Active Sky Evolution

[Krister 51]

I have to echo everything Aland Bradbury says in his review, it is so simple to use that it is incredible! I just start FS9 and then start ASE and that's it! If I lost my backup disk with MSFS software, Active Sky Evolution (or ASE) is one of the first software I would purchase again. I haven't really tried the different settings on the option page since it works beautifully "out of the box". I have had one issue which I haven't seen since the last patch, namely all the sudden my airplane would start rocking back and forth, ie first banking say 15 degrees to one direction and then snapping into a position where it banks 15 degrees to the other direction and then back again until I crash (and it happened with all aircraft). Thankfully that issue is now gone.But the atmosphere ASE is able to create is just staggering! Many times when I've been on approach in not quite so VMC condition and breaking out of the clouds (if I do....), I've had shivers down my spine and filled with endorphines of happiness! I am not saying other weather programs aren't able to produce this too, but ASE is the one I have experience with. I can add that I also add that I use REX for the clouds.One thing that could be added to the review, at least I couldn't find it, is that it supports being run on a second computer in your network and connect via WideFS (I run FS9). It takes some load of my flightsim computer and it's easier to interface with ASE. The only slight negative thing I can think of is that it still takes quite some time to load and get the updated weather in the sim, but it really is no issue. Before you are finished with your other chores, the weather is there in all its glory!

[Chock 17,769]

One thing that could be added to the review, at least I couldn't find it, is that it supports being run on a second computer in your network and connect via WideFS (I run FS9). It takes some load of my flightsim computer and it's easier to interface with ASE.

Good point. There's always something one will miss when wading through a feature list to mention in a review, and fortunately for reviewers, there's usually someone more vigilant who'll spot such omissions and point them out here in this bit of Avsim! I really do genuinely appreciate the help people offer when adding such supporting info relating to reviews on this part of Avsim in particular, so thank you Krister.One thing readers of the review can do of course, is click on the HiFi Technologies link at the top of the review info panel, which will take them to the product website where they can find a more comprehensive list of all the features, so that's my excuse LOLAl

[level7 172]

thanks for the review alan, a few questions:does ASE do anything to address the sudden winds that happen in FS or do we still need FSUIPC to do wind smoothing?how does ASE compare to REX in the weather modelling? i find the REX weather engine to be quite clunkyhave you had any bad experiences with this in PMDG planes as i had heard some user reports about loss in altitude / speed when using AS

[Chock 17,769]

There are some tweaks you can perform to sort out possible clashes with some high-end add-on aircraft and indeed the wind-smoothing tricks FSUIPC can perform. In practice I've found it is pretty much a non-issue because HiFi are quite candid about the potential for those problems and get straight to offering some fixes (should they be needed) right at the start of the PDF manual which comes with ASE.The changes you can make to solve any problems are thoroughly detailed in the PDF (on page nine) and they are easy to do, so it's really not a big deal at all. Of course I can't speak for everyone who has ever used Active Sky Evolution and say nobody will ever have a problem of any kind, but I did spend quite a bit of time trying ASE with both my payware version of FSUIPC and the freebie variant too, as well as with the PMDG 747 and a few other aircraft which could potentially be adversely affected by ASE, and if I had experienced insurmountable issues, I would have certainly said so in the review, but it just wasn't the case, there weren't any disastrous effects when I tested it out, so I didn't make a big deal about it in my review, other than to mention the fixes being available in the PDF should anyone need to use them.With regard to the REX engine, here's my personal take on it. REX is a fab add-on, which I bought and do use and would have no hesitation in recommending, but because it does so many things, it is entirely understandable that it is not going to compare to a program which tackles just one of those things in intricate and meticulous detail. So although I think the REX weather engine is an improvement on the default FS capability, I think the ASE weather engine (and all the other weather-related capabilities ASE has) make it something of a no-brainer to use REX for its strong points (i.e the fantastic textures) and ASE for its strong points (i.e the superior way it tames all aspects of the weather in FS).Thus to judge REX solely by comparing the REX weather engine to the ASE weather engine is a little unfair to REX. It would be like comparing an adjustable wrench to a an expensive standard wrench that fits one size of nut perfectly, claiming that the adjustable wrench isn't so well suited to fastening that particular nut, which of course it isn't, but ignores the fact that an adjustable wrench can perform a lot of other tasks pretty well too, including some that the other tool cannot. So my opinion is, REX and ASE in combination, are the perfect tools for the job.Al