Which Weather Engine is the best?

[vololiberista 205]

RyanSince you seem to know what you're talking about and while we're on the subject of weather, could you explain why is cloud rendering so hard on FS performance then? I don't know how clouds are presented in FS but is it also basically a polygon (surely not a complex one) and a texture?

Somewhere on avsim, I can't remember the post unfortunately there was a link to a video made by the people who designed the cloud algorithms. I was very complicated and that's probably the reason why they eat up frame rates.vololiberista

[Turbine777 13]

Somewhere on avsim, I can't remember the post unfortunately there was a link to a video made by the people who designed the cloud algorithms. I was very complicated and that's probably the reason why they eat up frame rates.vololiberista

I think it's because with fsx, the clouds became volumetric, and the most likely approach and well,,, only way I can think of is with facing sprites. If you've ever used 3d mark you'll have seen where I'm going with this. Sprites and fill rate tests were the two cripplers. But I understand what he said about the stuttering of a comp due to filled video memory. It's still has the same outcome,,, low fps, but for different reason.

[Guest WannaB_Pilot]

I thought this might be the best place for my question. I typically only "troll" the forums and have done so at AVSIM for YEARS but rarely post, hence low posting number :( Anyway...I recently converted to FSX when I purchased a new computer thinking I would be able to run everything adequately, including the same addons I had for FS9, for FSX of course. The most annoying thing for me is the visibility change while descending and, to a lesser extent, while climbing. It is very frustrating when I see the runway and get established on the ILS 10nm out when visiblity is 1nm. Not until OM or just past (technically 1700ft AGL based on my research) is visibility reduced to the reported distance. Has any of the Wx engines fixed this problem???? By who and what program?This anomoly is enough to make me go back to FS9. Certaintly somebody has fixed this by now!!!To be clear - I am not concerned about looking down and seeing the ground if the ground is in low vis, just my aircraft out the front window view.Thanks for your feedback.

[Turbine777 13]

I thought this might be the best place for my question. I typically only "troll" the forums and have done so at AVSIM for YEARS but rarely post, hence low posting number :( Anyway...I recently converted to FSX when I purchased a new computer thinking I would be able to run everything adequately, including the same addons I had for FS9, for FSX of course. The most annoying thing for me is the visibility change while descending and, to a lesser extent, while climbing. It is very frustrating when I see the runway and get established on the ILS 10nm out when visiblity is 1nm. Not until OM or just past (technically 1700ft AGL based on my research) is visibility reduced to the reported distance. Has any of the Wx engines fixed this problem???? By who and what program?This anomoly is enough to make me go back to FS9. Certaintly somebody has fixed this by now!!!To be clear - I am not concerned about looking down and seeing the ground if the ground is in low vis, just my aircraft out the front window view.Thanks for your feedback.

I've never had that problem with ASA,,, I don't think I did with Rex2 either. But I know what you mean it is annoying when you can see what you're not suppose to. Even weather engines have to contend with restrictions from FSX but at least they do a great job in the viz department.

[ahaka 0]

could you explain why is cloud rendering so hard on FS performance then? I don't know how clouds are presented in FS but is it also basically a polygon (surely not a complex one) and a texture?

Hi,I'm not completely familiar on how FSX graphics engine works, but if it also handles transparency through CPU, it could be one reason why the clouds affect performance so much. I believe the clouds are basicall a set of polygon planes textured and stacked together to form an illusion of a puffy cloud. So puffy clouds also use more polygons than cirrus clouds... The more puffy clouds you have, the more polygons you'll end up with.

[Leffe 4]

Hi!Tought I should contribute with the AS weather discussion. It

[TomEDDW 1]

Hey!I have no tested Real Enviroment and i have to say that i like it!BUTIs it just me, or is REX not using ANY type of stratus cloud?I've flown several hours with REX and not seen one single stratus by now.Any experiences?Thanks!Thomas Rank

[Turbine777 13]

Hey!I have no tested Real Enviroment and i have to say that i like it!BUTIs it just me, or is REX not using ANY type of stratus cloud?I've flown several hours with REX and not seen one single stratus by now.Any experiences?Thanks!Thomas Rank

Have you tried setting your own weather? With a stratus layer? I see them, but not all the time. Of course the weather would have to call for it. Perhaps the weather your flying in (if real world weather) is not being depicted correctly.

