SimXperience Commander For X-Sim Nearing Beta Stage

With 5 test PC's including XP 32-bit, XP 64-bit, Vista 32-bit, Vista 64 bit and Windows 7, I will have to respectfully disagree with your stability assessment. However, it is my goal this week to do enough testing to be able to provide some useful feedback to SirNoName so that he may be able to resolve the issues that I am experiencing. The difficulty is that the issues seem random so far and no error message is provided. The profiler simply closes and I get a message that says the Force Profiler stopped working. This means that the issue is some type of unhandled general exception.

I do not prefer that the Commander lag versions behind the current X-Sim release, so I will do what I can to move things forward.

Also, I am not sure why you received the message about your version of X-Sim being unacceptable. The Commander First Run Wizard checks the file date of some X-Sim files and if they are greater than or equal to the date that 2.0.7.1 was produced then it will allow you to continue and choose the option Use My Current X-Sim Settings. Is it possible that your X-Sim 2.0.1.2 is not installed in its default location of C:\Program Files\X-Sim or C:\Program Files (x86)\X-Sim?
I just did some quick testing here with a 2.0.1.2 install, and I was able to choose Use my current X-Sim settings. Of course by doing so, you will not gain many of the benefits that the Commander has to offer. It's the standardization of these X-Sim settings that makes for much improved profile sharing.

EDIT: I think I narrowed the issue down to only 64-bit operating systems with AMD Quad-Core processors. I have not experienced any issues on any of my Intel machines. I will be working to produce a release of the Commander with 2.0.1.2 soon.

:

Hi! Bernard,

Thanks for the feedback.
Unfortunately, it is still not working for me! :-(



BTW, my x-sim is installed on D:\Program Files\x-Sim

If I choose install x-Sim than cancel the installation, the commander will say my PC is too slow... than will not be able to handle the situation.

After that, when I run it again, the wizard will give me the following error:



Given you explanation, I believe I may not have had any stability issues due to my Intel proc. E8500.

Thanks.

Erick

Yes, this is the result of a failed first installation of version 1.0.0.0

Version 1.0.0.1 is available on the SimXperience website. I will do some testing with non-standard X-Sim installation locations, as I suspect that this is the cause of the issue. Thanks for the feedback!

I had uninstalled the 1.0.0.0 before installing the new version (I even use Revo Uninstaller to make sure no registry entries are left behind).
I tried uninstalling the MS SQL as well, installed everything back again and it didn't help.

The DB error is fixed with a computer reset.
But, it still is not able to detect my x-Sim installation. It might have something to do with the x-sim installation folder.

Cheers,

Erick

Yes, the issue is definitely the non-standard X-Sim installation location. I will put some thought into how to best handle this for the next version. X-Sim does not create a registry entry with it's installation location that I can simply read in. Therefore, I check common installation locations automatically. It seems I may need to build a mechanism to browse for the installation folder if it is not detected. In the iterim, you can always install a copy of X-Sim in C:\Program Files\X-SIm or C:\Program Files (x86)\X-Sim.

Unfortunately, I can't... My C drive is locked out with another Windows installation and I can't change the drive letter or even write on if from XP! :-(

This means that even if I remove the x-Sim and try to leave the Cmdr make a new install of it, this is not going to work for my case, right?

Thanks.

Erick

I agree, that's what I meant several posts above when I said It seems I may need to build a mechanism to browse for the installation folder if it is not detected.

This will keep things simple for users with standardized PC's, yet users with various other configurations to browse to the location of their X-Sim installation manually via a standard File/Open dialog box. I will release an update tomorrow with this functionality added.

I know that... But, I didn't pay attention at installation, installed the other OS in the wrong drive.
Than, I recovered my XP image where I could.
Everything is working fine for a while...

I use virtual machines on very specific applications with Linux, it is not worth to use with Windows as it takes way too long to boot up! :-/

:clap: :yippiee:

Amazing.... I'll be using the commander pretty soon!!!

:

Will be one more day before I release 1.0.0.2 with the fix for those with no access to a c: drive. Wizard section is repaired, but another issue came about while testing with regard to the temp folder used for placement of the auto-generated X-Sim FSD files fo rthe quick launch buttons. I need the additional day for further testing, but your fix is on the way.

EDIT: A few cups of coffee and some testing later, I think I have the solution for PC's with no C: Drive access. However, I am not fully able to test this scenario since none of my PC's are configured this way. SimXperience Commander v 1.0.0.2 is now available for download via the SimXperience website and includes the no c: drive fix. Please not that while visible, the Logitech G25 settings and the per profile actuator speed / accel settings are not yet included. Assuming that I can get the core stabilized within the next few days, those features should be released next week.



:

Thanks a lot Bernard!

Just installed... New feature to point out installation folder worked fine.
It is amazing... Really nice piece of software. Looks really good.

I have an issue with the motion not working with the auto detection options.
This happens with or without Cmdr. So, I don't believe they are correlated.
But, whenever I connect the sender manually, the motion works fine.
However, if I leave it to be autodetected, everything seems to be fine, I hear the game detected msg, the seat moves a little at Profile start. If I alt+tab from the game everything seems to be fine. But, in this case, nothing moves when I start the race.
I believe this is causing the Cmdr to not be able to make the movement start, too.
What could it be?


