That's true. You could force other lights via the aircraft.cfg but if you look into the default one for the NGX you will find almost nothing in the [lights] section. The NGX light are hard coded in the model and applying 3rd-party alternatives (you may do this if you want) you'll find out that those will not follow the different suspension and wing movements. Watching your NGX from outside will show to you doubled lights in some (or even most) conditions.

Ok, guess I'll restore the original files from my backup just to make sure I don't get any effects I don't want.

I'm downloading right now and I'm excited to see the results... Not to beat a dead horse, but ASE may be the ticket to getting a "realistic" weather radar in "various add-on planes" (read NGX)... Assuming that the X gauge graphics represent what is seen on screen...

A word of advise for those PDMG drivers worried about light replacements from various texture sources including REX, FEX, AS, etc... You should always, always, keep a handy backup copy of the original FSX spotlight.bmp and halo.bmp files found in the main texture folder. Find a copy of the originals and lock them to read-only if you are really concerned about landing light intensities and so forth. This another one of those basic principal routines you learn and develop over the years as a FS enthusiast.Now where's my egg nog...

... Forgive my ignorance, but there's one thing I cant get my head around. I know you can create different weather graphics (clouds, for example). If I just click on "Wx influenced", without an actual theme, does AS2012 just build the cloud graphics based on the current METAR? Does choosing a particular cloud set enhance those graphics, or does it nullify any METAR readings?

IIRC, each texture has a weighted value that you can adjust. These adjustments then influance how and when that texture is chosen by AS after reading your flight plan - i.e, wx-influanced. The fact that these weighted values per texture, the number of textures, and the number of themes, and the number of saved snapshots, with their own weighted infuance values, the potential number of combinations of textures referenced by a particualr FP become mind boggling.I personally like an extreme variation of textures to be chosen for me by the FP wx-influance factors. Then I get a nice surprise (or fresh look) each time I enter a FSX session. Then, if I really don't like a particular texture, I lower its wx-influance value so it probably won't get chosen again. Read the AS12 manual - it will really help with this aspect of the utility.

Alright, let me say it again. With aircraft lights applied from AS2012 i had the feeling that all lights appeared to be less intense on the ground: need to check again but 90% sure of this. But I'm now thinking about something else. Is this happening only in combination with as2012 runway light applied? huh..... to be checked!

Same thing happened to me but its not an big deal and is easily fixed. Click on the Graphics Bar, Lights, then Spotlight and choose what kinda brightness you want. Default, 01Gold, 02Xeon, 03 High Intensity Gold, 04 High Intensity White, 05 High Intensity Xeon. Your best bet if you want Bright like REX is to use the same thing it has. High Intesity Xeon.The most important thing to upgrade is for Weather, the eye candy is a bonus. I'm sure when the service packs come out they will add more themes and options just like REX did.Btw Activesky can do Overcast if your setup for it. Try this. When your at cruise with overcast conditions move your autogen slider to the far left to turn it off. You can't see any autogen at cruise anyway. It will give you enough frames back that you can increase FSX cloud draw to 110 nm. Set Activesky 2012 maximum upper visibility to 120 nm, and leave Surface at 60 nm. If there is heavy overcast your not gonna see the ground at all. Way I have mine is if there is overcast there is a carpet of clouds under me stretching to beyond as far as I can see in FSX.

My exe doesn't open...

My exe doesn't open...

Nothing like giving us plenty of clues in order to fix your problem. Are you refering to the AS2012 downloads?? If so, did you create a temporary folder to store all of the downloads. IIRC, there were 5 files, plus the .exe file. I created a folder on my desktop ("Active Sky2012"), and downloaded all the files into there. I then clicked on the .exe file, and everything installed correctly.

Installed AS2012, picked the first default weather theme, took off from Bowerman at dusk with the Carenado Bonanza for a quick spin. All I can say is wow! The single most impressive change in FSX yet. Can't wait till tomorrow so I can do some tweaking. It's like a brand new simulator. Well done HiFi. Will fly the NGX tomorrow. Good Night.

