Where is the FSXOptions.cfg in WIN 7 64? ThanksDon

Hi and thanks to Paul for this very useful post! However I have one question: Using ASE and FSUIPC, I did exactly what is written by Paul but how should I set the wind, temp and pressure smoothness in FSUIPC for the best weather rendition? Should I set the values as shown in the screenshot posted at te begining of the post? Pierre Lainé

begining of the post? yes I had to go back to those they are great, the later posts did not work very well for me anyway.

Using ASE and FSUIPC, I did exactly what is written by Paul but how should I set the wind, temp and pressure smoothness in FSUIPC for the best weather rendition?

I am not using the options in your quote above. Just the 3 Boxes checked for Turbulence, Gusts and Variance. The easiest way to make it like mine is to go to the FSUIPC interface and click on the About Tab then Click the box Weather Settings Off. Then go to Winds Tab and under Supress these wind effects Check the three Boxes, Turbulence, Gusts and Variance. Other than those 3 things FSUIPC is not doing any smoothing including in the Clouds Section. What I am trying to achieve is allow Activesky Evolution to have as much control as possible of the weather settings while using the Direct Weather Control Option in ASE. If it was possible not to use any FSUIPC Weather settings at all I would do that but soon as you start unchecking those 3 Boxes the NGX or other PMDG planes go back to s-turning. There is only one other option I can see. That would be to completely turn off ALL FSUIPC weather settings including the 3 boxes discussed and then use the FSX Option on Weather and check the Box Disable Turbulence and Thermal Effects on Aircraft. (Which is essentially putting your plane in a bubble). This option will also fix the s-turning problem. Not sure which is the lesser of two evils here. I think the FSUIPC option is probably the better option but they may both have the same effect. Of course if you do not have the registered version of FSUIPC then you would only have the FSX option available to you.

Also, I noticed there is a fair bit of haze/fog it almost looks like a rainy day even though it's a clear/sunny day. I think I need to play with my sky textures a bit.

I found something else out yesterday while fiddling with the clouds settings. If its a clear day outside and you have the 3 boxes checked under the ASE Visibility Tab you can do the following to clear up the hazey/fog you were talking about without unchecking the boxes. Maximum Upper Visiblity. While your are in flight at cruise level trying moving this slider to 200 nm and then hit save and apply button and watch what happens. The haze will start to break up and you can see farther. There will be a little haze at the very limits of your visibility at 200 nm. If you are at groud level then you would adjust the Maximum Surface Visibility. The recommended options at the begining of the post are just recommended settings to get you started and work fine for most people. But like everything else there are many different weather conditions and everyone has their own idea about what looks realistic. That is what is great about ASE, all the options and customizations you can make to tailor the weather to your particular needs.

Thanks again for posting your settings Paul. I've been using them for the last few days with great success.

Go to the Desktop open Activesky and click on the Briefing Button. Click on the Change Flight Plan button and then Click on the Import Button. If the path is correct and a flight plan is made you should see it and can import it. After you do that add your Alternate Airport, Cruise speed and Cruise Altitude and then click Process. When it asks you if you want to install a Snapshot you click cancel. The Snapshot is mostly for Xgraphics which is another program by Hi-Fi with Texture themes like REX. If you do not have Xgraphics you would just hit the cancel button when asked to load a snapshot. Now your done and your flight plan is loaded and you will see it on the map. Also anytime you click on the Briefing button with a plan loaded you will see all the weather conditions for the entire route.

This is really useful with regards to flight planning. But, can you tell how to derive your decent winds? Do you just pick points from the flight plan at certain levels and use the wind information from them or is there a better way?? I really want to get into using wind data for more accurate VNAV performance.

Thanks for taking the time to post this fix. I have it all setup as per the first post in the thread, works perfectly. Thanks again.

This is really useful with regards to flight planning. But, can you tell how to derive your decent winds? Do you just pick points from the flight plan at certain levels and use the wind information from them or is there a better way??

