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CX & Competition Mode


Richard64

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Hi all and hope someone can help with this.

I wont go into all the details but suffice to say that with a colleague I am creating some tasks for both FS9 and FSX based on RW tasks.

Now to try and be fair to all we decided to create the weather in CCS2004 and use the compatibility capability in CX so that users would have the same conditions.

However I notice that when in script mode CX does not go into competition mode only when I create a CX .cmx file.

Now is this normal? and

How does using script mode affect CX users if CX does not go into competition mode.

And any general advice regarding this is welcome.

Regards

Richard.

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Hi Richard,

CumulusX! goes in competition mode if a .cmx file is found alongside with the FSX -FLT file. In the .cmx file also the name of the script file is stored and the operation modes of CumulusX!. That ensures that everybody uses automatically your predefined settings. If you don't do this, one may have settings left over from previous sessions. However the script-file as such should override the standard settings of CumulusX!. I recommend not to use inversion layer features in the script file as the random number generators of CCS2004 cannot be reproduced by CumulusX!. The visibility flag is also not supported so I would set it to 1 for all thermals. Though the airtexture feature is not implemented in CumulusX!-script-mode,too , this won't have an overall influence on gliding performance.

So you should do the following:

Make a mission or an .flt-file that defines you FSX situation, as season time of day, weather and the like. I recommend using the "Global Weather" mode, to simplify things.

Create a CumulusX! script file (*.dat) defining the location of the thermals.

Then open the CumulusX! control panel and define all CumulusX! settings as required including the path to the script file. There is a localization problem with the script file path as many directory names depend on the localization of the Windows installation. I propose therefore to store the scriptfile in some extra directory, e.g. C:\Scriptfile\*.*, which can be made available at any localization.

Then save the .cmx-file under the same name as your mission or flight file, but with the extension .cmx.

Package the the mission and/or the flight file together with the .cmx file and the .dat file and distribute it. Except from the scriupt file these should usually go in the FSX user files directory.

If you don't have a computer with FSX available you cannot run CumulusX!. In this case you have to do the .cmx-file manually by using the appendix of the documentation.

I must admit, that I have not paid much attention to the script-mode last time, so it might well happen that one or the other bug may pop up.

best regards,

Peter

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Hi Richard,

CumulusX! goes in competition mode if a .cmx file is found alongside with the FSX -FLT file. In the .cmx file also the name of the script file is stored and the operation modes of CumulusX!. That ensures that everybody uses automatically your predefined settings. If you don't do this, one may have settings left over from previous sessions. However the script-file as such should override the standard settings of CumulusX!. I recommend not to use inversion layer features in the script file as the random number generators of CCS2004 cannot be reproduced by CumulusX!. The visibility flag is also not supported so I would set it to 1 for all thermals. Though the airtexture feature is not implemented in CumulusX!-script-mode,too , this won't have an overall influence on gliding performance.

So you should do the following:

Make a mission or an .flt-file that defines you FSX situation, as season time of day, weather and the like. I recommend using the "Global Weather" mode, to simplify things.

Create a CumulusX! script file (*.dat) defining the location of the thermals.

Then open the CumulusX! control panel and define all CumulusX! settings as required including the path to the script file. There is a localization problem with the script file path as many directory names depend on the localization of the Windows installation. I propose therefore to store the scriptfile in some extra directory, e.g. C:\Scriptfile\*.*, which can be made available at any localization.

Then save the .cmx-file under the same name as your mission or flight file, but with the extension .cmx.

Package the the mission and/or the flight file together with the .cmx file and the .dat file and distribute it. Except from the scriupt file these should usually go in the FSX user files directory.

If you don't have a computer with FSX available you cannot run CumulusX!. In this case you have to do the .cmx-file manually by using the appendix of the documentation.

I must admit, that I have not paid much attention to the script-mode last time, so it might well happen that one or the other bug may pop up.

best regards,

Peter

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Hi Peter, and many thanks although I have to confess I'm not 100% sure what you mean.

I have attached a picture which shows the CCS2004 panel and settings (entered by my colleague) and CX panel and settings which I have entered after converting from imperial to metric.

