Making the jump from AS2012, should I?

[enrico68 3]

Hello and Merry Christmas!!

 

As the title says, I am a user of AS2012 for the weather engine, and REX for cloud textures, on top of it I use TrackIR5.

I have got to say I am pretty satisfied with the current setup, although, as many say, when AS downloads the weather, it tends to slow down FSX a little, although not as much as before. Mind you, I do not fly liners, yet, so I cannot elaborate on the turbulence problems that affect many pilots at high altitudes.

Having said that, I came to know a few days ago about OPUS and its features. I went to their website, and read more than once all the features that OPUS offers. The praise by many users is what really got me interested.

So, let me ask you this: why should I move to another yet weather program? Many of you will reply, saying: look at the videos that show all OPUS has to offer, there is a trial version, go try it, and the like. I am not a big fan of trial versions, in general, it's just me, when I buy a product, I'd rather hear from the users, in this case especially if they come from AS2012.

Would you say OPUS really makes a difference, compared to AS2012? Should i go for it? The price, for what it offers, seems very reasonable to me, considering you can also add camera views. I use EZdok right now.

 

The issue here is that, on top of the 40 plus bucks, still reasonable, I would have to ditch two software programs I have already paid for: AS2012 and EZdok ( EZdok people, we are still waiting for version 2.0.....). And maybe REX, as the OPUS team highly suggests FEX over REX.

 

One thing I noticed, and that also made me interested in the product, is the very close support from the developers, which is a very good plus.

 

Having said that, I would like to hear from owners of AS2012 and EZdok, who made the leap and would not go back.

 

Thank you for any input and feedback, Merry Christmas to all AVSIM staff members and pilots,

 

Enrico

[LHookins 3,103]

when AS downloads the weather, it tends to slow down FSX a little

 

I haven't experienced this lately. I used to have problems that I traced to thermal generation, and after setting that to zero, along with ridge lift, I don't even know when AS2012 loads the weather.

 

Ask yourself what you'll be giving up to abandon AS2012. Are there any features that you'd miss, that aren't included with OpusFSX? For example, Flightwatch radio or the weather map and flight planning facilities. The ability to check weather anywhere in the world to choose where you'll want to fly. Decoded METARs. Reasonable interpolation for areas without METAR coverage, and incomplete or out of date METARs being "fixed" by interpolation. And a big one, historical weather.

 

Opus has a few features that AS2012 does not. For example, METAR reports in-game other than what you get over Flightwatch radio, but limited to a few locations. Wind aloft data, which is a great feature.

 

Cloud depiction seems to be very similar in both programs. You'll get different effects in AS2012 depending on what depiction mode you select. Experiment with these before buying another product.

 

You're going from a mature product to one that's just started; expect unimplemented features and growing pains. Some features are implemented oddly, like turbulence. Product support is very good in both, especially if you go to the dedicated forums for each at Hifi or Flight1.

 

Opus has gotten considerable mindshare, although not everyone has had positive experiences. If you've already made your decision, then go for it. If you don't mind spending the money, then buy it. If it turns out to be a better solution for you, then it's all good. If it doesn't, there's a 30 day refund policy. During the 30 day period, make the same flight with the same historic weather in both programs to see the differences and get a valid evaluation. Hint: do the Opus flight first, as their historic weather options are currently limited.

 

Hook

[Sam 68]

Try the demo ? Will answer most of your questions and its your own mind that matters.. Most users have some biased idea of product. In short.. Basically

 

And to answer your question: YES

 

I'm using rex textures with opus and it works flawless. My opinion is that this is the best weather addon our there, and I have been using rex es, AS2012

[Kailiang Seah 44]

I brought opus i think am okok not very impress nor sad.Some1 can post something? Its working as i see the spy thinggy.1 thing i dun like about as2012 is there is a bit of blinkiing when updatin when opus i see non.

 

Seriously very confuse here

 

Few hours ago only,still really considerating,like really no different :(

[cloudswimmer 24]

I use both. Part of the fun for me is experimenting with FSX. AS2012 and Opus are both cool, and give different looks. If you can swing it I'd buy Opus and give it a shot, Merry Christmas!

[travis26 1]

I use ezdok Rex and opus, all work great together! One thing you will have to sacrifice is turbulence on the aircraft. Instead of turbulence they have a camera that just shakes the pilots head which is not for me but the weather they produce is so good that it out weighs this. If you switch from as2012 or Rex you will see weather like you have never seen weather before. I have forgotten all about as2012 and Rex weather engines. In my opinion you should buy opus as soon as possible!

 

-Travis

 

P.S Marry Xmas

[Les1974 6]

I purchased Opus about a month ago and after a week AS was uninstalled. The weather depiction is unmatched in my opinion. Before Opus I never experienced a true overcast down to the minimums while using AS because you would always get breaks in the cloud coverage which drove me crazy.

