Hello to all AS2004 users and supporters!Build 87 is now available at http://www.hifisim.com/as2k4updateMR1rc1.zip.With your help during the public beta stage, we have managed to come up with a solid build with just a few very minor things to touch up upon (ActiveRadarConnector for WideFS users and documentation left to be updated). Those interested in testing this new build, please take a look at your convenience and let us know if there are any remaining problems you are experiencing. Bug reports for B87 should now go directly to me at [email protected] while we wrap things up.To highlight some of the things we've been able to accomplish for MR1:- Eliminated significant wind shifts- Eliminated significant cloud clearing or shifting- Eliminated all known bugs- Provided dozens of more options to customize AS2004 and the weather environment for almost any kind of use- Provided dozens of enhancements and new features to improve the wx experience under a wider range of circumstances- Improved interface with FSUIPC to eliminate wx consistency problemsMR1 is pending official release in the next few days after B87 is confirmed solid and the last minor content additions are plugged in.I'd like to thank all our public beta testers for offering their help and great feedback to iron out remaining issues. I'd also like to thank our internal beta team for their great assistance in getting things ready for the public beta and for always giving great input on where to focus final-stage development effort. Thanks to AVSIM for providing this forum and for all they do for the simulation community. Thanks to Jim Skorna for his huge effort in providing top-notch support, for helping me track down issues, and for all his help in many areas of development. Thanks to all our partners, supporters and community participants for making our hobby as great as it is today! And thank you everyone for your abundance of patience as we moved forward with MR1.As MR1 goes official, we will begin focusing on MR2 (as required) and other future products which are already in the works. Next week we will be overhauling our website and providing new information on the future development efforts. Thanks again everyone!Damian ClarkHiFi Simulation SoftwareDeveloper of ActiveSkyhttp://www.hifisim.comhttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004betateam.jpg

Will test today evening.Thank you to you too :)

DamianI just completed my first flight with build 87 from HKMO (Mombasa, Kenya)to HKJK (Nairobi, Kenya)The weather and cloud rendering was almost flawless, after leaving HKMO in CAVOK conditions cloud formations smoothly changed to the reported metars, I landed in Nairobi in cloudy, gusty conditions just as per Metar. Some low clouds en route appeared a little suddenly, but I didn't really mind that, since the bi formations were drawn smoothly. No more "disappearing cloud syndrome"I had a couple of rather sudden wind shifts during climb, but that is most likely due to the fact that I forgot to load the plan and did that while already airborne. The wind shifts were non-Threating, basically just resulting in some bumps for the folks in back. Generally winds were gradually spinning around to their corect directions and speed, matching the nav log (Wind smoothing enabled).I will do some more flying tonight in central europe, but generally this build looks very good! Best RegardsMax (Bern, LSZB)http://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004betateam.jpg http://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/800driver.jpg

Damian You are too fast for me....Here I was going to complement you and your crew on Build 86 when I find you already have build 87 out there...wow !! do you sleep at all?I flew today from Toronto to Thunder bay. Toronto was overcast with 3000 ft ceiling and sure enough thats exactly what was. I had thick clouds thru out the climb to 12000 ft when I broke out on top of the clouds and no clouds suddenly disappearing. according to the weather report i had 2 stations that reported clear skies while all others were reporting overcast condition. Sure enough as I approached the 2 station areas the clouds did not suddenly disppear instead I could see a clear area ahead develope in the distance and the clouds gradually moved under me until I was in the clear area. Then the clouds gradually came back in again. This was repeated all over again for the second clear area. The weather changes were all gradual including the approach into Thunder Bay. the entire flight was next to perfect with winds as reported and weather as expected. MY hat is off to you Damian and your team at HIFI.. Build 87 Here I come.One happy customerDon

Hi Damian,I'm having some strange things happening now with this latest build.For one, my stations are reporting broken clouds at FL250 and I don't see anything.My setting are default, but with TAF on and I don't use route processing.Also about 30 minutes into my flight from BWI to BNA, Flight simulator crashes. Never did this before.If you want to test route it was flown at 7 a.m.I'll keep checking things.Thanks, Scott

Damian,I forgot to add that the FS9 crash seems to happen after I mannually refresh AS2004 in flight.Scott

Hi Scott,We had some issues this morning during a routine maintenance update which caused some incomplete weather during current wx downloads. Should be all fixed now though. Can you confirm this is what it was?-Damian

Hi DamianAre you still having problems with the weather server?I cannot get a flightplan to load nor can I 'fetch' data for a specific reporting station.RegardsAndy b

Hello,You are goping to fast for me Damian...Any way, about built 86, performed a flight yesterday, and must say that it was absolutely great, and probably due to the fact that I have changed the way to use the prog. I start AS2004 in the "pause" position, and then refresh, then when it is done, i load the route in AS2004.It was perfect, the only glitch, is when approaching LFPG, it started to update on new station, but using auto something, and giving altimeter setting with 29.90 in the altimeter setting, but in Europe we are in hectopascal. Again, when I wanted to get the last from LFPG, using the "fectch" button, lead to an AS2004 lockup, resulting in an abrupt drop of frame rates, and had to terminated AS2004 in arder to fly again.This moerning, I wanted to fly, using the built 87. I have uninstall all other built, and now in my window I have AS2004 and buitl 87.Start fs9, get ready for every thing, start AS2004, OK, refresh, OK, then load the route, and then once again, it lockup struggling to calculate the closest weather station. I terminated the prog, then reload, refresh, then get the last for LFPG, and boum, lockup again.So As you performed maintenance on the server, could this be related?Thanks for your kind answer, and best regards.Cpt Cyrille de Lattrewww.corporateaviationservices.comAsus P4P800/P4 2.4 giga/1.5 giga DDR/Ati 9700 pro 128 meg

What about the wind direction and speed inconsistencies between the weather radar and the Active sky.Becasue I have diffent readings on the top of the screen when I press shift + z different on the ND gauge and different on the radar.How to remedy this pleaseThanksMusahsi

Oups, sorry for the double question, some one else was typing in the same time as me.Cpt Cyrille de Lattrewww.corporateaviationservices.comAsus P4P800/P4 2.4 giga/1.5 giga DDR/Ati 9700 pro 128 meg

Hi,Shift + Z data and AS data/Radar data are going to be a little different. FS uses magnetic direction and internally changes the data a bit. Please let us know if your data is way off or give us some examples!Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Support

Musahsi,Depending on what plane you are using, you can get differences.With the PMDG 737 my wind directions always match between the FS Status line (Shift-Z) and the 737 NG ND. These wind directions are magnetic, while the PMDG 737 FMC displays true directions, which might also be the case for Active radar (I hardly ever use it, so I'm not sure, hence the differences in direction due to magnetic variation.Best RegardsMax (Bern, LSZB)http://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004betateam.jpg http://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/800driver.jpg

Hello Jim and DamianCan I just install the latest build without installing previous patches. I want a fresh install from the base package and just use your latest build.Bill M

Let me preface this by saying that I have not flown with build 87 yet, so I'm not sure if this is still relevant. I have posted several times in the past with earlier builds, and I believe that I can document with screenshots, occasions where the wind direction was changing in the ActiveRadar screen (over the course of minutes - not an update rate issue), but not changing on the 737NG gauge nor the Shft-Z top line. This is clearly not a simple magnetic variation. I'll look for it with build 87 tonight.EDIT> Not to say that its an issue, just an observation. I've speculated in the past that FS9 may not be 'seeing' all of the smoothing that AS2004 is doing...Best,sg