Hello Gentleman,I realize that it is impossible to release bug-free software without a period of trial, error and patching. This is the nature of the beast inasmuch as programming goes. After using Activesky 2004 for about 3 weeks now, I am not personally getting smooth winds transitions aloft. Reading through the threads here, I see that I am not alone in experiencing this rather irritating issue. I have tried every suggested workaround and fix available, including the latest Alpha 2 patch. I have tried every setting option imaginable. I always check wind smoothing and import a valid flight plan before my flights. I have read through the supplied documentation thoroughly. I have read through the threads here and have tried every concievable configuration.Regardless of my ongoing efforts, I encounter abrupt wind changes that crash my airplane on nearly every Activesky 2004 flight I make. I see several other people here in this forum reporting the same experiences. HiFi sim staff seem to be getting quiet about this issue now, after admitting that there is a bug and that the entire winds aloft engine will have to be rewritten. Yet some Activesky staff testers continue to report that they never have a winds transitions issue and cannot replicate what myself and other folks are experiencing??? I'm afraid this doesn't make sense to me, especially after reading through the threads here.My question to HiFi sim: do you guys aknowledge that there is a serious winds transitions issue with Activesky 2004 and that you intend to fix it? The reason I pose this question is that HiFi sim seems to alternately aknowledge this issue as a bug but other times state that they cannot replicate the problem and that their test flights are always smooth. Something just isn't meshing and I would just like HiFi to clarify their position on this subject once and for all. Thank you very much.

Darren,Well as a former user of AS1.91 that is currently a user of FS METEO 6.4 I appreciate your question to the programmers here. See I have had this Wind Aloft Transition problem with all the add-on Wx programs I have had. So I am considering buying AS2004, with the hope it does a better job with this, but it appears it does not, at least at this point.So I will wait here patiently with you, money in hand to see just what the programmers plan to do about this..........LOL because the last thing I need is yet another Wx program that doesn't render aloft winds properly.Cheers and thanksGreg GemelliAAVirtual

"Work continues on MR1, and we have had a major breakthrough in the winds smoothing department which should really improve things. Much more development needs to be done (the entire winds aloft engine must be re-written), and there are another ~10 items including some minor fixes and some new enhancements and options. Official MR1 release is now expected February."---- quote from DamianNow, if ANYONE wants to come to Michigan, you can sit and fly on my computer for as long as you would like and you will NEVER, EVER, NEVER, EVER experience severe wind shifts. But please bring your own food! I fly in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. I use Alpha1 and FSUIPC1.4 freeware. I fly default planes and freeware planes. I have flown some of the same routes users have posted here and I have NEVER seen 'em. Now this editorial is not meant to put down those users who have experienced these conditions. I know you are not making them up. All I am saying is that I HAVE NEVER SEEN ONE. So what do you want me to say: that I have seen one when I haven't? I also NEVER have a CTD because of the seasons, the terraine, lakes, rivers, UFOs, or anything else that has been suggested. Lastly, we do know that severe wind shifts are a part of FS04. We are doing our best to work around something that is build into the base program.(that being FS04)JimActiveSky Support

Hi,"My question to HiFi sim: do you guys aknowledge that there is a serious winds transitions issue with Activesky 2004 and that you intend to fix it?"Absolutely not... we can only acknowledge that there is a serious wind transtion issue in FS9 (very documented, it incorrectly smooths wind transitions the opposite direction when the ascending layer goes counterclockwise vs clockwise, MS programmers have a -/+ sign error in the code, and this also causes the entire real-time wind "variable" to go invalid, resulting in instantanious 100-180 degree shifts). We are doing everything we can to try and work around this issue even more than we already do. For example, in MR1 we have almost completed the new option "Counter-Clockwise Wind Fix Attempt", which will force clockwise ascending layers only based on your flight plan's altitude (keeping winds aloft accurate for your cruise alt but obviously not accurate at any other altitude). We also have improved the extended destintation winds force option."The reason I pose this question is that HiFi sim seems to alternately aknowledge this issue as a bug but other times state that they cannot replicate the problem and that their test flights are always smooth. Something just isn't meshing and I would just like HiFi to clarify their position on this subject once and for all."There was a bug in 1.0 (not alpha) which would incorrectly interpolate information when a flight plan was loaded with route based wind smoothing enabled, which could result in greater than normal wind shifts. This was fixed in alpha 2. As you are confused on this issue and with the variances in user reports, so are we... The main thing here is that due to the FS9 bug and the nature of winds aloft, some days/areas are better than others. In closing, no, AS2004 alpha 2 doesn't have any known bugs with wind transitions, and we can confirm that there is a vast improvement over FS9 default for a majority of users, so things are looking good here as far as AS2004 is concerned.Work continues.. every day we learn more about this FS9 bug and come up with more ideas to work around it.. I personally have spent over 300 hours on troubleshooting/identifying the FS9 bug alone (not to mention the time spent on AS2004 wind engine coding based on findings)... Pete Dowson has probably spent an equal amount of time. I think MR1 will be another vast improvement but of course it won't solve all wind transitions for everyone.. but work won't stop after MR1..Hope that helps!Damian ClarkHiFi Simulation SoftwareDeveloper of ActiveSkyhttp://www.hifisim.comhttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004betateam.jpg

Thanks for that update Damian!This may be a dumb question(s), but if it is a matter of a -/+ sign error in MS's code why don't they issue a patch? I have searched the forums and MS's knowledge base, but they do not even mention this problem. Has anyone had any feedback from MS on this issue? Do they even acknowledge it is a bug?

