Beta 6 is out and with it comes quite a list of improvements.
We listened to some feedback and decided to bring mouse-look back but in a new and totally rewritten way. Originally, it was removed because as a MODE, it was confusing. Many users would pick it thinking it was “the” 3D cockpit mode and then be horrified that they weren’t able to use the mouse for anything else. Mouse-Look is no longer a MODE…there is only ONE mode which is 3D cockpit mode. This is the mode where you right click and drag to move your head and then use the scroll wheel to zoom…but now if you double right click, the view mode is locked into “mouse-look” so you can let go of your mouse button and the camera will still track the mouse movement. To get out of the mode, just right click again or switch views and it’ll disable. This works for users with a mouse and for users with a trackpad.
Quick-Look views have been fixed so that they now smoothly transition from one preset to another preset within the cockpit – without recentering each time. I do have to make an apology that your existing presets will no longer work with Beta 6 until you go to your aircraft folder and rename your preferences to *_view_prefs.txt. They used to be called *_prefs.txt. They won’t be lost or deleted, X-Plane just won’t see them until you rename them.
One other neat feature to note…it’s a really simple feature but I think it adds a nice touch of realism. As Tom was working on the Baron he said to us that since so many users like to start their planes from cold-dark-cockpit mode, they should have a way of using a flashlight so they can see what they’re doing before they get the plane powered up. What a great idea! So that’s what we did! Most aviators use a red flashlight to preserve their eye sensitivity so in the View menu, you’ll now see a way to Toggle on and off the Red flashlight. You can tie it to a keyboard or joystick button as well. There’s no menu entry for it but if you’d prefer a white flashlight, there’s a command for that as well so you can pick what you like best. Like all of the other fancy dynamic lighting in the sim, the flashlight only works with HDR enabled.
I’ll leave you with a little video demo of it to see while your X-Plane is updating to Beta 6 in the background.
Fantastic the water colors and reflections are perfect .The line shadow bug is gone Frame rates Great Great Job .
larry
Geeze… what time was the release — don’t you guys sleep? Anyway, it couldn’t have come soon enough. I had already thrown the updater at it twice in vain before it was out. 🙂
According to my family, I have “the life” since I get to work from home. There’s no 9 to 5 with this job. 🙂
Great addition and great list of improvements.
Still can I ask something for like the 20th time? It is really really easy.
Can the guys that post on beta blog start using date/time next to the version?
It cannot be that hard.
It makes huge sense. Sometimes you just want to track down progress, or you want to know how old a beta is (maybe to estimate the next or whatever) and after all it IS part of version information.
You can try and bribe Ben for that since he does the final release notes. It doesn’t help us in any way since we have those details internally so you’re unlikely to get him to remember.
you could keep a record of it yourself from here on out.
as far as guessing when the next beta will come based upon the past ones, well thats anyones guess. look at the time frames in late march saying 10.10 would begin in a few weeks after. so thats idea is flawed
No I can’t because I don’t live for reading the beta blog. Exactly the point (or one of the points) why I ask for time-stamp.
This blog here HAS time-stamps.
That is very sad, because I _do_ live for reading your comments on this blog!!!
Let me close up this issue so you don’t have to ask a 21st time.
I am not going to add dates to the release notes. The date information _is_ available via the Wiki history, which shows the dates of all edits, including but not limited to when we actually announce that the beta is live. The build date is also available in X-Plane’s log file.
I do not see any plausible work-flows for users trying to report bugs or read about the new beta that require the knowledge of when betas were released.
Wiki history. Didn’t think of that. Will do I guess.
Spare the irony. Doesn’t look cool behind monitors, thousands of miles apart.
Great release and a relief to get rid of 99.5% of the quarter-screen issue. Since my plugin doesn’t trap for mouse view, I had a chance to try it again by entering with a double-left click… and it wasn’t as bad as I had remembered because the right-click stop made all the difference. Only one thing left to finish that mouse view puppy, imho: smoothing.
I lag some needles like so:
Posn(new) = ((n-1) x Posn(prev) + Posn(mouse)) / n anywhere from n = 5 to 25 depending on desired lag. Yeah, that means you have to remember the previous position Posn(prev) and assign it to Posn(new) after the move, and it takes a while for the needle (view in your case) to finish scrolling, but the result is dreamy smooth.
Anyway, I launched Plane Maker and naturally fell into the trap of trying to zoom with the mouse wheel and scroll with the right button before I realized what I was doing. 😮
Hi Chris,
Thanks for adding Mouse Look back in, however it seems like a 50/50 tool now because while we can do 32 cockpit mouse look again, there is no longer the command to do a “hold angle”. This makes clicking buttons and such tedious with the mouse drag /look. Can you please re add that feature?
