FSMeteo vs. Activesky wxRE

[Guest Binabik]

Till this day i am a very happy user of FSMeteo. But i've been reading about wxRE, that this one is very good as well. Basicly they do the same thing, that is setting the current weather in my Sim. BUT wich one is (if there is one) the best? Anyone out there which used both and choose one in particular? And why did you choose espacially that one? Please tell me what are the pros and cons for one and the other! I know i can compare them with the features they support but I think that users that used both can tell me better which one to choose...

[Dillon 2,197]

Well for one Activesky loads weather much faster than FSMetro. In fact you can start Activesky first and then load up FS2002 and find your weather is setup in seconds. Weather is modeled much more realistically in ActiveSky, changes in weather patterns don't just jump out at you, at least not as much as they did in FSMetro. I can't attest to some of the screenshots shown on this forum because both weather programs use the same default FS2002 clouds. Many have made statements that even the clouds look better but I think that's just individual perception. I don't see much difference in the way the sky looks but there is a slightly greater intensity in cloud formations. Maybe the data Activesky uses is more detailed just like mesh scenery can be. I didn't mention that refreshing the weather is much faster also with Activesky, which works for me. I have noticed with my setup that at times during my flight my frame rates will drop to a noticeable point (usually during a landing approach). Refreshing the weather clears that right up. When using FSMetro, updating weather sometimes caused the program to hang while it downloaded updated data from the internet. I don't know the process ActiveSky uses to get its data but one things for sure and that is it does use the Web, it just uses the web more efficiently than FSMetro. One last good thing about having both programs installed is that it gives you a choice if a server is down someplace. I now have two good options to get weather before I have to resort to MS's option (which is the worst thing out there but it beats nothing at all). To end this, FSMetro and Activesky are both great programs, it's just that ActiveSky has better code and options that are more efficient for the user. I highly recommend ActiveSky over FSMetro.

[Guest Binabik]

Thanks this is a great piece of text wich seems very valuable! Any more peeps who like to write down their opinion?

[Guest Lobaeux4]

One thing we have to remember, and I may be talking out both sides of my mouth here, is that ActiveSky RE is a new program, a great program, but new, so we can expect even better things from it, whereas FS Meteo is a mature program, most of the bugs have already been worked out. I think owning both is kind of the best of both words, although I have to admit, I haven't used FSMeteo since I've got wxRE.Lobaeux

[Guest joea]

Just curious can you use it offline? My internet computer is seperate from my Fs computer.

[Guest]

Yes

[virtualstuff 752]

I'll was using "FSMETEO 5.2" but o boy I'm really impressed with active sky wxRe great program and it go's a lot further where FSMETEO left off :-)Andr

[Dillon 2,197]

One more thing that sets Activesky apart from FSMetro is you can now set your departure and destination weather. What's great about this is your destination weather is set (or you can set it) for 60+ miles out. Which means gone are the days when your cleared for runway 270 and you find AI aircraft taking off from runway 90. The AI traffic has time to use the correct runway based on the surface wind (not the wind FSMetro had setup for you at 12,000ft) at the destination airport. This is one great reason to setup Activesky's departure and destination weather. I most likely will use a distance farther than 60NM for my destination conditions to insure I don't have any problems with AI traffic in the future. This important feature is one of many that users are happy about.

[Guest]

Take a peek at the ActiveSky Forum (somewhere down). You'll get more opinions and details.

[Guest]

dilloll0, FSMeteo already has the feature to lock the destination weather so no sudden runway change occurs