sundog

Just an update - we're now testing a release candidate of SkyMaxx Pro 2.1 and hope to hand it off to X-Aviation soon. Here's the final cut of new features and fixes: Cloud shadows move smoothly nowCloud reflections now supported in low water reflection settingsSmall efficiency improvements (eliminated unnecessary callbacks)Added reset button to configReduced memory footprintUse new dataref in 10.30 to disable default clouds (saves VRAM)Improved cloud visibility distance computationClouds get darker with coverageSmoother cloud lightingLess cloud popping as camera movesFaster weather update handlingCloud shadows no longer interfere with other shadowsCloud shadows applied more consistently in HDRAnvil clouds now fade out with distance like other clouds doCumulus clouds no longer allowed to intersect ground levelIn short, we fixed a lot of the little things that might have caught your attention before, and reminded you that it's just a simulation. SkyMaxx Pro is now an even more immersive experience, and I'm looking forward to getting it into everyone's hands. Stay tuned!

Regardless of whose data is to blame here, I've coded up a check for the upcoming SkyMaxx Pro 2.1 release that will prevent this from happening. If we receive a cloud altitude that's lower than the ground level, we'll bump the clouds up above ground.

If it does happen again, please make a note of the time, date, and location you're simulating when you see it. If it's possible to gather the actual METAR info that would be even better. I still suspect X-Plane is sending us AGL cloud heights even though it says MSL in this case, causing clouds to intersect the terrain when they shouldn't.

Are you using an external weather injector like EFASS for example? We do get occasional reports of clouds being too low. But, I suspect this is because the cloud altitude datarefs in X-Plane that we read from are specified to be MSL (above mean sea level), while METAR cloud altitudes are AGL (above ground level.) So, if we're erroneously being given AGL cloud altitudes and you're over higher-altitude terrain, that would result in the clouds appearing too low or even intersecting the ground when they shouldn't. Just a theory. I suspect a bug report is in order with your weather generator, or maybe even with Laminar if you're using X-Plane's built-in real world weather.

If it's overcast skies you're under, try increasing the "overcast quality" setting in SkyMaxx Pro's configuration to medium or high. If not, please give us a screenshot so I can better understand what you're seeing.

Still testing and refining... stay tuned.

Well, there is some information in the logs - namely that it seems to hang after loading Gizmo, but before MaxxFX is even loaded at all. Unfortunately there's no obvious sign of trouble in the Gizmo log either, so it could be something else in between Gizmo and MaxxFX loading that's to blame. Let's see what, if anything, Ben Russell can glean from it. He knows better than us what happens when Gizmo starts up and if there's anything unusual in your Gizmo log.

It's hard to imagine how SkyMaxx Pro could interfere with your scenery while it is disabled. You should probably try disabling other plugins, such as XFMC, as well. Your sim appears to be in a very bad state - for example I can't explain why the clouds are black there. Does this describe your system? It could even be a hardware problem, unfortunately: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS5167 It's also possible that you are simply running out of memory on your GPU due to the photoscenery, which is causing anomalies to appear elsewhere in the sim. Maybe try turning off HDR in your rendering options to conserve memory...

OK. If problems persist, it would be good to know the exact scenery you're having this trouble with and where you got it from. It could be they're using some unusual, poorly supported light type in X-Plane or something.

Sorry we missed your original post. Honestly I've never seen this issue happen or heard of it from anyone else, so I'm not sure what could be causing it other than some odd interaction between plugins or a bad graphic driver. If rolling back to SkyMaxx Pro 1.3.3 seems to help - try disabling cloud shadows and cloud reflections in the Skymaxx Pro 2 configuration. If that clears it up, let me know. If not, try disabling SkyMaxx Pro 2.0 from the plugin administration menu and confirm that makes a difference (if not, we may be chasing the wrong thing here.) Posting your log might help others spot what might be the issue.

You'll only see stratus if we get sent overcast conditions, and the "overcast quality" setting in SMP is set to "low".

No. We've asked but ultimately it's their roadmap and we don't have any more visibility into it than anyone else.

What kinds of clouds would you like to see? We're mostly limited by the weather information we receive, but in some cases we might be able to infer when certain types might be present. Right now SkyMaxx Pro can represent stratus, cumulus congestus, towering cumulus, cumulonimbus, and cirrus fibratus clouds.

In all we had 10 people volunteer (thank you! And it's great to see people who I have considered to be our biggest critics step up and offer to help refine SkyMaxx Pro as part of this process.) I used http://primaryschoolict.com/random-name-selector/ as a fun way to select 5 people at random from this list. The first five it gave me actually offered a very diverse range of systems. PushITUP, czoog, Jose, pipergallo, and sqrt-1 - check your PM's shortly for more information. Everyone else - thanks again, and there will be future opportunities to participate.

Thanks for the responses! Although we have more than enough already here, in the interest of fairness to all time zones I'll leave this open for at least 24 hours - then pick randomly until I've got 5 with a good mix of systems. What I'd really love to see is some intrepid soul who's running with a MacOS Yosemite preview...