My exe doesn't open...

if your referring to the exe of as 2012 why dont you post it their forum since thats where u get support for their product

Hey guys. Upgraded to AS2012 yesterday and was very pleased with it, especially the new sun glare. Just wandered whether people could maybe post what they have their wx settings on? Especially user who use Radar Contact.Thanks

If you look at my screen shot earlier of the duke landing you can see that all the city lights are visible in the background but the runway lights are not, should be the opposite way around, During approach you can see al city lights but the runway lights appear last, even the bright strobes at the rinway threshhold are pretty pointless . Hope this can be fixed. I have no idea what x gauge is, it got installed, I clicked yes during install for all options, not tested the ngx yet, will try it now. I did get errors for the lotus L 39 during install of xgauge, hope that's not screwed!

Asking as a 15 year old with no job who only has enough money to buy two or three addons a year and who just bought ASE two weeks ago, is it worth buying AS2012?

Asking as a 15 year old with no job who only has enough money to buy two or three addons a year and who just bought ASE two weeks ago, is it worth buying AS2012?

Adan have you thought about contacting Damian via the support website? If you really did buy ASE only two weeks ago I am sure he would be happy to come to some arrangement.http://support.hifitechinc.com/

Thanks Andy! I will look into that!

HiDone many more flights now, all short so that I could change res etc. NGX flight deck on max res throughout on all my flights so far.This morning I departed EGGD Bristol for EGPF Glasgow. 3D cloud res on 4096x4096. All other AS2012 maxed too. As I departed there were only two cloud layers visable but everything went smooth. Weather updated enroute but I hit problems after TOD. As I approached Scotland I could see serious build up & soon I could see the frame rate drop. As I passed down into the first layer it became obvious that I was looking at nine different layers below me & each layer was very busy. My system started to stutter for a while & was not enjoyable at all. The clouds though were sensational at that res as you would expect. I landed & changed textures to 2048x2048 saved all & rebooted both AS2012 & FSX then took off again with my system clearly performing better. Landing at EGNT Newcastle I changed again to 1024x1024 & it was so smooth returning to Glasgow that I made my mind up there & then to stick with this setting for the next few flights. My system specs are:-i7 CPU 870 @ 2.93Ghz 8g Ram GeForce GTXX260 1.75g graphics. All this had no impact on the NGX at all & I'm sure that PMDG will be pleased about that!So what's the difference between REX/ASE & just AS2012 well, from the outside not much except that I now only need the one program. In flight AS2012 delivers an incredable sense of being there. One issue which is appalling about Flt Sims in general is the weather. In a real aircraft you feel the dynamics of the weather & a sense of speed as you pass through or near to clouds which puts a smile on all pilots faces even after thirty years of flying. Another, is that you can be inside a cloud for several minutes or longer as you pass through layers. Not been able to get that in FSX. In FSX you see a cloud appraoch but you pass through it like a curtain, even REX fails to please fully. AS2012 is a vast improvement & on my last flight into LSZH Zurich I entered cloud at 8000ft & only saw the ground again at 700ft agl. The runway was covered in snow, the visability just 600m & I knew then that this weather program is different & for me worth every penny.So, to sum up-it looks much the same at first & that might be a little disappointing to some, but in feel it's like comparing the NG in 2004 to the NGX in FSX it just feels great & is NGX friendly.Screen shots can't show you how it feels so I've not included them, even AS2012 website screen shots & video do not show what's good about this product.

So the advantage you feel, is having a weather engine and texture generator in one package.Personally, I use the REX weather engine and textures. So one package!And with the new "FREE" REX update, and claimed weather engine updates, the claim that ASE has a better weather engine, may turn out to be no longer valid.The improvements to the REX weather engine and textures seem many.And again... it's free, not 40 euro's!