My X-Plane Testing - 210 degree Projection - New Videos

[XOrionFE]

Well here are some quick videos I made early this morning before work of X-Plane 10 running on 3 computers with a true 210 degree wrap around visual.   This is using 3 copies of X-Plane networked and was extremely easy to configure in X-Plane 10.  This is far from complete.  I am using Fly-Elise Immersive Desktop Lite (3 copies) for warping.   Each projector is running 1920x1080.   I have not completed tweaking the warping and edge butting yet but just wanted to give everyone a flavor.  This is over KSFO with addon scenery.

I am really happy :-)  Hope you enjoy.

Scott

Part 1 - Daytime
http://youtu.be/WmBWoIObvho

Part 2 - Nighttime
http://youtu.be/vvjFSQ7Zqxk

[fsaviator]

Thanks Scott!  You are going to end up really costing me some cash here....

It looks great.  How's your copilot picking up the flying?

Seriously, this is outstanding work and I have to admit, you probably just sold me on converting everything...  The other posts with links to scenery and such almost had me, but these videos just pushed me over the edge.

I guess when I put my sim back together I'll have to build some more computers...

Have you tried running anything else on the side view computers at the same time?

Warren

[Kennair]

Fantastic work Scott you've got us all going.  How difficult was it to setup the side views in XP10 and getting the 3 views/PC's to talk in sync?

Looking forward to seeing your flat screen option also, I'm very interested in the difference between this and curved screens with regard to depth perception.  I suspect not much but I could be wrong.

Ken.

[Bob Reed]

Wow! I had made my mind up already but I am glad it was the right choice.

[XOrionFE]

Thanks guys.

Warren, I am not running anything but Xplane on the side computers and really didnt plan to.  I have a seperate system for running Sim-Avionics that is an i7-920 with 3 9800GT cards for the 6 monitors (MIP/CDU) plus another older computer to run the lower MFD and SB, etc.  I planned on having the Xplane computers dedicated to just running XPlane.    One thing to note though is that in these videos all 3 computers have Kaspersky Internet Security Home Edition turned on with all protection enabled.   I have also not defraged the drives yet since installation but as you can see performance is still pretty good.   

Ken,
The setup with X-Plane was simple.   There is a network setup menu item where on the master (center computer) you define the two other computers as being Visual clients and specify their IP addresses.    On the two side views you go in the same menu and specify the master and its IP address.    Then in the rendering menus on each I simply set the full screen resolution to 1920x1080 on each and then on the left computer I specified a 70 degree FOV at -70degree offset angle.   On center computer 70 degree FOV at 0 degree offset angle, and finally on right I set that one to 70 degree FOV with +70 degree offset angle.     The other thing I did was make sure all of the other rendering options matched up between all 3 and made sure the time on the outer two were not set to use real time.    I think you can set the center to real time or any other time you want and the two slaves will match up to it.

Pretty easy over all.   Hardest part was building the computers.

Scott

[MLeavy737]

Looks awesome Scott!

Ive always liked the look of Xplane graphics. To me it always gave me that CAE sim feel.  Looks great on the projectors with the wrap visuals! I guess its going to start costing people some coin building 2 more beefy computers now though lol.  Heck ill be happy with 1 curved view for now. 

Im in the process of moving the sim inside and upstairs to finally start doing some software testing and model tweaking.  I look forward to working with x737 as i always thought it flew great with even just a joystick.

Btw, does anyone have any experience with Airplane maker in xPlane? Im just curious how difficult it is to go in and tweak the model of x737??

Cant wait to visit ya sometime soon scott!! Im always looking to trade for long layovers there in ORD!

Mike L
 

[jetpilot]

I am amazed how the get together has been changing the direction of many here, including you Scott. I was showing you the XP 10 one month ago, and you sounded a little bit skeptical at that time. One month later, you are stablishing the transition pace for many here (I guess, including me)
Really nice Scott 

Roberto C

[XOrionFE]

I am amazed how the get together has been changing the direction of many here, including you Scott. I was showing you the XP 10 one month ago, and you sounded a little bit skeptical at that time. One month later, you are stablishing the transition pace for many here (I guess, including me)
Really nice Scott 

Roberto C

Didnt I mention it was all your fault Roberto!!!   First I buy a 727 and now 3 more computers for X-Plane!  I am not visiting you anymore.... :-)

Haha...just kidding.     There are so many inspirations around here and people that have done great things and tried so many things that I owe a little of my insanity to just about everyone on this forum..

[ivar hestnes]

X-plane lighting and environments looks very impressive. Also as you pointed out... the beacon was visible in distance. Everything looks more natural, compared to FSX which looks little cartoonish when airborne.

How is the flight behaviour for the 737? Do you get the feel that you actually need to handle the plane on approach?

[N737AG]

Kudos to your copilot, Scott. You should let him fly, while you film and narrate 

The graphics are really impressive. Can't wait to see your LOWI approach on XPlane.

