New User. Bought New laptop and installed RF Evolution and does not work

jlwardn

New member
I just bought my first plane and decided to buy the RF Evolution. My old computer was so old it is a windows 7 machine so I decided to buy a brand new computer with high end specs. I bought and downloaded the RF Evolution software. Put in the dongle and binded it to controller. Started the software and for one quick second I see a menu/tool bar flash on the top of the screen. Screen only shows a jet on a runway waiting for me to fly. Software does nothing. I see no menu and can't do anything.
I found a few reviews for the software that basically say the same thing happened to them. I feel like I just spent $1200 for a computer and $150 for software and dongle and not nothing......
 
I just bought my first plane and decided to buy the RF Evolution. My old computer was so old it is a windows 7 machine so I decided to buy a brand new computer with high end specs. I bought and downloaded the RF Evolution software. Put in the dongle and binded it to controller. Started the software and for one quick second I see a menu/tool bar flash on the top of the screen. Screen only shows a jet on a runway waiting for me to fly. Software does nothing. I see no menu and can't do anything.
I found a few reviews for the software that basically say the same thing happened to them. I feel like I just spent $1200 for a computer and $150 for software and dongle and not nothing......
What is the exact model of your processor, graphics card, and OS. This is a common problem for some systems and there are fixes for it. I'll let someone else give you the details because I don't follow it that close. But I wanted you to know you can most likely get it running just fine.

Hey @asj5547 and @flightengr can one or both of you guys help him.
 
Follow these instructions to get the DXVK Beta

How to Get the Beta Build

  1. Restart your Steam client to ensure it is aware of the new versions.
    1. Right-click the Steam icon in your system tray and select Exit.
    2. Once everything closes, run Steam again.
  2. Right-click on RealFlight Evolution/RealFlight 9.5S in your Steam library, then select Properties...
  3. In the Properties window, select Betas on the left.
  4. Click the "Select the beta you would like to opt into" dropdown control to expand the list.
  5. Select "dxvk-intel-fix".
  6. Close the Properties dialog.
  7. Steam will now download the new version (which will be a very small download).
 
I just bought my first plane and decided to buy the RF Evolution. My old computer was so old it is a windows 7 machine so I decided to buy a brand new computer with high end specs. I bought and downloaded the RF Evolution software. Put in the dongle and binded it to controller. Started the software and for one quick second I see a menu/tool bar flash on the top of the screen. Screen only shows a jet on a runway waiting for me to fly. Software does nothing. I see no menu and can't do anything.
I found a few reviews for the software that basically say the same thing happened to them. I feel like I just spent $1200 for a computer and $150 for software and dongle and not nothing......
To get a bit more specific, it's all related to how your computer is equipped to display graphics. The main problems:
1. You have an Intel CPU using that chips built in graphics capability. Some laptops have a second graphics card, but it has to be enabled to work rather than default to the Intel.
2. You have the Intel CPU, but no second card. There is a "beta" fix posted elsewhere in these forums that likely will help.
3. Your laptop is using an AMD graphics card. There are threads about new drivers to fix that, also.

Once we know the CPU and specific Graphics system(s), you can get better directions on what to do. Applying the "wrong" solution before knowing what you have will not hurt, but won't fix anything either.
 
The main problems:

I know the main problem. It's just obsoleted software in Real Flight.
I have thesame problem with my brand new laptop. Direct X 9 (a more than ten year old version of Direct X) is no longer suported by Intel.
Direct X 12 was launched in 2014

When i installed Real Flight on a ten years old laptop it works fine (given a ten years old laptop)
Its a bloody shame that this is not yet solved.
 
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The main problems:

I know the main problem. It's just obsoleted software in Real Flight.
I have thesame problem with my brand new laptop. Direct X 9 (a more than ten year old version of Direct X) is no longer suported by Intel.
Direct X 12 was launched in 2014

When i installed Real Flight on a ten years old laptop it works fine (given a ten years old laptop)
Its a bloody shame that this is not yet solved.
There are many reasons to upgrade the API in the software, but there are other reasons to keep it the same. As it turns out, a good majority of RF users do not have new computers, and use PC's that are 10 years old or more with RF. I know people like this who use Realflight. If it was Upgrade the PC or not fly the latest version of RF then they wouldn't be flying in RF. RF is a tool for these people.

