Does Flight Environment X work in FS9 and if so how does one get it to work? I see from Feng's shots it looks like he's using the X package along with some kind of Bloom effect. Does anyone know the Bloom program/effect for FS9 and where to find it? The last thing is the various sky colors present. Feng said he'll post his settings all the same I've been playing around with some things on my end and getting pretty good results but not quite what I'm seeing in Feng's shots.

I finally found a good write up from Feng so I thought I'd share and build on this info:Lol, there are no secrets, just 2 years of constant tweaking and understanding how FS9 works down to the code level. I finally stopped tweaking last December and have been flying since. Here are a few things i've done to get this result:- Definitely install the Russian Bloom (this is what creates the nice contrast)- Use GEPro and customize your own tile set. I have a few made, each for different types of weather. I've darkened all my tiles down just a bit, because the default brightness is too light and lacks contrast- Make a profile for FS9 under your video card's settings. Adjust the Contrast/Brightness/Saturation/Color etc until you like how FS9 looks. Then save the profile and have it auto-load when you start FS9- Up-res FE clouds to 1024x1024, 32 bit. Or i heard you can use FEX clouds inside FS9. Either way, use high-res clouds (but you need a powerful machine or it'll choke the GPU)- Use Active Sky 6.5, real weather, and max the cloud setting area. I believe i use 10 layers, 15,000 thickness, and 1 thousand separation, (again, need powerful machine). Set vis to 59- Inside FS9, max almost everything except Mips (i use 5). I also use double buffer, not triple (i can't tell the difference), this will reduce a ton of load on the GPU. Then disable triple enhancement from the video card's setting. Also lock FPS to FS9's average. Basically, run FS9 and see what FPS you generally sits. I hover around 50-65, so i lock mine at 45fps- Optimize FS9 so it's super streamlined (this is a whole topic on it's own). You won't believe how fast FS9 can run if everything is tweaked.- Run FS9 in high res if your GPU can handle it. I run mine at 1920x1200 on my laptop (these shots here are from the laptop), or 2560x1600 on my "gaming machine." By running at this res, your screenshots will looks super clean and sharp when you down-size them to 1000 pix. And also, at this res, you can get away with low AA setting (i use 4), because the pix-density is so high, even a AA of 2 looks smooth.- And of course have a super-dooper-clean install of your operating system. I use WinXP Pro, optimized to the n-th degree with only 15 processes running.do all that, and your FS9 will run smooth and look beautiful... :)I will post some "raw" images of these shots when i get to work. So you can see what they look like at 1:1-feng

Nice right up, guys! That's basically my setup. Note especially with most Nvidia cards you can go ahead and max that MIP setting.

Couple of questions here:-Up-res FE clouds to 1024x1024, 32 bit. - How is this done?I also use double buffer, not triple (i can't tell the difference), this will reduce a ton of load on the GPU. Then disable triple enhancement from the video card's setting. - How is this done?Use Active Sky 6.5, real weather, and max the cloud setting area. I believe i use 10 layers, 15,000 thickness, and 1 thousand separation, (again, need powerful machine). - How powerful? :(Cheers!Ian

You guys will have to contact Feng personally to find out what he means here. I just copy pasted his comments here. I'll keep looking for more info from him about this in the forums.

Up-res FE clouds to 1024x1024, 32 bit. - How is this done? (AND how is this done with Active Sky?)Mark

I finally found a good write up from Feng so I thought I'd share and build on this info:Lol, there are no secrets, just 2 years of constant tweaking and understanding how FS9 works down to the code level. I finally stopped tweaking last December and have been flying since. Here are a few things i've done to get this result:- Definitely install the Russian Bloom (this is what creates the nice contrast)- Use GEPro and customize your own tile set. I have a few made, each for different types of weather. I've darkened all my tiles down just a bit, because the default brightness is too light and lacks contrast- Make a profile for FS9 under your video card's settings. Adjust the Contrast/Brightness/Saturation/Color etc until you like how FS9 looks. Then save the profile and have it auto-load when you start FS9- Up-res FE clouds to 1024x1024, 32 bit. Or i heard you can use FEX clouds inside FS9. Either way, use high-res clouds (but you need a powerful machine or it'll choke the GPU)- Use Active Sky 6.5, real weather, and max the cloud setting area. I believe i use 10 layers, 15,000 thickness, and 1 thousand separation, (again, need powerful machine). Set vis to 59- Inside FS9, max almost everything except Mips (i use 5). I also use double buffer, not triple (i can't tell the difference), this will reduce a ton of load on the GPU. Then disable triple enhancement from the video card's setting. Also lock FPS to FS9's average. Basically, run FS9 and see what FPS you generally sits. I hover around 50-65, so i lock mine at 45fps- Optimize FS9 so it's super streamlined (this is a whole topic on it's own). You won't believe how fast FS9 can run if everything is tweaked.- Run FS9 in high res if your GPU can handle it. I run mine at 1920x1200 on my laptop (these shots here are from the laptop), or 2560x1600 on my "gaming machine." By running at this res, your screenshots will looks super clean and sharp when you down-size them to 1000 pix. And also, at this res, you can get away with low AA setting (i use 4), because the pix-density is so high, even a AA of 2 looks smooth.- And of course have a super-dooper-clean install of your operating system. I use WinXP Pro, optimized to the n-th degree with only 15 processes running.do all that, and your FS9 will run smooth and look beautiful... :)I will post some "raw" images of these shots when i get to work. So you can see what they look like at 1:1-feng

