diamonddriller

Thanks Coop. Getting good frame rates with the plane :-)

Hi, Very nice plane, but the trim is a problem - see the other posts. Now: 1) Would it be possible to have a 2-D autopilot pop-out please? The a/p is usually in shadow (unless I disable shadows!), and the markings on the buttons are a little indistinct, particularly if one is looking from the basic pilot view - rather than zooming in on the radio panel. All the LEDs (apart from the transponder) are a little dim, as well - even look like that in the manual. 2) I know there is a panel in the manual on page 3-4, telling one to return the isolator switch back after starting. However, you've got to remember that little point, because you have omitted to repeat that in the after-start checklist - and I think it should be there, as well. Thanks for all the hard work.

I agree. Very difficult to trim properly. Just to double-check, I reloaded a few minutes ago. The plane was off the ground before I could even think about pulling back, and then I made sure I was in neutral trim and left it. BTW, it would be nice if the plane did load with the trim set in neutral - just a thought. The nose was pointing skywards. Reduced power and rpm to recommended 2030 , and waited. Still climbing with the VSI nudging the stop, almost - if not hitting it. So, started to apply down trim, and left it. Huge oscillations. More down trim. Still climbing like mad. Hit the max down stop, and it is just about level. "Okay," I said to myself, "Let's see what the autopilot does." I trimmed up a bit and then turned on the autopilot, selected altitude hold and watched the trim wheel and indicator, and waited. The trim wheel whizzed round, and the indicator showed maximum down trim - right on the stop! Even then, there was a slight tendency to climb, but the a/p did level it off. So, hand flying a 500 fpm descent requires a large drop in power, when the speed also bleeds down to a ridiculously low. Trimming versus pushing down with the joystick, etc. - all tricky. Not sure why. The avgas version is a peach to fly compared with this. Odd.... Otherwise, it's very pleasant. I was flying it with just the pilot, and the default fuel load. W&B looked fine. X-P 11.51 on an iMac - and it was the same trim problem in OpenGL and Metal.

Thanks Cameron. I'd figured that out immediately, and done it. What I was asking was "did the message advise Mac users to definitely choose volumetric?" However, as I did the 5.0.1 update, the message popped up and, this time, I read it properly Take care.

Hi While installing (and, yes, I will run in OpenGL when I want to use Skymaxx Pro!), there was a message about volumetric clouds on Macs, but I can't remember whether it said we must check those on - or was it off? I flicked though the manual, but can't seem to find anything relating to that. An answer here will just save running the installation and authentication again Thanks.

Just saw your solution in the "release" thread, so will delete the uninstaller. The joys of Apple :-)

Hi I will be buying SMP v5 (even though I usually use XP11 in Metal - but occasionally will use OpenGL - and I've always kept SMP up to date), so I thougt I'd download RWC1.2 today. It threw up an error when it didn't find SMP in my plugin folder (as I move it out when I'm not using it), so I corrected that - and put RWC 1.1 back into plugins too. I tried installing again, but got this error twice! Any ideas? (2020 iMac running Catalina 10.15.7). Regards.

Hi Cameron, Now runing X-P only in Metal. Have the 16GB 5700XT in my iMac, and everything runs at around 60 fps most of the time (many others think it seems, somwehow, to be "capped" at that!). I also disable Turbo Boost, and that keeps the GPU and CPU at sensible temperatures, with no noticable frame hit. So my fan is not roaring away, and I can run it at a steady 1500 rpm if I want, but the default Mac fan control rarely rises above the usual 1200 - sometimes it goes to 1300, or so. I'd rather keep everything much cooler, as it will prolong the life of the machine. So, if you can get 45 fps with the ORBX HD (!!) in OpenGL, what are your CPU and GPU temperatures, and how fast is that fan running? I have always updated SMP, but have sadly abandoned it because of the Metal problem, which has been well explained. I noted some of your graphics settings, so it may be worth a go. I may decide, if you reassure me, to upgrade to v5, and run in OpenGL from time to time, just to enjoy better weather :-) I did find the Cirruses ran badly (for me) in OpenGL, but they are great in Metal. Simpler planes are not affected so much, as one would expect. Regards.

@Goran Sounds like a plan

This is now stranger. I put in the latest Gizmo from Ben's website, and everything seemed OK. I didn't have to renew any licenses. I ran the Pocket Rocket to see if it was OK, then loaded up the TBM. No trouble! All seemed perfectly normal. So, I came out of X-Plane and had another try, and got the TBM loaded up immediately, working OK but the console message popped up on its own, as per the screen shot. I tried again, and this time, the TBM crashed X-Plane. In all these cases, even when there was no crash, I got the Apple message that X-Plane had quit unexpectedly...... Unfortunately, the Gizmo log has not updated at all, since I was using v18. This seems strange to me, but maybe not to Ben. Here's the log.txt - minus all my scenery entries! P.S. I thought I'd have another reload (using "resume a flight"), and the TBM did load normally, but I got the same console message immediately. Again, quit X-Plane - which it did with no fuss, but I got the Apple message again, and the GizmoLog.txt was not updated from what is below. Also, log3.txt does not show a shut-down...... Log 2.txt GizmoLog.txt Gizmo64_ImGui.ini Log 3.txt

Hi Goran, I was not quite sure whether to post under Ben's GIzmo forum or here, because it appeared that the crash was a clash with v20 - but, if you have not had any other complaint on this, maybe it is just a particular problem with me. However, it's also possible that many others are still on v18 of Gizmo, without either realising it, or not taking the option to try the v20 beta when buying or updating a newer product, when Cameron has added the beta option. I'll substitute the v20 beta again later, and submit the logs (if it's a problem once more - you never know, it may just work), both for you and Ben.

