Hi there Stephen,

 

I've been following this thread over the past few weeks and this afternoon purchased OpusFSX, as my curiosity got the better of me, and also because I wanted to see if there were really any significant enhancements over the weather as I perceive it to be when I fly in Prepar3D. After my first test flight I must say that I am rather disappointed:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first 4 screenshots above show me flying from KBUF towards the East Coast with OpusFSX running, with a REX Essential cloud set I made up and loaded into Prepar3D. The last 3 screenshots show the exact same location a minute or so later with the identical cloud set, but now with Active Sky 2012 running after I shutdown OpusFSX. I'm not sure what is going on in the OpusFSX weather engine, but the very weird sideways clouds do not look very realistic at all, and the general mood and atmospheric impression I got, was that OpusFSX didn't feel very realistic, visually speaking that is. I didn't experience any unusual or unrealistic wind shifts.

 

Screenshots 4 and 5 in particular document the drastic difference, as you can see it is the exact same location from the exact same viewing angle, yet it looks so totally different! The second screenshot also shows OpusFSX with a weird sideways cloud far in the distance.

 

I welcome your feedback, as OpusFSX certainly isn't going to be a keeper if this is what the weather looks like in Prepar3D using OpusFSX as a weather engine.

 

Cheers,

 

Jerome

 

Hi Jerome

 

I have had Jean-Paul report that strange cloud to me and supply all the relevent information (METAR reports and excact lat/lon locations).

 

I flew to the exact lat/long location and set my parameters to give virtually an identical view but no strange clouds appeared even after several weather reloads. I am almost conviced now that this problem is due to a faulty cloud texture bitmap loaded somewhere within the FSX files, that FSX is occassionally selecting and displaying instead of a normal cumulus cloud. That would also explain why this strange effect has been seen with other weather engines. Whenever FSX randomly selects the cloud bitmap, the strange cloud appears. One thing, I think FSX should be selecting a small cumulus cloud and it looks as if the faulty bitmap is causing a stratus cloud image to be loaded and displayed.

 

At the exact location reported, there were two cumulus cloud layers, the lower layer showing few (2 octas) small cumulus, the upper cumulus layer overcast. I am certain one of these bitmaps has been corrupted during a past texture installation.

 

At present I am using REX Overdrive with cloud selection, recently fully reinstalled,

 

3D Clouds - Cumulus Set: 01 HD Enabled,

Cirrus Clouds - Cirrus Set: 24 HD Enabled

 

Could you please reinstall all your cloud and sky textures and see if you can recreate the flight. After using AS2012 textures for a while I had to completely reinstall all textures twice with REX to get everything back to normal. Not sure if you have to repeat that exercise if and when I switching back or load some other textures.

 

I will of course continue to give this some thought. But I reiterate, all the LWE was asking FSX for was two cumulus cloud layers, and when I checked all the data being fed to FSX, everything was as expected, correct cloud types, cloud bases, cloud heights etc. Its then up to FSX to select its cloud textures to display the various small cumulus and in my case the overcast cloud bitmaps displayed above.

 

Regards

Stephen

It is interesting isn't. Your assumption is correct, I have multiple JS all visible and functioning. I have tried several JS buttons with no indication in the SPY windows, yet, all of them are knowledged by FSUIPC and the FSX Controls panel

 

Hi Cheryl and Danny

 

Wouldn't it be worth just trying to uninstall OpusFSX and reinstall? No harm will be done, I think. Just in case something got corrupted?

 

salu2

Joop

Hi Danny,

 

We ask FSX for the first 32 buttons on the first 6 joysticks. Are you using a joystick outside this range perhaps?

Another possibility is that the joystick input is being directed elsewhere by some other software package.

Can't think of any other suggestions at the moment.

 

Regards

Cheryl

 

Thanks Joop for your suggestion.

Hi Danny

 

Just to give you some further info, some already been mentioned by Cheryl. After OpusFSX connects to the simulator via SimConnect, it requests notification of joystick inputs 1 to 32 for joystick 1 to 6. We do not read the joysticks ourselves, nor do we access then by name, simply by number. This means you should always use the same USB input for the joysticks and not swap them about, otherwise they would appear in a different order. We rely totally on the simulator informing us through an event, whenever one of these inputs is pressed. This reported event is always reported in the program's main Spy window.