Here's something I found:http://vusaf.org/forum/showthread.php?t=8970The settings I'm still trying to work out because during the day it's too much. When looking down at the instruments things tend to go dark. I'm testing at Emma with the FSD Seneca. Here's setting I'm playing around with.[bLOOM]BloomPowerDay=12BloomFadeTime=2000BloomConstantDay=1BloomQuality=0BloomScreenLevelDay=15BloomCurveDay=0BloomPowerNight=24BloomConstantNight=5BloomCurveNight=0BloomScreenLevelNight=10BloomAdaptationScreenLevel=80BloomAdaptationMultiplier=10BloomAllowOversaturation=0'BloomScreenLevelDay=15' seems to work better during the day cutting down on the glare on the wings but like I said I can't get that darkening to stop when looking down at the instruments in the cockpit.

I've tried the bloom enhancement several times and FS9 won't load properly with it. It crashes when you try and srtart up a flight. Think it's something to do with dx9c files that aren't a part of the Vista install or something but I haven't been able to get it to work.

I did some edits here to get the best display out of Russian Bloom both day and night in FS9:[bLOOM]BloomPowerDay=12BloomFadeTime=20000BloomConstantDay=1BloomQuality=0BloomScreenLevelDay=34BloomCurveDay=0BloomPowerNight=24BloomConstantNight=5BloomCurveNight=0BloomScreenLevelNight=24BloomAdaptationScreenLevel=80BloomAdaptationMultiplier=10BloomAllowOversaturation=0[sSAO]UseFilter=1OcclusionQuality=2FilterQuality=1DarkeningLevel=30BrighteningLevel=30IlluminationLevel=30AdditiveIlluminationLevel=30UseAmbientOcclusion=1UseIndirectLightning=1FadeDistance=50[colorCORRECTION]DarkeningAmountDay=10ScreenLevelDay=60ScreenLevelNight=20DarkeningAmountNight=0GammaCurveDay=0GammaCurveNight=2ColorSaturationDay=0ColorSaturationNight=0UsePaletteTexture=1[PLUGIN]WeatherMod=0[WATER]UseWaterDeep=1WaterDeepness=20WaterQuality=0[sHADOW]ShadowFadeStart=10ShadowFadeEnd=20ShadowAmountDay=20ShadowAmountNight=30ShadowScreenLevelDay=60ShadowScreenLevelNight=20ShadowQuality=0UseShadowFilter=0FilterQuality=1ShadowBlurRange=30

I've tried the bloom enhancement several times and FS9 won't load properly with it. It crashes when you try and srtart up a flight. Think it's something to do with dx9c files that aren't a part of the Vista install or something but I haven't been able to get it to work.

That's why I tell people if possible not to use Vista with FS9 (XP works with everything you can throw at FS2004)...

Now I just need those FEX clouds inside of FS9. The program was made for FSX, how does one get them in FS9 with an installer looking for FSX?I'll buy the program if it's possible to point the installer to FS9 or I may just wait for 'REX for FS9'.

Now I just need those FEX clouds inside of FS9. The program was made for FSX, how does one get them in FS9 with an installer looking for FSX?I'll buy the program if it's possible to point the installer to FS9 or I may just wait for 'REX for FS9'.

Why FEX clouds? FS Elemental have great looking clouds, and they are way better than FEX one. And it is for FS9.http://forums1.avsim.net/index.php?showtopic=254831BTW those pictures looks great. :(

Why FEX clouds? FS Elemental have great looking clouds, and they are way better than FEX one. And it is for FS9.http://forums1.avsim.net/index.php?showtopic=254831BTW those pictures looks great. :(

I'll give FS Elemental a shot tonight... Feng could sell his setup above and make a good chunk of change for sure.I read allot about FS Elemental and it could be my end all answer after setting up Russian Bloom. I really like the new cloud look that's starting to appear for FS9 add-ons. It brings the sim closer to an FSX style appearance plus performance to match. I'll post some screenshots when I purchase FS Elemental....

I'll give FS Elemental a shot tonight...

Just pay attention, because there is two packs of it. Natural pack, which is much much better than other one, Intesive Pack. :(

Thanks...What's the difference between the two (Intense and Natural)??? I was actually about to buy the intense version.