Actually I take a shortcut and Cheat! I never add the winds to all the FMC waypoints. I set everything up the way you normally would I just do not go through all the hassle of adding the winds to every way point of the route. That is very time consuming and I used to do it in the past, and yes that is the best way. But I do not always have time to do everything by the book. Between the PMDG 737-NGX, MD-11X, 747-400X and Level-D 767-300 I have over 7,000 hours on VATSIM flying to more than 300 airports around the world many times. So I have a pretty good idea what the fuel burn rates are for the above 4 aircraft, with tail winds, head winds, light and heavy. If you do not have something like Topcat and you do not mind taking a short cut here and there I can tell you the basic of how I caculate my fuel. While it may not be that realistic I have only ran out of fuel 1 time in 7,000 hours and I still coasted into the gate before my engines died on the 1 time I ran out. (150 kt head winds from KLAX to YSSY - 747-400X). For the calculations below you forget the normal way of calculating fuel burn rates. With the forumla below you figure the total number of hours for the flight and add 1 hour for a reserve. When you have the total number of hours then you x that by the amount of fuel per hour listed below. Works pretty close and sometimes the numbers are even within a 1000 lbs of my estimates at the arrival airport gate. 737-NGX (Still quite new - so these are still a work in progress).Light = 5750-6000 lbs per hourMedium to Heavy = 6250 lbs to 6600 lbs per hour MD-11X Light = 15,800 to 16,000 lbs per hourMedium to Heavy = 17,000 to 17,800 lbs per hour 747-400XLight = 22,000 to 23,000 lbs per hourMedium to Heavy = 24,000 to 25,000 lbs per hour Did not include the Level-D because it has been awhile since I have flown it regularly cause I am spoiled on the PMDG planes. They just look so much better and off the top of my head can't remember what range I was using. But it was what I learned to fly with on FS9 and was the King of Pack in it's day, until the Queen of the Skies came along and blew it away! Forumlation for the Head Winds and Tail winds is rather simple. Check your winds for the route your going to flly and if it is a very long flight such as a 14 hour flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong with major headwinds add an extra hour, or half an hour for a short flight. If your flying with a good tail wind subtract an hour for a long flight and half an hour for a short flight. For Cost Index I use 70 to 80 for the MD-11X and 747-400X (285 to 290 knots on Descent) and on the NGX cost index 40 gives me about 287 knots on descent. If you do not have the time to do every flight by the book the above work very well for me. If you want to do everything by the book then forget what you just read.

Actually I take a shortcut and Cheat! I never add the winds to all the FMC waypoints.

Wow, I've just started flying with real weather and find that if I fly VNAV decents with a tailwind and no FMC correction then I end up in a whole world of trouble on approach! Maybe that's just me (and my inexperience :() Is ASE enough should I wish to input cruise winds and decent winds into the FMC? Thanks for sharing your fuel calcs with us. I'll definitely be trying that out!

Wow, I've just started flying with real weather and find that if I fly VNAV decents with a tailwind and no FMC correction then I end up in a whole world of trouble on approach! Maybe that's just me (and my inexperience )

Use the charts and make sure your at your first altitude restriction and then you should be fine. Example KLAX Seavu2 and Rwy 25L Approach. Put in all the altitude restrictions and hit the VNAV and it should be able to fly you in perfectly provided you use enough drag when required. Course you would want to be about 210 around GAATE and then 180 knots to the outter marker, then wheels down, flaps set, vref set. 280/17000 KONZL/16000 ENGLI/14000 PECOX/12000 SEAVU/5000 GAATE/3600/190025L

Use the charts and make sure your at your first altitude restriction and then you should be fine. Example KLAX Seavu2 and Rwy 25L Approach. Put in all the altitude restrictions and hit the VNAV and it should be able to fly you in perfectly provided you use enough drag when required. Course you would want to be about 210 around GAATE and then 180 knots to the outter marker, then wheels down, flaps set, vref set. 280/17000 KONZL/16000 ENGLI/14000 PECOX/12000 SEAVU/5000 GAATE/3600/190025L

Many thanks Paul.

Hi,I have a temperature problem with the ESA program, I have everything set as you, except that when I'm 10 and I track mounted in FL40 I see 18 and 17 after it has brutally changed the normal . Tank you , JMarc

Hi,I have a temperature problem with the ASE program, I have everything set as you, except that when I'm 10 and I track mounted in FL40 I see 18 and 17 after it has brutally changed the normal . Tank you , JMarc

Why do we check within FSX, "Download Winds Aloft data with real world weather - CHECKED"? Does not ASE handle this?

Why do we check within FSX, "Download Winds Aloft data with real world weather - CHECKED"?

Don't check it if you have ASE.