Ok, I gotta chime in here (sorry).I believe HiFi has provided us with the best weather program for FSX....period, and continued to improve it over the years. They have provided free updates. Their weather programs have taken FSX a long way toward making the sim experience more like the RW. They have provided excellent customer support since day-one. Plus they have to maintain servers to support their products. They need to feed their babies too. I therefore don't have a problem giving them what they are asking for this product. And as I explore AS2012 in FSX with the NGX, it seems to be WORTH IT! Indeed, I can't even fill my BMHONDALACACEDES's gas tank for what they are asking for AS2012.Thanks for listening.

Well, I was on the fence with this one, having FEX and REX combine with ASE; I too found the upgrade price steep a little high, that is until I bought and installed it and did my first test flight... I will not get into texture comparisons as they are subjective but i must say that cloud coverage is better, haze is better, no wind shear so far on a 3 hour flight and, that is the best improvement for me yet, screen isn't flashing when wheather updates :Money Eyes:All in all, I'm happy I made the plunge.... must say that the latest REX announcement almost postpone the purchase of AS20212 then I told myself that, if it is like SIMMAIR, I "might" have to wait a while for this update from REX so...... :Whistle:Alain from Montreal

Neither do I - but not for the proposed high price of €36. That is in general an average price of the full product.I simply expected a better deal for loyal customers. 36 euros is simply not a worthy upgrade to the existing ASE engine, imho.

Second that. And if I understand the pre-release announcement correctly, I would have to spend full price (60 Euro = almost 80$) to buy it after the promo offer ends.

The pre release offer has ended now so should be available to all.

The decision to purchase or not is a personal choice. I do think there are several fixes that make things much smoother with AS2012. For me, I am happy with their graphics and the fact that it is a full upgrade. I have removed REX, which is a nice package also just because I like to keep my machines lean and clean. In addition, You can get rid of the past versions of Active Sky and all of the upgrades and updates. Once again, lean and clean and less clutter makes re-install and defrag much faster. I too fall in the group, who are glad to pay a bit more for the great work these guys do in both Dev and customer service. I just feel they have given us all a lot of free upgrades and more than deserve our financial support. My personal decision in no way is neg. on the competeing products.

I too fall in the group, who are glad to pay a bit more for the great work these guys do in both Dev and customer service. I just feel they have given us all a lot of free upgrades and more than deserve our financial support. My personal decision in no way is neg. on the competeing products.

+1

Are all 4096 cloud textures created equally from a performance standpoint? I have REX OD but I have switched back to the 1024 textures due to poor performance. If these are faster, I would consider buying it.Also, if the 1024 textures are better than REX, I would consider it as well.

Are all 4096 cloud textures created equally from a performance standpoint? I have REX OD but I have switched back to the 1024 textures due to poor performance. If these are faster, I would consider buying it.Also, if the 1024 textures are better than REX, I would consider it as well.

I'm biased but yes they are. Also, somewhere earlier in this thread someone posted they saw a 19% increase in performance using AS2012 4096 textures. As I have said, I always preferred FEX to REX and Xgraphics for visuals and performance. AS2012 is better to me.I'd also like to comment to the posters who are grumbling about being charged for "bug fixes". A bug fix implies to me that there was a defect in the original product. Many of the changes to AS2012 are the result of finding new ways to circumvent flaws in FSX base code. These were never a defect in ASE rather a defect in FSX. As such AS2012 is a new product with new algorithms and approaches that enhance the FSX flying experience far better than anything available today. Coupled with exceptional graphics and flexibility, it really has to be experienced to full appreciate the difference.A bug fix release - not hardly. :)Vic

I'm biased but yes they are. Also, somewhere earlier in this thread someone posted they saw a 19% increase in performance using AS2012 4096 textures. As I have said, I always preferred FEX to REX and Xgraphics for visuals and performance. AS2012 is better to me.Vic

I believe he mentioned it was 15% better based on the 4096 textures, and the same poster said the textures were not up to the same quality as REX Overdive textures - but that they were still good - might explain why the better peformance...I am more interested in the weather engine, and will wait on more reports, and for REX Essentials before my final decision.

As such AS2012 is a new product with new algorithms and approaches that enhance the FSX flying experience far better than anything available today. Coupled with exceptional graphics and flexibility, it really has to be experienced to full appreciate the difference.A bug fix release - not hardly. :)Vic

+1Absolutely correct.

Just finally did my first flight with AS2012.....wow wow wow.... visuals are very bloody well done.

Seems like my posts got deleted. Leaves your answer a bit lonely, that's why I mention it.Thanks for the first user reports so far.I'm still looking for some folks testing the interpolation of weather data, which means e. g. flying to lesser dense or remote areas where the weather engine has only limited data from the rw and therefore must 'guess' everything in between.That's the point where ASE failed for me, as 'interpolation' meant some 'add 20C' at some places, which was way off. So if AS2012 is better in this aspect, it would be a nice read and purchase I guess. However, take your time folks, the thing is just a day old, right?

still testing myself here but as recently posted on the PMDG NGX forum I like AS2012 better then ASE (or let alone REX which I also own(ed)) because the sensation of flying through clouds is great and much better. I also love these(subtle) turbulances while descending through a layer. while you mentioned in your post the interpolation: I realized that I so far did not see any clouds pop up like with ASE. wlll need to confirm over the next days but if that is true then AS2012 is a real improvement.

I tried AS2012 last night using DWC and the difference is amazing.The weather engine improvements are worth every penny spent, nevermind the textures. I haven't tried their textures yet actually. But DWC works so much better than it did in ASE and actually got assigned the proper landing runway!Very impressed, thank you HiFi!As for those complaining about the price, I think you would get that regardless of what you set the price to and what the product is. Everyone in this day and age wants everything for free. Even the most expensive, non discounted version of AS2012 is cheaper than filling a gas tank in an average vehicle.Reminds me of people who do motorsports. Someone can drop $12,000 on a snowmobile but then complain about $35/gallon for engine oil for it. It's kind of funny actually. Making posts like "We shouldn't have to pay for bug fixes" trying to guilt the developer into giving them a deal is pretty pathetic too.

As an ASE user I'm annoyed I missed the chance to get it at the special price, but as I'm happy with my existing textures I'm looking forward to the weather-only version which I believe may be available at some point.Ian

As an ASE user I'm annoyed I missed the chance to get it at the special price, but as I'm happy with my existing textures I'm looking forward to the weather-only version which I believe may be available at some point.Ian

HiIs it a wish or a head up?Me too I would like a weather only version. I am happy with Rex as it is.