LawnDart

We might! But the same problems that prevent us from doing a live show still exist in the tracks (lag, warping, no dedicated server etc). I'm sure we can put together a track once everyone starts showing up again for practice, altough it may be a little laggy at times (like you described in your previous post). Everyone is kind of busy in real life now, but once we start recording our video we should be working on a complete show at the same time, so we'll keep it in mind. I still hope we'll be able to fly live at some point...

Definitely go with a fixed value! There is a reg key you can adjust so that the page file is swiped clean on every reboot or power off as well, but IMHO that's not necessary since it also means startup/shutdown takes longer. And as far as the stuttering... where this thread started it was all about multiplayer stuttering! I too can see graphics stutter, hickups, rowboat effects etc, but there's a very distinct stutter only seen as client up close to another plane in multiplayer (not lag or warping). The host computer does not see any of this while each client does. That should sum it up! LawnDart

Why don't you try to set your swap to 4096 (maxed out) so that it never changes size. You could also run something like Windows Washer prior to flying which among other things can swipe and clean the swap file I believe. This is a different issue from the stutter, but equally important to address I'd say! LawnDart

If you're directing this at my comments, here's what I have to say. While we might have identified a variable that affects the stuttering (pingPeriod), it doesn't mean that it is the root of the problem. We were unable to eliminate it completely with anything in our control while changing that value. I'm not saying SF is the cause of the stutter, neither am I saying it's not SF! Until proven otherwise, I'm not ruling anything out! All I can tell you is that I personally and many of the other VTB guys have spent well over 25-30 hours testing everything we could think of concerning the stuttering and have yet come across anything that says this is where the stutter originates from! To turn the tables back around, I'd say don't limit yourself to thinking it could only be caused by what we've stumbled upon so far. It has something to do with it, but that doesn't mean "pingPeriod" creates the stutter. It could very well go much deeper, be caused by something totally different as well as the code itself. The only thing we know is that "pingPeriod" has influence on the stutter, whether it is the cause of it or not! LawnDart

Conuk and Slammin, I agree that this thread should focus on tips or further testing to reduce the stuttering until a sollution is available, but I have to admit that I'm very curious to find out if the CD version has the same stutter as the d/l from ED!? Just because SF was introduced at such a late stage in development and no one (!) reported it seems like during beta testing (and the two SF are not the same between the CD and d/l)... What would happen to the download version if that was the case... Well, since no one is downloading it right now anyway not much and I'm sure ED would fix it with a patch and also put up a new file for download for future purchases. For all those who already have the d/l version, could just download it again. You can download the file all day long (even now), it's the reg key that you buy... LawnDart

The track looked pretty good to me as far as lag goes! We (the VTB) are used to much more lag than that while we fly that even shows up on our hosts (server) tracks. This is what I'm affraid might be the downfall of us being able to do a live show?! Half our pilot group fly with ping over 100 while only feet apart and the occasional spiking or lagging doesn't help either. The internet isn't as stable as a local network unfortunately. It would be great to see a track directly from the VFTC just to see how smooth it really can be on their own computers! I only wish we had that... O'boy, do I ever wish we had that smoothness! We'll certainly reserve spots for you if we ever do a live show, but in the mean time look forward to our next video project! It will make the old video pale in comparison I'm sure! Our flying is on a different level now... :icon_wink and as long as SilentEagle gets the camera angles to showcase the skill it will rock! We should have it by summer sometime... LawnDart

What do you mean by making it classified? Although we don't use weapons, there's nothing limiting anyone from joining and arming our Thunberbird jets with heat seakers whenever we host tryouts. It would be nice to "lock" our loadouts as empty for clients if at all possible... LawnDart

I tried to sign up on your forum before, but gave up since I don't speak a word of Russian! I think that's why so many people haven't said much there. I'll give it another try now that I have an idea of what each field on the registration screen has, but for future (english) users, even if you can switch the board to english after registering, it would be much more user friendly if you could sign up in english as well... LawnDart

Congrats to the VFTC for an outstanding job!!! We (the VTB) envy the display you guys put on, but also promise to bring everyone something similar in the future. Skill wise we could give you a live show now, but connection wise as well as that being a territory we haven't explored yet it would be some time. We need a rock solid connection and good server before we'll be able to fly a tight show with everyone located all over the country (world). We will release our new video first, now that we have 1.1 and soon will be able to start recording it, but live airshows is somthing we're definitely looking into as the internet can only get better and faster... Once again, awesome display and I really enjoyed it! Especially the burner-loop on takeoff... nicely done VFTC! LawnDart

Same here! I'm sure it has stutter, but it would be nice to have it confirmed since the CD version uses a different type of StarForce for its copy protection.

After some more testing, I have to conclude that the waypoints are inop in 1.1. They only display correct heading info. Time and distance are only accurate under certain circumstances. I originally thought it was only if you were on the line between point A to point B, since they obviously only display offset distance regardless of how far away you might be paralleling or sidetracking the course. Not only that, but I now also discovered that this only works if the course is a 360/180 course as our homebase airfield of Razdolnoye has. With the new missions and different runway headings I couldn't get a single waypoint(s) to display accurate distance and time UNLESS I flew towards it on a direct 360/180 course (different from the plotted course I had made in the editor). It's all messed up seems like (I yet smell another bug)! Could someone with 1.02 check and verify that this was not the case in the old version? I'm pretty sure the waypoints were working, but I currently have no way of checking... Make sure each waypoint has accurate distance and time regardless of the direction you approach it, that's all I'm really looking for! LawnDart

Thanks GG! That's all we needed to hear. That they acknowledge the problem and are working on it... Glad to hear that!!! Let us know whenever any updates come along or tips that might help us improve things before a permanent fix is avail.

