click that buy button!  http://www.x-aviation.com/catalog/skymaxx-p-101.html

New Video Trailer by RedPiper1:    http://youtu.be/pIWt8wYAX6c

$40? That's a helluva lot cheaper than I was expecting. Good man Mr Spahn.

With no support for Linux, it's getting very annoying this trend in releasing add-on for X-Plane with no Linux support

Just bought and downloading!

Yeah baby in before the rush!  Thought it would be a larger file, I doubt bandwidth issues will be much of a problem for the servers which will keep people happy. Thanks for the HU Bleed... :drinks:

 

Off to explore...

For $40, I'm going to wait on some reviews.

 

Atomicfrawg is streaming it atm.

http://www.twitch.tv/atomicfrawg#/w/7610372464

Well first impression is that XPX finally has Clouds instead of strange alien skystuff.

 

1st recommendation is turn the Godrays the heck off! On my system the effect is like the sun going nova.  :lol:

 

2nd impression is that my XPX exploration time is going to increase.

 

3rd impression is I will need to turn my gamma down, since solar luminosity has gone up. (Pre-nova?) 

 

4th impression is: CLOUDS!!!!!!!

 

5th impression: Some of the best money I have spent on the hobby.

 

6th impression: CLOUDS!!!! hahahahahahahahah!!! (Drolls slightly, dog watches me with concern, since that's his job)

 

7th impression: Color matching between sky and clouds can seem slightly off but its early times and I probably just need to play more.

 

8th Impression: Clouds! Clouds! Clouds!!!! (Dog hands me a calming biscuit)

 

Crunch crunch........ (Fiddles with settings)

For $40, I'm going to wait on some reviews.

Not really a review but after loading and looking at about 10 or so different locations I have yet to be surrounded by the "Independence Day" doomsday cloud surrounding my aircraft; that alone is worth 20 bucks to me!! 

 

First impression is it's gonna be a must have...now I'm really off to explore!

What's the performance hit with HDR on?

1st recommendation is turn the Godrays the heck off! On my system the effect is like the sun going nova. 

 

Tone them down to your liking - or turn them off...up to you!

 

 

 

5th impression: Some of the best money I have spent on the hobby.

 

Awesome!

 

 

 

7th impression: Color matching between sky and clouds can seem slightly off but its early times and I probably just need to play more.

 

There are many sky color options available, which have a MAJOR effect on how the clouds color matching will appear! My personal favorite is the Hazy Dayz Medium Contrast. Please note that you'll either need to restart sim after selecting a new sky color, OR follow the instructions listed on chapter 2, page 3, section 5 of the manual.

What's the performance hit with HDR on?

At least on my rig-a 15 minute sim load and then wierd stuff and 1-2 fps. I thought my whole sim was trashed-but accepted finally the default settings on startup-then tweaked them back to what I had had. Turned on HDR and all the trouble started again...not gonna do that again...

 

Not a great fan of HDR anyway so I am good with that.

 

Wish I had lots of time to try it out but promissed a movie with the wife and kid.

 

Have to say though-between the new High res mesh and this add in- an excitement factor for xplane. Look forward to putting it thru its paces.

OK cheers Geofa. Seems like it really is a no-go with HDR currently, which is as they clearly said before release.

OK cheers Geofa. Seems like it really is a no-go with HDR currently, which is as they clearly said before release.

Performance wise, this is incorrect. We have really just been talking about tone mapping, which while not perfect in HDR due to SDK limitations, is not bad or unbearable.

 

Geofa, what is your typical HDR performance like with default clouds?

I have not experienced any longer load times. I run with HDR on all the time and have not seen any weird FPS fluctuations except when jumping from one global location to another with dissimilar weather conditions but nothing one wouldn't expect to see.

 

I have bumped my Gama down two notches and set the puff rotation to minimum. For me anything above about 25% on the puff rotation and the clouds start spinning unrealistically IMO.  I also turned down the crepuscular ray intensity to what I guess is about 15-20%.

 

Going to have to spend some time with the sliders though because under heavy cloud conditions I can get FPS in the teens.  With that said though I cranked up the Skymax configuration sliders to the right to just see what it would look like.  As always YMMV and no doubt a bit of tweaking required but from what I've seen so far I am pleased with the purchase.  A step in the right direction for sure and like Geofa it's renewed my interest in XPlane at a time when I was about to shelve it until 10.3

Performance wise, this is incorrect. We have really just been talking about tone mapping, which while not perfect in HDR due to SDK limitations, is not bad or unbearable. Geofa, what is your typical HDR performance like with default clouds?

I was getting 47-now 1-2, long sim starts and crashes.