Still unresolved - non complete overcast

[Driftdown 1]

All right, a few more observations on that matter : left EGLL to EDDF, where the metar was quite interegesting and alluring :EDDF 251020Z 05005KT 1600 BR FEW001 BKN002 BKN005 M01/M01 Q1023 BECMG 3000 SCT002EDDF 250950Z 06005KT 1000 R25L/1500VP2000D R25C/P2000N R25R/P2000D BR SCT001 BKN002 M01/M01 Q1023 BECMG 2000 BCFG SCT002EDDF 250920Z 05005KT 0800 R25L/P2000N R25C/1100VP2000U R25R/1300V1900U=EDDF 250850Z 06005KT 0700 R25L/1200N R25C/1100V1700N R25R/1000N=EDDF 250750Z 04005KT 0600 R25L/1200U R25C/0700V1100N R25R/0650N FZFG VV/// M02/M02 Q1023 NOSIGFirst thing : I had very satisfactory OVC coverage all along the route over Europe, as planned (cf. TEMSI chart and enroute metars) :But, when arriving not far from EDDF, where the metar was undoubtedly horrible, both in terms of clouds and visibility, I had two surprises :first AS2012 was using advanced interpolation (!!! on a huuuge and important airport such as EDDF ? With a perfectly normal metar ???) instead of the METAR, and it's only there that the clouds starting to gently scatter, and the visibility was wonderful... Exactly the contrary to what I was expecting. I didn't want my end of trip to be ruined by poor weather rendition and decided to try to uncheck the "prevent cloud redraws" when I was overhead EDDF at about FL110. Immediately the clouds changed and I passed from a gentle SCT (even though AS2012 advanced interpolation was claiming on the wx report : OVC001 !!!!) to a real cloudy BKN/OVC sky.Good to know I said, without the prevent cloud redraws, weather depiction on arrival is far better (although I don't understand why since from when I started AS2012, loaded my flight plan and when I arrived, the metar scarcely changed, but anyway...)Procedure, establish on the ILS and instead of coming out of the clouds between 1000ft to 200ft above ground as I would have hoped and expected (and as both METAR and AS2012 were claming, as AS2012 was still interpolating the thing into a OVC001 !!!!) here I am at 2000ft, having gone out of the clouds a loooooong time ago (at about 4000ft).Knowing that EDDF's elevation is 364ft, with OVC001 (AS2012's interpolation) or even with the real BKN002 of the metar, I should have had the pleasure of a real challenging instrument approach until at best 600ft, at worst 1000-1200ft.What is funny is that the rendition DID go right after a while... After I waited for about 10 minutes on the ground, parked at my stand. Useless.So there IS indeed something to do here. I'd be happy to hear from Damian or Chris. Or submit a ticket if it's better for them.

Edited January 25, 2012 by Driftdown

[leeflet 0]

Driftdown, one thing I noticed in those spot images posted here is that the cloud cover perspective is from an oblique angle. From that perspective it is hard to see the "holes" in the overcast below. The breaks in overcast - in my situation at least - are immediately around and below the aircraft (while looking out towards the horizon gives me a perspective similar to the images posted here).Setting MaximumCloudLayers = 20 in FSXOptions.cfg and CLOUD_COVERAGE_DENSITY=12 in FSX.cfg did not resolve the issue for me.Maybe it's because I'm just a little delirious from the flu (yuck) but do I understand correctly that PREVENTING cloud redraws MAINTAINS the overcast? I got a little lost in your wording - sorry...

