For the Dutch

[Dumonceau]

There is a Machtrainer out. Apparently for FS9, FSX and P3D. Downloading as I type!

EDIT: here is the link: http://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/fslib.php?do=copyright&fid=185872

Johan

[Dutcheeseblend]

Thanks! Now going to test...

[Jafo]

Got it....and it's not bad...;)

[Jafo]

Awfully slow loader. I have a feeling the bitmaps would benefit from DXT conversion. Shall give it a go ...;)

[Cees Donker]

Awfully slow loader. I have a feeling the bitmaps would benefit from DXT conversion. Shall give it a go ...;)


Same here, loads very slow. The pilot in the VC is redundant, I would have left it out. Slows the proces down. But overall not a bad addon, rather nice really.

Cees

[Jafo]

Same here, loads very slow. The pilot in the VC is redundant, I would have left it out. Slows the proces down. But overall not a bad addon, rather nice really.

Cees
Yes, still messing with the format [of the graphics]. I think some of the 'bits' could benefit from lower res [and load time]. 49 graphics is quite a few....and the pilot is one of the bigger ones..;)

[Jafo]

I converted all to DXT5 ...and shrank all the common files to max 1024 [from 2048] so the total graphic load is substantially smaller...but there's not a heck of a lot of difference to the load time.
Now the only 2048s are the exteriors - so the detailed texts remain...;)

Not sure if a conversion to non-alpha images might improve things. It'd halve the size but maybe still not the load time..;)

[Jafo]

The 'texture' folder that's for common images has gone from 241 meg down to 17 ...and yet is still slow to load.
There's more to this than meets the eye...;)

[Bjoern]

241 MB initial size... :dizzy:

[this4dave2]

Hi all:

first of all i would like to thank you for downloading our project it is appreciated.

I did not do the upload of the S-14 so I have no explanation for it being slow to load. but in checking the file sizes of the FSX version compared to the FS9 version it is about 2X as big and i don't have any idea why.

I will contact Emile as he uploaded the S-14 and see if he has any idea why the difference.

thank you again

David Wooster
this4david2@gmail.com

[Jafo]

OK, folks.....I think I've found the 'problem'.

After all that laborious image resizing and converting to DXT1 [no alpha]....meaning images went from 2048 triple 8 bitmaps of about 16 meg each down to 1024 at 500k....there was almost no difference in the really slow load times...

...so clearly it wasn't actually the image sizes at all.

So I looked at the only other thing that can take time to load.....the cab file for the gauges.

I extracted them to their named folder ....so they were no longer 'archived' in a cab....so it's simply panel.std NLR / S-14 Gauges /
.... and it loaded correctly as you would expect.

Now I'll revert all the graphics to their 'generous' sizes and I bet it will all still be fine...;)

There's clearly an issue with the cab-creation program used.

[Jafo]

Update....
Yes, I was right. The original graphics are a teensy weensy bit slower....maybe one second over my shrunken ones.
So it's definitely all about the cab file...;)

[hertzie]

Thanks Jafo! While flying it I got the message that my "computer ran out of memory" and now that seems over.

hertzie

[hertzie]

No, unfortunately it isn't over :-(. Did all I could with my virtual memory and with my settings, but still some 30 seconds after takeoff FSX gives the error message of running out of VM and closes.

Suggestions welcome!

hertzie.

[Jafo]

No, unfortunately it isn't over :-(. Did all I could with my virtual memory and with my settings, but still some 30 seconds after takeoff FSX gives the error message of running out of VM and closes.

Suggestions welcome!

hertzie.
Hertzie.... the issue I was describing isn't an out of memory one...it's an un-notified error in loading one...caused by something within the aircraft addon refusing to load or being extremely slow to load. In this case that is the cab file... likely the format used to save it.

Out Of Memory issues are typically due to a model's graphics load....and in this case there are quite a few images of relatively large proportions [2048x2048].....about 18 of them.
The solution there is to shrink most of these images which could be argued to be overly generous...ie. a seatbelt image doesn't need 2048 resolution..... and/or change format to a compression type eg. DXT1 [no alpha] in which case the aircraft won't overtax your system load.

