Why no dark clouds in the Active sky sets?

[pipper 0]

Hello to Damian, Chris and Jim:Having happily used the Active Sky product for years now, I was flying into KPHX last night into some rather nasty weather. There were Thunderstorms all throughout the Phoenix approach with heavy rain. I was flying during the afternoon when these storms were occuring, and it made me think there was "something wrong with this picture". I am running the Active Sky cloud series, and what I perceived as wrong was that the "bad weather" clouds are always so white! When bad weather such as T storms approaches where I live, the horizon becomes dark. Last summer I flew on a commercial A320 into the KJFK area when a line of T storms was coming into the area. Believe me, the clouds we flew through were very dark, unlike the Active Sky clouds. Even heavy rain storms are bright and cheerful with the Active Sky and Fs9 stock clouds. It doesn't matter if I run wx influenced or a specific set. Always too bright!I remember a sim called EF2000 around 8 years ago and one of the best things was the rain scenes-it really looked dreary but very realistic. Can anything be done to make the bad weather clouds darker?Thanks in advance.......Pipper

[JSkorna 137]

Hi Pipper,I am honestly not sure! I'll give Chris or Damian a chance to see this.Hope this helps,Jimhttp://www.hifisim.com/Active Sky V6 Development TeamActive Sky V6 Proud SupporterHiFi Beta TeamRadar Contact Supporter

[pipper 0]

Thanks Jim......I realize that some clouds like cumulonimbus type may appear to be bright white from a distance, when you fly through them or even near them they are very dark on the inside. (Yes I know you shouldn't fly through them but sometimes you fly through developing cells). My main point was that flying through rain heavy clouds in real life results in very diminished light, hence they are a dark grey. The AS clouds would really be improved if they were appropriately darker. Thanks again .........Pipper

[Chris Willis 8]

HI,There is one things in fs , when the visibility is reduced, the clouds will always look white.You can have darker clouds by selecting polluted sky set.Another compromise, the clouds texture color will affect all cumulus and all cloud type at the same time, having dark clouds, all clouds will be darker, it's better to use sky set to darker the clouds.You might try for a darker bottom clouds, in the custom clouds : for texture: select 001 thick, or 029 puffy 11, 039I will see another new alternative for this on the next update.ThanksChris Willishttp://www.hifisim.comhttp://sales.hifisim.com/pub-download/asv6...development.jpg

[Guest]

what about darker clouds at night, ie when a new moon is out?

[Guest qballbandit]

Hi Big Al. Maybe Jim will point you in the right direction, as I know he mentioned something in the past which i used in a .cfg file in FS9 to make p.m. clouds look much better...Neil :)

[Chris Willis 8]

HI Alex,You have to use the Night Sky Set: Clear Area 1ThanksChris Willishttp://www.hifisim.comhttp://sales.hifisim.com/pub-download/asv6...development.jpg

[JSkorna 137]

LOL Neil! I did??? I am pretty good at remembering this sort of thing and I don't recall anything with clouds. I can get rid of the pixilated look around the sun though!Hope this helps,Jimhttp://www.hifisim.com/Active Sky V6 Development TeamActive Sky V6 Proud SupporterHiFi Beta TeamRadar Contact Supporter

[Guest qballbandit]

:) I sure remember it being you. At the other site, i thought you had mentioned in a post once a parameter to add into a .cfg file in the root directory to make the night clouds look better. Maybe not darker per say, but much better????Oh well, I just truned 44 Sunday, so my brain must be slipping before my very eyes..:(

[pipper 0]

Thanks Chris for your feedback-Since you are the "Cloud Master", I can only hope that some day you will design up some really good dark Cumumlonimbus clouds and nimbus clouds. That would really elevate Active Sky!I shall try your "polluted sky" technique in the mean time and once again, thank you for your help!Cheers......Pipper