Another reason for not upgrading is the game engine RF runs on requires DirectX9 and doesn't work on newer versions of DirectX. This has been discussed years ago and the upgrade would require almost a complete rewrite of the software, and it could jeopardize compatibility with Swap file content, and custom models which is one of the things that makes RF the best RC simulator. Work has been started to eventually move to a newer version of DirectX but writing new software to work like the old software and be compatible with what came before it takes time, and the Development Team for RF isn't very large. Last I remember it was a Handful of people that develop RF.

Also New computers can run RF Evolution with no problem. I run a Ryzen 7950X3D CPU, and Nvidia 3080ti GPU and it works just fine right out of the box even at 4k.
 
And, to echo another thread on this topic - they DID update the software several years ago. Called it Real Flight X (one reason for "Evolution", to not cause confusion). But the masses with "not good enough" computers howled loudly, and the rewrite was so huge they released it without some of the long expected functions working, planning to re-introduce them later. But the user rejection was so strong, it just faded away.....a relatively few power users loved it, but the main market, not very much. Apparently so strongly rejected that Horizon didn't want the rights to that version when they bought RF from Knife Edge. Darned if you do, darned if you don't.
 
The developers who wrote Realflight X dropped the ball, not the masses with "not good enough" computers. A much better product wouldn’t have failed. Freax, later called Linux, didn’t fail. It inspired people to freely devote their time to improve it, then give it away, because they weren't happy with the OS’s available at the time. Theirs a big difference in developers who do it for the love of it and those who do it for a paycheck. Case in Point...

People with a vision and determination can move mountains. Steve Wozinack built a little single board computer and software for it for his own enjoyment that ended up being called the Apple 1. His buddy Steve Jobs got it put into shops in the area and they sold enough to fiance Woz designing the Apple ][, and look at where Apple is now. Woz single handedly designed those computers, and their software not some team. Unlike Jobs, Woz didn’t do it for the money and spent most if his millions to help and entertain others when he did profit.

There are millions of failures of development for each home run. That's not the consumers fault, so isn’t it time we stop placing blame where its not due?

I’m not saying blame the developers, just don’t give them a bad excuse to do it again.

Mike
 
The developers who wrote Realflight X dropped the ball, not the masses with "not good enough" computers. A much better product wouldn’t have failed. Freax, later called Linux, didn’t fail. It inspired people to freely devote their time to improve it, then give it away, because they weren't happy with the OS’s available at the time. Theirs a big difference in developers who do it for the love of it and those who do it for a paycheck. Case in Point...

People with a vision and determination can move mountains. Steve Wozinack built a little single board computer and software for it for his own enjoyment that ended up being called the Apple 1. His buddy Steve Jobs got it put into shops in the area and they sold enough to fiance Woz designing the Apple ][, and look at where Apple is now. Woz single handedly designed those computers, and their software not some team. Unlike Jobs, Woz didn’t do it for the money and spent most if his millions to help and entertain others when he did profit.

There are millions of failures of development for each home run. That's not the consumers fault, so isn’t it time we stop placing blame where its not due?

I’m not saying blame the developers, just don’t give them a bad excuse to do it again.

Mike
Extremely well put.
-SteveG
 
IMHO, RF-X failed at least partly because it was released before its time. I bought the s/w only version - if I recall correctly it required a 2G DX12 video card. I was running a Xeon 3.6GHz, 16G, GT430 2G DX12 GPU. My video card was earlier than the recommended video card, but DID meet the DX12/2G spec, and ran the unreal graphics engine demo sort-of OK - looked VERY pretty, but not great fps, so I decided to try it anyway. RF-X gave me 2fps at max graphics, 6fps at minimum graphics settings. MUCH wores FPS than the unreal demo. TOTALLY unflyable. I was unwilling to spend $500-800 for a new graphics card JUST for RF. None of my other software required a ridiculously expensive graphics card. Tower let me unregister & return RF-X and replace it with RF8 even though their policy was no returns on opened software, so I spent a few extra bucks to get the InterLink-X controller with it. I'm still running RF8, and don't see any real reason to upgrade to RF9 or Evo - at least not yet.
 
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