There have been a number of topics (and somewhat "heated" discussions) about overcast and AS2012. Well, today I was flying the bush in NW B.C. and using AS2012's remarkable ability to make your own wx, I saw on the Wx Network that Dease Lake was overcast and -18C. So, I set an overcast layer of St at 8000 and another layer of St at 16000. My flight was about 40 nm long, and along the way I snapped a few pics looking up. I am at minimum zoom (30% I think) to give you the broadest view possible. Check these out:I don't know about you, but that sure looks overcast to me! The vis was set to 15 nm. There is the odd hole, but they are very few and very far apart, and not unrealistic. It helps that AS2012's clouds are the most realistic I've ever seen in any program, and this sky to me is the most "believable" I've ever seen in FS anything particularly with how well they've done the stratus clouds. I've been at this since the days of SubLOGIC, so I've seen my share of "simulated clouds" and for the most part, they haven't been pretty (REX being the exception). HiFi has turned me into a true "fan-boy" of this product, and that's not easy with me. I've been using it every day since I got it, and I've yet to be disappointed, and FWIW, I did this kind of flying IRL for 17 years and I'm not easily convinced.Anyway, thought I would show you this is very possible for the first time since the days when you knew you were in a cloud because your windscreen suddenly went all white without warning.

It's because you have low vis, if the vis was say 30 or 40+sm you'd see blue in there somewhere, it could also be the fact that there are several layers of cloud covering everything up on top of each other.

Well, I don't consider 15 miles to be "low" vis. I was lucky if I saw more than that IRL when I worked up north (except in the Arctic or on the Prairies where yeah, typically it was higher). And yes, multi-layer clouds (only 2 in this case) does help for certain. But considering that FSX hasn't allowed for even this much since the days where they threw up a white "sheet" over/under you for clouds, I'd say this ain't all that bad, wouldn't you? It sure beats the FSX default, which at this point is your only alternative.

No no no don't get me wrong it looks fantastic, but you created in the FSX Weather meanu right; AS2012 didn't "generate it"?

Nope. Did it all in AS2012. Now what I've found out is that the upper cloud layer is actually a Cumulus. I've submitted a ticket because if you install 2 layers and make the bottom one a stratus deck and the upper one also a stratus deck, as soon as you click away from it, the upper deck will change to a Cumulus. I'm actually finding quite a few areas in the program where as soon as you leave a given window, then come back to it, a number of parameters have defaulted to another value on you. When I did manage to get both decks as stratus, they were very transparent, so you don't get that really nice effect. I think in fact what you are seeing here is the upper deck, which is cumulus, and it looks as unbroken as it does because it's a long way up (16,000 I believe). I tried to get one of those very smooth stratus decks as a complete overcast, but I didn't succeed unfortunately.The issue with the lack of an overcast is an FSX one though and it's been driving a number of us who do IFR and VFR flights nuts. I don't think there is a lot that HiFi can do to get around that, without dropping the vis as others have noted here. That's a bummer for sure.

The main concern on an overcast is not how it looks below it or far above it. AS2012 occasionally does a very good job - ASE much better however. But try flying down through it on descent or up through from the ground and you soon find that it becomes scattered or broken in most cases. With AS2012 it looks great from the angles you have shown but try looking straight down from on top of the aircraft and with AS2012 you usually see a hole around the aircraft and the ground clearly visible below. I have had a couple of flights, however, where I did get a very good towering cumulus broken layer but was the rare exception.Now as to the visibility vs cloud cover. They are the same thing! A thick cloud deck is ZERO visibility. Likewise a low visibility ground fog is the same as a surface level cloud. They are both caused by the same meteorlogical phenomena but at different altitudes. So to create a true IFR cloud experience you need the mass to be a total zero (1/16 sm in FSX) visibility. If you just want to SEE the clouds from a distance and not fly through them then it is a different issue than is being discussed in the other related threads. ASE and AS2012 will NOT create a true LOW overcast that remains so when you fly through it.

Yeah, that's a good point. I've seen that problem too and have often wished for true IFR conditions. Vis is about the only way to get that as you noted. It is most frustrating that way, but as I say, I don't think HiFi can do very much about that. I'm "sure" that FS12 will fix that though (and cows will be able to fly by then <LOL>).