Active Sky 2012 announced

[greengriffon 51]

I dont think you are correct here ... both FS9 and FSX sold in the 225,000 to 275,000 copies per year for the first 3 yrs after release. The flightsim user base is important but Flight can be a commercial success if a few of you guys decided not to buy. I say it that way because thousand within the flightsim community will buy it. I buy them all, and many other enthusiasts do the same.

A few of us? Look how many people haven't even moved over to FSX! Every day on AVSIM, which version has more new user mods created, FS9 or FSX? FS9, virtually every day.As for sales figures, FS9 and FSX both had a very open third party vendor environment for selling addons that allowed both titles to have legs and continue to sell, long after they probably would have otherwise faded into obscurity. With vendor addon support a serious question right now for Flight, I don't think we can make those same assumptions.I'll buy it too, and of course I hope it will be a HUGE success. However realistically, unless Microsoft opens it up more to vendor addon support, I don't think it will sell nearly as many copies as either FS9 or FSX. Plenty of people aren't going to migrate over to a title with limited options for new scenery and aircraft from a single vendor (especially if the title doesn't run well right out of the gate) when they can just stay with FS9 or FSX that has literally thousands of addons available and continuing development, and is finally starting to perform better on available hardware. I'm sure lots of copies will be sold to the people who just can't wait for the next great thing, but I honestly don't see the vast majority of dedicated users actually being won over by it. From what we can tell so far heading into beta, Flight doesn't even offer anything new over FSX other than being slightly prettier, and that's obviously subjective. In fact from a scenery standpoint, it may offer even less! We'll see.With the enormous cost of game development these days, Flight HAS to sell well, or FS will be yet another PC franchise that will meet its untimely end.

[tgenius 2]

This thread is completely derailed, its not even about Active Sky anymore.

[Valcor 9]

...I must admit using ASE, REX and some freeware and I don't think that I could tell huge differences when it comes to the weather representation....

What freeware weather engine do you use? I have and tried REX's weather engine but I find it wildly inaccurate compared to real world conditions. I've been stuck using MS default weather downloads with REX textures.That being said, hopefully this question is short lived because I don't have any of Active Sky's FSX products and I fully intend on purchasing 2012.

[Guest firehawk44]

This thread is completely derailed, its not even about Active Sky anymore.

Agree. Hopefully it will get back OT. Best regards,Jim

How much for AS2012?

It hasn't been announced yet. From my understanding there will be an upgrade price too.Best regards,Jim

[DavideLeeSim 0]

i would like to know the differences between AS2012 and ASE BUT only about the engine weather: better in what? deciption for example?thx in advanced

really appreciate if someone can answer to my questionthx in advanced

[greengriffon 51]

They just announced the product 48 hours ago. The only information that is available at the moment is published on HiFi's site.

[Damian Clark 1,272]

Wow,I will say that there are obviously many passionate opinions about FSX, Flight and the future of flight sim, and us releasing new software in the middle of it all has seemed to cause quite a stir.I don't know why so many seem upset about us releasing new software though... A software company has to sell software to pay the bills. If we decide just wait until we have some details about Flight (of which we currently have none, really) before considering doing anything new, we would have jumped shipped long ago. For those who are quoting specific release dates about Flight, know seem to know if there is an SDK at all, or when it will be released, we would love for you to forward some of that critical information and your sources. As of now we know nothing that would indicate it would even be released in the next year, or that when released we can even make add-ons for it. Like everyone else, we are totally in the dark. We can make speculations like everyone else, and that's about it.What we do know is that we have a fairly large FSX/AS user base who has been asking for AS2012 features for a long time, and we have been working hard to deliver on that.And we're working on lots of other things to, including adapting our new developments to other sims including P3D, FS9, XP10, and, when we are able, Flight.If you're not interested in the feature set that AS2012 offers, it is not the end of the world, for you, or us, or flight sim. Everyone can make their own choices and use the software they'd like to. We have many users for example who've just recently upgraded from ASv6. Some even who are just coming from AS2004 and wxRE. Then we have those who are happy with ASE and could care less about brand new styles of graphics, new high res categories, high def airport textures, the integration between the wx engine directly, the new flight planning features, drag and drop waypoints, improved performance, etc. If you're happy with ASE then by all means please use ASE, and rest assured it will continue to be sold and supported and recommended as our wx-engine only product for both FS9 and FSX.For those who are looking for these features they've asked for, and want to see it realized, we have AS2012 coming. And we have plenty more planned after that.By the way, we really appreciate all the opinions and feedback, and you can always reach us via support.hifitechinc.com. If you have specific wants, wishes, requests for Active Sky, please forward them to us. Thanks!

