What weather program to use?

[Guest Henri W]

Darren,No and yes. No, I was not a beta tester for AS2004. I regularly bought it. Yes, in the past I was beta tester for ActiveSky wxRE for FS2002, but that is another program we may say. What really makes me angry is that you suggest that my claims are untrue. You suggest that I am a liar (very personal indeed), because of the fact that I got something for for free. The problems with AS2004 you describe simply do NOT occur on my system. It is not that I tolerate them, I do NOT see them in the way you describe. Henri

[russellj 2]

You answer as an expert on Activesky and have NEVER used the product.I now place no value on your opions and I suggest others do the same. Get your opions of Activesky on those that have used the product.RegardsRussell Jourdain (NZL007/ZK-RHJ)

[Guest jerrycwo4]

I just bought AS2004 and so far I like it. I try to just fly and enjoy all of the sights and not get bogged down in all of the technical stuff. So far it's working for me.jerry

[KevinAu 441]

The extreme wind shifting problem with FS9 weather can be reduced if you set the dynamic wx rate of change to 0. I used to use FSMeteo, but I've switched back to the default download.

[Ray Proudfoot 9,074]

Darren,Nothing personal but I have to say that I have NEVER used Activesky and not experienced huge, unrealistic wind transitions. There is NOTHING that can be adjusted to fix the problem, Activesky is a flawed piece of software.It has already been pointed out to you that the wind shift problem in FS9 is a bug in that software and not in ActiveSky. You views might command more respect if you thought before coming out with such a ridiculous statement.I don't own ActiveSky as I've been a long-term user of FS Meteo but that program also suffers from the wind shift problem but you won't find me or anyone else coming out with such idiotic statements about FSMeteo being a flawed product. I'm sure the authors of both are working hard to overcome this irritating bug.

[Guest rugerdog]

Ray,The Activesky owner's manual states that this software sports 'route-based wind smoothing.' I too feel that this is very misleading. As you say Ray, it's an FS9 bug to be sure but commercial developers need to paint a realistic picture of what their product can and cannot do for potential customers when making a purchasing decision.I think it gets confusing when people report back that they have adjusted so and so in their configuration files and the wind problem went away whilst using Activesky 2004 - in fact the wind problem will always be there no matter what configuration or tweak one tries to implement. FSMeteo suffers from the same problem as you also mentioned but I think the difference is that Activesky makes inference that it is indeed capable of smoothing wind transitions whilst FSMeteo does not. In reality neither program can fix the wind transition bug with FS9. I think that's the long and short of it all. It's important for developers to simply paint a realistic picture instead of sugar-coating their software's rough areas. The truth is that if you fly with FS9 you're not ever going to get smooth wind transitions aloft, no matter what weather add-on software you purchase or configuration changes you make.

[Guest panda234]

So I just bought and downloaded it. The install was a snap and I love it! Small fps hit but I haven't started to tweak yet, and I also raised visibility to 100 miles from 60 miles before I started so that could be it. Seems to be all it claims to be. Prolly some MS issues I might notice down the road but hey, what can you do? All in all, this is exactly what I was looking for and I'm some pleased. :-)rgds,billg

[Guest bob]

HiIn my opinion, I have noticed that Darren would appear to scan and trawl Flight Sim related forum topics, for opportunities to slag or bash AS2004 --- SLANDER!!He seems to be on a personal crusade to do so for reasons better known to himself. Living with a 98% (getting better)product seems to be difficult.Take it from me, a delighted owner of AS2004 that will be improved, over time to overcome FS9 shortfalls into a smart weather package. By the way Darren, No I am not paid for my HONEST remarks or have I been a tester. Bob WrightAS2004 Driver with the help of FS9

[Guest Edam]

FS9 weather. I see no need for any others.

[Guest smoys]

I'm curious as to what problems you have had? I'm thinking of purchasing a WX program. Thanks,Mike

[Guest smoys]

Do you have a registered copy of FSUIPC?Mike

[Ray Proudfoot 9,074]

James,<>I agree. The problem is inherent in FS9 and no 3rd party weather program is currently able to resolve it. I'm sure the first to so do will shout their achievement from the rooftops!It's quite possible that wind smoothing is successfully implemented in ActiveSky and FSMeteo for transitions between two weather stations but the extreme wind changes are a separate issue and perhaps it needs to be made clear by ANY weather program creator that this particular problem is one that cannot currently be resolved.<>I agree but whether Damian is guilty of that I really couldn't say. What I do object to though is the langauge Darren used when he could have put his feelings across in a more reasonable way.Let's hope the problem is solved soon - for everyone's sake.

[Guest panda234]

given the purpose of this thread that's not exactly razor sharp and enlightening insight, edam...billg

[Guest JSkorna]

Thanks Bill for the purchase! I hope you will e-mail me or post in our forum if you have any questions or concerns.To most of our other users, thank you for your support!JimActiveSky Support

[Guest lalo lolo1]

I can talk from my own experience of AS. I have a freeware version of Active Sky for FS2002, and used to hate it for the things described above and at the same time I loved it because of the realistic turbulence you get, something you cannot get with the default weather. Unfortunately the frames got so heavy that it even shut down my internet connection.Finally a time ago, reading FSUIPC manual I fixed most of the problems.The violent changes of winds are easyly solved by setting the winds in FSUIPC to go in smooth transitions. I have them set to change 1 Knot every 10 seconds, and with that I solved the overstress problem that I got when winds changed rapidly.I have all PAI planes installed in my FS, and the traffic is set at 80%. I read a lot of articles, even from FSUIPC, saying that turbulence and AI traffic together would kill your FPS. Well, at least in my system AI traffic and turbulence don't kill my frame rate, what kills my fps are...clouds. I just set FSUIPC to show one layer of clouds and good bye problems.I just sacrifice a little to get a lot. Clouds are a little uglier now, since I see them flat when they are too close, but weather conditions are as bad or good as they are in reality. I even use AS when I fly VATSIM, since VATSIM weather is the same, but AS is "stronger".Finally, to have more reality, I'd suggest you to buy another software, which name I don't remember now, and use it together with AS. The program will make your FS have another 4 types of turbulence, which no weather program will give you, such as wake effect, mountain turbulence, clear air turbulence and microbursts. You can find that in Lago.I am glad you got AS, you'll enjow it, but don't forget to set FSUIPC so the program works as it should.Leo