X-Plane Client on Remote Laptop

[BonanzaDude]

I am thinking about downloading the X-Plane Demo and have a couple of questions. 1) Will the demo affect my FS9 or FSX files? and 2) Is there a way to run the PilotEdge client software on a remote PC? I am guessing the answer to #1 is No, but I wanted to be safe and not sorry.

John

[Colin Payette]

I have FSX, XP9 and the XP10 demo all installed and cooperating with each other. I don't believe X-Plane uses the registry so each copy isn't even aware of the other.

As for running PE on multiple machines:

http://www.pilotedge.net/pages/download-software-xplane

• Install the plugin on ALL of the machines (master and all external visuals)
• On the MASTER machine create xplane/Resources/plugins/VSPro Resources/VSProSlaves.ini
• Edit the file to contain a single number representing the number of external visuals in your configuration (ie, the number 0, 1, 2, or 3, etc).

[BonanzaDude]

I have given up on X-Plane. After several hours of the download/install and several hours trying to get my Saitek yoke and throttle quadrant to work I will not spend another minute with it. I used the troubleshooting guide in the manual to try to fix my problem, but it didn't work. The fact that it is a beta may be the problem and maybe I should wait until the final release. Not sure, but I don't care, I will NOT try X-Plane ever again.

John

[Steven Winslow]

Dude, don't give up so easily. The issues you've experienced are nothing new to X-Plane veterans. They are frustrating, for sure, but not unsurmountable. Your Saitek yoke and throttle quadrant should work without any issues. I have all the Saitek panels along with the rudder pedals and yoke and throttle quadrants.

Just to give you some perspective, I finally got FSX to install on my Mac. I have owned FSX for at least 2 years, but could never get it installed. I tried to install it on our PC laptop, but there were issues. So, I bought Parallels and Windows 7 and installed FSX on my Mac Mini. Wow! What a pain in the butt. Talk about non-intuitive! After all I went through just to find out how big a piece of junk FSX is! Talk about issues of trying to get Saitek gear to work in a sim! After all that, I am happy to stay with X-Plane. It is MUCH more intuitive to install and use.

Give X-Plane a chance....but wait until it is not a BETA. What you are using is NOT what X-Plane is all about or what version 10 will be in a couple of months. As I said before, what you are going through is nothing new to the X-Plane gang.

[BonanzaDude]

Sorry but the X-Plane website says that the new version is supposed to ship this week. That tells me that it's nowhere near really being ready for RTM, especially for $80. I was assuming when I downloaded it Friday that it was very close to the latest release. When I take that much time configuring controls only to find out that they don't work when I am sitting on the runway it gets very frustrating. If I spent that much time getting FS9 and FSX setup on the several computers that I have used over the years, I would have given up on those 2 as well. I think the FS9/FSX vs X-Plane debate is similar to the Ford vs Chevy debate. You get accustomed to one and don't feel comfortable with the other. I don't feel event remotely comfortable with X-Plane after the close to 4 hours I spent with it Friday.

John

[Keith Smith]

Just to close the loop, the PE pilot client runs as a plugin within X-Plane, not a standalone executable. PE should be installed on the master machine as well as each of the machines that are running as external visuals. The instance on the master machine is the only one that actually connects to our service. The aircraft positions are then relayed from the master machine to each of the external visuals automatically.

Sorry to hear you had a poor experience, John. I can't say that aircraft control configuration is usually a stumbling block...it should be a simple matter of going into the joystick screen and mapping each axis on the joystick to the feature that you want in X-Plane (bear in mind, you can hook up any number of USB joysticks/throttles/yokes and map them to various features, hence the need for that step).

I know you've made up your mind, but it's a shame, because a well-configured XP machine is something to behold! If you change your mind in the future, I'll work with you through a screen sharing session to get it set up properly. If you don't come back to it, though, then I'll understand. 4 hours without a good result will leave a bad taste in your mouth. X-Plane IS rough around the edges, no doubt...there's a bunch of stuff it doesn't handle automatically (in terms of configuration), but once it's set up, it's good to go.

Keith

[BonanzaDude]

Keith,

Thanks for the reply. I would really like to try X-Plane as I have heard the airplane parameters made for a more realistic flying experience. My only fear is the little things that I know how to do in FS9/FSX that turn out to be a learning process in x-Plane. I can say this, unless the RTM version is much better than the Beta that I tested, I don't think that will happen.

If I do change my mind, I would consider chatting with you about setting up a screen sharing connection. Do you know of anyone that is using the Beta version without problems?

John

[Keith Smith]

Oh I'll warn you right out of the gate...it's GOING to be a learning process, no question about it. It will take time to learn the view system (and the limitations thereof), among other things.

I haven't spoken with many people about the beta so far. I was out of town for the I/ITSEC conference all last week. X-Plane has historically been pretty buggy during the early part of a new major release. If you're looking for the best experience, I would come back in a few more months, at the earliest. Let the beta get out there, get tested, then wait to hear what people are saying about the 10.1 or 10.2 release. In my experience the x.0 releases are rough as guts

That MIGHT be a little different since they have a develop of Ben's caliber there, but we'll have to see what the result is.

Keith

[BonanzaDude]

Would you suggest purchasing v9.xx and then upgrading to v10.x when it's more stable? I really want to try X-Plane to see if what I read about it is true.

John

[Keith Smith]

That's hard to answer. I am running XP10.03 on a WOEFULLY under-equipped machine (2G ram, GTX260 and Core Duo 3.2GHz) and it's running considerably better than XP9 did and it's stable (not one crash to date). There are a couple of compromises on the visuals with XP10, but for the most part, it's a pretty big improvement. I know others have not had this experience, but I wanted to state that my experience hasn't been as poor.

I need to see XP10 on a higher end machine before I recommend 9 over 10, though. There are some things I'm seeing in 10 in terms of degraded airport quality from relatively close distances that thrill me to pieces. I should be assembling a new machine this week with modern-day hardware, I'll let you know how it goes.