Opus, clear air below aircraft...

[Rocky_53 1,583]

After downloading and installing the full version of Opus I decided to test out the early morning fog this morning. When I started at Bristol, sure, everything looked a perfect copy of what I was looking at outside our house (we live 7 miles away.) But once I got to about 2500' I experienced the usual FSX thing of everything turning clear below me, certainly not like pics posted elsewhere on the forum. I was under the impression that Opus actually created the kind of white out that has been missing for so long... are there some changes I need to make or something I've missed do you think? I've read the manual...

[Opus Software 84]

Hi Howard

 

You just need to make sure the fog effect (or mist, if mist was reported) is enabled, which it should be by default. This means you can't see the ground when flying above fog. Let me know if this didn't work.

 

Regards

Cheryl

[Rocky_53 1,583]

Hi Cheryl, mmm, OK, well all the boxes are unticked apart from the disable mist effect, so I guess is the culprit. BTW Cheryl, can you give an opinion on the clouds in this screenie. There seems to be a lot of distance between two layers of cumulus...

 

[Opus Software 84]

The topping cloud for mist will not be overcast but broken, that way you know its a mist bank below you or reported very low lying cloud of course, but at least it allows you to see some effect. In some meteorological conditions you might want to turn off the mist effect again otherwise the ground below you could well be covered.

 

Regards

Stephen :-)

[Jean-Paul 167]

Howard,

 

If you are refering to Nyxx's screenshots earlier today, those were taken at EGNX at 9:30 with Opus reporting 300 m visibility and overcast at 200 ft. Bristol (EGGD) reported 2000 m visibilty and broken at 300 ft so you can't compare the two.

[Rocky_53 1,583]

Hi jean-Paul, sure, I thought he'd posted some recent pics. I'll catch him tomorrow perhaps...

 

The topping cloud for mist will not be overcast but broken, that way you know its a mist bank below you or reported very low lying cloud of course, but at least it allows you to see some effect. In some meteorological conditions you might want to turn off the mist effect again otherwise the ground below you could well be covered.

 

Regards

Stephen :-)

 

Thanks for the reply regarding the mist Stephen, but what are your thoughts on the cloud layers in the pic?

[Opus Software 84]

Hi Cheryl, mmm, OK, well all the boxes are unticked apart from the disable mist effect, so I guess is the culprit. BTW Cheryl, can you give an opinion on the clouds in this screenie. There seems to be a lot of distance between two layers of cumulus...

 

 

What does the local weather report say, they look perfectly fine to me, its perfectly natural for a METAR to report one layer of low lying cloud and a higher level cloud. You must check the METARs in your OpusWeather.txt file, these METARs will tell you what cloud layers have been reported in your area and I think you will find that is exactly what you are seeing.

 

Stephen

 

Howard,

 

If you are refering to Nyxx's screenshots earlier today, those were taken at EGNX at 9:30 with Opus reporting 300 m visibility and overcast at 200 ft. Bristol (EGGD) reported 2000 m visibilty and broken at 300 ft so you can't compare the two.

 

I will second that, chalk and cheese. We do not set global weather, I live just down the road from EGNX and I can confirm the weather was exact at East Midlands, it was real pea soup weather. Bristol is a long long way from here and over in the west if the country. Our weather is real, detailed, and varied so don't expect Nottingham in the grip of thick fog to be the same as Bristol a hundred odd miles away.

 

Stephen

 

Hi jean-Paul, sure, I thought he'd posted some recent pics. I'll catch him tomorrow perhaps...

 

 

 

Thanks for the reply regarding the mist Stephen, but what are your thoughts on the cloud layers in the pic?

 

See above, those cloud layers look perfectly fine to me, cloud layers do not always have to be closely spaced. It is quite common to see both low and high level cloud reported in METARs just like the cloud coverage you saw above.

 

Regarding the pics being discussed, I believe the first set were live in the morning, the second set used our historic weather option to fly in the same conditions again. I can vouch for this weather I am not too far from EGNX and it was very foggy all morning.

 

Regards

Stephen

[Rocky_53 1,583]

What does the local weather report say, they look perfectly fine to me, its perfectly natural for a METAR to report one layer of low lying cloud and a higher level cloud. You must check the METARs in your OpusWeather.txt file, these METARs will tell you what cloud layers have been reported in your area and I think you will find that is exactly what you are seeing.

 

Stephen

 

 

 

I will second that, chalk and cheese. We do not set global weather, I live just down the road from EGNX and I can confirm the weather was exact at East Midlands, it was real pea soup weather. Bristol is a long long way from here and over in the west if the country. Our weather is real, detailed, and varied so don't expect Nottingham in the grip of thick fog to be the same as Bristol a hundred odd miles away.

 

Stephen

 

 

 

See above, those cloud layers look perfectly fine to me, cloud layers do not always have to be closely spaced. It is quite common to see both low and high level cloud reported in METARs just like the cloud coverage you saw above.

 

Regarding the pics being discussed, I believe the first set were live in the morning, the second set used our historic weather option to fly in the same conditions again. I can vouch for this weather I am not too far from EGNX and it was very foggy all morning.

 

Regards

Stephen

 

Thanks Stephen, I have no issue with your weather engine whatsoever, I am more than impressed! I was just anxious about that upper level of cloud, as I thought the actual textures just looked somehow odd.