I'm quoting this from someone else but I believe that this will be MS's answer:FS2006 will be the patch for FS2004

Hey, that's always my line!JimActiveSky Support

You say it a lot better then I do Jim, Sorry for not giving you proper credit. I had to borrow it, I love that line. :-bluegrab

DarrenDamian and Jim are correct when they say that the winds aloft issue is greatly improved since the beginning of the AS2004 beta phase or compared to wxRE 1.92.There is a bug within FS9, wind direction changes also occur with FS9 default weather. While station changes enroute still cause considerable airspeed fluctuations, they are most of the time no longer severe enough to cause an airframe overstress and crash with most airplanes (Tested with default Beech craft King Air 350, default Bombardier Lear 45, default Boeing 737, 747 and 777 and PMDG 737NG). At the beginning of the AS2004 Beta Test I had quite a few in flight breakups, the Lear went through the barrier of sound a number of times, only to drop to below stall speed a few seconds later.This no longer happens with the current Alpha 2. I mostly fly the PMDG 737NG in various places, mostly Central Europe (out of LSGG and LSZH) and North America (out of KSFO and on the East coast). The most severe airspeed fluctuation I had was 0.08 Mach, from normal cruise of Mach 0.78 to Mach 0.70. This is a HUGE improvement on the way things were originally. Admittedly, this still makes for a very bumpy ride for the virtual paxes in back, but I always get them and the airplane on the destination runway without major injuries, provided I don't screw up the landing. ;-)Recreating an earlier flight from LSZH to EGLL (using saved weather data) that gave me 180 degree wind directions shifts, I noticed that the direction shifts are only present during climb, giving the PMDG autopilot a real workout and as Damian states, these direction reversals only happen with counter clockwise wind changes.Now, while the current situation with winds aloft may be far less than ideal, it's a great improvement on things already. Damian has already worked miracles in that department. Due to the way things are within FS9, wind transitions may never be as smooth and realistic as we would like them, but I am quite sure that Damian will be able to improve on things much more than he already has.Last but not least, let's not forget one important aspect: While winds are presently not as much better in AS2004 than in FS9 default weather as we would like and there are some peculiar weather holes (weather over EDNY en route is always clear, no matter how rotten it is all around that airport), the visual weather depiction is awesome compared to what FS9 weather comes up with.Besides, Damian and Jim have never denied that there are winds aloft issues, but as they say in car commercials: "Your mileage may vary". I personally have more decently smooth flights than rollercoaster rides, typical Central European winter weather, however, seems to upset things a little more than North American winter weather. Best RegardsMax (Bern, LSZB)http://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004betateam.jpg http://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/supporter.jpg

good morning to all,i fully agree with Max - since owning AS2004 almost most of my flights are more or less wind smoothed out now...still, there were some flights where i encountered severe winds shifts (see my other thread), but that might be due to different and very close weather stations here in europe :-hmmm ...just guessing, don't know the wind routine though. overall, despite this occasional wind anomalies, i'm very pleased with AS2004 and never regret that i bought it!I'm sure Damian and his teram will do anything to get that one sorten out...sooner or later!cheers,harald heidinger/loww

>Now, if ANYONE wants to come to Michigan, you can sit and fly>on my computer for as long as you would like and you will>NEVER, EVER, NEVER, EVER experience severe wind shifts. But>please bring your own food! Bratwurst okay with you?

Sure, if you want to go out to the garage to BBQ them. The gas grill would be ready to go! Just about a foot of total snow on the ground with temps in the low teens today. I know that would be a heatwave for you!! I got the adult ginger ale.Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Support

Hello Damian,I appreciate your explanation but I think we have very different opinions as to what Activesky should accomplish with FS2004. I do understand that your company would naturally downplay the negative aspects of your software in order to maintain steady sales. Personally, I purchased Activesky mainly to deal with the FS2004 winds aloft transitions and I find your add-on's ability to smooth winds very inadequate, only slightly better than FS2004's own internal weather in this regard. Your Beta testing team seems thrilled that they can fly with winds aloft without crashing while using Activesky, otherwise seeming happy to live with the unrealistic winds smoothing glitch that Activesky seemingly cannot fully deal with. I do not share this opinion and I don't feel that your customers 'owe' you time to make ongoing fixes to a problem you obviously knew from the beginning plagued your software. Your attempts to downplay the issue and transfer the blame back to Microsoft are transparent. Yes there is indeed a big bug with winds in FS2004 but Activesky is supposed to fix this, or so most of your customers are being led to believe. Activesky certainly does not fix the winds transition bug in FS2004, only lessend the effect somewhat. The wind transitions with Activesky are still very unrealistic and pathetic in implementation. This is not what we customers should have recieved for our money in my opinion.

I'll bring a big helping of Humble Pie :-) Andy b

Microsoft's reply will be:" "Andy b