Nothing but clear weather and scattered clouds in OVC conditions

[quantumleap 1]

OK, as nothing is being done in the AS2004.5 versions, can we expect that having an OVC in the METAR/TAF when the prevailing visibility is greater than 10 SM will actually give an overcast layer (rather than broken or scattered) in the new product being worked on?

[JSkorna 137]

Hi,OVC happens in AS2004.5 and OVC will happen in ASV. And with that I will be locking this thread.Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Sales and Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004proudsupporter.jpg

[Damian Clark 1,262]

Hi all,One more thing to add... there seems to be some confusion about this...First, FS2002 cannot be compared to FS2004. The weather systems are entirely different. For example, in FS2002, there is only GLOBALIZED weather and any OVC deck uses a 2d cloud layer that covers the entire earth. That is why you don't see holes with FS2002 and OVC.With FS2004 everything is station-based. The weather depicted depends on the position of stations and what each station is reporting. We have little control over how FS9 decides to render clouds. We can only set the weather at particular stations accordingly.For example, if a station reports OVC, but 4nm away another station reports SCT, OVC may be visible only directly over the OVC station, but will be influenced towards SCT in adjacent areas. Of course there are usually MANY other stations all influencing the weather depiction.We have done lots to AS2004.5 to maximize overcast depiction. Such as overcast enhancement and wx station interpolation. But as you all have noticed, with certain locations, it can be tough to get the exact depiction you want. Thus you have other options to control things. I.e. if you want solid overcast looking skies then reducing max visibility to under 9sm should really help. You can also use "force destination wx zone" to keep things more consistent in your destination area.Some other things to consider. FS9 decides how many clouds to draw based on your graphics settings and available system processing capacity. If you're loaded down with lots of scenery/AI/clouds, etc, and have frame rates set very high, for example, FS is going to reduce graphics and sprites such as clouds to keep your performance up. This is a great reason to always limit max frames to around 20.... It can really help. Of course you cloud sets installed will also have great influence.To summarize, FS9 has limitations, AS makes things better, but can't overcome everything negative. In addition FS9's limitations are there for a reason. Performance is a huge consideration. If full 3D clouds were drawn in full overcast fashion, most would be very upset with the frame rates. We always try to continuously improve things as much as possible based on customer feedback and new technologies available. ASV will incorporate several enhancements in this department but will not be a full solution to overcast depiction limitations in all situations.Best,

[JSkorna 137]

Hi All,Post has been unlocked for further discussion!Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Sales and Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004proudsupporter.jpg

[quantumleap 1]

Damian,Thanks for the explanation of the technical issues involved. This matches fairly closely with what I had seen during my investigation of this.Hope that the MSFS developers will give people like yourself more facilities in the next release to address some of the limitations and still maintain reasonable frame-rates.

[Guest allblack]

Hope you get paid handsomely for this Jim!CheersTim

[JSkorna 137]

You bet!!Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Sales and Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004proudsupporter.jpg