sundog

If you are not using Real Weather Connector, I think setting the overcast setting to "solid procedural" would work around the issue. If you are using Real Weather Connector, the procedural options for overcast generally don't get used. In that case things get more involved; because the overcast clouds consist of large billboards, we fade them out close to the eyepoint in order to avoid distracting anomalies when you get too close to them. This is especially an issue in VR. But, you can disable this effect by editing the file Resources/plugins/SilverLining/resources/silverlining.override, and looking for this line: stratocumulus-particles-distance-fade-length = 0.5 If you set that to 0 instead of 0.5, I think it might help. We don't normally endorse modifying this file, but if you need this for real training it's worth a shot.

We just draw clouds, so not really sure how we could be causing this. It's probably worth filing as a bug with Laminar, especially if it only started happening in the 11.50 betas.

A screenshot would be helpful. I think I know what you're describing but I'm not sure. It kind of sounds like when X-Plane doesn't draw the terrain out far enough and you start to see terrain polygons blink in and out in the distance. I just took a test flight in Seattle using 11.50 b9 and didn't see it happening, so I don't think it's some sort of general problem that happens all the time. You might try changing the sky to "default" in SMP and see if that helps.

I've tested Maxx-FX in Vulkan and it works... VR I'm not so sure about though. Last I checked it only got applied to one eye in VR but that may have been fixed under the hood in 11.50.

I may have found a fix for the "double vision" on large clouds in VR under certain circumstances. I was just testing it in Seattle which currently has conditions similar to what you were describing, and didn't notice it. Hopefully the next update will clear this up for you. Honestly it's a tough thing for me to see in the first place; the resolution of my Vive Pro makes it hard to see subtle errors like this.

Well wait - you're still using SkyMaxx Pro 4.8.1? Why? That's not compatible with Vulkan. You'll need to update to our latest version (it's free to do so, assuming you have a licensed copy of 4.8.1)

OK, I think I understand what you're describing now. I bet you are using Real Weather Connector; it cannot use "solid procedural" or "broken procedural" unless the overcast skies extend to the horizon at the same level in all directions, which rarely happens. So you're falling back to the remaining overcast settings in that case, which use very large billboards - and large billboards and VR just don't get along well. We will continue to try and find a better solution for this case.

Are you using FSGRW? And no, there's nothing special you need to do under Vulkan.

Right - the "fog" seen here is coming directly from visibility reported to us via X-Plane, which in turn comes from FSGRW. You could try temporarily disabling SkyMaxx Pro (the "SilverLining" plugin in your plugin admin) or change our sky colors to "default" - if the problem persists, then it's not originating within SMP.

SkyMaxx Pro generally doesn't have anything to do with the drawing of the terrain or haze/fog effects in the first place.. but if it is caused by us somehow, I'd try changing your settings for overcast representation in SkyMaxx Pro. See if "solid procedural" behaves better for you.

There were no changes to how clouds are positioned in 4.9.3.

I think those "strange lines" will go away if you turn up the cloud/terrain blending option in SkyMaxx Pro's settings. We used to recommend keeping that at 0 in VR, but it should be working OK in 4.9+. Cloud shadows also function in VR now, but likely aren't worth the performance hit in that setting.

For what it's worth, I'm quite sure that there were no changes in 4.9.3 that would result in any change in performance. It's likely that something else is causing these stutters, and it coincidentally happened at the same time you upgraded SMP.

Contact support using the email address it gave you.

Replicated those settings to no avail. I'll sleep on it and see if I have any new ideas in the morning :/

I just can't get this to happen :/ If you have a chance, a screenshot of your graphics settings might be helpful. Thanks.

I definitely remember seeing that prior to SMP 4.9 but I thought we fixed it (and that it was specific to cloud shadows and/or cloud/terrain blending being on). I'll keep trying to repro. Do you think maybe this only started happening with the X-Plane 11.50 betas for you? There do seem to be some odd occasional errors in the frame buffers we receive from X-Plane in 11.50 and this might be related.

OK, just did a test in my Vive Pro with the X-Plane 11.50b6 and SkyMaxx Pro 4.9.3. Set up broken and scattered clouds in Seattle and flew through them. The only weirdness I saw while flying through the cloud layer is that you could sense some of the cloud billboards near the camera rotating to face you if you moved your head around while flying. But I don't think that's the same thing you're describing; I wouldn't describe that as unflyable. So... the mystery persists. It's not just you, we occasionally get reports of odd rendering anomalies in VR and I can never reproduce any of them, which makes it hard for me know what might be causing it. I'm hoping that once we get an Oculus here it will change things up enough that I'll start to be able to track these things down better.

Please file this as a bug with Laminar. Vulkan support is still in beta, and I think this has to do with the inner workings of X-Plane and not SkyMaxx Pro. I've seen it sometimes too; usually starting a new flight makes it go away.

I think you inadvertently wiped out your licensing information when you re-installed Gizmo. If you're still having trouble you'll have to contact X-Aviation as we can't solve any license issues on the forum.

Really weird. We don't change how clouds are drawn as a function of distance so what you're describing is really bizarre. It's certainly possible I just didn't do a lot of testing while flying through a cloud layer and missed it here. I'll spend some time in the headset today and see if I can figure it out.

Important to remember that Vulkan is still in beta. Please let me know if it is in fact Vulkan-specific; I have a hunch of what it might be if so. No need for a video, I think your description is enough to go on.

We intentionally made the cloud lighting more complex. The sides of the clouds facing the sun should still be white, but large clouds do get darker as light passes through them. It may take some getting used to if you're used to our previous look where the clouds were just entirely white everywhere, but that wasn't realistic.

It might help to avoid large billboards in your cloud settings - the "fast" or "soft" setting for cumulus might work best, as would solid or broken overcast. If you get it to happen, it would be helpful if you could grab a screenshot to help me understand the sort of view you're seeing it from.

I actually have not been able to reproduce this issue in my own rig using our latest SkyMaxx Pro 4.9.2 release. There is a known issue with the drivers in AMD that can be resolved by changing your anti-aliasing settings, but I believe that is an issue specific to Vulkan. I'm using a Vive Pro here and I suspect the problem may be specific to Oculus. We're waiting for the Oculus S to become available again so we can test it here. I assume you've already tried setting SMP to the recommended settings for VR. Disabling cloud shadows and cloud/terrain blending can sometimes work around weird issues like this.