Oh, I remember you alright.

UPDATE: We've got everyone we need at this point, but keep an eye out for future opportunities! Hi folks, I'm looking for around 5 more testers to add to our closed-beta testing team. If the following describes you: You currently own a licensed version of SkyMaxx ProYou have enough free time to fly X-Plane at least on a weekly basisYou understand beta software is by definition not fully tested, and it may make things worse instead of better for youYou understand that if you find a a problem with a closed beta version, you should report it to our beta tester discussion group (not post video of the problems to all of your social media accounts and forums before we have a chance to fix it)You are 18 or older (for legal reasons)You understand that your only reward is getting access to new stuff before everyone else, and helping make X-Plane a little bit better. Then, please reply below with your OS version and video card make and model! Once we have enough testers with sufficiently diverse systems, I'll say so on this thread and PM our new testers with further instructions. If you're curious, here's the current list of changes in SkyMaxx Pro 2.1 that we'll be testing. Cloud reflections supported in low water reflection settingsCloud shadows won't spin every 5 secondsSmall efficiency improvements (eliminated unnecessary callbacks)Added reset button to configReduced memory footprintUse new dataref in 10.30 to disable default clouds (saves VRAM)Changed cloud visibility distance computationCumulus clouds get darker with coverageSmoother cloud lightingLess cloud poppingFaster weather update handlingCloud shadows no longer interfere with other shadowsCloud shadows applied more consistently in HDRDefault settings on MacOS are more friendly to 512MB video cards Thanks! -Frank

Hm, I can't seem to find any information on what "error code 9" means. But if I Google it, here's what comes up: http://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/support/unmodified-minecraft-client/2141898-nvidia-opengl-error-code-9 It's a thread of people having the same problem in Minecraft, who coincidentally are using GTX 650 and GTX 660 cards. I don't have this card, so all I can do is guess at things to try: - Try rolling back to an earlier driver version; maybe it's a bug NVidia recently introduced in their drivers that only affects your family of cards. It looks like reports there started with driver 337.88 so try going back further than that to see if it makes a difference. - Maybe you're running out of video memory; try deleting the settings.dat file in X-Plane's resources/plugins/silverlining folder and restarting, and if that doesn't help, try turning off cloud shadows in the SkyMaxx Pro configuration screen. - Maybe your card is overheating. Does it only happen after flying for a few minutes?

When the weather conditions change, SMP needs to "grow" new clouds, which is probably what you're seeing. The more clouds in the area, the longer this takes - it's the price we have to pay for realistic cloud shapes that don't repeat. Turning down the cloud draw distance setting in the SMP configuration screen will help, as well as turning down the overcast quality setting. This will also be less of an issue in SMP 2.1 which uses a faster algorithm.

Hm. It is possible (but not easy - these are very large clouds, and the large-scale structure of the cloud would still have to be preserved somehow.) It would have a performance hit though, as the current representation of cirrus is almost free from a performance standpoint. I actually never realized they looked puffy when you're flying through them - just found a video of it online. At any rate, you've put the idea in the back of my mind... thanks!

Damn, those are some nice shots. I didn't even know it could look that good!

I don't have that particular aircraft nor seen something quite like that before. However, there is a known issue where plane shadows can do odd things if you have cloud and plane shadows on, HDR is on, and the plane happens to be underneath a cloud shadow. So, it may have more to do with being on top of a cloud shadow than the plane itself. It's on our radar as something we want to fix for SkyMaxx Pro 2.1, but so far we haven't found a solution. We'll probably have to ask Laminar for guidance on it. Meanwhile the only workaround is to disable HDR, but I wouldn't give up HDR for an issue that happens only under rare circumstances.

Tony, I haven't seen any other reports similar to yours - so unfortunately the most likely explanation is that your system is having problems. What you're describing is consistent with a corrupt file system and/or a failing video card. If I were you, here's how I'd proceed: - Scan your system for viruses and malware. That could be the root cause - I'd use a scanner that wasn't previously installed on your system, as some malware will cripple whatever detectors exist on your system if they can. If your email account has been compromised, it might also be causing your emails to support to get filtered. (You really should have gotten a response to your emails by now.) - If that comes up clean, run whatever disk diagnostic application is appropriate for your OS. If you're lucky that will identify the issue. - If not, it's probably time to do a clean re-install of X-Plane and your plugins, to a different hard drive if possible. - Updating your video drivers is also a good idea, in case they too are corrupt. This sounds to me like a computer that's on its last legs, I'm afraid.

Last time I looked into this, our clouds were at the base altitude given to us by X-Plane. As I recall, the other time this came up was also in the context of Alaska, so I have to wonder if something's weird about their METAR data - and X-Plane isn't compensating for it prior to handing it off to plugins or something.

It already adjusts the cloud visibility distance as a function of altitude to some extent. We're already experimenting with better ways of handling it for SMP 2.1. Your observation is spot-on.