Folks,This weather add-on for FS2004 has a lot of shortcomings! I personally suggest not buying this program thinking it will solve the winds aloft transitions issue with FS2004 - IT DOES NOT. The wind shifts are just as bad as with FS2004's default online weather, it's just a miserable experience trying to fly with Activesky at jet route altitudes (FL180+). You won't be able to maintain a decent climb profile and you will still get 180 degree, massive wind shifts throughout your flight. Activesky advertises that it has a route-based winds smoothing function but this is very deceptive in my opinion. It translates into a very mild 'fix' for FS2004's winds aloft problem but Activesky is advertising otherwise. I do not personally get smooth cloud transitions either, pop up clouds are the norm for most flights. I have never had a normal, smooth flight with acceptable wind smoothing or cloud tranisiton after almost a month of use. I personally think that FS2004's own built-in weather system is more usable and by simply disabling winds aloft altogether.My advice if you are thinking about buying this program is to think twice, read other user's experiences before making an informed decision. I have had nothing but one miserable weather experience after another with Activesky 2004. Just my personal opinion and experience, I thought I would share this before anyone else spends money thinking this weather program will fix FS2004, cuz it certainly won't. You'd be paying money for FS2004's own rehashed weather, replete with the same flaws and even WORSE cloud transitions than you would originally have with FS2004's own default weather. Caveat Emptor

I would have to concur. The feature set - especially Active Radar and Overcast Enhancement - certainly show the promise, innovation and potential this product could achieve. But at its core, as a consistent reliable weather engine, the product is fundamentally flawed. Few things consistently work as advertised - and it's a 50/50 crap shoot as to whether or not the WX outside the aircraft will reflect the METAR. Sometimes it does a fantastic job; other times it gives you almost exactly the opposite.In fairness to AS2K4, a service update is expected in the next few weeks - so maybe I'll see where things stand then. This product could have stood another 6-8 weeks in beta. For the "pricey" $29.95 Euro (~$35 US) - I would advise against buying this product until some of the rougher edges of the product have been buffed out. For now, I'm back to FSMeteo and the ever shifting winds aloft.J

Guys I have heard these same complaints about active sky over and over. I don't own the software (thank goodness) but I appreciate other user's honest opinions before I make the mistake of buying stuff that doesn't work as it's supposed to. I have many friends on VATSIM that absolutely hate active sky because of the winds thing crashing their planes and/or causing constant autopilot disconnects. I don't see the logic in doling out the cash to get essentially the same thing you already have with FS9 weather. Honestly I would pay decent bucks for a program that would simply give me wind smoothing alone. I would pay $50 us easy even for FSUIPC if it could just fix the winds problem and nothing else. But I really dont think anybody can fix this issue truth be told. I won't pay any money for more compromises though, that's for sure.Maybe some talented developer out there will get wind of the potential demand for a weather program that actually works and maybe hit this thing with a totally new approach or something. Right now I've gone back to FS2002 and FSMETEO 6.4 and I'm actually 100% more satisfied with it's performance over FS2004. Not as much eye candy but so much more realistic when you look at the total simulation experience in terms of flyability. I get real overcast skies, totally smooth visibility transitions, no see through ceilings, and Lord help me, silky smooth wind transitions at any altitude. Hard to beat!!!!

Darren,I am using AS2004 all of the time and I can only say that I am very pleased with it. Did you download and install the beta update that is offered on the ActiveSky forum here on Avsim? It may be coincidence, but I haven't seen the weird wind change phenomena after installing this update. It also depicts the real-world weather for my neighborhood very well.Best regards,Henri

I had some problems with wxRE 1.92 Jim and Damian offered excellent support. That says alot. So I bought AS2004. A couple minor gripes, but a huge improvement imho. They have been helpful with current users offering tweaks and other suggestions and are working on another service release. The one recently released fixed all my woes. I couldn't be happier.Yeah there are some issues with some people using some systems. No program is 100% bug free. Look at FSCOF with the CTD issues. Do you say buyer beware about that?My opinion Active Sky rocks, I'm glad I bought it, they have excelleant customer support and I will faithfully remain a customer of theirs.

