AS2004.5 Beta Update Now Available - B163

[Damian Clark 1,273]

Hi Claudio,See my response to Glenn above...

[JSkorna 137]

Hi Edwin,AS will read the altitude in the plan. If you want a different altitude try this:Click on New RouteManually enter the ID,s, the altitude, and the KTAS.Click on ProcessI think I know what you want to do: you want to import a plan and then do some "What if....." stuff with your altitudes and winds. Well, right now I don't think the flight planning portion of AS is set up for this. Do I have this right?Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004proudsupporter.jpg

[Damian Clark 1,273]

Hi,I think I see what is going on. The original AS2004 used the Program Group AS2004. The new AS2004.5 release package uses AS2004.5. The update is incorrectly using AS2004 folder name when it should be using AS2004.5 (for those with AS2004.5 base package). Will get it fixed... Thanks for the report!

[GHarrall 494]

Damian,Great! I thought that maybe I was hindering Active Sky in some way by leaving the render to texture on.I can certainly confirm no problems on my PC using a Radeon 9800 Pro.I am not seeing any of the flickering (or weather clearing) problems as reported above.Thanks for investigating further. You have put my mind at rest!Once again, GREAT program....Thanks!Regards,Glenn

[Guest Edwin]

Yes, you got it right. Never mind then!Thanks,Edwin

[Guest Edwin]

Hi,Two probably unrelated issues I found today.First, in my quest to understand CTDs, I encountered two yesterday and one today already. The two yesterday showed no error messages whatsoever. The one today did give the generic Windows XP "The program encountered a problem and needs to close" error message. When I clicked details, the following showed up:AppName: fs9.exe AppVer: 9.1.0.40901 ModName: activeradar.dllModVer: 1.0.1.5 Offset: 0000b188I'm not sure whether this has anything to do with B163 but it seems to be related to ActiveRadar. If it's relevant, the ActiveRadar window was not open at the time the CTD occurred although I was using it at other times during the flight and a flight plan was entered into ActiveRadar. I noticed no other problems with ActiveRadar prior to the CTD.Secondly, just before the CTD, I was flying from ZSPD to VHHH. Halfway through the decent, at around 12,000ft, there was a sudden change in both clouds and visibility. The METAR at the time wasVHHH 140500Z 09009KT CAVOK 23/11 Q1017 NOSIGThere were no clouds all through decent and then all of a sudden visibility decreased drastically and some clouds showed up around 10,000ft. Looking out the window (I live in Hong Kong), skies are overcast but the clouds are very high and visibility is very good so CAVOK is correct. My AS2004.ini file is as follows://AS2004.5 configuration file B163[General]WindowPosX = 3270WindowPosY = 6660DefaultWeatherFolder = C:INSTALLDIRModulesActiveSky2004SuppressionCeiling = 4000SurfaceWindLimit = 10CloudLayerLimit = 5LocalSuppressionRange = 100MinimumVisibility = 0MaximumVisibility = 59IncreasedWake = FalseDisableWindsAloft = FalseForceTstormsWithCB = FalseAutoConvertPlanFiles = TrueDisableVisGraduation = FalseForceDestinationWeatherZone = FalsePreventIcing = FalseOnlineUpdates = TrueExtendedDestinationWindsForce = FalseGlobalWrites = TrueDepictFS9HazeLayer = TrueExtendTstormLayers = FalseDisableDirectWindControl = FalseVoicePlayback = TrueLocalSuppression = TrueStartupSound = FalseDisableGroundUpdates = FalseUseProxyServer = FalseFogLayerGeneration = TrueUpdateSuppression = TrueOvercastEnhancement = TrueIgnoreFSReadyStatus = FalseFSUIPCWindSmoothing = TrueLimitSurfaceWinds = FalseLimitCloudLayers = FalseAutoGlobalWriteToggle = TrueRainWithTS = TrueDisableUpperLayerGeneration = FalseVisibilitySmoothing = TrueDisableMessages = FalseAutoTimeZoneDetection = TrueUpdateInterval = 10VATSIMData = FalseZuluConversion = 8AloftPredictability = 100WindDriftRate = 0TAFProcessing = TrueEnforceVisibilityLimits = TrueWakeTurb = FalseStartPaused = FalseUseSystemTime = TrueDisableCAVOKClouds = FalseProxyAddress = NONELastPlanFolder = EdwinleeshareddocsFlightSimFlight plansThanks in advance for any insights.Edwin

