Gentleman,I have purchased AS2004 and have the latest version of FSUIPC.I have read the manual cover to cover and have set all options in AS2004 according to recommendations. I have followed all startup recommendations including clearing of weather and setting up route flight plans.I have imported flight plans in the correct procedure described and have selected route wind smoothing in the AS2004 options menu.I am not getting cloud transitions either while on the ground or airborne. I get instant clear skies or instant cloud layers during online weather updates. I am not getting any kind of wind smoothing at all, in fact the wind shear is now WORSE with AS2004 than it was with FS9 default winds aloft. I am also experiencing stutters during online weather updates. I have Chris Willis' cloud sets (32 bit), render to texture off, cloud 3d percentage to 100 percent with 100 percent cloud coverage. Draw and sight distance according to Chris's recommendations.My system: Athlon XP 2400+ CPU 512 megs RAM 7200 RPM ATA 100 HD with 8 megs cache Geforce 4 Ti4200 video card with 64 megs memory Windows XP Home edition, service pack 1I am VERY disappointed with AS2004 so far as I have followed the instructions to a tee. I don't know what to think, I had such high expectations of this program from reading all the pre-release information here.

James, I was curious about the new version also, but I too got the same conditions that you got on a flight today from KMIA to KBOS. I got the worst stutters since I have had FS9 and frames that went right into the ditch. The wind shift problem was really severe over North Carolina today where the jet stream was really high and making a big turn. The winds were 125 knots and going from the SW toward the NE. These shifting conditions really played havoc with my PMDG 737NG V2, which can really handle rapid wind shifts. Many of my passengers had to use their "barf" bags today (grin).I did not expect this either.Bob

Hi James,Sorry you are experiencing trouble...No cloud transitions. Let me explain how this works in more detail. With station based weather, the way we handle transitions is by writing the weather only in the distance (the areas beyond the Local Suppression Range). If you see clouds move during updates, it is because either a) You are flying in global FS9 weather only, with no reporting stations in the area (which means the weather has to update at some point, unfortunately it is your current area weather as well, or :( You haven't configured the local suppression range to be high enough. If you don't want any updates to occur at all (which might be the case in areas of few reporting points) you should disable "Global Writes".Wind shear worse than with FS9 default? I don't think that's possible, but you may have experienced extreme strain in the actual aloft data. You can always enable Extended Destination Wind Force and this will force the winds to be smooth. It may be preferable when the real life data shows high winds and shearing layers. I have yet to hear such a negative report, and really think something is perhaps wrong either with an isolated issue perhaps related to your area/current data, or like I said extreme strain in the winds aloft. What area were you flying in, and at what time? I'd like to replicate the flight. Thanks, please keep me informed and let me know if the above information helps you.-Damian

Concerning stutters during online updates... Are you referring to the pause that occurs when FS updates weather? This is documented and happens even with FS default. As explained in the manual, the Update Suppression Ceiling feature can help keep the updates ABOVE a certain altitude when you are airborne. Does this help?Damian ClarkHiFi Simulation SoftwareDeveloper of ActiveSkyhttp://www.hifisim.comhttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004betateam.jpg

Hi Damian,I'm sorry if I had such a negative report but it's difficult to experience every single issue on my first flight that I bought AS2004 specifically to address :) I do appreciate your very timely response and support!First, I will list my current AS2004 settings and the time and route of my flight: AS2004 Option Items checked and their respective settings: Online Updates Start Paused Voice ATIS Flightwatch Disable Text Messages TAF Processing Use System Time Automatic time zone detection Overcast Enhancement Fog Layer Generation Wake Turbulence Simulation Route-Based Wind Smoothing Visiblity Smoothing Use Update Supression Use Local Range Supression Global Area Writes Supression Ceiling = 10000 Supression Renge = 50 Update Interval Mins = 9 Time Conversion Value (automatic) = -6My date/time and route of flight: 22:30 local/16:30 zulu, Dec 19, 2003 (zulu) KBNA MEM MATIE TXK DFW KDFWAlthough local KBNA (Nashville, TN, USA) weather called for overcast conditions, AS2004 seemed to draw only partial overcast (broken) conditions.I experienced hard windshear at approximately 15,000 ft on climbout about 2 minutes into the flight. At about 5 minutes into flight, local KBNA partial overcast disappeared and changed to clear skies instantly and at the same time, climbing through about FL230, I experienced another very severe wind shear in which I lost control of the aircraft. Regarding stutters: I have never experienced weather updating stutters with the default FS9 Online Weather. FSMeteo causes severe stutters on update and always has. AS1.9 WX RE seemed to have the best overall performance and reliability.Damian, thanks for your help and support.

