by twgin » Thu Mar 30, 2017 4:48 am
I'm doing OK with RC1 so far, I believe there are some conflicts with plugins. I'm not pointing any fingers but I'll just relate my experience...
I get constant crashes with some airplanes on startup and when clicking on the options button... log.txt isn't much help as when the crash occurs it seems to be in a random place, but I believe that something is going on between XP, FlyInside and the Xassign plugin. I like to fly lots of different aircraft and I can't imagine not having Xassign storing controller profiles for all the different planes and helicopters, etc.
I think part of my problem is that I keep a Yoke and a Joystick plugged in all the time (yoke for twins, heavy metal, etc and joystick for helicopters and planes with joysticks). This leads to an immediate (XP) problem of pitch and roll being assigned to two different axes, which will pop up a magenta warning message in the joystick setup page. Well, I can work around that. But all during the beta run Xassign profiles (including global profiles) would get messed up with XP dumping the most random button assignments imaginable into the profiles, especially after an update to a new beta. This problem seems to have lessened the further into the beta run we got, but still remains to some extent (button assignments will remain but will shift, i.e. a button assigned to "move view up" would suddenly become "move view left" !). I don't know whether FlyInside contributes to the messed up profiles or the crashes, but I recall reading some post about conflicts between FI and Xassign. XP also seems too fragile in dealing with unassigned devices, leading to crashes. The problems can be minimized by having some assigned buttons/axes for every device connected, staying away from multiple axes being assigned to the same thing (pitch for instance) and constantly resaving Xassign profiles (and global profiles).
This evening I got constant crashes trying to load the Virtavia Sea King helicopter, which has flown well throughout the beta run, albeit with some graphics glitches (rotor doesn't look right at all). I noticed in this case that log.txt always ended after the DreamEngine sound plugin was loaded. The Sea King has been around for awhile so I downloaded the latest version of the DreamEngine plugin; the crashes quit, I was able to load and fly the Sea King, but no engine sounds (other sounds fine, gear, wind, etc. but no engine). I looked at a more recent Virtavia product, the B-29 and copied the DreamEngine plugin folder from the B-29 to the Sea King. It worked, kind of... the Sea King now sounded like a B-29 ! After figuring out which file has the sounds, I was able to load and fly the Sea King with the correct engine sounds and no more crashes ! Success ! mostly...
When loading the B-29 and the Sea King into XP desktop (no steam VR, no FI) I got good engine sounds... when loading the B-29 and the Sea King into XP VR (start Steam VR, start FlyInside), no engine sounds (and some throttle lever animation not working in the B-29). I replicated this quite a few times...
So, pretty sure something going on with FI and the DreamEngine sound plugin (which shows up in quite a few payware planes)... wonder if anyone else has noticed this ?
Out of curiousity, Ben at XP has stated that Laminar was "talking directly" to you guys at FlyInside, and more than one Laminar person has stated that LR is going to aggressively pursue native VR for XP as soon as XP11 is out the door (i.e. pretty quick now). In general terms, how does that all work out for FlyInside ? Do you collaborate with LR, getting insanely rich selling FI to LR ? Or fade away into the sunset, a one hit XP wonder ? However it turns out, in my book you guys are rock stars, trailblazers, masters of the universe, etc. You brought XP, kicking and screaming, into the VR world; that only happens once ! Great job and many thanks !
Terry