Blue skies make FS2002 insipid what about CFS3 ?? pic

[Guest]

I asked this question before to those in the know and was told that we would have to wait for FS2004 to get the blue sky colour changed.I was messing around and changed the standard blue to the blue in this pic to make the sky more vibrant more realistic.The change is quite dramatic and that got me wondering whether we couldnt take the sky from CFS3 and place it into FS2002? until we get FS2004.I remeber Larry placed a big chunk of FS2000 into CFS2, can that happen with CFS3?

[Chris Willis 8]

H Peter, You can't change change the sky color in fs2k2, it is in the hard code of Ms, you can't change anything major in the weather system it is in the hard code of Ms, only visual...sky color change was available in fs98, but fs2k and fs2k2 it's completly differents, The sky colors is indeed a major improvement in cfs3 and improve the clouds looking indeed , I don't understand why they have not changing this in fs2k2 , it is easy for them, cfs3 in alpha blow up the fs2k2 sky color this, it take couple of hour for them, they simply almost never improved the weather in fs2k2 only minor things. Just hope the sky will not too dark also.A realistic sky colors should be dynamics not static, I never see this in any sim, Just hope they will able to do it for Fs2004, Basic thing will be bored after a while, this is why A REALISTIC weather engine is important to take time to do, All cloud type, dynamic sky color, not repetitive clouds still, never see this in any sim....ThanksChris Willis[link:fsw.simflight.com/FSWMenuFsSim.html]Clouds And Addons For MsFshttp://fsw.simflight.com/fsw.jpg

[Guest]

Yes, for me it's definately clouds.For some reason I can spot repeating bitmaps fairly quickly and that spoils it for me!There will have to be a time when this aspect of any sim is taken seriously enough to have a graduated blue for sky and distant weather fronts included. Currently the sim displays the weather for the immediate area of the aircraft. The other problem is that the reporting stations for weather don't really describe clouds too well.I know it's a tall order especially when maybe a majority of simmers may want resources devoted to ATC and that Sids/Star stuff! and ILS capture and so on.What does the head of the developement team do? Where should that person allocate resources? Who will raise the banner for the sky crowd?Then again, if I got what I wanted, I'd never be off the sim ! :-(

[Guest]

ChrisYou and I have the same views on what we want to see from FS2004.IL2 has the best blue not just because of the colour but also because the sky is more atmospheric, fluid and vibrant.I find the daytime FS2002 sky is very flat and dead as well as not being typical.I take your point about changing skies :-) maybe a mini patch from MS would make all the difference to the sim for as you said " a tiny bit of work on the hard coding.What a shame they had to get this part so badly wroung.Nevertheless I am sure Larry will be dumping FS2002 into CFS3 as he did with FS2000 and CFS2......Thats my other question! will it go?Peter

[Guest]

IhorBut that is crazy making the sky and weather an after thought. Aeroplanes fly in the Sky full stop. If we want a realistic flying experience then we have to have both the flight engine and the sky invironment really well modelled otherwise its a scenery viewer.The biggest challenge to flight is weather disregarding the beauty of mother nature and we need that real world challenge and excitement in the sim.MS appear to be trying with CFS3 lets hope that now with Fly! on the back burner, FU gone, PP gone and no competition there is enough motivation for ground breaking advancements.There again the MSFS Giant could go back into a long slumber as it did before :-) but Im quitely hopeful :-)Peter

[Guest]

Peter and ChrisThe Sky colour and the weather in general is my biggest disapointment in fs2002, along with the problems with the sound engine.Would be great to have the sky colour deepen as you climb, would create much more interest and variety and the increase in contrast would make the clouds look a lot better.I,m wondering if the clouds can be forced to remain 3d instead of turning into 2d at a fixed distance?, this would give a much better impression of scale and flight level.CheersJohn

[Guest]

Sorry off topic: What aircraft is that in the screen shot and where do I get it? Thanks

[Guest DaveKDEN]

Hey Peter,>Nevertheless I am sure Larry will be dumping FS2002 into CFS3 as he did with FS2000 and CFS2......Thats my other question! will it go?I don't think this option will work with FS2002/CFS-3 as it did with FS2000/CFS-2. Based on everything I've read to date, the scenery engine in CFS-3 is entirely new. As such, I have serious doubts about compatability with scenery from older versions.We can only hope, though I know I'll probably try (depending on how good CFS-3 is).Dave

[John_Cillis 2,406]

What's interesting about the sky issue is that the sky in 2k2 is dynamic, in the sense that you can pan around at twilight and watch as the sky changes hue. I have to believe that, although hard coded, the sim is manipulating some RGB mask value in RAM to determine the sky color at a given instant and compass direction. Now imagine a utility programmed via the FSUIPC interface, that could read the aircraft's altitude and darken the sky accordingly.... It would be nice indeed... In theory, if we knew how to find the RAM address where sky color info is stored and manipulated, it would take only a few moments to build the required code...Can only wish :)-John

[John_Cillis 2,406]

"Based on everything I've read to date, the scenery engine in CFS-3 is entirely new"Doesn't look it though from the screenshots.... Could be optimized from 2k2, but I suspect the word "new" floated about with some of the CFS-3 press is akin to using the phrase "New >pre-owned:)

[Guest]

>Sorry off topic: What aircraft is that in the screen shot >and where do I get it? >>Thanks I cant tell you what the aircraft in the foreground is in this forum without being shot at dawn :-)Suggest you look in the Commercial Vendors preview forum for your answer ;-)Peter

[B777ER 2,484]

It seems that one of everyones biggest gripe (including mine) is the sky/weather in FS2002. MS does need to improve this very much because this is where we spend our time...in the sky. More realistic and better clouds and sky color. People say MS watches these forums and I have to assume that AVSIM definetly gets watched so lets just hope MS has taken notice and will improve it for us.

[JimmiG 244]

"A realistic sky colors should be dynamics not static, I never see this in any sim, "*cough* FlightUnlimitedIIIDidThatYearsAgo *cough**cough* ItAlsoHadDynamicWeather *cough*What?er...Yes..Of course :)

[Guest]

Very Nice!I had an opportunity to purchase one of these a few years ago but, 1) it needed a new interior, and 2) I wasn't willing to sell my home and live in a box.:)Now if I could just get one of you talented folks to do a Swift, I

[Guest]

Rob,The Swift is a lovely plane. I remember a few years ago someone was going to start making new swifts with updated avionics can you remmeber what happened?Peter