Updated to new version and all instruments on panels are wrong size

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JackZ
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Re: Updated to new version and all instruments on panels are wrong size

#21 Post by JackZ »

Definitely agree with @Corjan here.
AM is not meant for professional programmers and if a new version breaks backward compatibility with instruments, there is a great chance that lots of older instruments will not be upgraded/maintained anymore.

Sometimes it’s unavoidable (see the change of text display method in v3.x ) due to a technical standpoint, but this should be avoided as much as possible
A quick reaction of Corjan here who identified the culprit and fixed it!

Jacques
My YouTube Chanel on the A320 (Real SOPs by an Airline Pilot IRL):
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Keith Baxter
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Re: Updated to new version and all instruments on panels are wrong size

#22 Post by Keith Baxter »

JackZ wrote: Fri Apr 22, 2022 8:16 am Definitely agree with @Corjan here.
AM is not meant for professional programmers and if a new version breaks backward compatibility with instruments, there is a great chance that lots of older instruments will not be upgraded/maintained anymore.

Sometimes it’s unavoidable (see the change of text display method in v3.x ) due to a technical standpoint, but this should be avoided as much as possible
A quick reaction of Corjan here who identified the culprit and fixed it!

Jacques
How are you cousin Jacques? Hope life is treating you well. You have been quite lately and missing on the Discord.

My view is different. Whilst a sudden change without warning brought up some issues. It highlighted that the issues were mainly due to incorrect coding.
We most definitely do not want to throw out instruments because that do not work. It is about moving forward and making sure new instruments making their way to the store are properly coded.
A time will come, like when the EOL of ms-dos came in 2018 i think, probably earlier when ms dos 4 came along way further back.

I stick by my principle that any new instruments and submissions should not be forgiving in handling numbers as integers. As for peeps that create their own instruments or clone instrument, they need to run their instrument via "create/edit" and they will get a error code pointing to a fix. After all they are the ones that coded incorrect in the first place.

AM4.1.2 is another story and I agree that the task to go through 1000 odd community instruments is large. But... the terms and conditions of submitting instruments is that you maintain and keep the instrument up to standard.

A problem comes along when satellite groups develop instruments that used to work that now do not. I say that is up to the satellite group to fix.

As you know, there are many that help and assist others. I cannot see why a campaign to indicate a instrument is not comparable or to get members to update their instruments is defended.

Yes put a note in the instrument that is is compatible for version xyz. And for updates a note should also be there that bla bla bla instruments might not work with this update because of abc

I think my thoughts are clear on this going forward.

However I must say, the way the SI guys handled the issue was superb and shows why it is a top of the tree product.


Keith

EDIT: when petrol is no longer available and electric cars are the in thing. Should we still be mapping carburetors and turbocharges in our ECU's?
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JackZ
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Re: Updated to new version and all instruments on panels are wrong size

#23 Post by JackZ »

Comparing software backward compatibility (whenever possible) and electric cars vs fuel cars sounds strange to me.
In one case the software remains basically the same while merely changing versions, while the cars are completely different technology, make and models right from the start. And comparing MS DOS and Windows is like comparing two different models of cars. AFAIK as long as Air Manager is called Air Manager, it is the same software to me, with added features for every new version.

I for one, as a developer of a lot of AM instruments over the years, really dislike having to modify an existing instrument simply because a newer version has changed things.
Sometimes it’s unavoidable (text() features), but mainly this is is because I am not doing instrument development for a living.

I am not a professional programmer, I am not retired and I mainly do this as a hobby, whenever and if I want to (pretty much like with Discord BTW). And sometimes I release instruments for free on the AM store for others to share, but with no strings attached.
And certainly not having the duty to “maintain” compatibility with newer versions. If ever I feel the need for my own purpose I “might” do that but once again that’s not mandatory.

After all, I Ain’t Microsoft…
If an instrument worked satisfactorily on a said version, I don’t have any responsibility whatsoever to keep it “up to date” if I don’t want/have the time to. For the same reasons, I almost stopped submitting instruments to the store since the rules for submission where more and more stringent. Too much hassle.
Heck, I’m doing that for free, if things are becoming overly complicated, be it, I will continue to develop instruments for myself and too bad for others…

So Sim Innovation approach is wise in that sense, trying to maintain backward compatibility is a must (and I praise Corjan and Ralph to stick with their guns to this), if they don’t want to end up with a bunch of instruments that are no longer working, because people simply don’t want/have the time to keep them up to date. And being too stringent for no real reason (like a change in the Lua syntax) would make no sense, as long as it doesn’t break anything.

For the most part AM customers are not doing critical software with AM nor are emerit Javascript or C++ programmers working on a million dollar project. I like the (relative) forgiveness and ease of LUA language approach for this, when compared to the very stringent approach of HTML 5/JavaScript development requirements enforced when working on aN MSFS gauge for exemple (believe me I tried).

My 10 cents
My YouTube Chanel on the A320 (Real SOPs by an Airline Pilot IRL):
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jph
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Re: Updated to new version and all instruments on panels are wrong size

#24 Post by jph »

Agreed. ' backwards compatibility' is always a good thing unless there is an absolute necessity to change, which there isn't here.
Joe. CISSP, MSc.

bertboerman
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Re: Updated to new version and all instruments on panels are wrong size

#25 Post by bertboerman »

I have the same problem of non-responsive instruments after the last upgrade. Can anyone tell me where I can find the hotfix of Corjan?
I tried reinstalling the app but that didn't help.
Thanks.

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Ralph
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Re: Updated to new version and all instruments on panels are wrong size

#26 Post by Ralph »

You need version 4.1.3, but it sounds to me like you're experiencing an ordinary network issue. Make sure that it says that Air Manager is connected to the simulator, this is just one part though. It can happen that you receive data but cannot send data. This is all due to firewalls, security stuff, routers blocking data, etc.

Sabre
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Re: Updated to new version and all instruments on panels are wrong size

#27 Post by Sabre »

Ralph wrote: Tue Mar 15, 2022 7:03 am Maybe something wrong in your config, corrupt, not allowed to write... You can check the log.txt to see if there's anything mentioned that explains it.
The log.txt can be found in C:/users/your username/Air Manager/

Please don't paste the complete content here :)
I've recently had the same issue with 4.1.4. The gauges and panel size were way too large to fit on the screen. The only way I was able to fix it was to delete and re-create the panel. After reviewing the log I saw no related issues nor any issues of any kind.

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Ralph
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Re: Updated to new version and all instruments on panels are wrong size

#28 Post by Ralph »

I suspect the scaling in Windows.

Sabre
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Re: Updated to new version and all instruments on panels are wrong size

#29 Post by Sabre »

I did have windows scaled to 125%. Changing it back to 100% helped but the panel is still too large.

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jph
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Re: Updated to new version and all instruments on panels are wrong size

#30 Post by jph »

Sabre wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 4:23 pm
Ralph wrote: Tue Mar 15, 2022 7:03 am Maybe something wrong in your config, corrupt, not allowed to write... You can check the log.txt to see if there's anything mentioned that explains it.
The log.txt can be found in C:/users/your username/Air Manager/

Please don't paste the complete content here :)
I've recently had the same issue with 4.1.4. The gauges and panel size were way too large to fit on the screen. The only way I was able to fix it was to delete and re-create the panel. After reviewing the log I saw no related issues nor any issues of any kind.
Have you been experimenting with multiple monitors of different resolutions?
Joe. CISSP, MSc.

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