best weather engine for prepar3d

[henrikthg 0]

Hi 

 

I am looking to get better weather in my Prepar3d... what is the best add-ons to buy ??

 

Henrik

 

[jcomm 5,886]

Well, I can only speak for my own experience, since I haven't used any other....

I am using AS2012 SP2. It's great in each and every aspect (in terms of weather modelling / injection) and it is "P3D-aware" - during install your prompted to choose between FSX or P3D.

For long-haul flights with airliners it's great at determining(simulation based on many RW weather sources used for aviation meteorology) / injecting the winds aloft, and this info can easily be obtained and used for FMC / MCDU programming of winds aloft predictions.

AS2012 also carries many optional cloud and rw / lighting textures, and you can even choose to "paint the skies" according to your route / weather conditions / date!

I've also found that the interaction of AS2012 with P3D works even better than with FSX, probably because of the better ESP simconnect module (?). Weather updates on-the-fly are smooth and credible. You can nonetheless adapt the weather depiction to the type of flight you're going to simulate (high / low levels , vfr, etc...)

[HugoStiglitz 5]

I agree with jcomm, AS2012 is amazing in P3D, I know some people who use REX with the P3D license and they get a lot of issues with it, so i highly recommend P3D

[LeeL 272]

OPUS hands down. It's the best in my opinion

 

I use REX for textures but there's some good freeware cloud textures if that's all your after. REX is worth it too tho.

[jcomm 5,886]

Eheh... poor Henrik... the choice starts to become more complex...

 

I confess I never used another weather injector (well, FSMeteo, long ago...). I've read very good comments about Opus, but since I am so happy with AS2012, why spend money on yet another weather injector?

 

Also, I didn't see many good (neither bad, I confess...) references regarding the way Opus calculates "weather aloft"...

[LeeL 272]

Weather aloft in opus is now in and very good.

 

The thing with opus is that you get the best weather engine (IMO) and so many other things, cameras like EZDOK and eventually a fs video maker as well as others.

 

The weather depiction is very very good.

 

JComm I agree that if your happy with 2012 stay with it, I've read good things about it too but I decided on OPUS

 

Sorry to make your choice harder

 

Lee

[Nuno Pinto 1,394]

I have both Opus and AS2012 SP2 and since SP2 i can't stop using AS2012. I can use it remotely on my support PC, weather depiction is the same as Opus since SP2 and it doesn't have the QNH/Wind/Temperature shifts at high altitudes that Opus has which are terribly annoying.

[pmb 5,137]

To make your decision a little harder: There is a quite new program called FS Global Real Weather

 

http://www.fly2pilots.com/Cms/Ui/Pages/Products/MainPage.aspx?id=253b8b5c-0a91-4935-8d01-b3c70aee6034

 

(that's the group making FS Global Mesh). Here is an in-depth comparison against REX:

 

http://www.simflight.de/2013/04/29/review-fs-global-real-weather-von-pilots/

 

(German language, perhaps Google can help you with translation). I am not experienced enough to provide a thorough comparison myself, but I am using it now and I am quite  pleased with it.

 

One downside I experienced with both REX and AS2012 were the infinite loading times. OPUS is spot on nearly immediately, FS Global Real Weather takes a touch longer, but is still much better than these two.

 

FS Global Real Weather and OPUS have Demos, so I would highly recommend trying them first before buying.

 

Kind Regards, Michael

 

[vgbaron 3,486]

AS2012 hands down. It covers all types of flying you might want to do with accurate temps and winds - low and slow, high and fast, etc. The others are good for what they do but only AS2012 gives you the whole package. A lot of people talk about the best weather ENGINE and they are talking about pretty clouds not accurate weather.

 

If you are looking to plan a flight using fuel burn calculated by winds aloft, etc - AS2012 does that accurately. If you just want to fly around and look at pretty clouds - AS2012 does that as well.

 

Vic

[PatrickM 2]

FS Global Real Weather is the best! It is better than OpusFSX and AS2012 (I own both)...

[twharrell 38]

I don't think you can go wrong with either AS2012 or Opus. I have both but prefer Opus. I also use REX textures since I personally didn't care for AS2012 textures.  But you'll also find those that prefer AS2012 textures - I would check screenshots on both developer sited to see which set of textures you like better.  I never cared for the REX weather engine because it took forever to load and I always found the weather to be outdated. The good thing with all 3 is they all have very good support, in my experience. What really put Opus over the top for me is the developer really takes user feedback and requests to heart. Plus, Opus has lots of other great features already mentioned. The camera feature with dynamic head movement is a very nice added utility. And as was already mentioned the developer is working on other added features which will be free upgrades to all customers, so you really get a lot for $45. 

 

Todd

[cthiggin2 3]

Hi folks,

I use REX & P3D, Win64 - not a burp - and contrary to what some have stated, very "few" P3D Users & REX are having problems.

Have a blessed one,

cthiggin

[Clutch Cargo 384]

I've been using Opus and generally have been very happy with it.  I am the sort who just wants real weather - set it - and forget it.  Which reminds me, I been using the very first set of cloud textures I found to work with it for the last six months.  Guess I should find a different texture, ha!

[vonmar 121]

Michael previously mentioned "One downside I experienced with both REX and AS2012 were the infinite loading times. OPUS is spot on nearly immediately,"

Which is true and for some flights I may want the quicker loading times .... like for test flights e.g.

 

 

One question on Opus networked... I have AS2012 currently.

 

For AS2012 my server has FSX installed .. the client PC has AS2012.

 

I read some about Opus setup but did not have a clear picture of what software goes where.

Does Opus require FSX to be installed on both the server and client PC?

 

 

Edit:

Is Opus now for FS9, FSx and P3d?

[MrSpeaker 121]

Opus hands down