I am having so many issues with ASE that I am questioning if it might be better to run without it at this point. It started actually with another post of mine about ATIS identifiers that automatically changed with every transmission - the offered solution was that it was an FS problem, but it is obviously not.FSX runs fine without ASE. But as soon as I run ASE and have it configure weather, the problems start. First clue is that the weather as loaded appears, then changes almost immediately. For example, if I load a single stratus cloud layer at 900 AGL, 1000' thick, ASOS tells me initially that the overcast is 900 feet and all other parameters are as programmed in ASE and loaded into FSX. But the next consecutive ASOS will tell me the overcast is 1100' Then the next tells me 1500' overcast. It finally settles somewhere around 4500-5500' overcast. Just to ensure I'm doing this right, I click apply weather after I modify the Metar, and even see the green banner run across FSX telling me that ASE weather configuration was successful.The other issue is that the ATIS identifier changes with every broadcast - not every hour - with every 30-second broadcast. If I tune in the ATIS of a nearby airfield about 5 NM away, things get even more wacky. Unlike ASOS, in which the ceilings increase with every broadcast, ATIS sees winds change about 20 degrees counterclockwise with each transmission. The following is an actual excerpt for 8 consecutive ATIS announcements:

ATIS information Mike... winds 177 at 17ATIS information Charlie... winds 159 at 19ATIS information Sierra... winds 141 at 9ATIS information India... winds 122 at 16ATIS information Zulu... winds 103 at 22ATIS information Papa... winds 084 at 18ATIS information Foxtrot... winds 065 at 15ATIS information Victor... winds 047 at 18

Interestingly, on another flight the wind vectors changed in the other direction - again by about 20 degrees per broadcast. Identifier letters change following no particular pattern as can be seen from my example above.Again - ASOS sees changing ceilings. ATIS sees changing winds. Both changes are substantial - not RW simulation by any measure.In both cases (ATIS and ASOS), broadcast time was exactly the same between transmissions, as was vis, temp, dew point, and barometric pressure. Even the ATIS-reported wind velocities are relatively consistent but wind vector changes are very unrealistic except for perhaps a very light and variable day - even then a stretch and the winds were anything but light.It is worth saying that I do NOT network with VATsim or anything like that. I am not even using RC (which I normally do. Full system reboot and reloading of ASE and FSX effects no improvement.One more bug - when I climbed through the clouds, ASOS reported the visibility from my cockpit - which increased from 2 miles to 20 miles on top, then back down to 2 miles when I landed.

It just got even worse. Programmed in a single overcast layer base at 700 AGL and light winds 050 at 5 kts. 5 consecutive ASOS reports:Ceiling 1300 OVC winds 011 at 5Ceiling 1700 OVC winds 023 at 5Ceiling 2000 OVC winds 037 at 5Ceiling 2300 OVC winds 049 at 5Ceiling 2600 OVC winds 061 at 5Does anyone have a clue as to what's going on? The program is all but unusable to me, since I need to moinitor ATIS to program nav data - but I can't do that if ATIS/ASOS can't give reliabl information. Beyond that, when I test fly through the layers to ascertain what they really are (ceilings), I pop out the top and can see ground below - no solid undercast as I had hoped this program would provide. After hours of trying to figure this out, I am left with a program with no obvious visual advantages over FSX plus it messes up the weather reporting system.

Further evaluation: Looks like ASE configures the weather in FSX, but then FSX turns around and gradually reconfigures it in ASE. Going back and forth between the two programs, with an overcast of 700 (a single solid stratus layer at 700' AGL and 1000' thick coded into the Metar via the Clouds section of the Wx Config page), it looks like after about 15 consecutive ASOS reports that see the layer go from "800 OVC" to "Clear below 12,000", and seeing not only the layer actually higher in vertically slewed "test flights" through all the altitudes, but additional layers as well at higher altitudes that I did not code into ASE. So I checked back to ASE. I still saw 700 highlighted in the layer box, but as soon as I clicked on it, POOF! - it changed to 37,100! :( I have noticed subsequently that despite what I program in to ASE, it changes both from stratus to cumulus and the ceilings change as well. So the problem appears even worse than I thought - I thought the ATIS/ASOS reports were just erroneous, but it appears they are actually reflecting FSX changing the ASE values right back again.

Changed dynamic rate of change in Options to zero in the hopes it was a factor - no effect. Unregistered version of FSUIPC so no options to configure that. Selected lock option for location - no change. Despite a single solid stratus layer, clouds appear to be only cumulus. Eventually, ASE shows the layer as cumulus even thought I repeatedly select and save stratus.

Guess I'm havng a conversation here all by myself - but at some point someone may be looking through the threads to find an answer to the same problem, so I'll just keep recording my observations and attempted fixes until hopefully I come upon a solution or a reason why. Hoping someone will chime in as well with some ideas.The weather changes induced in ASE from FSX don't seem near as severe when using "current" weather vs. building layers and winds in the program itself. ATIS identifier still changes to a randomly different letter with every 30 second broadcast, however - even with no changes in the contents of that broadcast. And stratus just doesn't happen - above or below me - even with slider all the way to stratus in the Options page.FSX seems to have a grand time kicking around ASE -it ignores requested weather (winds, cloud types, levels, etc) and ultimately rewrites the METARs in ASE.