I will have to do that, thanks

I have been a long time Active Sky user and IMHO has a much better weather engine that REX, however, REX does have better graphics.Looks like Active Sky 2012, may have improved graphics that will bring it closer to REX. I will certainly give it a go.@nudata: Yes Flight will be out in the spring, but before any software, addons, scenery, etc. are at the same level as FSX, you are talking about years.

My feelings are somewhere in the middle between both extremes (pun intended).I paid full price for Active Sky for FS9 which I rightly or wrongly (mis)understood at the time could be upgraded to FSX later, and couldn't, while Real Environment for FS9 was payware quality freeware. So, when I switched to FSX, being a bit disappointed, I instead paid full price for FEX, which, at the time, was supposed to have a future weather engine update included, but didn't. I then paid full price for REX and received the enormous Overdrive package as a free upgrade, and then, once again, paid full price for Active Sky, who wants me to now reinvest with them for a third time, for yet another new and improved weather engine and a third (count them) set of extra FSX textures.That makes me pretty much tapped out in this stage of FSX development for more of the same, of the same, of the same... Active Sky 2012 would have to be an extraordinarily improvement over REX to win my heart and mind enough to have me pay more than even the smallest token fee to upgrade, and even then it would not sit quite right. I preferred Active Sky's weather engine so that's why I already bought it twice and even though it will now be second best, it's still a keeper, whereas REX textures are still first class, or in any case, good enough to see me through to the end of FSX. I have already been sold, resold, oversold, weathered and textured to death for FSX environments.However I do sincerely wish them well as I really have favoured their products highly but now I will once again, to my dismay, be stuck with another one of their suddenly obsolete products. Yea! Just imagine how thrilling and welcome that news is! Oh well, be that as it may, it isn't about any one of us individually as our stories don't count or amount to a whole lot, for after all, they are just one version of a flexible history. Moving on, great improvements and advances are good for the hobby and the whole Flight Simulation industry, so I am 100% in favour. May they have good luck and excellent sales to match their fine reputation within the community.The difference this product will make to a new user instead of FSX default weather and textures would blow even Santa's bright red socks off!Kind regards,

I'm still wondering what the improvement for the actual sim weather may be. I mean it's still FSX plus quirks. While the texture stuff looks nice on some screens, I have to admit that REX already gives me this feature and I still appreciate their free Overdrive update.So REX is graphics plus an optional weather engine and '2012' is a weather engine with optional graphics. Short version. Will we see cloud shadows or do we get rid of the old FSX downsides regarding the weather with '2012'? Open question, although, as the sim stays the same, the answers may well be no.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. Maybe that's because the sim always stays the same.For me, the main improvement with FSX weather came with the registered FSUIPC as its smoothing allowed the use of fancy weather addons together with the fancy planes. So that's a 'thanks, Pete!' point, again.Sounds sceptical, I know, but let me assure you that I'm still interested in improving good ol' FSX.

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

I know we all have a choice, but I'm starting to find this constant stream of "upgrades" a bit irritating. All software is improved over the years but I'm not sure you can call something a "new version" and sell it at full price at this sort of frequency without starting to generate some bad feeling from your customers. Especially when the new version has a weather engine that should probably just be a patch for ASE and some cloud textures that nobody asked for. People will buy it just because they like having the latest version I guess. One thing is for sure though, I had much love for HiFi after my ASE purchase a few weeks ago. This announcement doesn't make me think of them more highly at all. It just irritates me.

Don't forget there are a LOT of people who never purchased a product from Active Sky. To them this is new. So a company should not come out with new releases to entice new buyers because it might irritate old customers who do ont want to upgrade? That doesn't make sense to me. I understand your irritation but you need to look at the big picture - also this is the current business model for most industries. Keep getting new customers and get some upgrades along the way.Also from what I've read - the "full" price is for new customers - there will be a upgrade path for those who desire it. I still don't see a problem.BTW, I have some business software that I've had for 10 years and haven't had the need to upgrade. I have others that I upgrade every year. If you feel you need or want the extra features you upgrade, else you pass.

Unless its 100% compatable with Flight, which we know at this point noone knows, its pointless.in my opinion to purchase this. If there was any "earth-shattering" advancements that could have been made to FSX, I'm sure we would have seen it in Evolution. I agree with the earlier poster, appears early on to be just a "pretty" patch for Evolution. Nonetheless, I have been wrong in the past though....

Unless its 100% compatable with Flight, which we know at this point noone knows, its pointless.in my opinion to purchase this.

Perhaps you are one of the few who are going to throw away all of their FSX or FS9 investment in favour of MS Flight, but I doubt that many will rush to do so. Talking as if Flight means the death of FSX is really rather silly, don't you think? Think about it. After all nearly half of all FS users are still using FS9, and I still get occasional support requests for folks using FS2002, FS2000 and FS98.And why pick MS Flight to make your complete changeover, where really much less is known than for the nearer X-Plane 10? I've not read anything that suggests MS Flight will be anything more than another Microsoft "Live" game. Many of us take our simming more seriously. I may be surprised, but it's not looking likely.Anyway, personally I doubt that anything we have for FSX or FS9 will be actually 100% compatible with Flight. In fact I think pretty much nothing at all will transfer. With an 8-PC networked full 737NG cockpit and just about every European scenery add-on available, I'm certainly not going to throw it all away, and especially not now that the hardware really makes FSX fly so well!RegardsPete

Hi,That is correct, AS2012 retains universal graphics add-on compatibility, so you are not forced to replace anything. If you have existing graphics, you can use them in conjunction with AS2012 in several different ways.

How much for AS2012?

Wow man some of you guys need to give it a rest. Are you actually getting mad because HiFi decided to release an update? Just because YOU intend to move on to Flight or already have ASE doesn't mean everyone does. What kind of self centered viewpoint do you have to have to only see things from your perspective instead of from the perspective of growing support and customers for the AS product line. I have no intention of moving on to Flight for a long time after its release, and I hope and expect products that I currently use to still receive updates or upgrades for FSX in the future, if for no other reason than it already has a player base. Just because some of you guys want to move on to Flight (which you know nothing about) doesn't mean third party devs are supposed to forget about its current and future FSX users.

an 8-PC networked full 737NG cockpit

Pete, aren't you looking for a cleaner to your house?They say I clean very well, especially computer rooms!

True... but then again if Flight comes out tomorrow, how many of us will be using it? Probably nobody. I only switched to FSX less than a year ago. It will remain the primary sim for most people for years to come. FSX is now mature, usable. It takes years for that to happen.

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

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

No, I agree, I'll pick it up too. But I said how many will USE it. I'll pick it up but there's no way it's replacing FSX with no addons. It'll take years to mature to FSX levels. My FS9 was far better than FSX out the box.

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

Even the worst game in history was picked up by thousands on release day.A game in a niche market needs more than a few curious buyers to make it a commercial success. If a good portion of FSX/FS9 owners, the core flightsim userbase, aren't won over and don't adopt it, Flight will likely be a disaster.

Even the worst game in history was picked up by thousands on release day. A game in a niche market needs more than a few curious buyers to make it a commercial success. If a good portion of FSX/FS9 owners, the core flightsim user base, aren't won over and don't adopt it, Flight will likely be a disaster.

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.