Thanks for sharing your work with us.

Axel

[Bob Reed]

X-plane lighting and environments looks very impressive. Also as you pointed out... the beacon was visible in distance. Everything looks more natural, compared to FSX which looks little cartoonish when airborne.

How is the flight behaviour for the 737? Do you get the feel that you actually need to handle the plane on approach?

Hi Ivar I can not speak for the 737 but I have been flying B200 and you have to fly it all the way to the ground. No set it up and watch!

[XOrionFE]

X-plane lighting and environments looks very impressive. Also as you pointed out... the beacon was visible in distance. Everything looks more natural, compared to FSX which looks little cartoonish when airborne.

How is the flight behaviour for the 737? Do you get the feel that you actually need to handle the plane on approach?

I haven't flown it enough to judge the flight model and probably can't anyway since my real piloting is limited to the 172 but feels pretty good to me in comparison to flying the pmdg at least.   I think if Mike Leavy says it is good and James and Matt like it then I am sold on it.   

[Nat Crea]

Looking Scott!
Ive been playing with XP10 all week...I like alot of things about it too, although I keep going back to FSX for "comfort"

What projectors do you have again? Are they native HD short throw or standard throw?

Nat

[Maurice]

Scott,

Is 1920x1080 the native resolution of your projectors? I didn't think that 1920x1080 was available for short throw projectors at the time you bought your projectors but I may be wrong about that.

I particularly love the night visuals with XP but I wonder how much the improved projected resolution accounts for the visual improvement over FSX and whether FSX would also look better at that resolution.

I'm not planning to switch to XP because of the requirements for 3 high end PCs but with the new & very expensive Nvidia card GTX 690, the Matrox TripleHead is no longer required and a higher resolution is also possible.

Food for thought for me but I need to know whether your projectors are running at their native resolution or maximum resolution. If yours are running at native 1920x1080, then I very much doubt my visuals would look any better at 1920x1080 even with the GTX 690.

Thanks,
Maurice

[XOrionFE]

Hi Maurice,

You are correct.  The mits ew230-stu is native of 1280x800 but they are 1080i/p capable at 60 hz at maximum resolution.  Definitely a nice improvement over 1280x800 and that screen door effect becomes a little less noticeable so yes, I think if you can push your projectors up beyond the limitations of the Matrox TH2go you will be pleased with the result in FSX.   FSX is still beautiful also if you can push it up to max settings.    I think X-Plane has far superior lighting and don't think you will get that out of FSX no matter how much you push up the resolution.  I believe this is due to the way X-plane uses the video card but I don't know for sure.   Its just far better.  Land details in xplane to me are better than native FSX but I would say so far that Orbx scenery or other good scenery can make FSX look a little better in some areas.   Water in Orbx is superior but I believe lacks tropical water like you see in REX butbI expect it will come.

I definitely would not rush out to replace FSX when you have setups like ours Maurice with all the addons.   It sort of depends on what is most important to you personally.  For me I am willing to give up some of the nice FSX addons for the nicer lighting, water, and weather in xplane.   I also like the traffic and plausible autogen.   The other major thing for me is load time, ease of interface use, and setup.  I think xplane wins in all of these categories as well.

Anyway, both systems are worthy of their place on our hard drives but definitely push up your resolution if you can.

Scott

[Maurice]

Thanks for the feedback Scott. This makes my decision to go for the GTX 690 a little easier since I think I will also get an improvement in other areas as well, especially the occasional white flashes I get with FSX.

Anyway, keep pushing the envelope  . In your case, with 3 high end PCs running XP, I think you will end up with a fantastic system once you get all the kinks out and once you install more scenery & airports add-ons.

Maurice

[737SimGuy]

Very nice Scott :-)

I am glad you are enjoying it! ;-)

I love it here as well...

James

[blueskydriver]

Hey Scott,

Glad to see XP10 is going well for you. I've stalled out on it a bit...too much going on around the outsideof our house instead of inside with the sim. Where did you purchase your 3 new systems and what are the specs? Will you please PM the info to me?

Otherwise, I am actually flying the FSX sim right now, as I haven't just flown for a while. It's nice to get back in the cockpit for a change; although, XP10 will be on the checklist again soon...

BSD

[ivar hestnes]

Yeah, the worst thing with FSX is really on approaches. Anyone can do it. There is no challenge at all, when it feels like going on rails. And FSX is kind of unrealistic when you are up in the air. Things get a certain blur/fog so the terrain below just looks stupid, even it seemed to have improved with P3D. But I dont know how XP does the weather. The lighting on Scott`s videos is spectacular. Just how it should be. Please make a vid with some proper live weather also. Would be cool to see hoe it works on a big size screen.