I could seek consent to upload my reduced size files [they weren't mine to start with] and you could pop them in instead. It's really only the common 'texture' file ones that need to be smaller...the specific AC files can stay big for text details etc...;)

[Jafo]

Re mention of 'seat belts'....just as an example....they are a quite relatively simplistic image...called 'seat belts.bmp' a 16,385kb 2048 32bit 'triple 8' [extended bitmap] in the AC release. By the time I'd finished with it...it was a 513kb 1024 DTX1 [no alpha] compressed image which is only 3% of the size...;)

There's absolutely no need for a seatbelt image to be so big you can almost count the webbing thread density...;)

[Cees Donker]

I would welcome a removal of the pilots in the VC. It's just a strange collection of loose limbs, depending on the viewpoint. :dizzy: Apart from that and the loading time it's a great addon.

:applause:

Cees

[hertzie]

Hi Cees, hi Jafo, seems I'm a way ahead in texturing ;-) ;-). Cees, is it asked too much to send me the "shrunken files" ?? You must have my email adress I think, if not, I'll send you a PM.

Cheers, Erik (hertzie).

[Cees Donker]

Well, I don't have the shrunken files! Jafo has them.

Cees

[Jafo]

Well, I don't have the shrunken files! Jafo has them.

Cees

I altered the files for my own personal use...in an attempt to get to the bottom of the slow loading.
They were not the cause....the 'bad' cabinet file was/is.
If you have a slow loading just extract all the gauges in that cab to their respective folder and the load time will be normal.

Out Of Memory errors isn't something I have seen with FSX for some time, but if you get them with this aircraft it will be the imag sizes in particular.
The solution to that is to reduce their sizes...;)

[hertzie]

Hi Jafo, I tried to reduce their sizes, but I think I'm not good in that, for all I got was a black plane. But I'm totally fed up with the model, even though I was the one who started the whole thing by asking David Wooster several years ago if he was willing to make me a better S-14 than the one of Wim Regeer, which he did. In my opinion (but who am I ?? ;-)) this model is a bit over the top.
Cheers, hertzie.

[Stickshaker]

There is a startup fix at Avsim in the 'new' section.

[hertzie]

Hi Stickshaker, that fix only unpacks the gauges, which I had already done before Emile uploaded the fix. Has nothing to do with my running out of memory. Thanks for mentioning anyway,

hertzie.

[Stickshaker]

Aha, I had not tried it out yet! That is a pity. Hopefully the maker will find a solution.

[Jafo]

There is a startup fix at Avsim in the 'new' section.
I can't say I've ever seen a better, more extensively explained/detailed 'fix' done for an aircraft problem.

Apart from actually including the gauges 'uncompressed' [and not within the problem cab file], it gives a detailed account of how to extract them from the cab and retain the correct folder structure [so as not to need editing the panel.cfg].

It certainly will cure people's issues with the load time....;)

Image resizing and/or converting to other formats isn't necessarily for the faint hearted...but 'painters' do it all the time....par of the course.
I haven't downloaded/checked all the released versions...just the 'Machtrainer Proto NLR' but if all have the same 'common' texture folder then releasing a reduced-size DDS format alternative would benefit those whose FSX crashes...;)

[Dutcheeseblend]

Thanks guys for looking into this! I haven't really experienced loading issues, flying this one, but it was a very short test flight.
Good to know about the cab files. I'll take this along for my own aircraft developments.

[hertzie]

I got a message from Emile, the designer, with the suggestion to put in an extra line in my app.data FSX.cfg named "highmemfix".

It works as follows: open your FSX.cfg with notepad, look for: [GRAPHICS], and write a line under the [GRAPHICS]: HIGHMEMFIX=1, so it looks like this:

[GRAPHICS]
HIGHMEMFIX=1
SHADER_CACHE_PRIMED_10=.....................
SHADER_CACHE_PRIMED=.................
etc
etc

I've flown the S-14 now for 10 minutes without any problems and am now a happy flightsimmer ;-).

Regards to you all,

hertzie.

[Jafo]

I got a message from Emile, the designer, with the suggestion to put in an extra line in my app.data FSX.cfg named "highmemfix".

It works as follows: open your FSX.cfg with notepad, look for: [GRAPHICS], and write a line under the [GRAPHICS]: HIGHMEMFIX=1, so it looks like this:

[GRAPHICS]
HIGHMEMFIX=1
SHADER_CACHE_PRIMED_10=.....................
SHADER_CACHE_PRIMED=.................
etc
etc

I've flown the S-14 now for 10 minutes without any problems and am now a happy flightsimmer ;-).

Regards to you all,

hertzie.

Hertzie.... yes, that's why I haven't had out of mem issues and knew the slow load time must have been something else specific to the plane.
There's almost no difference in load times between small and original sized images in this instance....;)