather data as it comes in. You have to choose between having timely weather data (setting it to off) or a more natural experience (setting it to on) because weather data is not published continuously.

Answered that in your other thread...

It is expected behavior in VR for the rendering technique used for overcast clouds in SkyMaxx Pro. Not exactly a bug, but we recognize it's not ideal and are investigating different ways to render these clouds that are more VR-friendly.

When ASXP first starts, it writes an empty metar.rwx file which is why you initially see no clouds. If ASXP doesn't update this file before SkyMaxx Pro starts, then we end up reading clear skies everywhere. This should clear itself up after a couple of minutes once ASXP updates its data. Do you have "never change visible weather" enabled in the Real Weather Connector settings? If so, that would explain why it stays clear until you force a reload.

It definitely looks like a bug in X-Plane 11.50b13, possibly related to the Vulkan memory manager. I filed the details with Laminar.

There weren't any changes in the 4.9.5 update that would affect performance. But, I am seeing a lot of chatter on Facebook groups about stutters even from people not using SkyMaxx Pro. There is some speculation that a recent Windows update or NVidia driver update may be the culprit.

When you load scenery for the first time under Vulkan, X-Plane undertakes a lengthy process to compile shaders for it. You end up taking that hit when you switch seasons, at least for the first time. 15 minutes sounds excessive however, and this sounds like it may be a bug in the X-Plane Vulkan beta. We are using X-Plane's API's for reloading scenery (XPLMReloadScenery) and my guess is that it doesn't work as expected under Vulkan. I'll file a bug report with Laminar about it. For now, you should stick with OpenGL with TerraMaxx or use the workaround you identified.

That tells me ASXP may be misconfigured. You're probably only seeing weather because you asked RWC to get it from a different source. There's something in the ASXP debug menu that allows you to force it to publish new weather data to X-Plane that you may want to try. And be sure to read the instructions; you need to have X-Plane's weather set to a custom RWX file pointing your your metar.rwx, and select the new SkyMaxx Pro mode in the latest ASXP beta. Or is could be that ASXP did not install properly.