Problem with horizontal tape in Dino's MFDs

[kaigun]

Dear Simmers, as many of us, I am big fan of Dino's excellent planes and flying them a lot. However I have very annoying "bug" that affects in the same way the MFDs in all planes in my FSX, both in DX9 and in DX10 preview. It is the strange graphical error affecting all horizontal tape displays that I can not get rid of. I don't remember when, but it started with some earlier versions of Dino's planes updates. I asked him for any help, but he is apparently busy with creation and updates so maybe anybody here experienced similar problems to share with solution. Please see enclosed pics of MFDs from Goshawk, Tomcat and Viking - it appears both in VC and when opened as 2D panel and looks as if the tape is different size than the MFD. In spite I am advanced and experienced FSX user I gave up here... I would be grateful for any advice ! BTW I have no other problems with displaying any other FSX graphics, gauges etc.
Thanks a lot in advance,
Kaigun

[mjrhealth]

Dear Simmers, as many of us, I am big fan of Dino's excellent planes and flying them a lot. However I have very annoying "bug" that affects in the same way the MFDs in all planes in my FSX, both in DX9 and in DX10 preview. It is the strange graphical error affecting all horizontal tape displays that I can not get rid of. I don't remember when, but it started with some earlier versions of Dino's planes updates. I asked him for any help, but he is apparently busy with creation and updates so maybe anybody here experienced similar problems to share with solution. Please see enclosed pics of MFDs from Goshawk, Tomcat and Viking - it appears both in VC and when opened as 2D panel and looks as if the tape is different size than the MFD. In spite I am advanced and experienced FSX user I gave up here... I would be grateful for any advice ! BTW I have no other problems with displaying any other FSX graphics, gauges etc.
Thanks a lot in advance,
Kaigun

Best thing is to delete the plane from teh simobjects / airplanes folder and reinstall. and make sure you update the gauges folder.

[Dino Cattaneo]

Dear Kaigun

First thing my apologies for not having offered proper support through my usual channels - indeed I was busy with the MB.326 release.

The problem you are having is strange and you are the first user reporting this.
The "horizon tape" is indeed of the right size - but for some reason your system fails to visualize it correctly, probably due to its large size.
It happened to me once with another gauge in the F-35 - which had a very large bitmap - and the visualization of the bitmap was screwed up completely during rotation. I guess the same thing is happening here.

Unfortunately there is little I can do to help - as the code itself seems correct. The only solution I can envision is a rewrite of the MFD that splits the bitmap into multiple parts which - hopefully - are free from this visualization defect... this is however a rewrite of the code that I may not have the time to do right now - especially because it is reported by only one user.

Once again, my apologied for failing to provide a proper reply thorugh my usual contact channels.

[whiteside]

Hi guys, I have the same issue.

Dear Kaigun

First thing my apologies for not having offered proper support through my usual channels - indeed I was busy with the MB.326 release.

The problem you are having is strange and you are the first user reporting this.
The "horizon tape" is indeed of the right size - but for some reason your system fails to visualize it correctly, probably due to its large size.
It happened to me once with another gauge in the F-35 - which had a very large bitmap - and the visualization of the bitmap was screwed up completely during rotation. I guess the same thing is happening here.

Unfortunately there is little I can do to help - as the code itself seems correct. The only solution I can envision is a rewrite of the MFD that splits the bitmap into multiple parts which - hopefully - are free from this visualization defect... this is however a rewrite of the code that I may not have the time to do right now - especially because it is reported by only one user.

Once again, my apologied for failing to provide a proper reply thorugh my usual contact channels.

[Dino Cattaneo]

Noted - it is kind of strange because nobody else reported that issue.
As I cannot replicate this, I cannot grant a solution - I will try to find the time to rewrite the MFD code in order to split the horizon graphics into multiple, smaller bitmap. I apologize for the inconvenience but cannot grant a quick solution.

[whiteside]

Thank you Dino, awesome work you do!

[Dino Cattaneo]

Please try this file for the S-3B Viking:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1V...ew?usp=sharing

I have changed the horizon rendering so that now it is made of three smaller bitmaps rather than a big one.
This is the only thing I can think of.
I cannot verify that it works or not, as the original ADI works fine on my system.
All files go into the panel/S3B_EFIS folder

Let me know if it works.

[kaigun]

Dear Dino,
Thank You very much for Your kind reply and fast fix trial ! I have just tested the new ADI files and there is no change, the behaviour is exactly the same - then maybe it is something else in reason... Anyway, I am so grateful for Your effort and quick reaction ! Never would expect better support really ! If Your time allows in the future I would be ready to check and test all possible fixes, but first of all please do focus on new ideas and existing upgrades for our Community - thank You so much for all Your excellent work !!! & kindest regards from Poland !!!

[whiteside]

Same here, no change. When I am in a left bank, it shows an occasional full ADI. Any other attitude and its totally scrambled. The ADI is scrambled in latest version of your T-45 as well.
W

not sure what other clues to give to find issue.

[Dino Cattaneo]

Thanks for the feedback - I am still thinking that the root cause is the size of the bitmap... for some reason your systems do not process it properly.
As of today, you two are the only users which reported this issue - which of course it does not mean that it is limited to you two, but rather that the gauges work fine for the vast majority of the users.

Unfortunately as I cannot replicate the issue I may not be able to solve it...

[aeronca1]

As a programmer in a "previous life", it may be helpful if the two gentlemen would list their system specs with emphasis on video cards and driver versions for such.

[YoYo]

Dear Dino,
Thank You very much for Your kind reply and fast fix trial ! I have just tested the new ADI files and there is no change, the behaviour is exactly the same - then maybe it is something else in reason... Anyway, I am so grateful for Your effort and quick reaction ! Never would expect better support really ! If Your time allows in the future I would be ready to check and test all possible fixes, but first of all please do focus on new ideas and existing upgrades for our Community - thank You so much for all Your excellent work !!! & kindest regards from Poland !!!

I told You - the best way to do reinstallation of whole FSX.
Maybe too many addons and something with each "bite" ;> (2TB) ect. ?

[Dino Cattaneo]

Well, system specs for my information would be nice to have... but from my experience a correct root cause analysis of this issue would be difficult in any case. What happens is that, for some reason, the engine fails to rotate the horizon tape image resulting in weird graphics.
The only time I saw this on my machine was during the development of the F-35 MFD (one relatively big bitmap for the compass rose had similar issue)... and in that case, I fixed it by reducing its size.

As for the reinstallation - it may well work, who knows. I have no idea of what are the factors/engine components that affect the correct functionality of the XML gauges visualization.

[Ferry_vO]

How does it look on the default F/A-18? Might be a default gauge that got messed up somehow.

[Dino Cattaneo]

I believe the F/A-18 gauge has nothing to do with the issue...
The S-3 and the latest versions of the F-14D and T-45C are completely independent from that... and basically use the same code and bitmaps (well...in terms of size/scales etc... graphics are customized for each plane) for the MFD ADI...