I have also entered into the CX panel the path to the CCS2004 script, but have not checked the CCS2004 compatibility box?

I have then save these CX settings as a .cmx file and CX does go into competition mode.

However I do not understand the following.

1. Why should you have to enter the ccs2004 script file as well and

2. Should I have the ccs2004 compatibility box checked or Unchecked.

3. Would it not just be easier in the long run to have 2 separate files. 1. ccs2004 script file for FS9 users and 1 CX .cmx file for FSX users?

For your info I have found that CX will accept the path to the ccs2004 script file providing the script file is in the ccs2004 folder in programme files, which I have.

One other point and that is when using CX in Competition mode and flying on line using either FSinn or SB should we be using real weather or clear weather.

I can never understand the relationship between the different weathers,although I think you have explained it to me before, can't remember though.

Regards

Richard

post-24922-127244424578_thumb.jpg

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I have attached a picture which shows the CCS2004 panel and settings (entered by my colleague) and CX panel and settings which I have entered after converting from imperial to metric.

Picture looks, good but the CCS compatbility checkbox should be ticked. Go also to the main panel, untick "AutoThermals" and tick "Script-Thermals" instead. Leave "Ridge Lift" ticked.

I have also entered into the CX panel the path to the CCS2004 script, but have not checked the CCS2004 compatibility box?

as said above

1. Why should you have to enter the ccs2004 script file as well and

This makes CumulusX! using the script-file upon entering competition mode.

2. Should I have the ccs2004 compatibility box checked or Unchecked.

Please check, properties of CumulusX! thermals are other wise different from CCS2004.

3. Would it not just be easier in the long run to have 2 separate files. 1. ccs2004 script file for FS9 users and 1 CX .cmx file for FSX users?

The purpose of the .cmx-file is similar to the ini-file of CCS2004. They do not contain locations of thermals but only the overall conditions for automatic thermal generation. It will be practically impossible to align the automatic generation of thermals with each other without the original author of CCS2004. To my knowledge, even the sequence of thermals in CCS2004 is not even repeatable (as in CumulusX!). Morover, behaviour of CumulusX! thermal are meanwhile on a much more advanced level, than those of CCS2004.

For your info I have found that CX will accept the path to the ccs2004 script file providing the script file is in the ccs2004 folder in programme files, which I have.

That's fine but on a german computer there will be no folder "c:\program files\...", but "c:\Programme\..." instead. So a german participant has either to create an extra folder structure "C:\program files\Microsoft Games\..." all the way down to "...\CumulusX!\" to put the script file to a location where it is found by your original .cmx file. Or, he has to patch the ".cmx" to a different path which will be discovered by sim_logger and rendered as an invalid flight.

One other point and that is when using CX in Competition mode and flying on line using either FSinn or SB should we be using real weather or clear weather.

FS creates the weather situation by setting the weather observation at weatherstations. By setting "Global Weather" all stations are reset to the same settings.

Using a weather theme presets the stations as well, but creates a sort of dynamics which produces moving clusters of clouds. This is not very well documented and the results are not very well predictable. In CumulusX! this has led frequently to blue areas, though some clouds were locally visible.

Using real weather overwrites the weatherstations with lot of different data which are interpolated in the places in between, leading sometimes to weird results. Moreover the global weathersettings from before remain unaffected and can affect the overall result of CumulusX! and CCS2004. When using real weather you should either use clear weather theme first to reset the global data, or define global weather settings that matches somehow the real weather (which can only be done ad hoc, but not in advance).

For competitions I recommend using the global weather settings only, but no weather themes. You can also start with a global weather settings and introduce some local variations. In script mode only wind changes and changes of the cloud base are of practical relevance.

FSINN allows turning off using the server weather, which I recommend. I think SB doesn't allow turning off the weather, so this might be a problem. You can leave the weather server on, but it will not create reliable the same weather both on FSX and FS9, to say the least. You should follow the rules for real weather usage then, i.e. using cleaer skies in advance.

best regards,

Peter

Richard

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Picture looks, good but the CCS compatbility checkbox should be ticked. Go also to the main panel, untick "AutoThermals" and tick "Script-Thermals" instead. Leave "Ridge Lift" ticked.

as said above

This makes CumulusX! using the script-file upon entering competition mode.