Few things I noticed/suggestions:

1. I had my stop switch actuated when I started the Cmdr. It gave me the standard Profiler error msg, but it was in the background and I could not Alt+Tab to look at it. I managed to minimize the Cmdr to see and fix it.
But, shouldn't Cmdr be able to handle/show these error messages so the user can know what is going wrong?

2. I would like to be able to Alt+tab between my application. Look my emails, do other stuff while Cmdr is open. There is a trick that worked. I press Alt+space, then select minimize...

3. When you add a new button, it could select the default image until you put another one. This would be nice.

4. Shortcuts. Are there shortcuts for like going straight to the setting of a button? I mean, going down, clicking to turn it, going back up, clicking settings... Lots of hand movement... I am lazy!

5. One important thing on rFactor is the controller settings, we usually create different settings depending on the mod. F1, prototypes, touring cars, they also have different sensitivities settings. Would it be possible to add another option to select the controller settings when starting rFactor. This is much more important than the vehicle setup for example.

Thanks.

Erick

Your actuators definitely need to be powered on and kill switch not engaged while starting the Profiler.

In the Commander setup wizard did you choose 2DOF SCN5 based simulator (which implements my recommended X-Sim settings) or did you choose the 'Use my Current X-Sim Settings' option which does not modify your X-Sim configuration?

Also, please describe your setup. 1 PC? 2 PC's?

I am working on this.

This is listed in the Bug-Tracker already. Probably about 1 week before this is included in an update.

Good idea! I'll add it to the list.

Hmm, I'll have to think about this one.

If you are refering to the controller.ini, yes, I do intend to include this ability when the G25 functionality is released for testing this week.

Thanks for giving the Commander a try and offering your feedback!!! I am confident that it will grow into a very useful tool. I have MUCH more planned and in development.

Hi! Bernard,

Thanks for the feedback.

As for my motion issue with auto settings.
I chose to keep current settings... What do your settings change?

I noticed that there is no change on parameters as seem in the input page of profiler (when I leave everything in auto).
I usually can see my pedals moving real time as I depress them... But, in auto, it seems that the sender is not receiving any data from the game or it is not sending it to profiler, although they are both connected.

I run only one PC.

Thanks.

Erick

The Commander attempts to define a set of minimum acceptable standards for SCN5 users to make profile sharing more feasible. This was done because I was having problems with the same profile feeling quite different on two SCN5 150mm simulators with different X-Sim settings.

To answer your question more directly:

-All timing settings in profiler (this is key to successfully trading profiles)
-Axis Names (so that all shared profiles are useful automatically)
-Actuators Names (to prevent the missing output dialog box)
-Optimal COM ports settings for actuators (To gain more outputs /sec)
-Default Speed / Accel (So that actuators calibrate properly even with a heavy user in the seat)
-Force Sender Output timing
-Force Profiler Auto-Start Settings

There are other smaller changes as well that help to facilitate the quick-launch process being fully automatic. I would suggest that you backup your X-Sim registry key (so that you can revert back to your settings if you choose) and give the Commander settings a try. Once I add more profiles to the Commander database, your experience will be much improved if you are using the same settings that I used when developing the profile.

Also, these settings are not set in stone at this point, so you still have an opportunity to influence what these settings will be in the future. At some point, the recommended settings will have to be locked in so the the compatibility goals can be accomplished.

Fair warning, I do not have gauges running at this time so no testing has been done in this area.

Ok! I will try your settings.

But, how do I know the timing settings are ok to my machine?

I like the default spd/accel. That is why I prefer to set each profile spd/accel in the output pag.

Do I need to remove the Cmdr to be able to run the wizard again?
If so, how do I backup my current games/configuration?

Thanks.

Erick

The timing settings are set to be as high as possible (meaning less CPU load) without any loss of effect. If your PC can't run these settings, then IMHO, you need a new PC.

I hope within the next week or so to have the actuator speed/accel able to be assigned to a motion profile by the Commander. If a profile already has a speed/accel in it, then the Commander will read these numbers in and display them / allow for their adjustment.

You make a good point about backing up the Commander database and settings. I will add this as a feature in the future. I should probably also create a quick way to backup and restore X-Sim settings as well to make experimentation simpler.

In the mean time, I will assemble a tutorial on how to manually backup these files and post it sometime this evening.

Bernard,

I managed to fix the autostart issue if using only x-Sim.
It seems to me that this version of x-Sim has some sort of issue when combining the FSD and the RN2.
The only thing I needed to do was to save a new FSD and select to NOT combine with my profile.

Another problem happens inside the Profile. If you try to combine the RN2 with the FSD from there, it says a dialog will open to finish the process, but it never opens!

So, how is Cmdr making these combined files? Maybe the problem is there...

Cheers,

Erick

I wasn't aware of the Force Profiler problem combining FSD and RN2 files. The Commander generates it's own combined RN2 and FSD so probably why I didn't notice.

I completed the backup / restore functionality, so the next time you accept an update to the Commander, you will find the ability to backup and restore both X-Sim and Commander settings on the Miscellaneous tab.