Flew to Venice instead of Rome ( non reving)-took train to Rome-4 days there-then cruise ship-1st stop Florence -then Naples (did Amalfi coast) -Greek Islands-Split-then a couple days in Venice. Stood in shock when my whole family except me got on a flight back-hitched Alitalia back to Rome-had ulcers until luck got me back (will never non rev internationally again!) Great trip and wonderful country!

 

I am confused about this whole cloud thing-really liked them in the first version of 10-then never have seemed the same.

Great trip Geoff, Ancient Greece + Roman Empire + Renaissance! :-)

 

Continuing my experiment with clouds, I made a very nice finding: if instead of using the "uniform weather", one uses the second option ("Set random and only semi-controlled weather patterns", see attached pic), X-Plane can produce pretty weather/cloud patterns, much better than using the other methods:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To produce interesting weather patterns, increase the "coverage" and "intensity" sliders, and play with the remaining sliders.

 

Unfortunately the "cloud puff density" must be quite high to have good results (I used 100%).

 

 

Nice find, Murmur... Tood bad cloud puffs slider has to be so high, because that's to me, the biggest hit on performance... Is that weather really depicting cloud locations?

Nice find, Murmur... Tood bad cloud puffs slider has to be so high, because that's to me, the biggest hit on performance... Is that weather really depicting cloud locations?

 

With cloud puffs above 70-80% you should get the best results, but even at low values, you should get better results than with the other methods.

Do you use HDR? It lowers frame rates.

 

EDIT: Yes, red areas should represent clouds with higher vertical development and turbulent activity.

 

Marco

With cloud puffs above 70-80% you should get the best results, but even at low values, you should get better results than with the other methods.

Do you use HDR? It lowers frame rates.

 

EDIT: Yes, red areas should represent clouds with higher vertical development and turbulent activity.

 

Marco

 

Oh ok, well, I guess it's all about choices and preferences. Me? I prefer to run XP with HDR ON, because that is where the sim really shines and sets itself apart. If I was to disable HDR, then I might as well stay with FSX. I can live with the current cloud depiction at 50% puffs and if I need to drop it to say 40% to allow more scenery eye candy, I would go that route as well. Like I said, HDR is XP's ace and disabling it, IMHO, just makes it look so bland.

 

Flying at night with HDR ON is simply breathtaking. You have to remember, I am building a C172 cockpit, so I will be flying slow and low, so scenery depiction is a huge plus for me. Like I posted earlier tonight on another thread reference police cars on the highway, it's that type of involvement with the sim that truely makes it worthwhile. For about 5 minutes, I was simply pacing 3 police vehicles on the highway, at 500' AGL and the scenery was simply surreal. I don't get that type of immersion flying at FL370, watching an airplane fly itself for 90% of the flight.

On the other hand, I assume "stratus" clouds in real life can be less thick than 2000'?

 

Usually a lot less (10 to 30 feet sometimes - a mant... )

 

We say: Italy is a wonderful place to live...

 

It surely IS!!! Apart from Portugal and Spain, the country I visited the most - well...been there only twice (but while I got my pilot license at 16yo, in 1980, and glided a lot, I only entered a commercial aircraft for the first time in my life to attend a conference in Berlin when I was 31). I would return as many times as possible to Italy, and would love to soar there too!!! Italian is also my preferred language - a true sexy / almost erotic one, while some prefer the french :-/.... I only had the chance to visit Rome, Milan and Venice. Italian women are probably my preferred stereotype, and my wife looks just like one :-))))))) and her name has the root in Italy too !!! Murmur, from now on I will agree with anything you say, and in return you will buy me a drink at one of those Trasvestere restaurants ;-)

Travesti restaurants ;-)

 

There, fixed it for ya... hahahahahahaha

I only had the chance to visit Rome, Milan and Venice. Italian women are probably my preferred stereotype, and my wife looks just like one :-))))))) and her name has the root in Italy too !!! Murmur, from now on I will agree with anything you say, and in return you will buy me a drink at one of those Trasvestere restaurants ;-)

 

:lol: Can you believe that? Spanish/portuguese women have always been my favourites...

There, fixed it for ya... hahahahahahaha

Hehe... not the 1st time I do that typo / Trastevere!!!!!

Now I feel like a race traitor. I'm half Italian, but am in lust with Japanese women. :lol: I do make a mean marinara, tho.

Sorry guys, but to me, the clouds don't look very much like clouds, and most of the pictures kind of remind me of something taken from a submarine beneath an ice pack.

 

I fly Xplane with no clouds, for now, but its strange; when XPX was first introduced, the clouds seemed much better. Its when the optimizations arrived that things seemed to head south. :unsure:

 

Remember this?

 

I fly Xplane with no clouds, for now, but its strange; when XPX was first introduced, the clouds seemed much better. Its when the optimizations arrived that things seemed to head south.

 

They were much better when XPX first came out, and you had more adjustments. Our "Leader" decided he knew what was best for everyone's system, and took the adjustments (dual sliders) away, and totally changed the look, for the worse. At the time the change was made concerns were raised, fell on deaf ears. There's posts out there with us asking to have the clouds put back the way they were, with the adjustment sliders, never happened.

 

Glen

Ditto-I really like the very first clouds...have a feeling performance might be why they were removed. Seems we simmers can't help turning sliders all the way up, then being dumbfounded by poor performance. :lol:

Ditto-I really like the very first clouds...have a feeling performance might be why they were removed. Seems we simmers can't help turning sliders all the way up, then being dumbfounded by poor performance. :lol:

 

Very true Geof. We still have "1" slider, and can crank em up, the performance hit is huge, and they don't look as good as before when you cranked them up. Same as I said many months ago, we have less options for something that looks worse. Put the original clouds and sliders back and let the "intelligent" user decide how something should run on his / her system. I certainly don't need Austin to help me decide how to optimize my system, by taking options / adjustments away.

They were much better when XPX first came out, and you had more adjustments. Our "Leader" decided he knew what was best for everyone's system, and took the adjustments (dual sliders) away, and totally changed the look, for the worse. At the time the change was made concerns were raised, fell on deaf ears. There's posts out there with us asking to have the clouds put back the way they were, with the adjustment sliders, never happened.

 

Glen

 

Looks like it was Ben Supnik who decided to change the cloud settings: http://developer.x-plane.com/2012/02/clouds-screws-and-settings/

 

Yes, I preferred the old 2 sliders as well.