Like many of us, I bought this fine bird (PMDG 737NGX), cranked her up and went flying. It was much easier than I expected as complex as it is and has been a lot of fun. I never flew anything bigger than a small twin in real life, so don't claim to know anything personally about a 737 or any other heavy. However, the flight dynamics seem to be outstanding to me. So now I decided to get down to business and find out what she is really all about and read the manuals carefully to take advantage of all the hard work PDMG has done. Although I am satisfied so far with the performance, I started with the first manual and setup instructions. Immediatedly ran into the following question:After getting the fsx.cfg tweaks recommended in the http://www.venetubo.com/fsx.html link recommended in the PMDG 737NGX manual setup, one of the recommendations was as follow:"Your cloud draw distance is set above 70nm, try using an external weather program to limit visibility and set your cloud draw distance UNDER this visibility for optimal horizon cloud blend."I am useing Active Sky Evolution as my weather and do not see any "cloud draw distance" option.Under "Options > Settings > Display > Weather > Cloud Draw Distance" the only options on the slider are: "60nm, 70nm, 80nm, 90nm, 100nm, 110nm"I am not sure what or where this recommendation is talking about.Any ideas?Thanks:RTH

Full names here please. The tips are only suggestions and your individual results may vary. I've got cloud distance max'ed out because in reality they go all the way to infinity and beyond. Not really, but it just struck me a funny. Anyway, adjust to your preference.

I got mine set to 60mi, because many of the literature I read said something along the lines of the line of sight following the curvature of the earth extends 60mi, beyond that you won't need to see anything, nor can you.That also works as well, I have a marginal computer (OCd) to run FSX, any further rendering than how I've got it now will slow it down pretty bad. So I'm very happy to stick to 60mi.

I've just been playing with the same settings myself.Cloud draw distance is set in the sim in the graphics area, I believe. Trying Bojote's advice I lowered the draw distance to 60 then went into AS2012 and set the upper level visability to 60 and the lower level to 30. I believe that's what the tip is referring to.Not ideal for me yet yet but I'm closer.

Sorry, but I don't think I made my question really clear.I am not asking what setting is best. I am referreing to the recommendation given in the tweak recommendations included with the revised fsx.cfg capability.The recommendation in my "venetubo.com" download recommended on page 0.00.13 of the Instruction PDF was a cloud draw distance of "10nm".In addition to this, the recommendation by PMDG on page 0.00.16 of the introduction PDF is "80nm"As I mentioned in my original post here, 60nm is the min.setting available in FSX. I am not aware of where else this setting can be reduced, particularly to 10nm?Does anyone know specifically what and where the recommendation is talking about (10nm).Respectfully:RTHEdit:Thanks to heightsmite, I looked more carefully in the fsx.cfg file. Cloud Draw Distance is not in the graphics section, but in the weather section (make sense as that is where the slider option is located). However, the line item text in both my original, and the tweaked fsx.cfg from Boote is not above 70, but 5 (I had cloud draw distance set to 80nm in the fsx slider options, but it is 5 in the fsx.cfg files),"CLOUD_DRAW_DISTANCE=5"Afraid I am in a bit over my head here

Edited March 1, 201214 yr by rhodges

Just a bit of info for you rhodges, cloud draw distance in fsx can be set in the fsx.cfg file by putting the appropriate number in place of xCLOUD_DRAW_DISTANCE=x1 = 40mi2 = 50mi3 = 60mi <----------------- ZERO SLIDER4 = 70mi5 = 80mi6 = 90mi7 = 100mi8 = 110mi <----------------100% SLIDERRegards,Pete Smith

Bojote is recommending that you set the cloud draw distance in FSX to 10nm less than the visibility distance set in Active Sky. You can set the FSX cloud draw parameter directly in the .cfg file like Pete says above...or do it in the settings of FSX. In ASE, look under "visibility options".--Don

heres another tweak you can do to improve your clouds in your fsx cfg setting go to your cloud density and change it from 8 to 12 remember if you change any settings in fsx it will revert back to 8

This is a good one.I have mine set to 70 miles, the cloud density is set to max i get a flat 30fps so if i turn up the draw distance even on my rig i get lag so best to leave it where it is hope this is of some help my friend..What you got to remember in the real world with the haze in the distance your not going to see very far any how. When i have REX in and the real world weather with that hazy effect this creates a realistic view for me.Ste....

