mrgreen9

I'm dying of laughter LOOOL

Finally. I have spent an eternity looking for a thorough review of SkyMaxx Pro V3. I'm happy to report that this first and exciting look into the new cutting edge add-on by Maxx-XP and Sundog Software, is fully covered by HarryCYUL, covering all aspects of SkyMaxx Pro V3. The level of analysis is second to none, as HarryCYUL carefully dissects the add-on, revealing the inner most workings of the add-on. HarryCYUL's use of words shine through, much like the golden and crisp sunlight in SkyMaxx's crepuscular rays, and 'in-your-face' like the lens glare effects when one looks up at the sun. One can even go as far saying that HarryCYUL's words are moving, much like the clouds moving with the weather in SkyMaxx Pro V3 - albeit, a feature that is also present in previous versions of SkyMaxx. HarryCYUL's time, effort and dedication is noted by the flight sim community. For those that haven't read HarryCYUL's previous masterpiece review of SkyMaxx Pro V2, be sure to check out the link below, as HarryCYUL nails the review in similar fashion - keeping up his tradition of succinct and 'straight-to-the-point' reviews: http://forums.x-pilot.com/topic/7149-my-review-of-skymaxx-pro-2/ Keep up the good work, you legend. Warmest Regards

I'm glad to report the issue does not occur in V3!

I was browsing the X-Aviation site, and noticed Cameron was online on the web support chat, I think it was pretty late as well - apparently it was really busy product launches are crazy

Click to enlarge No words needed

7 hours to go, ended up I buying SoundMaxx to get me through Might have to wait till morning as I don't fancy staying up till 5AM, (UK) I'm absolutely knackered Either that or wake up really early

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHH! But that's... 24 hours away! I cannot wait Cameron! Thanks to all those involved. Warmest Regards

Hello again, Frank! I thought I'd give a heads-up to the situation; but this probably won't matter given that SkyMaxx V3 is imminent anyway. I remember you saying that I might be tight on memory - I've been monitoring the frame rate hit for a while now, but as a layman with little experience, I cannot see any indication of this, as my memory usage shows no difference at around 4.4GB out of 16GB in use, before and after. The usual thing happens - GPU usage and clock speeds drop, RAM usage remains the same; unless you meant GPU VRAM - in which case this also remains the same (it's a 3GB VRAM card.) Anyway, I've attached screenshots of before and after the bug again, but this time with system RAM and CPU usage too. As for anyone else - the fix is simple just clear the cloud layer, exit the the weather options screen and wait for the weather to clear. It shouldn't occur unless you adjust the cloud layer while it is loaded in. I don't use real-time weather so I don't know, but it's also possible that when weather is automatically generated it might trigger the bug, though this part is speculative since I haven't tried this with real weather. I thought I'd give some more feedback hoping it might come in handy in the future, please don't see this as a complaint! Forgive me if this post seemed pointless, given that SkyMaxx V3 is almost here, which I cannot wait for Regards EDIT: Screenshot 1 shows normal use scenario at 58FPS, screenshot 2 shows the frame rate drop at 14FPS with GPU, CPU and memory usage.

Thanks for the info, 3 weeks sounds great! Once the upgrade path is purchased, does this mean we will always have to install V2 first for future re-installations? Or will it be a standalone installer for V3 once the upgrade path is approved? Regards

This is unbelievable! WHERE has ANYONE seen overcast clouds like this? Apart from real life? The only thing missing for me in any flight sim was flying over the stratiform clouds as demonstrated in the video. I can't believe it, I refuse to believe it, the video is a lie! I'm already struggling to come to terms how amazing the current SkyMaxx is - and although I only purchased it 2 weeks ago, I cannot wait to get my hands on this too! So many good things are happening, X-Plane 10.40 is here, and IXEG's 737 isn't too far away Thanks Cameron, thank you Frank, and the rest of the team. (I'm new here so I don't know the names of the all the persons involved.) This is great for those of us flying airliners. I can imagine it now - taking off in gloomy IFR conditions, breaking through the clouds and being treated to the view of the stratiform clouds from above. Cameron, this is torture. I know it's cheeky and annoying to ask, but how many more weeks/days are we talking? Warmest Regards

