Hi guys,I have been long using REX 2.0 with IVAO weather system.I am thinking about purchasing Active Sky Evolution.. My question is, is there any problems running it along with PMDG aircraft [i saw something mentioned a while back]?Also is it worth it, does it really change the FSX experience.I look forward to your commentsAlex

This would be the best place to ask your question:http://forum.avsim.net/forum/171-hifi-simulation-software-support/

Hi,I have REX and ASE. In my opinion, REX is good but ASE is better. The weather updates are smooth and the weather rendition is nice.

A lot of people like using ASE with REX clouds - get the best of both. Others prefer FEX clouds but it's an individual call.Vic

ASE is my main weather proggie. I use REX weather occasionally, but I find the loading of the weather is disruptive to the immersion thing; lots of screen flickering as well as irritating banners (REX is converting, REX is finished, etc). I don't get flickering in ASE, and I can turn off the updating messages in ASE. Can't fly w/o ASE.

You should know that there is a problem with certain weather conditions causing S-Turns with the PMDG 747's autopilot--it doesn't happen every flight, but I've had it affect maybe 15 to 20% of my flights. The new ASE update includes modes that apparently don't cause this problem, although there are other tradeoffs to using those instead of the one that causes the S-Turns.All that said, ASE is a fantastic program and the S-Turns thing is the tiniest of flies in the ointment.James

A lot of people like using ASE with REX clouds - get the best of both. Others prefer FEX clouds but it's an individual call.Vic

Same here...I use ASE with REX and think the combo works very well together. ASE manual includes good advice on how to best mitigate potential problems with PMDG aircraft and other complex add-ons. I've flown the PMDG MD-11 many times with ASE and had no issues.

I've had no problems running ASE with REX clouds while flying the PMDG 747-400 or 747-8i. :( Go for it!

I've had no problems running ASE with REX clouds while flying the PMDG 747-400 or 747-8i. :( Go for it!

well thats what i am going to do,Thanks guys for all your help,,Just to claify, i use REX textures, [everything basically], and dont use the REX weather engine.Question, does active sky "pause" to update new weather [like REX did], and do you get a good weather report for flight planning [NATS for example]

Many is the time I've cranked up FSX and ASE, started a flight from my (real life) local airport of EGCC, then been surprised at the weather FSX has depicted, thinking something along the lines of: 'hang on a minute, why is it raining at EGCC in FSX? It's not raining outside my house and EGCC is only three miles away', then I've looked outside my window and observed that it has indeed just started raining in real life! I once even used that ASE cleverness to go and get some washing in off the line that was drying in my garden, which I'd put out when thinking it was going to be fine all day!That kind of thing happened just the other day too. It's currently very cold in the UK with snow and crisp clear skies most days, so the last thing you'd expect in that kind of weather is very thick fog since the snow and ice is generally too cold to evaporate. I started a flight at EGCD (another airport less than a couple of miles from me in real life), and it was really foggy in FSX on the airfield. Again I thought 'this isn't right!', then looked out of the window and saw that the fog was indeed building up, five minutes later my wife arrived back at the house having driven past EGCD, and the first thing she said was - yup you guessed it - 'you should see the fog near Woodford!'.The UK's weather is notoriously difficult to predict accurately and it can be very changeable, so it's a tough test for any FS weather engine, but ASE always seems to do a really good job of it. This is especially pertinent to FSX for those who make trans-oceanic flights in view of the fact that there are large expanses of terrain in world where no local METAR is available to either FSX or real-life pilots. But rather than simply generate no weather there, which is what the default FSX would tend to do, ASE interpolates the data from the four closest available METAR stations and combines that info with known wind and temperature data to generate a 'best guess' at what the weather will be like in that location, so it can even have a good shot at depicting the weather in a place where there isn't actually any local data for it, which is more than real-life pilots get much of the time when flying outside of radar contact. This also means that it is not locked into awaiting an hourly ATIS report before it can make subtle and convincing weather changes in FS. All of that cleverness is brilliantly implemented too, since you can have it do all that without actually worrying about it yourself, offering you a detailed and accurate weather simulation across the FS globe, but in a truly 'fire and forget' way, yet still providing you with all the info you need for flight planning in a variety of useful ways, not least because of its add-on ACARS-like cockpit gauge.This kind of thing, plus the really impressive GUI which ASE has, and the fact that it works with FSX and FS9, are among the many reasons why I recommended it for an Avsim Award when I reviewed it. Yes it's not perfect in every way, with some tweaks possibly needing to be done if one experiences issues with fancy add-on aircraft, but there are solutions for that and HiFi do address that in ASE's excellent documentation should you be affected by it, so it really does merit that award Avsim gave it.It is without doubt the best weather engine you can get for MSFS. The only other flight sim weather engine which can give it a run for its money in terms of clever interpretation, is the one in Silent Wings (and that is admittedly a rather specialist flight sim that I doubt many people on Avsim own), which has the capability to read the terrain height to generate accurate vertical air mass data for the sim based on wind, cloud cover and the angle of exposure to the sun.Al

<br />well thats what i am going to do,<br /><br />Thanks guys for all your help,,<br /><br />Just to claify, i use REX textures, [everything basically], and dont use the REX weather engine.<br /><br />Question, does active sky "pause" to update new weather [like REX did], and do you get a good weather report for flight planning [NATS for example]<br />

<br /><br /><br />No, Active Sky does not pause to update-- however there (in my experience) is a very short system "slow down" as the new weather loads. It's hardly noticeable and does not impede your flight in any form. ASE and REX are my two must have's for FSX.

well thats what i am going to do,Thanks guys for all your help,,Just to claify, i use REX textures, [everything basically], and dont use the REX weather engine.Question, does active sky "pause" to update new weather [like REX did], and do you get a good weather report for flight planning [NATS for example]

Hi Alex,Here's what works best for me.To avoid sudden weather changes I have found that by going to the ASE "Briefing" page selecting "Change Flight Plan" and selecting the flight plan I created ASE will read the waypoints and insert the weather along the route without causing any changes from takeoff to landing.I have just returned to online flying via VATSIM and the weather had improved tenfold.I am really enjoying the experience.

Right, it seems I need this program, if only to eliminate that annoying and sudden transition of great visibility to 10nm visibility that FS seems to be so intent on doing. Always annoyed the hell out of me. And now that I have read these comments, it really does seem like a great product.Ouch! That credit card is burning my leg, it's so warm with excitement. I guess it wants to be taken out...

You won't regret it Ben.Flying without ASE is like eating some Roquefort cheese witout a good glass of red wine!It's a solid piece of software and you get from Hifi Simulation excellent support and upgrades.I use it together with REX environment for the best visual experience one could expect.

Is there like, better wind sheer and turbulence?