[TomEDDW 1]

I use to fly with Real Time weather. Have not tried setting it manually. Is there a way to change the percentage of the clouds like in ASA?Thomas Rank

[Turbine777 13]

I use to fly with Real Time weather. Have not tried setting it manually. Is there a way to change the percentage of the clouds like in ASA?Thomas Rank

Not in Rex there isn't, at least not yet ;-) To my understanding, a weather engine gets the weather data then picks the textures that are assigned to those clouds.But to first answer your question about weather or not REX installed Stratus clouds and what I meant was, if you haven't seen any Rex textures for Stratus clouds, just boot FSX without any weather engine and use the advanced weather option in FSX and set some Stratus layers. That way at least you'll see that the textures exist. I see them all the time, as seen "here". (BTW, thats only a low res texture :-)As far as the options in ASA to drag and drop weather and changing weather along the route is my favorite feature of ASA actually. My only issue is when the weather changes it isn't gradual.On a different note: It's kind of funny, but I have run differnt tests (Many), where I have used ASA, REX and FSX weather engines where the only thing being tested is to see which engine picks which textures for it's weather that more closely resemble what I see outside. I live practically on top of a weather station and it seems like FSX's choice of REX textures is always the closest to what I'm seeing. It's a shame it has so many faults as a weather engine or I'd choose it 9/10.I look forward to what REX will do in versions down the road.

[vololiberista 205]

In order to have a gradual change in the weather you need a registered copy of FSUIPC. As for the weather engine itself mine depicts the weather I see very well. Especially haze after having downloaded a fix from avsim. Also it has much greater cloud coverage. If the METAR says OVC then it is! If it says TCU then they appear. Also STR. The weather engine has to analyze what kind of weather there is when it reads the METAR (not just what clouds are reported!) From the temperature gradient and humidity it should be able to determine whether or not stratus exists if they are not specifically stated in the METAR. likewise haze and cirrus. Being a real pilot I am trained to fly in real weather and from experience in the sim using real weather as your basis gives the best rendering of clouds and associated weather. If the weather engine is worth its salt then it will ignore slider settings done just for the sake of looks. In other words you won't be able to get a mix.Vololiberista

[TomEDDW 1]

Not in Rex there isn't, at least not yet ;-) To my understanding, a weather engine gets the weather data then picks the textures that are assigned to those clouds.But to first answer your question about weather or not REX installed Stratus clouds and what I meant was, if you haven't seen any Rex textures for Stratus clouds, just boot FSX without any weather engine and use the advanced weather option in FSX and set some Stratus layers. That way at least you'll see that the textures exist. I see them all the time, as seen "here". (BTW, thats only a low res texture :-)As far as the options in ASA to drag and drop weather and changing weather along the route is my favorite feature of ASA actually. My only issue is when the weather changes it isn't gradual.On a different note: It's kind of funny, but I have run differnt tests (Many), where I have used ASA, REX and FSX weather engines where the only thing being tested is to see which engine picks which textures for it's weather that more closely resemble what I see outside. I live practically on top of a weather station and it seems like FSX's choice of REX textures is always the closest to what I'm seeing. It's a shame it has so many faults as a weather engine or I'd choose it 9/10.I look forward to what REX will do in versions down the road.

In your screenshot i can see Cumulus and Cirrus if i'm right. What about Stratus?I do have stratus textures installed. ASA is using them very well.But REX doesn't seem to.Tom Rank

[downscc 1,327]

I don't think MSFS is capable of a solid undercast, the closest it comes is using cumulus instead of stratus. None of the addons can overcome a few of the irritating shortfalls of the MSFS wx, but it is not surprising if the assumption that it was created for the non-pilot for use in light GA aircraft only. MSFS really lacks any fidelity at jet flight levels. (MHO)

[Turbine777 13]

Yeah, FSX limits the perfect overcast, I mean I fly often and have very close overcast but the problem with FSX is that it seems to hold space open directly above and below you. There was a comment from Vololiberista on the first page of this topic where he created an awesome overcast look by editing the fsx.cfg changing the CLOUD_COVERAGE_DENSITY=8 value to 12. The problem is that FSX will revert this (I think) back to 8. The one who posted the bleow link was using fs9. I haven't tried it yet, but maybe when I get home and of course after I finally get a chance at the new MD-11 tutorial will experiment. Change the value to 12 and set up a 8/8 layer in FSX and see what happens.Check out these pics from this post, http://forums1.avsim.net/index.php?showtopic=268539&hl= tiz very nice, and looks quite solid.

[Guest WannaB_Pilot]

I've never had that problem with ASA,,, I don't think I did with Rex2 either. But I know what you mean it is annoying when you can see what you're not suppose to. Even weather engines have to contend with restrictions from FSX but at least they do a great job in the viz department.

Just so I understand correctly...you do not have a dramatic visibility change when descending through 1700' AGL into IFR conditions? Is this something only I am experiencing? I am using REX2 for FSX and I have this issue and had it using default FSX wx. It is very frustrating when tying to perform any sort of instrument approach. I thought this was an FSX issue, am I wrong?