sundog

Actually it sounds like how cloud shadows used to work. Try disabling cloud shadows in the SMP configuration.

Progress! I'm starting to think it's a scenery issue. You can probably try with the 767 again.

Just like it's possible for plugins associated with a plane to have bugs that cause problems in X-Plane, the same is true of plugins associated with custom scenery. Improperly installing custom scenery can also lead to conflicts. Depending on the nature of the problem, it might go unnoticed until something else comes along (like SMP) to change how X-Plane operates. Try removing your custom scenery and see if the problem persists.

Your latest log doesn't implicate SMP either. It looks like you're flying over custom scenery, which also has plugins associated with it. Try temporarily removing your custom scenery as the next step.

Visibility is variable as you enter the cloud. As you get deeper into the cloud, it'll become more opaque - but not necessarily on a steady basis. At least, that's what I see here - I manually set an overcast layer at 100 feet and it seemed to work as intended as I flew through it. If you think you're seeing something different, we'll probably need to see your metar.rwx, log.txt, and the location you're flying from to understand what's going on in more detail. Your screenshots really look like the scud effect, though.

You're probably in low visibility or something, preventing most of the clouds from appearing. Try setting dense particles, then set up an overcast layer in X-Plane's weather screen, and turn up the visibility. If it still looks wrong, post a screenshot so we understand what you're seeing.

Correct. When SMP is active, the cloud puff setting is completely unused. Use SMP's cloud draw area setting instead.

> What did the log tell you? The log information is inconclusive; it doesn't even note that a crash occurred. > Why would FF767 mess with a cloud draw program .. or weather program? It loads several plugins of its own, any of which could potentially corrupt memory that we indirectly access, or it may just be leaving you without the resources needed to run SMP. At least make sure you are using the latest version of this aircraft. > Actually I do not fly the default aircraft and I really do not want to spend time reading how (learning) to fly a different default aircraft. I can't help you if you're not willing to try to isolate the problem. There are no known issues with SMP that lead to a crash, unless you're running out of memory. Try the default F22; all you have to do is hit "b" to release the brakes, throttle up, and fly.

I would first try flying with a default airplane, and see if that helps. It could be the plugins associated with your 767 that are causing the problem. If not, try hitting the "reset" button on your SkyMaxx Pro configuration screen. You may have just increased its settings beyond the point that your system can handle.

I think what you're seeing is "scud". Underneath stratus clouds, SkyMaxx Pro simulates varying visibility, because real clouds aren't perfectly flat. So, you might see the visibility increase and decrease while you are flying just below or above a solid or broken stratiform cloud layer. We do this on purpose - our commercial customers have this as a training requirement. But it's different from how X-Plane's default weather works, so some people find it confusing. If you don't like this effect, try switching your overcast representation in SMP to "dense particles" and you might be happier.

Please post your log.txt file so we can have a closer look.

Your logs state that the crash is happening within X-Plane, as opposed to within the SkyMaxx plugin. What I noticed is that you're running with HD Mesh installed, and a lot of custom scenery. I think a good test would be to temporarily remove your custom scenery, and see if that helps your stability. Even on a GTX970, it's possible to ask X-Plane to load more stuff than your system can handle - which can lead to crashes like this.

Well, I'm happy to report that I have this working! When you cross a one-degree tile boundary in X-Plane, cloud systems will no longer change positions on you when using Real Weather Connector. The next revision of SkyMaxx Pro will have this change in it. Before you ask - no, I have no idea when that will be yet!

It's not a feature, it's something X-Plane does out of necessity. I've been working on it today though.

I can tell you there's nothing particularly challenging with your SMP settings. I also have a GTX970 and can run smoothly with higher settings. Try Tony's settings - or just try the "medium" preset on the render settings. If that works better, start adding the features you care about the most until you reach the right balance for you. And I would recommend disabling overclocking as a test. I've seen it cause weird problems like this firsthand.

Your log doesn't say that X-Plane crashed while SkyMaxx was recreating weather. If anything it crashed while loading new scenery. You have a fair amount of custom scenery installed, some of which are throwing errors upon loading. I'd start troubleshooting by removing them.

I've talked to Laminar about this, and it's tricky to say the least. I'm hoping to find a creative away around it for a future update, but can't make any promises yet.

Are you overclocking anything? Overheating is a possibility. But, what you're describing really sounds like your video driver is struggling with memory management. Once you get into that 19 FPS state, does SMP's configuration still show that you have close to a gigabyte of free VRAM?

I agree your "stuff to draw" settings are too high. For your SMP settings, I see you messed with the cloud min and max size settings. I would recommend hitting the reset button on the SMP config and see if things get better. You can probably get away with a higher than default cloud draw area setting on your rig, but I wouldn't mess with anything else until things are working to your liking. Keep in mind that SMP does need to recreate all of the clouds whenever you cross a 1-degree tile boundary. This is expected to cause a few dropped frames momentarily, but it shouldn't happen very often unless you're flying at supersonic speeds or something.

How much of a "FPS drop" are we talking about here, and for how long?

Looks like you are running with HD mesh. When you cross a tile boundary in X-Plane, two things happen - new DSF terrain tiles get loaded, and SkyMaxx Pro's weather gets regenerated due to the new coordinate system that comes into play. So it may look like Skymaxx Pro is causing your "lag and freezing" because the weather regenerates at the same time, but the lag in fact probably has more to do with your terrain loading. Accoding to your log, SMP's clouds are properly cached and not much is really happening when this happens from SMP's standpoint. Long story short: try temporarily removing your HD mesh scenery and see if that helps. I think it will.

For some reason your image came through really blurry; I can't read the part that's most important. Could you please let us know what it says where it says " You have XXMB of video... memory" right after you experience this problem? Providing your log.txt may also help us.

Might help if you could post your log.txt, Dirk. What you're describing certainly has the symptoms of just running out of resources, as the IXEG is a fairly demanding aircraft on memory - but that's at odds with what your free VRAM seems to be. The way MacOS reports VRAM usage is very odd, so that number could be misleading. Your log.txt may shed some light on it though.

What I meant is that NOAA doesn't generate actual fake METAR data that is passed to X-Plane. It communicates using datarefs, which lack the information RWC needs to place individual cloud systems. The way FSGRW does it however does cause the information to flow through to RWC and SMP.

FSGRW creates "fake" METAR stations, and RWC would use those if they are present. NOAA doesn't do that, however. In the absence of FSGRW, RWC will go with the closest METAR report, wherever it may be. Could be on the nearest island with an airport for example.