Hurry up you early buyers and post some youtube videos!

I got it earlier today as I support HiFi products 100%. I flew one flight already with default settings. Now I will try the same flight with textures installed based on the flight plan. Best regards,Jim

I can't help it. The sim limitations are the same since FSX came out, the weather engine improvements get described vague and the 'discount' price is a tough one if one isn't looking for textures but for an improved ASE weather engine only.Is there something like that or is it just about the textures? How about a weather engine only 2012? Would be much appreciated and may come in way cheaper. Don't read this the wrong way, the discount idea for existing customers is a nice character trait. But maybe some of us aren't interested in the texture part.

The bundling of weather engine + cloud sceneries in AS2012 is unfortunate. Why not offer both products separately and add a discount for customers opting to purchase both?

Yes, I've read the salesmen texts in the Hifi forum and on the site and while I don't have a doubt that extra work went into the old ASE engine, I wonder if the guys looking for a more stable weather impression will see an improvement worth the extra costs. So if one already runs REX, which is discounted by 50% these days (~ 17.50 Euros for the full set), I fail to catch the point that should trigger some 36 Euros on a product I already own, which is ASE.Sceptical, I know. Looking forward to user reports which may describe some improvements on e. g. the 'advanced interpolation'.

I agree, it is common practice and considered fair play to offer a table comparing features when new or enhanced versions of a product are offered, so the customer can make an informed purchasing decision. Now I'm not saying this is the case with AS2012, but it has been my experience more often than not that when the comparative information is missing it's not really worth buying the new/enhanced version.As an example, here is an example of a table comparing the features of different versions of the Paragon Hard Disk Manager.

Thanks, I do my best in each of my hats, I'm better at some than others....We are working on new wx-only solutions, we've talked about that over in our forum a little.

But by the time we ASE customers have the information to make a choice we wil be out of time for the 2012 40% discount (and possibly the 20% discount as well!).Cheers,- jahman.

We are working on new wx-only solutions, we've talked about that over in our forum a little.

But by the time we ASE customers have the information to make a choice we wil be out of time for the 2012 40% discount (and possibly the 20% discount as well!).

I've read that as a mid-term planning statement, not as something that instantly follows the '2012' product start. So I assume that those new products will then come with new introduction offers of some kind.Count me in on the ones being interested on a weather engine only update. But his statements on this show that the demand for it was acknowledged, which I very much appreciate. I've downloaded the '2012' manual to catch a glimpse on the features. http://www.hifitechinc.com/But some user feedback in the next few days would of course be nice.

I'm an early adopter, I consider Active Sky a "must have" add on for FSX and so when I the new version I just jumped on it. I have not made nearly enough flights using it to form a solid opinion at this point I don't think anyone could there is just too many combinations to explore. With that said I do believe anyone who has spent some time using ASE should feel right at home in the interface. It's look IMO has improved a little. One of the features brought back from the ASA X-Graphics days is the ability to load a flight plan and then let AS2012 choose which textures to load based on the Wx conditions along the route, similar to REX, only using the new 2012 textures. The snapshot feature is still there if you want to load textures from different sources. The new textures look pretty good IMO I have not used a cloud set yet that would make me replace my favorite sets from FEX but I'm sure they're in there I just haven't had enough time to look at them all. I do like a few of the runway textures better than anything I have used before, but of course textures are always going to be somewhat subjective to the users preference. I know some folks would just like a Wx engine only option and I can totally understand why but so far I like what I see and I don't think there is such a thing as too many nice textures to choose from.

Really nice to how Damian responds to customers here - quite refreshing in todays FS purchasing climate.

Reading User's Guide and downloading AS2012. Realistic flight and realistic weather are one and the same thing.

Is it safe to assume AS2012 will run on a client machine like ASE does? If so, I am willing to take the plunge and report back to y'all. What the heck, my ex-wife is being nice right now. And my daughter-in-law isn't speaking to me. Things don't get a lot more favorable regarding risk taking in my life.

Yes AS2012 is fully network compatible, very similar to ASE in the setup and configuration.

Yes AS2012 is fully network compatible, very similar to ASE in the setup and configuration.

Does AS2012 implement weather-specific textures if you run across a network, i.e. AS2012 running on a different machine than FSX?

Yes it does, it sends them across to your FSX PC providing the correct shares are permitted.

I got it earlier today as I support HiFi products 100%. I flew one flight already with default settings. Now I will try the same flight with textures installed based on the flight plan.Best regards,Jim

There was a major difference between flying a flight plan with the default theme and the theme AS2012 loaded based on the flight plan. That is definitely one of the major upgrades I have seen so far and time will tell whether it was worth the extra 40 some dollars for the upgrade. Right now I kind of think so as HiFi has released so many free upgrades to ActiveSky in the past. I just hope it loads a wintry scene if the weather indicates a wintry scenario or a stormy scene for stormy weather in the area of the flight.Best regards,Jim

I was fortunate enough to be on the Core Beta team and the ability to customize the experience is a big plus. The enhancements to an already superior weather engine are many. Some little, some more noticeable. Difficult to pinpoint each, as Damian has said, BUT it combines to an exceptional experience.The ability to load weather related textures based upon flight plans is really important for those who desire weather purity.The graphics? I was a dyed in the wool FEX user - purely subjective, I know, but I preferred them over REX and XGraphics and they had less of a performance hit. The new graphics that Chris Willis designed ( and redesigned) blew me away. More flexible, better quality (IMHO) and better performance than the competition by far.I think all that try AS2012 will be pleasantly surprised.Vic

As promised, here is my preliminary report on AS2012...1. The weather engine does seem to be better than ASE. The cloud coverage seems to be more complete where called for by rw reporting. More testing needed here.2. The ground related graphics (roads, railroads, taxiways, runways etc.) are not good. If you have REX2, keep it. See the attached screen shots.

Thanks for that feedback Bill!I have been torn - purchased REX2 about 3 weeks ago, love the textures - then I hear the ASE weather engine is the only way to go, to use with REX - so I am about ready to pull trigger on ASE, then see this announcement on AS 2012. I spent some time yesterday pouring over many of the screenshots of AS 2012, and really did not compel me over what I have with REX, still wanted the weather engine though, and now of course REX has an updated one coming out soon. I guess I will wait to hear feedback on both before deciding... or who knows, maybe I will try both.Ahh the joys of being the consumer - we are fortunate indeed to have these developers!