Beta 8 went live today – it’s pretty much just bug fixes – the release notes list them.

If a bug is listed as fixed in the notes but is still broken for you, please do file a new bug – we need to know that we didn’t actually squash it like we think we did.

If a bug fix is not listed, don’t panic, and please do not file  another bug – we still have lots of bugs in the database that we have not gotten to, which is why beta 8 isn’t a release candidate.  Beta 8 primarily fixes some big high profile regressions from beta 7.

If you use a digital downlod product key, you may have to enter your key once for beta 8. If you are then repeatedly asked for your key over and over while using beta 8, please file a bug – it’s an indication that the digital download client code isn’t working as expected.

At this point I think all of the major code craziness for beta 8 is done and it’s just going to be fixes and locking things down – things should just become more and more stable over the next few betas as we head to a release candidate.

About Ben Supnik

Ben is a software engineer who works on X-Plane; he spends most of his days drinking coffee and swearing at the computer -- sometimes at the same time.

30 comments on “X-Plane 10.40 Beta 8 Is Out”

    1. If you are referring to artifacts around the horizon on nvidia cards with HDR on, no they are not.
      If you are referring to something else, please file a bug.

      Generally: if we did not list something as fixed in the release notes, it is not fixed.

      1. For what it’s worth, I just installed the latest update to Mac OS X 10.10.5 (Yosemite) and the artifacts you are referring to are now gone. Possibly new drivers were included in that update?
        I still get the artifacts on my PC nvidia cards and drivers tho.

          1. Just a followup on Mac OS X 10.10.5. I’ve tested it with earlier betas of 10.40 where the artifacts were extremely pronounced and they have been eliminated in those versions also. So it’s definitely something in the new Mac OS X update.

            Tom

          2. Hi Tom,

            The NVidia graphic artifacts are definitely _not_ fixed in 10.10.5.

            There are two possible bugs, visible by setting up this scenario:
            1. Set rendering preset to ‘high’, the turn off FXAA and set shadows to the highest setting. You can optionally turn down objects and trees to lower (but not none) – they don’t matter for reproduction.
            2. Quick Flight to KESW in the baron with scattered-cloud weather during the day.

            Bug 1 – reproducible in beta 6 and earlier: set an external view like ‘C’ and look around – big 2×2 pixel blocks will be visible around the horizon. This is reproducible on NV cards for OS X and Windows.
            Bug 2 – reproducible only on beta 7 and later: set the internal 3-d cockpit view and look around – a thin 1 pixel red line wraps the horizon. This is only reproducible on NV cards on OS X.

            I have reproduced that BOTH bugs are present in whatever drivers ship with 10.10.5 by trying both the later and newer shaders. Bug 1 is also not fixed in the very latest NV Windows driver release.

      1. Question if i am currently using steam is there a way to go to the non steam version with out paying the full retail price again? and would i be able to run it on the same computer with out the two conflicting with each other?

          1. is that no on both questions or if i buy the retail verison (or download) would i be able to install it on the same computer and run it or would i need to uninstall steam first?

  3. Ben- Just a big thank you to you and your team for such a rapid response to the bug dilemma, after all Beta 7 has only been off the presses for about a week or so. It’s encouraging to see that the powers that be are privy to most of what is going on and are repairing things as fast as they can! I for one am looking so forward to the release candidate! Beta flying can be stressful and not for the faint at heart! LOL

    1. We’ve been jumping on bugs abnormally quickly because a number of them have been related to the copy protection of the digital download, and we don’t want to leave paying customers without the ability to use their digital download edition.

  4. Hi Ben

    Great work so far! Can you please give any comment about fog and visibility in Beta 8. It seems that it is not necessary any more to set cloud layer in order to get correct visibility at any altitude. In previous releases without cloud layer fog would diminish after certain altitude (say 1500 ft) and visibility would increase to 50 or more miles suddenly.

  6. Why does log.txt indicate “Fetching” and “Loaded” plugins like Marginal.GroundTraffic types for Custom Scenery airports that are continents away from one’s position? Is this normal and is there any burden on the sim imposed by loading these?

    1. It is normal. There is a cost but if the plugin is written well, it’s minimal. Scenery plugins are always loaded – X-plane does not try to analyze when the scenery pack is ‘in use’ – with libraries and overlays it just punts.

      1. It’s no problem now, but when you multiply it by the number of potential custom scenery installations, and consider the number of pages one would have to wade through the plugin Enable/Disable feature to get through to something in the end, or just the lines of messages in log.txt, that seems rather untidy.

  7. i’m finding 10.40 beta 7 a big improvement over 10.35 (steam). In particular the ATC seems better (albeit still not bug free). to the guys asking about steam betas: i simply dumped steam (yipee!) and re-purchased direct download from x-plane.com …. worth it for 60 bucks 🙂 i didn’t buy again to get early betas but because i’ve always disliked steam’s bloat-ware and associated headaches in my face.

  8. Hi Ben, I interest question : will there be implemented a script word traffica (preferably based on the data to flightradar24 )and “liveliness” of each airport to all airports to the release of X-Plane 10.40, I think the innovation in X-plane 10 would be a pleasant surprise for all fans of X-Plane 10.

    1. No, we are not adding scripted world traffic to 10.40.

      We’re really not adding any more FEATURES to 1040 – we’re going to fix the bugs and ship it.

      1. Ben , I have a question , a few days ago I had a beta 8 has been updated to beta 9 is really a bug or update beta 9 came as no where nebylo mentioned the release of beta 9.

  9. is scripted world traffic planned for later tho possibly? that is a really good idea to add to the realism

    1. just out of curiosity, when betas are released, is there a short time to make sure it works before posting notes, or is it just hectic to post notes and an update on the dev blog at the same time a beta goes live? just so we know whats changed and whats not before downloading, sometimes its days before the notes appear.

      1. The gap between posting and release notes has been because (1) I’ve been behind on release notes and (2) Jennifer was on vacation last week and (3) since the betas have had fixes to DRM for product keys, it’s been of the highest urgency to get the beta out ASAP (to fix user who can’t run -at all-), even before the release notes are cleaned up.

        We can run a beta batch from our servers internally before it’s live; we do that before release to make sure the beta is not dead. When a beta does turn out to be dead-on-arrival it’s almost always because either:
        1. The failure is hardware specific and doesn’t happen on our computers. (We had a crash-on-start-up specific to AMD CPUs – turns out everyone in the company has Intel Inside.) or
        2. The failure requires a very popular third party add-on. (E.g. the FMC borkage we had.)

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