jim:thanks for the suggestion. i do not want to prolong this thread unnecessarily. i was hoping to be able to continue to utilize the virtues of asx, not to get rid altogether of any adverse weather conditions. is it possible to choose a theme such as clear and calm while using asx or are you saying that this choice is made through fsx directly and without the use of asx?thanks again for your patience.steve chavin

Hi Steve, all,A couple of notes, based on the facts that it is observed that ASv6.5 with FSX does not exhibit this behavior:- ASv6.5 when used with FSX, due to limitations, defines a hard visibility ceiling at approximately 10,000ft.- ASX uses a much more dynamic approach to setting he visibility ceiling at it can exist anywhere from 1000ft to 13000ft depending on cloud conditions. We are attempting to provide the best look of clouds which FSX has a hard time dealing with when visibility ceilings are placed at a hard 10k ft.Based on this it appears that those noticing this "desired" behavior in ASv6.5 are predominately flying low altitude flights and do not notice the same effect for 2 reasons... #1 the ceiling is generally higher, above the cruise altitude of the flight, and #2, generally 10K ceiling will not intersect with most terrain, whereas lower ceilings intersecting with terrain is much more likely.From all this I think the best solution would be to provide a future option for allowing the user to choose between ASX-type dynamic visibility ceilings or alternative 10K hard ceilings (or perhaps even allow the user to specify the exact ceiling depending on their needs).FWIW we are also looking at some other improvements in visibility for our next update which may help in both types of situtations.At this time the best solution for those not happy with the current depiction is to use a cirrus overcast 4 or 5 texture within X Graphics (something we specifically worked on for SP1).Thanks again for the feedback!

damian:thanks very much for the additional information. most of us use asx with virtually no understanding or appreciation for the complexity of what the final program achieves. i doubt that anyone really expects perfection. this thread does prove that you and your colleagues are ready to listen to our comments and to try to respond constructively and perhaps successfully. more than that i do not expect. but be assured that i will continue to use asx and to look forward to any future refinements and improvements. thanks once again.steve chavin