Automatic disconnect question/idea

[Jeff Thomas]

I noticed this morning because it hasn't happened in a long while, but I no longer received a warning about being under the 20 fps rule, and was just kicked off the network.

Since my fps hovers around 18-35 depending, when I get booted, I just simply reconnect (this morning I did it 2 times on approach).  My question is, is this actually better for the controller to have me constantly flashing on and off, or just deal with the undetectable slow down?

The user experience really sucks for both of us at that point.

Also, is there a way we can build into xPilot to detect if there is a controller covering that airspace and turn off the auto disconnects? 

Since I know my fps is suspect in the eyes of VATSIM, and I don't do those huge conga line events, I tend to fly to out of the way places.  Seems silly to just boot me off the network when there isn't another aircraft or controller within 500miles.  

Just some ideas.

Thanks for all you do,

 

[Robert Shearman Jr]

Serious question, looking for some insight on your thought process:

If there's no controller and no other aircraft anywhere around you, why worry about whether or not you're connected? 

[Tobias Dammers]

XPlane is somewhat unique in how it handles low frame rates: when you drop below 20 fps, it will slow down the simulation rate. This means that when, for example, you're getting 18 fps, in-sim time runs 10% slower than real-world time, and this in turn means that all the time-related data your simulator produces (including velocities, airspeed, ground track speed, vertical speed, ETAs, etc.) will be 10% off, and your position will drift from your expected position at a rate of 10% your ground track speed. The experience is going to be terrible one way or another.

Say the controller asks you to fly airspeed 200 knots, and you obey; your simulator says 200 knots, your autopilot is set to 200 knots, and your simulated aerodynamics will match the 200 KIAS regimen; but the controller will see you moving at 180 knots, and if they expect you to reach a target 20 miles away in 6 minutes, you will be 2 miles short still by that time. 10% is enough to make it a terrible experience, even though it's "only" 2 fps below the limit.

Just reconnecting immediately does not make the situation any better - you're essentially bypassing (badly) the mechanism that was designed to protect everyone else from the incorrect simulation data coming from your simulator. Yes, the user experience sucks for the both of you, but the culprit isn't the "kick slow XPlane clients" mechanism, it's the fact that XPlane messes up the timing when the frame rate drops below 20 fps. The kicking mechanism is there so that the badness of the experience is limited, especially for the other people on the network who didn't ask for it and who can't do anything about it.

You're being kicked off the network for a reason; address that reason - use a simulator that doesn't have broken timing (AFAIK, all the others (FSX, P3D, FlightGear) do it correctly down to about 1 fps or so), scale down your settings so that you can get higher fps consistently, or buy better hardware.

[Nestor Perez]

The disconnect is there to make you aware of a problem, and force you to find a solution. Constantly reconnecting is not a solution to the problem, and if everyone was to do this, we did say we would see ourselves forced to look at implementing a cooldown period after being disconnected. PLEASE, lets try not to have to reach this extreme and solve the issues instead of bypassing them 😝