Clouds Crashing VATSIM

[Zoe Aron]

Hello!

I've found that, because my computer is not extremely powerful, struggles with loading large clouds in X-Plane 11. But, whenever I log into VATSIM, it automatically turns on clouds to the point where it automatically disconnects me nearly every time because of the clouds.

Is there a way to get around this, or am I stuck to never use VATSIM again?

[Robert Shearman Jr]

If you want assistance, it probably helps if you tell us what simulator and pilot client you're using.

[Zoe Aron]

@Robert Shearman JrOh, sorry, I forgot to add it! I use X-Plane 11 and xSquawkbox as my pilot client.

[Robert Shearman Jr]

Is the pilot client "crashing" like you said in your subject line, or are you being disconnected intentionally due to low framerates?  "Crashing" means the program stops running abnormally.  On the other hand,, when the client detects low framerates, disconnecting you is what the program is SUPPOSED to do.

I'm not sure I believe that the pilot client is responsible for loading in clouds.  I don't think xSquawkBox loads in weather information at all.  Do you have X-Plane set to Live Weather?  What happens if you connect to VATSIM at an airport where the METAR report shows 10SM or 9999m visibility and CLR sky conditions?  Does it still load in clouds when you connect to the network?  What happens if you set X-Plane to Clear Skies and then connect?

At the end of the day, if your PC is not very powerful, running X-Plane on VATSIM just might be out of reach.  It might seem unfair but the problem is that in a case like this, it's not just that your framerate gets low.  The simulation actually slows down -- and that's not fair to the other planes in the same airspace who the controllers are trying to keep in traffic flow behind you.

If you aren't able to upgrade your CPU and/or GPU then you might try grabbing a copy of FSX, which you can do for relatively little money, and fly that on VATSIM instead.  It may not look quite as nice as X-Plane but your PC won't struggle to run it and you can enjoy flying with controllers and other pilots.

Best of luck.

[Alistair Thomson]

As Rob has said, it will be your machine setup. I'd look first at your graphics card. It's likely from my experiences that most system crashes are due to graphics issues. If the graphics card can take the heavy load the rest of the system can concentrate on the flight!

You haven't said anything about your machine spec. It may be that the optimal graphics card won't be compatible with your motherboard, so as Rob says your options are to upgrade the hardware or downgrade the software. You may be able to tweak the weather display settings to reduce the graphics load, but I don't know X-plane at all so that may be bunkum.