Newbie questions, GPU %, night brightness...

[virgo47]

Hi, I'm pretty new to this module although I watched some videos and tried to read some docs, many things are a matter of in-game experiments, because the NS430 manual is quite brief. I have a few questions with a hope that more experienced NS430 users can answer them easily:

1. I'm using the popup version. I was surprised that the popup took the my GPU % from 85% all the way up to 100% (so perhaps it would want to take even more). Is it normal? What is so GPU intensive on the popup version? Was it always like this or can this be some regression?
2. The issue with overall DCS darkness with the popup was reported... but I also have a problem with NS430 display being too bright in the night. Letters separation is very bad, but this seems to be a simulation issue (glow is added), not the display content. So I wanted to adjust it - but couldn't get any reasonable results. With some settings, the cyan borders suddenly go away - is it normal?
3. Also, should not Auto backlight/contrast do better job?
4. In the attached picture, (1) I wanted to change Auto to Manual - this works very strange, first ENT allows to change the value from Auto to Manual, but when I confirm, it flips it to the other value - not the one shown. In other words, to change the value you just press ENT twice, but that seems counterintuitive. It's still value input - why does it choose the value that is not there?
5. There is also the top line pixels (2) mirroring the bottom of the display - some of them blinking (e.g. mirroring blinking MSG). This is not present on every screen, sometimes it's covered by a cyan border. But it's on NAVmap. Is this a bug or reproduction of bug from a real GNS430?

Finally I have one navigation question I couldn't find answer to yet... If I have a flight plan and I'm navigating to let's say WPT2, is there a way to quickly switch to another leg and use next WPT3 as my go to waypoint? I know it's not really a following path, but still, I'd love to know how to switch WP quickly and so far didn't see it anywhere.

Thanks for any answer

Edited January 29, 2023 by virgo47

[virgo47]

Answering the final unnumbered question - how to switch to another waypoint. I couldn't find it because one has to search for words like "leg" and "activate".

1. Press FLP - to display active flight plan
2. Push right knob - to show the cursor/highlight
3. Rotate big right knob - to select the destination WP
4. Press Menu - Activate Leg? should be highlighted
5. Press Enter twice, done

[Flappie]

On 1/29/2023 at 11:36 AM, virgo47 said:

I'm using the popup version. I was surprised that the popup took the my GPU % from 85% all the way up to 100% (so perhaps it would want to take even more). Is it normal? What is so GPU intensive on the popup version? Was it always like this or can this be some regression?

Hi. The terrain mode is especially CPU-hungry (reported issue). Were you using it? (terrain mode = red and yellow squares showing terrain elevation)

On 1/29/2023 at 11:36 AM, virgo47 said:

The issue with overall DCS darkness with the popup was reported... but I also have a problem with NS430 display being too bright in the night. Letters separation is very bad, but this seems to be a simulation issue (glow is added), not the display content. So I wanted to adjust it - but couldn't get any reasonable results. With some settings, the cyan

Also, should not Auto backlight/contrast do better job?

I think the issue is linked to the brightness issue. The fix is still in the works. It seems more complicated to fix than it looks.

Please attach a track showing the disappearance of the cyan border.

On 1/29/2023 at 11:36 AM, virgo47 said:

In the attached picture, (1) I wanted to change Auto to Manual - this works very strange, first ENT allows to change the value from Auto to Manual, but when I confirm, it flips it to the other value - not the one shown. In other words, to change the value you just press ENT twice, but that seems counterintuitive. It's still value input - why does it choose the value that is not there?

 

There is also the top line pixels (2) mirroring the bottom of the display - some of them blinking (e.g. mirroring blinking MSG). This is not present on every screen, sometimes it's covered by a cyan border. But it's on NAVmap. Is this a bug or reproduction of bug from a real GNS430?

I don't know much about the NS430 menus. Can you please create a short track showing this?

Same thing for the blinking.

[CmdrMoros]

Thank God it is not just me with the brightness issue with the NS430! Having the same issue where it goes to night time basically when I press the default keyboard short cut.

System:

Ryzen 9 7900x
Asus Geforce 4070TI
MSI TomaHawk MB
64GB Ram
SK Hynix 2TB

[virgo47]

Hi Flappie, thanks for response!

18 hours ago, Flappie said:

Hi. The terrain mode is especially CPU-hungry (reported issue). Were you using it? (terrain mode = red and yellow squares showing terrain elevation)

My problem is GPU, not CPU related. It's not a big deal, just surprising. A few numbers for illustration. Standing on the RWY in a hot L39 doing nothing, totally empty mission - my CPU/GPU % is ~16/80.

When I turn on the NS430 popup with its default (CDI) screen: CPU/GPU is ~17/97 (CPU is clearly a bit higher, but not much, but GPU jumped by 17%)

With NS430 on a map screen: ~17/95, no change in CPU, but for whatever reason, this screen is less GPU intensive(?)

The terrain screen - more or less as the map. That means various menu or other screens are easily more GPU intensive than map/terrain. But the popup itself takes anywhere around 15% of my humble 3060 GPU.

18 hours ago, Flappie said:

I think the issue is linked to the brightness issue. The fix is still in the works. It seems more complicated to fix than it looks.

Please attach a track showing the disappearance of the cyan border.

I don't know much about the NS430 menus. Can you please create a short track showing this?

Same thing for the blinking.

I'm attaching day and night mission tracks, but while these reflect the actions, they don't show the resizing of the popup which creates many more brightness "effects".

BTW: As for the cyan border mentioned - I'm not implying it should be everywhere. The wrap-over of the pixels is the problem (seems like some +/-1 error to a humble programmer like me). Even in original GNS430 the map upper edge does not have the cyan border - it's OK.

That's why I've created the following video demonstration as well:

Hope that helps and shows it clearly enough.

ns430-night-brightness-problems.trk ns430-brightness-strobing-problems.trk

Edited February 11, 2023 by virgo47

[Hawkeye_UK]

also worse if if you hit and reset defaults it does not change from manual back to auto on the display page - this is a problem!  The whole module is like a bag of spanners, on auto brightness its blinding at night, on manual can't get it back to auto it seems.  

Manual is less then useless.  Truing to go from manual to auto, the small knob does nothing, its not like the real system.

If someone in Englight can provide a 1, 2, 3 exactly what to press and how to get back from MANUAL to AUTO would be greatly appreicated.

@BIGNEWYcan you elebvate this mess back to the dev team to get the implementation correct and also to ensure that when hitting RESET DEFAULTS, it does just that, aka taking the module back from manual to auto brightness.  The nighttime needs looking at, the way it calibrates for time of day.

For what is a "New" module release for the Mig29 plug in, its dissapointing and this is nothing to do with EA, its a years old problem

[virgo47]

In case of NS 430, I'd be surprised if it worked in 5-10 years... Now with MiG-29 I give it a bit more chance, but I'm still waiting for the radio and comms advertised on the product page.

As for this report, maybe the strobing and brightness problems were addressed? I'm not sure, really.

[Hawkeye_UK]

2 minutes ago, virgo47 said:

In case of NS 430, I'd be surprised if it worked in 5-10 years... Now with MiG-29 I give it a bit more chance, but I'm still waiting for the radio and comms advertised on the product page.

As for this report, maybe the strobing and brightness problems were addressed? I'm not sure, really.

Please feel free to get involved to push this agenda, its a disgrace at present the lack of response from ED, and i mean over years, I think we have been patient enough, its the lack of comms on this that is the issue, not just the lack of work.