 

Keyboard inputs are different since they are mostly assigned within FSX. We only request notification of a key press AFTER it has been assigned to a camera view. It is up to you to make sure it is a valid key to use, that is not assigned to any other FSX function.

 

Considering the above comments, you should be able to test all your joystick inputs using the Spy window without opening the Camera Control dialog. They should always appear as events in the Spy window, telling you what joystick and button was pressed.

 

Key presses on the other hand will only be reported in the Spy window if they have been assigned to camera views and FSX has not used them for some other purpose.

 

Before trying to use any joystick buttons you must get them recognised by FSX as one of its first six joystick devices. If nothing is displayed in the Spy window then FSX is not sending the event to OpusFSX for some reason.

 

Regards

Stephen

Good ideas, but, the joystick buttons that I am using are 14, 15, 16, from joystick 0. In the grand scheme, this little bump can be ignored for now. Everythingelse is working great. I am looking forward to TrackIR adding OpusFSX to their game list so I can use TkIr with OpusFSX DHM.

 

Thanks, everyone, for your attempt to help out.

 

Regards,

Hi Danny

 

I will check and amend the software if needed and post a beta for you with the mod included in addition to the new TrackIR interface software.

 

Regards

Stephen

Just going to hop into the disussion here and say that i bought it yesterday. Have'nt had a chance to fly a full flight yet but so far i'm very pleased. And the support seems to be top notch.

Stephen:

 

Wow....really. I can't believe the level of customer service you folks are providing, let alone the timeliness. Just amazing.

 

Thank you......

Hi Jerome

 

I have had Jean-Paul report that strange cloud to me and supply all the relevent information (METAR reports and excact lat/lon locations).

 

I flew to the exact lat/long location and set my parameters to give virtually an identical view but no strange clouds appeared even after several weather reloads. I am almost conviced now that this problem is due to a faulty cloud texture bitmap loaded somewhere within the FSX files, that FSX is occassionally selecting and displaying instead of a normal cumulus cloud. That would also explain why this strange effect has been seen with other weather engines. Whenever FSX randomly selects the cloud bitmap, the strange cloud appears. One thing, I think FSX should be selecting a small cumulus cloud and it looks as if the faulty bitmap is causing a stratus cloud image to be loaded and displayed.

 

At the exact location reported, there were two cumulus cloud layers, the lower layer showing few (2 octas) small cumulus, the upper cumulus layer overcast. I am certain one of these bitmaps has been corrupted during a past texture installation.

 

At present I am using REX Overdrive with cloud selection, recently fully reinstalled,

 

3D Clouds - Cumulus Set: 01 HD Enabled,

Cirrus Clouds - Cirrus Set: 24 HD Enabled

 

Could you please reinstall all your cloud and sky textures and see if you can recreate the flight. After using AS2012 textures for a while I had to completely reinstall all textures twice with REX to get everything back to normal. Not sure if you have to repeat that exercise if and when I switching back or load some other textures.

 

I will of course continue to give this some thought. But I reiterate, all the LWE was asking FSX for was two cumulus cloud layers, and when I checked all the data being fed to FSX, everything was as expected, correct cloud types, cloud bases, cloud heights etc. Its then up to FSX to select its cloud textures to display the various small cumulus and in my case the overcast cloud bitmaps displayed above.

 

Regards

Stephen

 

Hi Stephen,

 

I had some of the fog and haze settings still setup as active in REX Essential, deselecting this seems to have remedied the problem so far. I have flown the exact same route today, and not encountered anything similar.

 

My OpusWeather.txt file from last night is here, though it may have some info from flights after that too, I'm not sure:

 

http://textuploader.com/?p=6&id=xpMdE

 

I'm currently flying from EKRN to EKSA and the clouds in general look a little bit more bland and less "eye-candy like" than when I have AS 2012 running as the weather engine. I'm not sure if you are able to provide some optimal cloud texture settings in REX. I have some screenshots I'll post later.

