Milviz

[dodger]

Hi Chaps,

Has anyone bought the Milviz Bell 407 for FSX and if so any thoughts on it,

Reading on the net i see some of the developers for this 407 are from Alphasim in past years and i have always enjoyed Alphasim's models but just thought i would ask on the Forum as this Heli does look good.

Thanks,

Roger.

[WarHorse47]

Yes, I have.

It is a pretty looking helo. Good models, especially with the addon package, good sounds, and good flight dynamics for the most part.

Unfortunately, I get the impression that it is still in beta format without a whole lot of testing before it was released. There have been 3 service packs so far, and a 4th on the way, and it seems they are far off on solving some of the major problems with the product.

Many users (including me) encounter OOM's under certain conditions. I can only enjoy flight during daytime, as anything else gives me corrupted graphics. The latest information I received on that issue is that it may be related to the ati video card. Regardless, I've done some research on the issue and found that with ORBX nighttime graphics I quickly reach the 4 Gb FSX memory limit which generates the OOM error. There is some discussion that it has to do with the interior modeling being the same size as the exterior model. That discussion is beyond my expertise.

There are a few other issues that are either unresolved or seem to get worse with each additional service pack. For example, the VC viewpoint tends to shift downward at the most inappropriate time.

Anyways, I'm still flying it. I enjoy the detail and flight dynamics, but wish I didn't feel like I was part of their experiment.

--WH

[dodger]

Hello WH,

Thanks for a comprehensive reply,

Let's hope that these problems will be sorted out as it does look a great model.

Again, thanks,

Roger.

[Chris Trott]

The problem that MilViz has been having is that they have a very small Beta team that is very good in certain things (and they require a lot of them) but they don't get enough of a spread of systems to see what it does on less-than high end computers. Many of the problems with the OOM's can be solved by using something like FSX Booster or similar program that helps manage the memory better, but these guys I feel have everyone use a specific set of settings and addons to an otherwise vanilla install and because of that, it works fine there, but when you introduce a normal computer that has a bunch of addons, it run into problems.

The same is happening with their 737-200C because we're on SP4 and the SP177 autopilot is still badly broken but the programmer is unable to replicate it on his computer for whatever reason so he's unable to determine why it's doing what it's doing. As I'm not a programmer, I can't make heads or tails of what he's doing, but they've been burned by some of their prior partners and are now afraid to reach out for help and to allow a larger Beta Test group because of that. It's unfortunate because several of the guys working on these projects are quite intelligent and skilled, but there's little problems that keep holding them back.

[dodger]

Hello Chris,

I am suprised at that, as i said in my post that some of these guys worked on Alphasim models,

Well at the moment i have a 2yr old PC that runs FSX not too bad but as i am still with XP i do not have a lot of ram, what i do not understand though is FSX came out in 2006 and must have been designed on XP so what advantage would i get with installing W7, i will admit i do need to upgrade the Graphics card although it serves me ok up to a point.

Thanks for the post,

Roger.

[TSR2]

Hi Roger,

In a word RAM. That assumes that you would go to Windows 7 64 bit, and it also assumes that your hardware (processor / motherboard combination) can run x64 Operating systems. If it can, and the motherboard can support more than 4 GB, then you can easily take it to 6 or 8 GB which should make a difference, but to be honest, the money you'd spend on bits you could probably buy a better off the shelf PC. As you may have heard there has been a vulnerability in IE discovered this week which wont be patched on XP. Its a fairly easy one to avoid, in that you would have to click on a dodgy web link or run a dodgy program on your PC for it to take effect, but this will be the start of many. If your going to stay on XP, you should really consider not connecting that PC to the internet anymore.

[dodger]

Hi Ben,

Thanks for the info, it does look like i will be looking for a new PC as you say upgrading would probably cost more in the end,

I have used AVG for many years and that program has been great for protecting me when surfing the net, i also use Firefox which has also been ok,

I like to think that if i was into Golf or Fishing nowadays it would be a lot more expensive than buying a new PC,

That's what i tell myself

Cheers,

Roger

[WarHorse47]

Hi all.

Thank you Chris for the additional background. I agree that their processes do affect their final products.

Regardless, I still like their work and shall remain loyal. I have many of their products, but the Bell 407 and their prior Mi-24 are the only two that have given me problems. I only hope that we will not encounter similar problems with their upcoming F-4 Phantom II.

--WH

[Chris Trott]

Hello Chris,

I am suprised at that, as i said in my post that some of these guys worked on Alphasim models,

Well at the moment i have a 2yr old PC that runs FSX not too bad but as i am still with XP i do not have a lot of ram, what i do not understand though is FSX came out in 2006 and must have been designed on XP so what advantage would i get with installing W7, i will admit i do need to upgrade the Graphics card although it serves me ok up to a point.

Thanks for the post,

Roger.

The age of the computer isn't a negative. It's just that they're running certain clock functions that I think aren't working properly on machines that can't run FSX at a solid 60 FPS. That is what's causing the problems. It's also not the modelling causing it, it's the textures and the gauges inside. I'm running a computer that is more than capable of running FSX, but without FSX Booster, I can't run FSX because I constantly run out of memory. Windows 7 and/or a 64-bit OS/Microprocessor have nothing to do with the memory problem. FSX is a 32-bit only program, so no matter what you do, it will never use more than 3GB of RAM and tell you it's "out of memory" when that occurs.

The problem with the 407 and 737 is that they're using cutting edge graphics implementations that puts a larger RAM load on FSX than others because they're doing things outside the system. There's been several tests and the use of extremely high res textures has resulted in the 737-200 having a 25% higher footprint on FSX than the PMDG NGX, which is a lot considering the NGX is one of the highest otherwise on footprint. Add in a high-end addon airport, and you hit OOM unless you're using a memory control software that is actively scrubbing the memory use that FSX doesn't do.

I too am trying to be loyal to MilViz and I love the 737 to death because when using the SP77 or flying by hand, it's a GREAT airplane and it flies by the book. But it's troublesome when someone like me (who rarely has problems with addons and knows how to troubleshoot and follow directions and ops manuals) can't figure out what's going on and they can't reproduce the issue so it can't get fixed.
.

[dodger]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for that explanation, i have been all wrong about this and at least you have cleared it up ,

Cheers,

Roger.