[duckbilled 310]

Give me fully overcast skies or go away.

CLOUD_COVERAGE_DENSITY=12 in your fsx.config will take care of that - with a performance hit of course. I love Active Sky and have been using some version of it for 8 years. At first, I thought I spent a lot of money on each new product but after going through my records, I actually have not. Many upgrades have been free or low cost. I currently use ASE.Still, I need specific to information to decide whether I am going to buy this. I use REX for textures and AS2012 will have to be a lot better. The weather engine will need a major improvement. I agree, with a new sim on the horizon, it seems a little silly to upgrade without quantifiable improvements over ASE and REX (yes, I mean it must be a lot better than ASE for weather and REX for textures.As for Flight: Unless it turns out to be something vastly different from FSX or FS9, I'll buy it on day one. If it has some backwards compatibility, I will also probably start flying it on day one and gradually switch over as patches, workarounds and new products become available. This is the biggest issue. With FSX, most FS9 scenery was rendered useless and if Flight turns out the same way, the transition will take longer.

[niyoko 7]

I disagree .... thousands will pick it up on release day...

Count me in as one who is going to pick it up on release day. I HiFi's ASE and all their weather products are the best hands down, and REX has amazing textures. It's a magical thing using the two together. :)

[greengriffon 51]

I will say that there are obviously many passionate opinions about FSX, Flight and the future of flight sim, and us releasing new software in the middle of it all has seemed to cause quite a stir.

You guys, keep on doing what you're doing. I'm not sure I understand why anyone would be upset by the release of a new product, unless you don't offer an upgrade discount. However you make a solid product, and those who want it will buy it indeed.

[phmcr 93]

Count me in Damian. I have been using all of your products so far with great enthusiasm and little to none problems.Menno

[CoolP 283]

i would like to know the differences between AS2012 and ASE BUT only about the engine weather: better in what? deciption for example?thx in advanced

really appreciate if someone can answer to my questionthx in advanced

Count me in, David.I haven't seen an answer to that question, although it would be right on topic.

What freeware weather engine do you use?

FSRealWX does the job and comes as a light, well maintained and free/donation soft. If it had the 'historic weather' feature, it would be my one and only weather program I think. It has a sort of feature in that aspect. Feel free to try. For the folks looking for ridge lift and thermal creation (which did not work well in ASE in my eyes), there's some freeware too. Cumulus X.I think both programs already have their fans, I'm one of them, obviously.

[Tierborn 188]