[JSkorna 137]

There could have been nearby stations affecting the weather.Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004proudsupporter.jpg

[Guest Edwin]

Yes, but shouldn't the change be gradual rather than instantaneous? Unfortunately, without the METARs of the nearby stations, I can't reproduce the situation again but I'll stay on the lookout.Thanks,Edwin

[Guest Fjorko]

>Yes, but shouldn't the change be gradual rather than>instantaneous?Well so far mine has been gradual....but i'm not ruling out that i will still find a sudden change in visibility and cloud depiction..Will have to wait and seeBe sure that i will be the first one back on ths forum to complain - which is just fair because that is what the developers claim this software will do - gradually change the weather between stations ! :(

[Guest A310-308]

There can be somebody will tell, that it meant. This effect appears constantly. Please, help.

[JSkorna 137]

Hi,That is due to your cloud textures. Chris from FSW can confirm this. You need to use a softer edged cloud. Are you using FSW Sky World?Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004proudsupporter.jpg

[Guest A310-308]

>Hi,>>That is due to your cloud textures. Chris from FSW can confirm>this. You need to use a softer edged cloud. Are you using FSW>Sky World?>>Hope this helps,>Jim>ActiveSky Support>http://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004proudsupporter.jpgYes, certainly. I use clouds by FSW Group. There can be you will advise, what it is more preferable?Thank you in advance.

[Guest BeachComer]

I also frequently want to use a different altitude than is in my "canned" flightplan, but not because I want to play "what-if". Here's why: I often fly a route that I've flown before. My local airport to the big airline airport (shuttling my corporate pax to meet their airline flight, or picking them up from one) is a good example. This was my most common flight when I was a corporate pilot, and I frequently fly it, especially when I'm pressed for time. As time for flying is often shorter than I'd like and frequently stolen from other (wife-imposed) activities, it's nice to minimize preflight time. The route does not change, and so there is little point to rebuilding a flight plan. But winds or icing cloud tops will frequently dictate an altitude change. Thus it frequently occurs for my flights that I "need" to import an existing plan, rather than rebuild it from scratch, but I usually also "need" to use a different altitude. So perhaps you can see that, for at least one AS user, this scenario is not so off-the-wall as you might have thought heretofore. AS helps me tremendously in flight-planning, through its ability to give me wind-corrected ETA. But I must use my "main" flight planner, as AS can't (nor do I expect it to) provide me with route-building or VOR frequencies as my main flight planner does. Each partly fills the (flight planning) need, and together form a nice suite, but AS would sure be more helpful with an ability to use canned flight plans and altitude adjusted for today's conditions. The alternative is to just put in departure and destination and have no wind smoothing, as I understand it, and as my usual ride for these trips has loud "OVERSPEED" and horn warnings, flying without wind smoothing is not as relaxing as I'd like for it to be.All that to say that I hope it becomes possible some day to allow altitude that is manually typed in to set some flag that lets AS know to use the manual entry, rather than the FP one.Thanks for reading and thanks for ActiveSky! :-)Best Regards,--Stephen "Beach" Comer

[JSkorna 137]

Hi,OK, thanks for that point of view. How about for now opening this plan with a text editor and changing the cruise altitude before importing?Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004proudsupporter.jpg

[Damian Clark 1,273]

Hi all!Pete has just released the newest FSUIPC version 3.44 and WideFS version 6.44. Get yours from http://www.schiratti.com/dowson.html.If you have had any troubles with B163, please update your FSUIPC (and WideFS if used) and let us know if you have any different experiences. Thanks all!