 

Not only that but during climbout in IFR conditions after breaking through you get VFR over the top with the overcast layer still underneath you and it does not vanish... you can not see the ground!!! The support is superb and a beta seems to get cranked out twice a week. Yes they are new but are already leading the race and have yet to really perfect this amazing weather engine.

[Kailiang Seah 44]

I think its better than the as2012 with the beta not sure still trying

[enrico68 3]

Well, many thanks to all of you for your input. I am definitely going to try it out, starting from the demo version. I am very curious, and eager, at this point. Knowing AS2012, I am sure I can compare the two software programs, and decide for myself.

Happy holidays to all of you, and enjoy your flights, on or off line, wherever you're headed!!

 

Enrico B)

[mosteen 111]

With REX+OD textures and AS2012 SP2 in latest beta I get novis when I should have novis, straight down at MA.

 

Got it today at Glasgow, touching down at 1832z, if I remember correctly. My son watched, I told him if we dont see the lights at MA callout, I'm gonna TO/GA the ol'gal

 

I own OpusFSX too, I shelfed it because back in 2.50~ there was no possibility to import my FP and get interpolated winds aloft, and it gave me terrible wind/preasure shifts.

 

Anyone knows if this is possible/better in current OpusFSX version? If I was a VFR flyer, no question, but liners, mmm.

[speedyTC 195]

I shelfed it because back in 2.50~

Strange reason to shelve a programme that is priced in the upper regions of add-on prices...especially when you know that it is a fledgling product with teething issues. Besides, if you follow the official support forum on Flight1 you would notice that there are daily communications from the Opus team and beta versions fly out the door almost every other day which points to a developer who is willing to listen, improve and implement change to their programme based on feedback from users in, more or less, real time.

The Opus guys have said it before: The programme is a work in progress and the Beta versions allow users to chime in with their observations which are then acted on by the dev team. Frankly, I have never seen this sort of involvement from any FS developer.

[enrico68 3]

Hi,

 

yesterday I installed the demo version of OPUS, although I just used the weather engine, as for TrackIR I still used EZdok, at least for now. I tried the product on two different airports: Milan Malpensa and Perugia S. Egidio, comparing OPUS vs AS2012. Over Malpensa, OPUS behaved pretty well, but over Perugia, where the weather was overcast with rain, OPUS showed rain with scattered clouds, I could actually see the sun peeking out...so I am still in a testing phase, which will be carried on during these holidays.

So far it seems a good product, of course it lacks all the bells and whistles of AS2012. I'll head over to the support forum to give my personal suggestions to the OPUS team, after more tests are carried out. I can't say that much more now, it would not be fair to OPUS. Let's see what the next few tests will bring, take care everyone,

 

Enrico

[speedyTC 195]

Enrico,

what you see out of your window is not necessarily the metar that Opus acts upon. Best way to check accuracy is by pulling up the local weather report from the Opus reports menu and comparing that to what the sim is generating. Opus gets its METARS from NOAA and those are usually issued hourly unless there is significant change. Make sure you input your destination ICAO code if using Opus as your Wx engine. Also bear in mind that you should not run both AS and Opus concurrently as this seems to throw Opus out of whack.

 

AS2012 is a far more mature product with a wealth of features that Opus does not offer (by design) but it is a product that is improving all the time.

[Sam 68]

More importantly what weather did as2012 show?

[mosteen 111]

Strange reason to shelve a programme that is priced in the upper regions of add-on prices...especially when you know that it is a fledgling product with teething issues. Besides, if you follow the official support forum on Flight1 you would notice that there are daily communications from the Opus team and beta versions fly out the door almost every other day which points to a developer who is willing to listen, improve and implement change to their programme based on feedback from users in, more or less, real time.

The Opus guys have said it before: The programme is a work in progress and the Beta versions allow users to chime in with their observations which are then acted on by the dev team. Frankly, I have never seen this sort of involvement from any FS developer.

 

Agree with everything you say, but there is nothing strange about my decision. Money is no issue for me and I shelfed it because it did not work for me at the time. Putting it on the shelf is not the same as throwing it in the bin.

 

Nothing of what I said implicated any kind of negative critisism towards the software, I was just stating my personal view based on what Opus could and could not do at the time I used it last.

 

I am very impressed with Stephen and Cheryl's support, I was very active during the 2.30-2.50 versions, and when I bought Opus I allready owned AS2012 and REXE+OD. I like to buy sw from good developers, they need paying customers to keep inventing new stuff

 

I like Opus also because it has a very small, if any, footprint from a resource pov, even though as I run AS2012 networked it has little effect. One more thing, when I decided to go back to EZdok and AS2012 I found that I like EZdok a little better as for camera shakes at the time.

 

When I can import my FP into Opus and get my winds aloft as I can now with AS2012, I will most certainly try again.

 

Regards,

Morten

 

Edit: I have followed the development of AS2012 and I am very satisfied with that teams efforts in support, rolling out new betas and so on. Currently SP2 is on its third or fourth build since just a couple of months. That team is also very responsive and eager to help their customers. We are very lucky to have three very good packages for weather and a little extra. My advice to all is buy all three