Please check, properties of CumulusX! thermals are other wise different from CCS2004.

The purpose of the .cmx-file is similar to the ini-file of CCS2004. They do not contain locations of thermals but only the overall conditions for automatic thermal generation. It will be practically impossible to align the automatic generation of thermals with each other without the original author of CCS2004. To my knowledge, even the sequence of thermals in CCS2004 is not even repeatable (as in CumulusX!). Morover, behaviour of CumulusX! thermal are meanwhile on a much more advanced level, than those of CCS2004.

That's fine but on a german computer there will be no folder "c:\program files\...", but "c:\Programme\..." instead. So a german participant has either to create an extra folder structure "C:\program files\Microsoft Games\..." all the way down to "...\CumulusX!\" to put the script file to a location where it is found by your original .cmx file. Or, he has to patch the ".cmx" to a different path which will be discovered by sim_logger and rendered as an invalid flight.

FS creates the weather situation by setting the weather observation at weatherstations. By setting "Global Weather" all stations are reset to the same settings.

Using a weather theme presets the stations as well, but creates a sort of dynamics which produces moving clusters of clouds. This is not very well documented and the results are not very well predictable. In CumulusX! this has led frequently to blue areas, though some clouds were locally visible.

Using real weather overwrites the weatherstations with lot of different data which are interpolated in the places in between, leading sometimes to weird results. Moreover the global weathersettings from before remain unaffected and can affect the overall result of CumulusX! and CCS2004. When using real weather you should either use clear weather theme first to reset the global data, or define global weather settings that matches somehow the real weather (which can only be done ad hoc, but not in advance).

For competitions I recommend using the global weather settings only, but no weather themes. You can also start with a global weather settings and introduce some local variations. In script mode only wind changes and changes of the cloud base are of practical relevance.

FSINN allows turning off using the server weather, which I recommend. I think SB doesn't allow turning off the weather, so this might be a problem. You can leave the weather server on, but it will not create reliable the same weather both on FSX and FS9, to say the least. You should follow the rules for real weather usage then, i.e. using cleaer skies in advance.

best regards,

Peter

Richard

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The ccs2004 script files were sent to me by my colleague and I keep these in a folder in "My Documents" just called RW Tasks.

Now when I set the CX path to these files it obviously shows the full path name including reference to myself.

Now is there any way in which I can remove this reference to myself.

I removed all reference to myself excluding the actual task name in CX but of course CX did not then recognise the file path.

That's more or less the problem that I stated previously, in this case involving your personal user name which is a part of the hidden real path to "My Documents" and which is presumably not existing on anyones else computer. The solutions is to agree on some extra directory, e.g. C:\Scriptfiles, to store the scriptfile there, just for use of CumulusX!. This could be created easily by anybody assuming everyone has drive C:\ and being administrator of his/her own computer.

regards,

Peter

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That's more or less the problem that I stated previously, in this case involving your personal user name which is a part of the hidden real path to "My Documents" and which is presumably not existing on anyones else computer. The solutions is to agree on some extra directory, e.g. C:\Scriptfiles, to store the scriptfile there, just for use of CumulusX!. This could be created easily by anybody assuming everyone has drive C:\ and being administrator of his/her own computer.

regards,

Peter

OK I see what you mean Peter.

I have now created a folder in C called script and in the CX path I now get C:\Script\

I think I'm almost there.

Many thanks again

Regards

Richard

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OK I see what you mean Peter.

I have now created a folder in C called script and in the CX path I now get C:\Script\

I think I'm almost there.

Many thanks again

Regards

Richard

Hi Peter, all is now sorted.

I have even put the script files on another drive and configured CX to that drive and it all works fine with none of personal file path details showing.

I have now completed all my tasks and am having them tested.

I have even written some instructions on how to configure CX for those who have a drive other than C.

Many thanks again

Regards

Richard

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