I have XP10 on my desk for six months now, but have barely touched it  Guess I have been kind of tired of the flightsim stuff for a while, but motivation is coming back slowly and steady 

[Maurice]

Guess I have been kind of tired of the flightsim stuff for a while, but motivation is coming back slowly and steady 

I know exactly what you mean Ivar; there are days when the mere thought of powering up my simulator nauseates me. And then, I'll have a nice flight somewhere and all will be good with the world 

But I must say I strongly disagree with your opinion about FSX, especially the part about feeling like you are going on rails. The only one I ever saw landing manually like the plane was on rails was Angus. Everybody else had a hard time keeping the plane aligned with the runway and in the correct glide path.

I do agree about your statement that anyone can do it. In fact, this was proven even in a real CAE simulator a few years ago in the United Airlines training center in Denver. They took someone who had never flown a real plane and had only flown an older version of flight simulator and they let him land a 747 in their simulator. The landing turned out to be pretty good under calm conditions and a bit rough under poor weather conditions but everyone would have survived.

I think the real reason why there is such hype about XP is that it is just plain human nature to always want what we perceive as something better. I remember watching one of your early videos where you were taxiing your plane & marvelling at your new wraparound graphics (I was sick with jealousy at that time  . I remember your words "This is great" & you sounded like a little kid having the time of his life,  and now you are a bit blaze about the whole thing & find all kinds of flaws with FSX.

I think this is happening to everyone except maybe Jack who is still hanging on to FS9 (I think). This is of course perfectly normal otherwise we would still be living in the stone age. Wanting more is the catalyst to progress but being happy with what you have can also be the path to real happiness.

Anyway, I'm in no way implying that XP is not superior to FSX. I'm just saying that it is much too early to nail FSX in a coffin just yet. Even with all its flaws, you can still have a great time with FSX especially if you really learn how to fly it properly and not let the automation do everything for you.

I have seen Angus train several pilots in his own FS9 simulator and many of them have now become captains, so FS? can't be that bad 

Maurice

[Bob Reed]

FS is not bad at all Maurice! In fact it is the birth sim of the entire hobby. I have spent in excess of 300 hours flying FS9 and loved it. My big problem with FS is it is no longer being developed so there is no hope of ever getting rid of the problems that are there. There is no hope of improving frame rates with newer video cards ext.. I was all set to try XP even before the get together so nothing has changed on my part. I am VERY pleased with some of the testing I have seen and some I have been able to do. My idea was (and still is) that if XP does not work out I will go back to FS9. So how is that! lol

[Bob Reed]

Scott, I think you need to talk a little bit about the blending software you are using. Seems to be a bit of an unknown but sure looks great to me! Maybe a new thread?

[Maurice]

My big problem with FS is it is no longer being developed so there is no hope of ever getting rid of the problems that are there.

Just keep dreaming Bob that XP will not have its share of problems  . And like everything else, there is no way to guarantee that XP will always be developed/improved either since Austin Meyer is a mere mortal as well and he may decide to venture into other things some day or depart this earth.

One more time, I fully understand why XP is so attractive and were it not for financial & other factors, I too would likely jump on the bandwagon. My main purpose for saying what I am saying is that XP proponents are not just content to praise the virtues of XP, they are also determined to knock FSX as much as they can to justify in their own minds why their decision to switch is the right one.

This is called cognitive dissonance and a perfect example is when you decide to buy a new car for instance. You do all the research and weigh all the pro's & con's of various models. Then you decide on one and after you get it, you make up all kinds of reasons in your mind why you made the right choice and you forget all the good things about the models you did not select. Same thing is happening with those who switched to XP and if I was able to switch, I would be doing exactly the same thing (I did that when I switched from FS9 to FSX 

Maurice

[ivar hestnes]

Very good points up there Maurice

When we start building it all we had nothing but dreams, and suddenly the day comes when its all there, and not too much to dream about anymore. Then it kind of stops itself. You just get used to it. Guess some of what happened to me also. Well... also if you do your hobby too much, or get it in a certain daily routine, this can be destructive and demotivating also. (Some people will know what I mean about this "undercover" message    )

So it is definitely time to step it up, and set a new set of goals/dreams to achieve. XP10 should definitely be part of that. Think I have approx 30 minutes of experience with it, so theres work to do... And new sets of hardware, more real parts, different solutions for wiring++++, Gene`s colimation and on it goes.

Funny you mentioned the visuals video maurice, heheeh. I actually watched it yesterday when looking through my laptop video folder. I remember the feeling when I made the setup. Was really proud when it worked. Good times 

[XOrionFE]

I think this thread may be getting a bit derailed.   The intention of this thread is to show off the virtues of X-Plane and in my videos to show what some of those are.     I can safely provide MY opinions now that I have seen both.    Maurice has a lot of good points and everyone should know that I am not in any way stating everyone should jump off FSX and onto X-Plane.   I will stay on X-Plane now unless something really comes out that kicks my butt.   That is based on MY perceptions of the capabilities of the sims to match reality.      Lets please not make this an X-Plane versus FSX thread.     This thread should primarily be about X-Plane testing and infact mainly about the visual testing.

Here is another new video:

http://youtu.be/Ddf1HJ00fDc