[Opus Software 84]

Hi Howard

 

That's OK, jumping from one post to another at the moment so its getting a bit frantic. The lower cloud looks perfectly normal of course just a few cumulus floating past. The upper cloud could be specified as either altostratus or altocumulus, there are many factors involved in deciding, but I think that's the typical FSX effect of a broken patch of altoxxx type. I might set up a test and try and play with the cloud parameters see what effects I get. Looks if you are cruising quite high so they were most likely altostratus, I might be able to improve the look of them, but sometimes FSX just doesn't want to play fair.

 

Regards

Stephen

 

Hi Howard

 

The distance between cloud layers looks normak to me but the METAR would confirm.

 

Regards

Cheryl :-)

[Rocky_53 1,583]

Hi Howard

 

That's OK, jumping from one post to another at the moment so its getting a bit frantic. The lower cloud looks perfectly normal of course just a few cumulus floating past. The upper cloud could be specified as either altostratus or altocumulus, there are many factors involved in deciding, but I think that's the typical FSX effect of a broken patch of altoxxx type. I might set up a test and try and play with the cloud parameters see what effects I get. Looks if you are cruising quite high so they were most likely altostratus, I might be able to improve the look of them, but sometimes FSX just doesn't want to play fair.

 

Regards

Stephen

 

Hi Howard

 

The distance between cloud layers looks normak to me but the METAR would confirm.

 

Regards

Cheryl :-)

 

Sure, I guess that makes sense. Thanks for the clarification...

[COWAR 13]

Hello, I think the problem with the ground visibility appears, if there is no fog reported with the METAR and then no fog layer is placed, which can be seen from above, but we have low visibility which is realized with some kind of blending effect I think. In the sample pictures you can see the current METAR datas and how it looks inside the sim. If you have reached the hight of the low visibility area, the ground becomes invisible, which is correct. But at higher altitude it becomes visible again, because your position is now above the limited visibility area, which gives you an unrealistic impression. I don't know if it is possible to find a solution to this. So far none of the weather software is able to realize this. But it would be allready give us a much better effect if the visibility would not switch to best visibility, but still remain to a more limited one, may be adjustable by the user.

 

I have AS2012, REX Essential Plus with Overdrive textures and since two days also OPUS. OPUS and AS2012 are very close together what comes to the visual weather appearance, but I think OPUS is the most accurate of this three programs in displaying the METAR datas; REX has the best textures in my opinion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rocky_53 1,583]

Hello, I think the problem with the ground visibility appears, if there is no fog reported with the METAR and then no fog layer is placed, which can be seen from above, but we have low visibility which is realized with some kind of blending effect I think. In the sample pictures you can see the current METAR datas and how it looks inside the sim. If you have reached the hight of the low visibility area, the ground becomes invisible, which is correct. But at higher altitude it becomes visible again, because your position is now above the limited visibility area, which gives you an unrealistic impression. I don't know if it is possible to find a solution to this. So far none of the weather software is able to realize this. But it would be allready give us a much better effect if the visibility would not switch to best visibility, but still remain to a more limited one, may be adjustable by the user.

 

I have AS2012, REX Essential Plus with Overdrive textures and since two days also OPUS. OPUS and AS2012 are very close together what comes to the visual weather appearance, but I think OPUS is the most accurate of this three programs in displaying the METAR datas; REX has the best textures in my opinion.

 

 

Hey, thanks for the samples. That is exactly what I experienced...

[Opus Software 84]

Hi

 

We are currently looking at improving the vis effects. We think it is FSX in certain situations having a problem with the different layers. Hopefully we will get it fixed.

 

Regards

Cheryl

[Opus Software 84]

But you should try out Beta version 2.50.1 if you are interested in real world accurate weather, try setting your destination and alternates, or changing the alternates en route and displaying the weather report window for the alternate. Perfect ATIS weather report up to 300+ miles away.

 

Plenty more to come.

 

Regards

Stephen

 

Personally, I think we have a slight edge on the appearance, but far outshine all others hands down on accuracy, especially when considering the weather all around you (distant storms, weather fronts, etc.) out to each visible horizon, and now, using the new weather reports, out far beyond. :-)

 

[COWAR 13]

Hi, at first, thanks for your reply. My impression is, that limited visibilities in FSX are made like a kind of fog filter between the world and the camera. That means all you can see, except the aircraft is affected by using this kind of filter. Better visibility, to see the clear blue sky, if you fly above the clouds, means also better visibility to the ground, if it is not covered by clouds, because the filter becomes clearer and clearer. What we need is one more filter between the ground and the sky. Then, if the vertical positioned filter becomes clear, the horizontal filter remains at low visibility. but I'm pretty sure, this is not easy to realize, maybe it is impossible to get it with FSX, because the horizontal filter has to be a very large one in size. For me is the optical appearance of the weather a very important factor, because I'm flying mostly smaller aircrafts and helicopters, normally at lower altitudes, enjoying the landscape under real weather conditions.

 

However, OPUS is from now on my standard program to bring real weather into FSX. The accuracy and atmosphere, flying in bad weather conditions is very impressive and very exiting. Also the short time from starting OPUS until the weather is injected into FSX is excelent. And my impression of the developers is, they are highest motivated to make possible what ever can be become possible and they hold close contact to its customers. It reminds me somehow at the ALPHA team which created FSX, a team of flight enthusiasts, not a team of business focused people like the ones who created FLIGHT. For a team like the developers of OPUS I payed gladly the 40$, because its product is worth the price and the support is state of the art. Go forward this way, and many thanks for a great product.