Thanks for the clarification folks:Now I understand the relationship between the numbers in the fsx.cfg compared to the slider in FSX.While I am at it, I will add this to my thread, which has nothing to do with cloud draw in the hope that one of you can help here.When I replace my original fsx.cfg file with that provided by Bojote, something happens that doesn't seem to be compatible with my Ultimate Traffic. When I start up FSX, the first thing I get is a window whch says the following:"There are multiple objects with the same title name. They must have unique title names. FIA100 SimObjectsUT AircraftFlight One AI 100" If I click "close" in the window it progresses to the next aircraft, "F1AI100*AF*00". As I continue closing window it continues to progress to the other UT aircraft. I did this 1,000 times before giving up.In my tweaked fsx.cfg file, I replaced the entire "trusted" section with the content of my original fsx.cfg file. I don't know what is different fsx.cfg files to be causing this as it still did the same thing.Thanks:RTH

In inspecting both my original backup fsx.cfg file compared to the tweaked file I found the following regarding UT Aircraft in the "Main" sections:Original fsx.cfg:[Main]User Objects=Airplane, HelicopterSimObjectPaths.0=SimObjectsAirplanesSimObjectPaths.1=SimObjectsRotorcraftSimObjectPaths.2=SimObjectsGroundVehiclesSimObjectPaths.3=SimObjectsBoatsSimObjectPaths.4=SimObjectsAnimalsSimObjectPaths.5=SimObjectsMiscSimObjectPaths.6=AircraftMaximized=2Location=827,203,1859,981,.DISPLAY1HideMenuNormal=0HideMenuFullscreen=1ProcSpeed=6796PerfBucket=1FIBER_FRAME_TIME_FRACTION=0.18SimObjectPaths.6=SimObjectsUT AircraftSimObjectPaths.7=SimObjectsUT AircraftDisablePreload=1Tweaked fsx.cfg:[Main]DisablePreload=1FIBER_FRAME_TIME_FRACTION=0.18HideMenuFullscreen=1HideMenuNormal=0Location=827,203,1859,981,.DISPLAY1Maximized=2SimObjectPaths.0=SimObjectsAirplanesSimObjectPaths.1=SimObjectsRotorcraftSimObjectPaths.2=SimObjectsGroundVehiclesSimObjectPaths.3=SimObjectsBoatsSimObjectPaths.4=SimObjectsAnimalsSimObjectPaths.5=SimObjectsMiscSimObjectPaths.6=SimObjectsUT AircraftSimObjectPaths.7=SimObjectsUT AircraftUser Objects=Airplane, HelicopterI replaced the "Main" section" of the tweaked file with the original "Main" section from the original backup and the problem went away. I also resubmitted this edited fsx.cfg file to Bojote, and the reply was that the file was optomized and needed no tweaking.Sorry for the bold print. After the cut and paste of the "Main" sections of the files, I don't know how to get rid of it.Respectfully:RTH

Thanks for the clarification folks:Now I understand the relationship between the numbers in the fsx.cfg compared to the slider in FSX.While I am at it, I will add this to my thread, which has nothing to do with cloud draw in the hope that one of you can help here.When I replace my original fsx.cfg file with that provided by Bojote, something happens that doesn't seem to be compatible with my Ultimate Traffic. When I start up FSX, the first thing I get is a window whch says the following:"There are multiple objects with the same title name. They must have unique title names. FIA100 SimObjectsUT AircraftFlight One AI 100" If I click "close" in the window it progresses to the next aircraft, "F1AI100*AF*00". As I continue closing window it continues to progress to the other UT aircraft. I did this 1,000 times before giving up.In my tweaked fsx.cfg file, I replaced the entire "trusted" section with the content of my original fsx.cfg file. I don't know what is different fsx.cfg files to be causing this as it still did the same thing.Thanks:RTH