It's been 12 months since ASA initial release and I'm just wondering how many FS9 users finally switched to ASA? I was one of the first buyers of ASA and even after SP1 release I hasn't been satisfied with overall usability of ASA comparing with AS6.5. Perhaps, it's just me and other folks have had different experience.So, your thought sare welcome.

So what actually *is* the difference? I don't understand it, honestly... It's a newer version, so I'd think it's also better in most ways, but that's not the case, it seems?

So what actually *is* the difference? I don't understand it, honestly... It's a newer version, so I'd think it's also better in most ways, but that's not the case, it seems?

I know that ASA perform better in terms of producing "the picture". I was talking about the difference in overall stability, sudden changes in visibility, cloud coverage and other glitches.

Personally, AS 6.5 is XP and ASA is Vista. I have both, still using 6.5... it works, fast, no fancy interface, everything located one or two clicks away.

Hi.I'm with Mike on this one.I haven't tried ASA, but some of my friends have and switched back to ASv 6.5I use ASv 6.5 along with GE Pro and FE, coupled with those HDE clouds we were all raving about in the forums a month or so ago.

I find that using ASA with REX for FS9 makes FS9 look like a brand new sim :( However, I get cloud popping in ASA which I didn't get in AS6.5 :(

Hi,I mainly use ASv6.5 because it is fast and reliable. Sometimes, when I have enough time, I do use ASA and it does indeed give "nicer pictures", but it simply isn't where it's older brother is. Cloud pops, screen flicker and it's overall speed (try running your sim at anything faster than 2x!) simply make me go back to ASv6.5. But I haven't given up on ASA, I am sure Damian and the crew over at HiFi sim will iron these little buggers out. One thing for sure - ASA has LOTS of potential! :(Regards,Jure

Hm. I might have to reconsider, maybe I should go for 6.5 and upgrade once these issues have been cleared (or an entirely new version comes out).

I used ASv6.5 for a good while and now I'm using ASA. Great program... and yes, I do get cloud popping but have found a way to manage it by reducing the length of time between updates because I noticed that the frequency of the popping was pretty much correlated with the update interval... (I sent Jim a PM on this)Now using GEPro for ground and cloud textures from REX - all looking pretty tasty :)Geoff

Ok - sounds like nothing hasn't been changed since in ASA the initial release - so I'll stay with ASV6.5 for the next year again.Thanks for the responses, folks.

I still use AS6.5 for FS9 and FSX ... it does it all for me! Very pleased.

It's been 12 months since ASA initial release and I'm just wondering how many FS9 users finally switched to ASA? I was one of the first buyers of ASA and even after SP1 release I hasn't been satisfied with overall usability of ASA comparing with AS6.5. Perhaps, it's just me and other folks have had different experience.So, your thought sare welcome.

I did and with the newest patches, weather is more table, less "cloud pops", wind changes are smooth, no pressure spikes, more fluid feel, turbulence where its supposed to be, thermals modeled where they are supposed to be, and on and on...ASA is absolutely worth the upgrade from AS6

ASA is performing much better that it was before SP1, but I'm using the latest beta release. SP1 still had an issue or two. The problems I notice the most are cloud popping and/or sudden weather changes. Some of these happened with ASv6.5, but not that often. Prior to SP1, several things in ASA like thermals and other newer features didn't seem to work at all, so I actually turned them off. I haven't turned them on since to see if they work now. I have wind shear and DWC off, so I never seem to get any new effects over ASv6.5. I also don't know if I should trust the DWC other other things, so I'm still using FSUIPC for all that wind and baro stuff. In reality, I'm not gaining much over ASv6.5 except a great map and better nav log.

Like them both, but pretty much use ASA all the time. FS9 user

I know that you will read a lot of negative comment about ASA, but the positive far outweighs the negative. Honestly.The cloud layer depiction is second to none (now that I have solved my OVC issue :( )There are a couple of outstanding problems which for me are:1. The old 'force destination zone no longer works as it did. It now interpolates data from surrounding airfields to give a hybrid weather in a zone around and at the destination. This is very frustrating when you are looking forward to a low vis landing, but you arrive and because the surrounding airports aren't in low vis, your destination also isn't (although the METAR still says it is). By not being able to use this function (you can disable it) it leads to arriving at an airport reporting low vis, in clear vis again, and the vis not dropping until you are nearly on the ground (or sometimes on the ground) as there seems to be a big lag.2. ASA still has a habit of rendering high level Cumulus cloud (I mean big puffy cumulus clouds at FL330 anyone???), but Jim has promised to fix this in the next update.3. There is still some element of cloud popping, where you will be flying along with no cloud, then ASA refreshes itself, and all of a sudden, in a split second, there is cloud everywhere. There is supposed to be a suppression zone which you can configure to stop this, but it doesn't work for a lot of people (including me). Personally I can live with this happening every now and then.The Pros are:1. Excellent depictions of clouds, far beyond what was seen in AS62. The best Wind now depicted. Try landing at an airport giving gusty winds. Takes some real airmanship now. Really well depicted wind.3. The visibility slider allows you to determine max vis at high and low altitudes. This feature alone is worth the upgrade money!4. A much better user interface, with moving map to monitor weather.5. Much better enroute weather.6. etc. etc. etc....................Hope this helpsNeilps. oh, and I forgot to mention, HiFi support is second to none (thanks Jim)