Henri and Crabster,Thanks for your support!JimActiveSky Support

My goodness this is not my experience! My only complaint is an occasional pop up in the background that seems to be an issue with certain low level haze layer situations. And because of the highly complex cloud layering performance can be significantly affected. This is a tweakable area though. All in all, weather presentations are much more believeable with AS2004 than either FSMeteo, or FS default IMO. I think it's a very decent program.Noel

By all means caveat emptor - that is what the Active Sky forum is for. Only there will one get accurate and balanced views on this add on. Sure some people have problems - probably related to unrealistic expectations or incorrect installation - but the vast majority are happy with their purchase and the support provided.I am amazed you have been so petty as to scuttle off to a different forum to bag the efforts of others simply because you the message provided in response to your thread was not what you wanted to hear. You set your horizon too high and failed to read up before purchasing. maybe you should have stuck with FS2002.Andy b

Hi Darren,Correct me if I am wrong but I remember having seen a reply from Damian to your remarks asking you to contact him by Email. Quite frankly I am now somewhat puzzled as to what you are trying to achieve by bringing your issues to this forum.If you have a hidden agenda other than to look for professional answers and solutions to your questions then please be frank and say so.Would it have not been fair from you if you felt absolutely necessary to look for a wider audience for your frustration to, at least, include the link to your previous thread which includes many constructive replies?.For those interested in an accurate reading of the complains put forward by Darren and the answers given by Damian and his team here is the link http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...g_id=7640&page= I am sure that attentive readers will have a much more positive opinion that what they could build by only reading a negative statement.Michael

Hi there, I can confirm I'm a happy Active 2004 user, although I had windshifts in the beginning (none of this shifts caused the airplane to crash), the alpha patch fixed it for now. The FS 2004 standard weather is much more boring, flying changes a lot with this addon. Addionally as already mentioned, you get a really good support, average time for a response is for shure below 3 hours, that's also worth a lot. thanx

I will not enter into an argument. But in honesty I must say that I always use ActiveSky with no problem until now.If you are dissatisfied with the product, O.K. You critisize it, O.K.But you do not need to be so virulent. Damien is one of the most helpful developper.Roger

Michael,No I certainly don't have a personal agenda whatsoever. I do however believe in bringing flawed software to the attention of the general public as a resource to making an informed purchase decision. If I bought a can opener that didn't work and this were a kitchen aid forum I'd be just as vociferus, believe me. Activesky advertises route based wind smoothing but this 'feature' is quite flawed in my personal opinion. I am hardly the only one experiencing this! I wouldn't have paid for this program had I known had little this program improved winds aloft over FS2004's own default weather. I think it's fair to let other consumers be aware of this fact before purchasing. The concept of 'route based wind smoothing' being marketed by Activesky is very misleading!!! I and many others like myself have tried every conceivable solution as described in the forum link you generously provided above. In my personal opinion there is no workable solution and the weather experience with Activesky remains, in my opinion, 'miserable'. In the end if anyone does not agree with my observations, by all means he or she can certainly purchase this software. My mind is made up about it though.

From what I know, this flawed thing in AS2004 is actually FS's fault..Fault MS for not PATCHING the damn game!I've already fixed one weather bug in FS9 by myself, with a veeeery minor tweak.It concerned the bloody 9999 visibility bug.Have 9999 in the metar and couple clouds in the metar and you were sure to have quite miserable visibility for some reason......which appeared to be that FS9 Realweather was made to inteprid +10km visibility by same way as over 10 mile visibility!FS9 realweather on its own tries to inteprid +10km visibility from 10KM instead of 9999...go figure... did they actually beta test it outside US or did they simply ignore the beta testers?The second bug is about "metric metar" drag coefficiency readings on metars at winter, when forecasts gets those numbers included...Dumb software skips the 9999 and thinks the drag coefficiency means visibility!If those are just two, rather SIMPLE bugs, I wonder what other stuff is porked.Only reason why I'd need weather program, since I sure don't like flying 90% of time at airports within fog during CAVOK/SKC conditions.And from what I've heard, the bug with 180 degree wind swaps is FS fault.Doesn't sound surprising to me... good luck to activesky and pete dowson with fixing bugs by MS.

Darren ,I have to say that what you describe sounds supsiciously like `operator error` rather than a program flaw or bug. Are you sure you worked things through with techincal support?How about posting your system specs. You're a new poster here and without knowing whether you're trying to run AS on a PII with 64 meg of RAM on a monochrome monitor or a Cray with 4 gig on a 452" Plasma screen it's almost impossible to put any merit into what you say. At all.Caveat Emptor should appply equally well to the comments made in forums. One shouldn't always `buy` into what's being said.Allcott

I couldn't imagine life without it. Esp for someone like me who has to rely on archived weather data (no web at home). Anyone who knows those who wrote it will of course be considering an update if needed. Support is excellent. Installation is easy. Using is a piece of cake. I can only assume that you are using a different piece of software? Maybe you need to check your FSUIPC settings, if you have a licensed copy there are changes that can be made there which may help! Those who decide not to use this excellent software will be glad to know that is it sold at a low price so little would be lost by trying it out for yourself. Better than MS Weather!Almost forgot "flawed software", show me a piece of software that is perfect in version 1.0. I cannot think of any! I'll just watch for the next patch! At least I am sure there will be one if needed unlike MS2004 which I doubt will have one.Andrew"If it can go wrong it probably will. If it doesn't then turn it off"