Wow,I will say that there are obviously many passionate opinions about FSX, Flight and the future of flight sim, and us releasing new software in the middle of it all has seemed to cause quite a stir.I don't know why so many seem upset about us releasing new software though... A software company has to sell software to pay the bills. If we decide just wait until we have some details about Flight (of which we currently have none, really) before considering doing anything new, we would have jumped shipped long ago. For those who are quoting specific release dates about Flight, know seem to know if there is an SDK at all, or when it will be released, we would love for you to forward some of that critical information and your sources. As of now we know nothing that would indicate it would even be released in the next year, or that when released we can even make add-ons for it. Like everyone else, we are totally in the dark. We can make speculations like everyone else, and that's about it.What we do know is that we have a fairly large FSX/AS user base who has been asking for AS2012 features for a long time, and we have been working hard to deliver on that.And we're working on lots of other things to, including adapting our new developments to other sims including P3D, FS9, XP10, and, when we are able, Flight.If you're not interested in the feature set that AS2012 offers, it is not the end of the world, for you, or us, or flight sim. Everyone can make their own choices and use the software they'd like to. We have many users for example who've just recently upgraded from ASv6. Some even who are just coming from AS2004 and wxRE. Then we have those who are happy with ASE and could care less about brand new styles of graphics, new high res categories, high def airport textures, the integration between the wx engine directly, the new flight planning features, drag and drop waypoints, improved performance, etc. If you're happy with ASE then by all means please use ASE, and rest assured it will continue to be sold and supported and recommended as our wx-engine only product for both FS9 and FSX.For those who are looking for these features they've asked for, and want to see it realized, we have AS2012 coming. And we have plenty more planned after that.By the way, we really appreciate all the opinions and feedback, and you can always reach us via support.hifitechinc.com. If you have specific wants, wishes, requests for Active Sky, please forward them to us. Thanks!

Is this note an overreact!!! i wouldn't call what I have read on Avsim regarding your new release as quite and stir....at least not yet!

[Damian Clark 1,272]

Hi,I refer you to our page: www.activesky2012.com which has a feature list and a FAQ that discuss the improvements and differences. Some of this includes increased performance, enhanced thunderstorm depiction, better fog layer generation and new related options, stratocumulus simulation and improved interpolation. We've also made numerous general improvements across the board in back-end decoding, synthesis and depiction techniques, which comprises the bulk of our "wx depiction" coding efforts moving forward over the past couple years. Beyond just weather depiction, we have improvements in the UI, a new map screen, combined pre-flight or real-time mapping and route editing (i.e. click and drag on the map to move waypoints around a line of thunderstorms), an updated XGauge system, better map graphics, etc. There have also been numerous improvements on the server and client side for AS2012 data, including additions, edits and general grooming of data, increased performance, better data recovery (in case of errors in downloads, disk issues, etc). I'm only scratching the surface, there are hundreds of changes, some small, some major. AS2012's primary focus may be on graphics and subsequent direct integration, but improvements and benefits are also within the software itself, back-end, weather, realism, accuracy , display, UI and all that entails. Hope that answers a few questions. Please check the website for new information, more screenshots and more videos that we plan before release.

[CoolP 283]

I think the reason why some folks are asking about the main purpose of a weather addon, the weather depiction in the sim, is that website texts usually aim for establishing a picture of 'must-have and forget the old version'. That's perfectly ok, since you guys want to sell stuff.So I can read about a ton of improvements, which don't get described very clear, but make the old product look as if there never was any weather generation included. I'm a bit sceptical on that approach since the main difference from e. g. ASA to ASE was the interface colour for me, while I was happy about a free update in the first place of course.So reading

but improvements and benefits are also within the software itself, back-end, weather, realism, accuracy , display, UI and all that entails.

just fits in that picture, but now some money is involved. So maybe some of us wonder if it's worth the effort when the main core (FSX weather) itself looks, acts and feels like on the versions before. Due to the FSX limitations, which will be there for any weather addon, this surely is reasonable to a certain extent.However, purely personal viewpoint, I did not see any need to e. g. improve performance with other addons as some of them can run easily on my FSX system, while I moved ASE away from it. So some aspects which come in as improvement may only be there because ASE (or '2012') needs them, not because a weather program does by design.But, as said, that's my personal viewpoint and I think that asking the guys selling the soft about the benefits of the new version has an amount of naivety in it. I'm naive. So I'm looking forward to the release and some user reports on the actual weather features. But, no doubt, new users will surely like '2012' and the package itself looks nice if one doesn't run REX already.