With respect to the PMDG product: I have it and I have to say I have had the worst framerates of any addon plane so far with it. It now has surpassed PIC A320 as being THE worst plane for framerates (although it's a nice plane). And yes I have SU2.I have been flying with PSS A330-340 and AS2004: MUCH better frames and I am supremely pleased because of the FMS-FS flight plan importation feature with PSS' Airbusses.P4, 2.8 ghz 533 FSB, 1 gig ddr ram, Radeon 9700 TX 128 mb video.

James,did you use the route planning feature of AS2004?This is used in conjunction with selecting route smoothing in the options menu.You would enter KBNA as your dep airport.Enter KDFW as your Dest airport.Enter a flight level and a TAS.Or you can enter a flight plan in .pln format.On the last test flight I flew before release, I flew the PMDG 737 on a 3.5 hour flight from EGPF to EFRO with minimal wind issues.

Hi Mark,On the aforementioned flight I imported the flightplan into AS2004 as described in the instruction manual, this plan included DEP/DEST and all valid waypoints. I also entered my crusing altitude and TAS, yes.

My passengers,(the suvivors at least) chased me into the terminal and beat me senseless.

Hi James,Strange. I will try out your route later on and get back to you on what I find.

LOL! Damn holiday-stressed travelers!Double check that FSUIPC is actually version 3.135 - I had *something* overwrite my registered version with version 3.04 recently. AS2004 requires at least 3.129, but you'll be happier with 3.135 - attach your flight plan to a message here, as well as the time of your weather download and I'll give it a go tonight as well. We'll get this sorted out - stick with it. You problem seems like a configuration problem that will get resolved. Did you compress your modules (of complete FS9) folder? You did install straight into the FS9 root folder? Does the ActiveRadar seem to work? Did you try downloading new weather? Did you use FSUIPC "Clear all weather" before loading AS2004? Do you have "dynamic weather change rate" set to none (or have FSUIPC "Clear weather stops dynamics" enabled)?Good luck!sg

To me this sounds like AS2004 did not fully update the weather to start with...You have "start paused" checked? Did you "clear all weather" via FSUIPC, then ALT-tab to AS2004 and click Refresh? Do you have "Pause while task switched" enabled in FS9? If the sim is paused upon switching, the update may not occur properly. for me, an incomplete weather update is first noticed because the barometric pressure is not correctly reported. Was the pressure in accordance with AS2004 prior to departure? That's just my experience.The stutters are another issue. I have had no stutters due to AS2004 unless in a situation where there are an enormous number of cloud layers. Do you have render to texture on or off? AS2004 works much better with RtT off...

I tried a test flight last night from KCID (my hometown) to KMSP with the PMDG 737 since it is a short trip. Did this same flight Wednesday night to test SU2. Followed the install instructions step-by-step. Installed FSUIPC 3.135, deleted the FSUIPC.INI and FSUIPC.LOG. Went into FS2004 and cleared all weather. Then refreshed AS2004. Didn't get the latest weather right away, mainly because I had not RTFM yet. Imported a PLN generated with FSNav 4.6 from KCID to KMSP. AS2004 then downloaded and applied the latest correct weather.Took off and did not hit that first winds aloft "wall" where the aircraft (any aircraft) would get bounced around violently in either wxRE 1.92 or FS2004 default weather. Wind speeds increased gradually with altitude, no huge jumps or shifts that play hell with the autopilot. Very smooth flight compared to the previous night using wxRE 1.92. Clouds did not disappear and reappear while cruising between stations. I did have a couple of quick incidents during decent where things appeared to disappear and reappear quickly but I'm not sure if I was seeing the old wxRE problem or because I was descending through a cloud bank. I also noticed that although I had a 10000ft limit on updates (default), I kept getting shifted around by some pretty drastic changes in the final 9000 feet of the descent, mainly with baro but also with wind shifts.Overall, a vast improvement over FS2004 default weather and wxRE.

Keep in mind that if you use FSUIPC to smooth visibility, pressure, or wind, it will continue to do what it does below your configured altitude as it is a separate entity. I've gotten the best results turning all smoothing options off in FSUIPC, except for visibility which seems to cooperate with AS2004s.

Thanks for the tip. I'll make sure that FSUIPC is cleared of all smoothing. Figured it would be by default.Keith