Hey Frank, Thanks, that makes a lot of sense. Funnily enough it's really hard to reproduce in 10.40r3 than in 10.36. I'm glad to know you guys are aware and addressing it - I cannot wait for the next version! Regards

Hi guys! I've noticed a peculiar issue with the stratus layer in particular, causing a significant FPS drop from around 50-70, down to 15. I'm also able to reproduce it on my end. Before I get to the steps for reproduction, I should mention I'm running the latest drivers for my GTX 780, with a fresh install of X-Plane 10.40r3 with no other active mods. The same problem also occurs in 10.36. Here we go: 1. Load up a fresh instance of X-Plane 2. Choose a default plane and location - in this case I've selected the default 172 at KSBP 3. Time of day doesn't seem to be a major factor, so try it midday 4. Create a Stratus layer with a base of 3000, and tops of 5000 (this doesn't have to be exact, it could be 3010 and 5010) 5. Exit the weather screen and let the weather load in. (At this point everything is fine) 6. Now go back to the weather screen, and bump the both the base and tops, down by 1000 (base 2000, tops 5000) 7. Now when you exit the weather screen, there should be a slight delay, and once the weather starts loading in there should be an FPS hit I've also figured out how to correct the performance hit; simply go back to the weather screen and change the Stratus layer to "clear," then close the weather screen. Once the weather has cleared, simply go back to the weather screen and load the Stratus layer back in - and you should be fine as long as you don't bump the cloud base and tops up or down. Now there are a few conditions for the problem to occur; 1. Only occurs with Stratus layer 2. Cloud draw distance at least half way full* 3. Overcast Quality needs to be atleast Medium *Now here's something weird about the draw distance; I'm only able to recreate it at around 40% full, but for the sake of testing, set it to 50% as it makes the frame rate drop more obvious. Let's get to the real geeky stuff . I've monitored my CPU, GPU usage and VRAM usage. The GPU clock speed and usage drop significantly - for some reason the usage drops from 70% to 50%, and clock speeds drop from 1189Mhz to 745Mhz. The moment I disable SilverLining fromt the plugin menu, everything goes back to normal - this, or simply clear the weather and reload the stratus layer with SkyMaxx. Please see the provided screenshots with FPS and system usage. I'm really hoping someone else is able to reproduce the potential bug. Please let me know which log files to attach as I'm not familiar with X-Plane log files and their respective locations. I'm hoping my little investigation helps. Specs: i7-4790k 16GB RAM GTX 780 3GB Driver 355.98 Windows 8.1 Regards EDIT: Forgot to attach the screenshots The first shows normal scenario with performance results, the second shows the bug scenario, and the third shows scenario with SkyMaxx disabled. Please bear in mind that this problem only occurs if you go back and edit the stratus layers with them already loaded in. To avoid the issue, make sure to clear the weather and then alter the layer altitude. There is a potential that this problem may also occur when any weather engine tries to generate weather (if assuming stratus layers are updated mid flight), but this would be pure speculation at this point.

Hi Ben, That has got to be the quickest response ever! I haven't reinstalled the OS, so that answers my question perfectly - thanks a lot! The guys at X-Aviation can go ahead and disregard the query form I submitted. Regards

Hey guys, I'll start off by saying how blown away I am - SkyMaxx has revitalized my experience in X-Plane. Anyway, here's my scenario - I intended to completely reinstall my X-Plane folder when 10.40 hits, due to the betas, mods and clutter I've had in the folder. So I've already begun the process - I uninstalled SkyMaxx through control panel, made backups of my payware planes and deleted the entire X-Plane folder. I accompanied this with the usual spring cleaning (autumn?) of system temp folders, AppData folders and used CCleaner to clean the registry. I've done a fresh install of X-Plane 10.36, and have decided against the beta 10.40 until full release. So my question is, will reinstalling SkyMaxx count as a wasted activation key? My understanding is that there are a limited amount allowed. However, I've reinstalled X-Plane on the same system, same SSD drive and the same location. I'll hold off reactivation until I get conformation. I did use the contact form at X-Aviation some days ago, but I understand things can get busy and rather not pester anyone So I'm hoping someone else could chime in. Keep up the great work, look forward to the next SkyMaxx version! Regards