Sorry Ben. I thought maybe Goran would know why v20 (or the option to use it) wasn't in the installer, as in most of the newer installations. I even, later, had a few further problems with the plane, in that it would seemingly load OK, but the "Crash Bar" would not stay up, there was no way I could access the Gizmo option bar from the right of the screen (it wasn't there at all), and all view keys - the arrow keys and the numeric pad - would not work! Thinking this might be an activation problem, I immediately loaded another of my X-Aviation fleet, to see that it (the just loaded) was activated. Yes, it was , and the Gizmo bar was there. Also, I could then check my licenses, and the TBM (and all others) were shown to be activated. All view keys worke as normal - and all of this , without restarting X-Plane. However, after another X-Plane reboot, I got the TBM working normally, but it seemed to be a bit hit or miss. I'll try all this again, later. I thought, perhaps, my extracts from the console, would give you a clue, but obviously not. Unfortunately, when one has these sort of problems, it is easy to overlook saving the logs each time, as the efforts to clear things up are foremost in the mind. I suppose I could reinstall v20 of Gizmo later, and (if this all happens again!), save and post the logs. In the meantime, I wonder whether Goran is aware of any problem with v20 and the TBM. Or, is it just that Cameron hasn't modified the installer yet, as he is expecting another update soon, and that would include the Gizmo option? I don't think it's related to Apple's security, as I had authorised any mac.xpl files after going through the fleet when I was forced to use Catalina, because my new iMac came with it! I did not see any warnings from Gatekeeper yesterday, but there seems to be a reference to it in the red text.

Hi. On an iMac, running Catalina. X-Plane 11.51. Tried to run the TBM today (and I hadn't for a while), and it crashed X-Plane virtually as soon as the plane opened. Undaunted, I rebooted. Same. So, I re-installed (v1.1.12), and it worked just fine. However, I noticed that the installer had replaced my beta of Gizmo 20 with the older version (18?). I replaced the Gizmo with v20 and it crashed the TBM. BTW, that beta has given me no trouble with the SR20, 22, and numerous other X-Aviation planes! BTW, the TBM also crashed in OpenGL with the beta of Gizmo, so it isn't just a Metal problem. Anyway, I re-installed the TBM, and accepted the older Gizmo. The installation does not ask whether I want the 20 beta, which other planes have. So, I'll stay with the older version for now, but am interested as to why this should be happening. Also, Gizmo 18 hung on redoing my authorisations, and I rebooted X-Plane again, and then Gizmo did the authorisations in couple of seconds! Most odd. However, the Gizmo log does show some errors, and I'd appreciate it if they could be explained - particularly the reference to a file "outside the X-Plane folder". Thanks.

This is going to be a problem, as the current release of Navigraph's data (AIRAC 2014), which was released on December 31st., is the last time they will release data in the 11.41 format. Of course, Laminar is now only updating their released data in the 11.50+ format, and they assume that vendors have had time to adjust their models to accept that. I presume Hot Start will have a fix for this, but I am not sure whether other designers have the same problem. I am now using the 11.50 data (as from the day of the latest release), but haven't yet had to "fly" any ILS approaches in X-Plane, as I have been on PilotEdge with only visual approaches to my destinations - which were SKC in the RW! I'm not even sure why the data fix causes a problem, if the G1000 (or any GNS530 or 430?) is the Laminar program mainly, with some coding added for the intro pages, and synthetic vision, etc. Can someone explain what the problem is, please? Is it the alignment of the synthetic vision's runway? I haven't flown the TBM since the change, so I am hardly in a position to criticise! Just curious, and confirming Navigraph's position. Happy New Year.

Recently got a new Intel iMac, and have kept it on the Catalina OS it was delivered with. I put Big Sur on my laptop, but that doesn't have any difficult programs on it, so nothing untoward would be noticed. X-Plane runs nicely on the iMac, as does everything else I have, so I'm going to wait a bit before pulling the trigger on Big Sur. What is undoubtedly going to be amazing is the next generation of desktops with M? chips in them - but Apple did say it won't be for a while, and I couldn't just wait. I also wanted to have Boot Camp, but there would not seem to be any indication that something like that will be available on Apple silicon. I would expect the M2 or M3 generation of these chips to be in their top of the line desktops. Some of the results on these new M1 laptops are amazing, and they don't have any discreet graphic cards! I'm just waiting to see some enterprising experimenter try X-Plane on a new M1 MacBook Pro!