Discovered the other day that the only time the waypoints are accurate is if you fly directly along the course line between the waypoints. If you are offset from your course, parallel your course or fly perpendicular to the current navpoint immediately after crossing it the readout will not change and/or only change in reference to how far you've moved parallel to the course line. The only thing working 100% is the heading cue as to where to turn to go direct to a waypoint, but unless you fly towards it exactly on your course line from point A to B, it won't give you the correct ETA and distance. Try setting up a mission with waypoints 1 and 2 five miles apart and on a 360 degree course. Then select waypoint 2 and fly a heading of 090 (perpendicular) directly away from waypoint 2 after crossing i. It will still show your distance at 0.0 or close to it until you start moving along a north/southerly heading and then it will readout your north/south displacement from that waypoint, but you could be several hindered miles off to the east or west. I'd call this a major bug, unless this was intentional (in which case I wouldn't understand why)? Can't remember if 1.02 did the same thing, but this is definitely something I'd consider a bug in 1.1!

IT"S A BUG! What do you call all but the lowest engine noise disappearing when switching from internal to external view and then back into cockpit again? Not to mention your brakes making no sound what-so-ever randomly after switching views from time to time...

You ought to read the first 15 pages of this thread! You pretty much summed up what has been discovered so far... :icon_wink

Did you fly as a client on the server? The low ping could have something to do with it for sure, but we had 70-80 pings and got major stuttering. Also, the pingPeriod only has impact on each players own settings, the server could have any other setting in his config.lua file and not change a thing for each client...

Well, I'm sorry to say that the stutter is as noticable as ever! Me and Burner joined your server and flew for only a few minutes (that's all it took). I could tell it was stuttering bad even before taking off. Burner had a pingPeriod of 2 and I had the default setting of 1 to test and see the differences if any. Both of us agree that the stutter was really bad, even for him with a pingPeriod of 2 which usually reduces it. For me it ranked right among the worst I've seen so far and totally unflyable in close formation. It's not your fault and a big thanks for putting up the server! Really appreciate it! This is definitely something ED needs to look into however... Just out of curiosity for further testing. You did say this computer ran this server only with no other background ops and set up only to host the game, not actually fly in the mission right!? What were your puter specs again? I also believe one of our other team members joined Ice's server the other night and said he saw stuttering there too... LawnDart

What's the addy to the server (or can you email it to me:lawndart@virtualthunderbirds.com) Also, could you please make a barebones mission with only a few planes (clients) starting on the ramp in it (preferably F-15's) so we can really test this stuttering up close in formation without all hell breaking loose with SAM's and engagements!? LawnDart

Hey, I wouldn't go that far. I understand!.. Of course I wouldn't post it if I found one, but I sure would like a crack for my own copy! I've already paid for the game twice anyways... LawnDart

This is the way I look at it. I've already paid $35 for the download and now another $39 for the CD (pre-order). I'd still like a cracked version, just cause I dislike everything they've done to this sim that has created so much trouble for all their loyal fans. Call me crazy, but when I spend that amount of money for a patch and airplane (that I won't even fly) I'd like to know I can at least have unlimited installs and a working product. None of which I've seen yet, which is why I'd gladly install a no-cd fix or "deactivation" crack whenever it comes along. IMHO, ED has royally upset many of it's sincerest fans with this release and the copy protection. In all honesty, I think they "lost" more doing it this way, however in monetary terms they did make lots more money from people like me, who ended up paying twice for it! And I'm still looking for that crack BTW...!

For every axis: Point Speed 0 0 2 0 5 0 10 3 20 5 30 8 40 11 50 14 Smoothing: Default In case anyone is curious, I never use TrackIR while in formation, only for situational awareness between maneuvers and/or on rare occasions when I might fly combat or singleplayer. Padlock is much better for formation flying. The profile I have is tuned down, since I too felt the default ones were way too sensitive! Also, with the vector expansion you can lean left/right without turning your head in-game which is very comfortable. Hope this helps some...

Ok, my landscape stutters too, however that seems to me to be a different cause and not at the same time interval as the plane stutter. Changing the pingPeriod only impacts the plane stuttering for us. I'm not ruling out that the two could be combined though! It's the object stuttering that is really annoying and if I had to describe it I'd say: Plane stutter looks like something caused by a background operation or coding... (Although turning off ALL background ops using "EndItAll" didn't eliminate the stutter). The landscape looks more like a rendering issue if you ask me. Burner can probably tell you more or give you a better description, since he's flown mostly as client with me hosting during our tests! LawnDart

Nice summary GGTharos! These stutters don't slow the game down or pause the whole simulation, it just targets the other aircraft/objects. I can have high framerates, no lag, no warping, no sudden game freezes (sound or graphics hickups) and still get this micro-stuttering of the other planes as client...

Sounds like you guys are talking about a different kind of issue. Look at the PS screenshot in this thread (reconstruction of the stuttering) a few pages back on p12. This is as close as anything to the airplane stuttering we see in multiplayer. It's different from lag, warping, sound loading, graphics (terrain stutter). It's the airplane model jiggy! ...and for us, this particular thing only happens as client in a multiplayer game and PinPeriod (config.lua file) does has a big influence on how much/often it gets that jiggy! LawnDart

Anyone heard any news about LOMAN 3.4? We're all waiting eagerly! LawnDart