* yes I know you can do 3d hold angle look with the keyboard buttons, but panning around is much slower and takes your focus off flying longer. The quick 1 click 3d look, 1 click hold angle was really nice.
Thanks
I don’t have a clue what you’re asking here. Can you better explain what you’re missing?
hmm, how else to explain it since I don’t have the exact term from the older view setting labels.
What I am trying to get across is that I can appreciate the re implementation of “mouse look” via double tapping right click for instance. However, the issue then becomes apparent once your in that mouse look. Prior to the view changes and such, in the joystick command settings under views option, you had toggle 3D cockpit, 3d command and also hold view/ angle option. That last choice, “hold angle” was great in 3d mouse look mode because you can simply move your mouse or finger around the cockpit in 3d, then click your assigned button triggering hold view angle, in which you then easily could manipulate switches and dials without the mouse view panning like crazy thanks the the cursor movement.
Now, in order to get a steady angle, you access 3d mode, but then use the keyboard letters to pan around the cockpit; which is slower, more tedious and harder to direct your view back to the cockpit windshield in a snap.
Have you tried the new view system? You right click and drag…when you let go of the right mouse button your view is locked in place. What am I missing?
I have tried that, but the old method that I described was much better imo
btw, it seems that 10.10b4 had the best fps
I take that back, this new system is better once you get acquainted with it , good stuff.
Seems you are ending up in mouse view: right click once to stop it, I think.
oh btw, thanks a lot for making all the acf menu selection more user friendly by adding scrolling. great bug fix
would it be posible to put an exit button on the start screen .
I second that. When X plane is launched accidentally, it would be nice to be able to cut the start-up procedure short.
You may use ALT+F4 meanwhile…
This is a great update! Everything runs so smooth now. I love the new way of mouse looking. I can’t work out how to assign a quick look to a joystick button though. It is a great feature anyway. I’m very impressed with your tireless efforts. Thanks.
Go to the Advanced tab on the joysticks page and assign to quick_look commands under the views section.
Superb that QL acts like a toggle; hit it and scroll there, hit the same again and scroll back to the previous QL position! Brilliant!
How do you use the command to get the white flashlight Chris?
Set it to a key or joystick button in the Buttons: Advanced or Keys tab of “Joystick and Equipment”.
I see what happened with this beta is that it changes your settings causing some unexpected problems.
That sounds like a very constructive comment??!!
Has something changed with how autopilot works in this beta? I’m finding that when I do try to do an ILS landing with autopilot, things are not really behaving the way I expect. For example, I am able to intercept an airports localizer and have autopilot lock onto it and then automatically line me up with the runway. Then comes the glideslope.
I usually approach at around 3000 ft, by the time the glideslope is picked up, I am usually under it. I usually engage the APP function at that point, and from there the plane is meant to start descending automatically once it’s under the glideslope (this has always been the case for me in Xp 10.05). This no longer works. Altitude hold never disengages and one has to manually descend…
Has something changed? I am flying the 787 (Payware, apparently licensed by Boeing)
I tried blowing away all my prefs and starting with a clean slate.
File a bug please.
Correction on previous comment:
“descending automatically once it’s under the glideslope” I meant “descending automatically once it’s above the glideslope”
I know this is not a Wed post, but I give it a try here.
I have used WED 1.2 to rework an airport in our neighbourhood. I like to do some more, but the libs in X-Plane 10.10 are still limited. Is it planned to have more objects? So yes, and when can we use them for remaking airports?
What is the reason why many objects are not shown in the preview window? Is it possible to use them or not?
Why do have some objects cars, trees and pavement, cluttering round the buildings. For many reasons I am better of with ‘clean’ buildings so I can control myself the placement of cars, trees etc.
Thank you for recent updates, quickview and custom view…
Here is my view on the changed 3D view settings..
I must say that the change back from being able to right pan the 3d view in 2D mode to what it is now 3d mouse view is horrible.. As I tend to fly in 2D view and now are not able to pan using the right mouse button has deminish my flying to minimal.. Just as I finnaly got the view how I wanted, a new beta did arrive with remedy of that.
Why can’t we have both?
I wish that I did not have to go into view, change to mouse 3d look view and then pan with the right button or arrows.. I wish I could just be in normal view, then pan if I need to.. Normally I just use W, E, Q to look around..
I miss the old Beta5r1 view system (i believe it was)
When editing an airport with WED I make some ATC-routes for taxiing. But then I thought why not make “air-routes” so you can make circuits for smaller airports and probably SIDS and STARS for the large airports.