Now that ActiveSky 2004 is out, we have two major weather products for FS2004. Has anyone used them both, and can compare them? For me, the important considerations are:1) Is weather depicted accurately in conjunction with METAR, TAF and Winds Aloft reports? 2) Are transitions between weather stations handled realistically in terms of clouds, winds, temprature and altimeter, or does weather change suddenly?3) How is overcast skies, multiple cloud layers, turbulence and icing handled?4) How are the products integrated with flight planning and en route weather services?5) How is performance? Are there stutters during weather downloading? How is frames per second?6) Is it a noticeable, major upgrade to the default weather?They are both the same price, so that is not an issue. This will be helpful since I can only find 1 review of FSMeteo for FS2004, and of course no reviews yet of Active Sky.I would post on each prospective forum, but I am seeking a hopefully unbiased opinion.Thanks,PapaTango

Hi there,:) Obviously I can't give an unbiased opinion on the subjective issues (will leave that to others), but I can answer a couple trivial questions you have pertaining to AS2004:3) Overcast layers are doubled up for better coverage (with Overcast Enhancement enabled). This can cause a performance hit but is not too bad under most circumstances. 10 METAR cloud layers are supported including overcast double-ups and fog, CAVOK and/or upper layer generation (depending on options). There is a cloud layer limiter feature to restrict the max number of layers you'll get, which can help with performance issues in very "cloud-intensive" weather. Icing is set to cloud layers depending on their relative temperature, 3deg C down to -15deg C is a considered possible icing scenario and a random influence is applied to determine whether or not icing will be present. Cirrus layers, being composed entirely of ice crystals, are not conductive to icing. Freezing rain or thunderstorm activity will have higher levels of icing prevelent. Also worthy to note, layer types (stratus, cumulus, cirrus) are intelligently chosen based on computed conditions.4) METAR, TAF (forecast) and aloft data is all presented for each waypoint (using the closest valid station) and is available for planning with a full navlog/waypoint report with headings, wind corrections, ETA, GS, etc. EFAS/FlightWatch is simulated via tuning to 122.0. You'll get a voice and/or text readback depending on your options. AS2004 is designed to match all real-world planning products as well (when using real-time or matched-archived wx).5) There are always small stutters during actual weather writes, this is noticed even in FS2004 default real wx download updates. We try to contain it by using Update Suppression with a configurable Suppression Ceiling. Updates/writes will simply not occur while below this altitude AND airborne. Without a doubt, AS2004 can indirectly cause performance hits as it enables you to render much more detailed weather scenes. Lower-end systems can use the associated options to tone things down to achieve the best performance/detail balance. ActiveRadar can also cause performance hits when using higher detail rendering options. Again these can be turned down on lower-end systems.Hope that is fairly helpful, just wanted to answer the questions that don't pertain to my biased opinion :) Damian ClarkHiFi Simulation SoftwareDeveloper of ActiveSkyhttp://www.hifisim.comhttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004betateam.jpg

Thank you Damian for clarifying those points. I should have added item number seven (7) to the list, which is prompt customer support on forums, and the quick issuance of patches as needed. In looking at the Active Sky forum, it appears that you give excellent customer service. You are also very detailed in your explanations of your weather processing features. One followup question: Are the settings well-documented so as to know which items can be adjusted for better frame rates?I would be interested in your opinion on why you think that your product is better than FSMeteo? It would help me draw distinctions between the two.I am sure that they are both great products, but there is no use buying both of them. Choices , choices!Thanks,PapaTango