@Lon No. Shut down properly. Also, tried recharging the battery to no avail! @Coop I'll let you know. So far so good, so I'll leave things alone ;-)

Just because I'm an awkward b--ger, I "cleaned" my airframe and renewed it. Then, closed XP. The next day, I opened up XP and reselected the SR20 (or resumed the flight - whichever), and switched on the batteries and avionics. Nothing......... screens remained blank. Pressed fuel boost, but heard nothing. Tried starter. Nope..... Looked at the menu. No starter type highlighted, and I couldn't select anything. The chocks, etc, did work. There were no figures of any kind in the Hobbs windows. So, I just re-installed from scratch, and all was well - it would be. Any ideas? (On an iMac) P.S. Cut the mixture at 1500', and did a forced landing on a road. Spot on. It's a great plane.

@Coop On the altimeters, fair enough. I think the crashes may well be solved in 11.51 - just read the beta notes.

Lovely plane, Coop. First minor problem noted: see attached screenshot. 5000' on 30.13 on the PFD. Steam gauge altimeter is around 30.08 for 5000'. Has crashed XP if I try to reload the SR20 from another plane, or do a developer re-load, but the SR22 often did that as well - no big deal. On an iMac in Catalina (and in no hurry to go to Big Sur - let someone else sort out the problems !).

"you can hit the Replace airframe button" Sorry Coop. Never noticed it.......... Also, I was looking for a log file (or similar) somewhere, but never thought to look in Output! Thanks.

I may have read, somewhere, that one can reset the plane to brand new by deleting a file (probably the preferences file) - but I may be mixing this up with another plane, or even another sim! Anyway, can you confirm how I can do this with the Cirrus, if I want to? Thanks.

@Steve Hunnisett I was amazed that you get such good frame rates - and then I got to the sentence where you say you have little or no add-on scenery! That's the answer! Alpilotx meshes, or ortho, and complex airports - well, they add a lot of load on the system. Quite why the PT-19 is giving you trouble is tricky, but it is down to the coding, which is probably different to Carenado's or Thranda's, etc. I found that with the TorqueSim Cirrus, and that was explained to me then. Now, with the new iMac, those problems are gone. You say you will run your current iMac for a good while longer. These iMacs go on for years. I gave away a 2009 27" one to a friend quite a while ago. No, it won't run Catalina (actually, I think there is a hack...), but he still uses it daily. Of course that oldie had the built-in CD/DVD drive, and had 3 fans, not just the one of the newer models. It was thicker, and ran cooler..... On a desk, who cares if it is half an inch or more thicker? The most likely failure is the hard drive, but sometimes the display goes, or the logic board.

@Steve Hunnisett As an afterthought, and you may well be doing this already, run the screen resolution at 1920x1080 (it seems to default to 2560x1440, not the 5K setting), and even 1280x720 when you are just doing a longer stretch on autopilot - no good in the PT19! 1920x1080 is acceptable. Turn off HDR and anti-aliasing. Also, use planes which have lower resolution liveries available. You can also reduce the size of 4K liveries by reducing them to 2048x2048 in Photoshop. Unfortunately, the 2015 iMacs were still on Thunderbolt 2, as the newer ones, with Thunderbolt 3, can run an eGPU.

@Steve Hunnisett Steve, you are really going to struggle with that 2GB graphics card. I was having a hard time with a late 2015 27" with the fastest i7, 32GB ram and the 4GB 395 Radeon. X-Plane 11 would often have the fan running flat out, with processor core temperatures spiking to 100°C quite often..... With a lot of ortho or Orbx (and even the Alpilot mesh and little else), frame rates could beat 30 fps, but a slide show could happen, and 25 fps or slightly less was common. I often used X-Plane 10, as it ran cooler and quicker, even with the ortho, etc. The planes are a bit less demanding, and many of the earlier types will run OK in X-Plane 11. You only have to look at published recommended requirements for scenery or planes on the .org store to see that a 4GB graphics card is often stated as a minimum, and 8GB or more is recommended. Maybe Cameron would consider putting this sort of info. on the main page of the appropriate product, as it does give one a clue as to whether one can expect to run things with a computer below that level. Remember, if they suggest a 4GB card for a plane, you also have to load and move the scenery and clouds, etc. So, keep your textures lower, and I found that Metal was not as good as OpenGL on the 2015 iMac. Also, don't run any "heavy" scenery, and (unfortunately) not Skymaxx Pro with 2GB. Note that SMPro will not run on Metal, sadly. I loved it, but they can't make it run in Metal at all.

Maybe cut the textures down a notch??? Also, knock the reflections back, and (perhaps) the hdr. After all, in VR, do you really care about the textures, reflections, etc.? You are already looking at lower resolution displays, and spending most of your time in the cockpit - like a real pilot :-) If you can get around 30fps, that's faster than a movie, so should be acceptable. In 2D, if you see 60+ fps, that's probably about as good a it's likely to get, particularly if you wind the settings up. You do, after all, have a great rig! Or are you going to go for the $1500 3090 (none of my business, of course! Just having fun!)?