 

I have a fresh v1.4 install running and have never installed any AS 2012 textures into it.

 

Cheers,

 

Jerome

Well, I bought it yesterday and did a flight from PHX to JFK. My impression is..... very good but with a caveat. If your like me and do the majority or all (for me it's all) your flying in commercial airliner style with a lot of time up above FL250 or so....you may have some difficulties. As Stephen has explained and as most of us know, winds aloft in FSX are crap. With Opus in its current state the winds aloft are drastically off. Real world data indicates I should be getting a 40 to 50kt tailwind where I currently am at and I have an 11kt headwind. The only thing that works for me is DWC mode in AS2012. Very reliable winds at the expense of a global wx model. I find the visuals of Opus better than AS2012 (using AS2012 textures with Opus as the wx engine). But with fuel planning and what not, I will be going back to AS2012 for now. I will not be returning Opus via Flight 1 and will keep it on my HD. I will wait to see what the months ahead bring with regards to the Opus dev's coming up with a winds aloft solution. Until then with my style of flying, will be sticking with AS2012.

Well, I bought it yesterday and did a flight from PHX to JFK. My impression is..... very good but with a caveat. If your like me and do the majority or all (for me it's all) your flying in commercial airliner style with a lot of time up above FL250 or so....you may have some difficulties. As Stephen has explained and as most of us know, winds aloft in FSX are crap. With Opus in its current state the winds aloft are drastically off. Real world data indicates I should be getting a 40 to 50kt tailwind where I currently am at and I have an 11kt headwind. The only thing that works for me is DWC mode in AS2012. Very reliable winds at the expense of a global wx model. I find the visuals of Opus better than AS2012 (using AS2012 textures with Opus as the wx engine). But with fuel planning and what not, I will be going back to AS2012 for now. I will not be returning Opus via Flight 1 and will keep it on my HD. I will wait to see what the months ahead bring with regards to the Opus dev's coming up with a winds aloft solution. Until then with my style of flying, will be sticking with AS2012.

 

Hi Eric

 

Working around the winds aloft problem within FSX is high up on our list, I will be making a start after completing part of the planned LWE upgrade. My aim, is to use some form of direct weather control for the winds aloft, the same as AS but still keeping the detailed and varied weather all around you. Then you can enjoy your flights at FL350 with all the varied weather visible around you. I also love flying the 737NGX so I can understand your comments, and using AS2012 for now is the perfect solution. You could always use OpusFSX for your short haul hops below FL250.

 

Many thanks Eric, you continued support and patience is much appreciated.

 

Enjoy your flying,

 

Regards

Stephen

I too bought this product earlier and I'm very impressed with it. I too am looking forward to winds aloft being sorted.

It's nice to see varied weather systems around you in the sim. It would be nice to see something like Active Sky has where you can see the predicted weather at each point in your flight plan.

 

Overall very impressed with the product and the support I've seen on here from the developers.

I too bought this product earlier and I'm very impressed with it. I too am looking forward to winds aloft being sorted.

It's nice to see varied weather systems around you in the sim. It would be nice to see something like Active Sky has where you can see the predicted weather at each point in your flight plan.

 

Overall very impressed with the product and the support I've seen on here from the developers.

 

You will have to check out our Flight1 forum pages concerning the future Live Weather Assistant and 'pseudo' weather radar, also see our soon to be released SkyDemon interface (check out their website).

 

Not allowed to say any more since we have been warned and might be banned from Avsim for describing what we are doing and what new features we are working on (advertising). I have to rely on other people describing them, I cannot describe anything even though you might be interested to hear about it.

 

Regards

Stephen

Ok will do Stephen. Thanks for a great product.

I too bought this product earlier and I'm very impressed with it. I too am looking forward to winds aloft being sorted.

It's nice to see varied weather systems around you in the sim. It would be nice to see something like Active Sky has where you can see the predicted weather at each point in your flight plan.

 

Overall very impressed with the product and the support I've seen on here from the developers.

 

+1