[Driftdown 1]

Hi leeflet,no it's not only a good angle for the screenshot : it's really OVC, even under my plane. First thing I checked :) It's just that a screenshot from top to bottom doesn't show really how large the OVC cover can be.AS for the "prevent cloud redraws" it didn't maintain the overcast it put it back : I had a very good OVC depiction during all the cruise and the beginning of descent, but as soon as I reached overhead my destination, which moreover showed OVC in its interpolated METAR (FIrst : it should not have been interpolated at all, and second it's even worse because the interpolation was supposedly OVC), the clouds started to disappear and a very nice SCT/FEW was depicted, with perfect visibility. As soon as I unchecked the "prevent redraw" the depiction was back to a OVC as it should have been... however the OVC depicted and the visibility were not as they should have been. First the base of the clouds should have been much much lower, and the visibility worse. So the "prevent redraws" did not maintain the OVC as it has disappeared, it merely put it back, albeit in a not perfect manner.Hope this clears things a bit.

[Petermuc3 8]

I was searching for the FSXOptions.cfg and could not find it. Can someone give me the location?ThanksPeter

[738 73]

Hi PeterYou can locate your fsx cfg here C:Usersyour nameAppDataRoamingMicrosoftFSX in vista/7 and if you want to edit the cloud coverage its in the cfg under [weather].

[Petermuc3 8]

Thank you, I did look there first but there is no FSXOptions.cfg.Peter

[738 73]

No problem,It isn't listed as fsx options cfg it just says fsx and along to the right it should show cfg file, thats what you want to open.

[Petermuc3 8]

Oh, you mean the normal fsx.cfg. Ok it looks very different to the above mentioned; e.g. no entry for cloud layers etc.Peter

[738 73]

Deleated

Edited January 28, 2012 by christos

[Driftdown 1]

No it definitely is NOT the fsx.cfg. Don't start messing with this one with what I posted earlier ! The file is, as written above : FSXOptions.cfg NOT fsx.cfgYou will find it here : Users[Your user name]AppDataRoamingHiFiAS2012Options or the equivalent folder in Vista/XP

[leeflet 0]

C:Users[user Name]AppDataRoamingHiFiAS2012OptionsFSXOptions.cfg

[Petermuc3 8]

Thanks guys, got it now.Peter

[Capt Lalle 0]

I'm really disappointed after upgrading from ASE to Active Sky 2012.AS 2012 isn't still able to produce overcast situations although it is reported in wx report. Clouds are only scattered with lots of blue sky, as unreal as it gets....If the only way is to edit fsx.cfg and set CLOUD_COVERAGE_DENSITY to 12 I don't need an expensive software.

[DAL488 2]

Flew two flights today, both from airports reporting low overcast. The clouds looked really good from the ground before takeoff, and I was excited about punching into the soup. Needless to say, as soon as I entered the overcast, it was almost like a clear day; all clouds around the departure airport disappeared, and I could see the ground clearly.Overcast skies reported all along my route, but there were plenty of holes and plenty of squares.Something needs to be done about the overcast depiction, because, as far as I can tell, it's messed up.Using DWC, cause the others causes stutters.James

[HiFly 16]

I have not applied the latest patch but have had several occasions of fairly good solid cumulus overcast conditions in patches when flying above. Also noticed several large areas of stratus overcast below the aircraft but those "chicklets" textures that are being used are anything but realistic. The big joke of course is that regardless of the metar that AS2012 is using to generate the wx, FSX will only generate high ceilings and only appear solid from below or above but disappear when you try to fly through it. Don't remember clouds disappearing ( as you experienced, James) before with ASE. The only way to practice low ceiling/solid overcast conditions seems to be to input them manually into FSX and use 1/16 sm vis within the cloud body thus giving the appearance of solid cloud while flying through. Even in that case, though, you need to input at least a double layer of overcast. Using that method will produce appearance below, within, and above. Hardly practical for anything but an approach or takeoff practice at a single airport. Why is it so difficult to get a reliable weather engine product? Is it because developers spend too much time trying to make things "pretty" instead of realistic? Remember the old flat FS98 clouds? It was either overcast or CAVOK but you could set the ceilings down to 328 ft agl and when you flew into them it was a shear whiteout from the base of the cloud up to the top!

Edited February 5, 2012 by HiFly