When I download real weather where I live , it often indicates 10 mile visibility.However, in the Sim, flying at say 2000 feet, I cannot see anywhere near 10 miles. I can barely pick up an airport at 6 miles out. We often have clear skies here with a few clouds at around 3ooo feet and 10 miles vis -- but it looks almost like pea soup to me in the Sim.Anybody else noticed this? Any settings need changing??Thanks Barry

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same here Barry - particularly ridiculous for the caribbean where I am - guess that's what programs like Activesky are for. Alas it's not an option for me at this time. Emptying the internet cache b4 d'loading weather (as per MS knowledge base) has no effect.In disgust I now download weather, then customize my local weather as per what's out the window. Strangely enough this permanent 6mile vis never used to be - started at some point but don't remember when...regards,Mark3.2HT/1GIG/X700pro256

HiHope this helps - I use a small excellent file called 'fs2004 metar visibilty fix' which fixes the fog sometimes when metar cavok is indicated as something other than 10SM.From readme:FS2004/FS9 metric METAR visibility fix (v1.00)By Sami Ylism

P,Thanks for the heads up - just grabbed some weather and the fog is gone! I'll continue testing with this replacement weather.dll but it looks VERY promising - thank you again!regards,Mark3.2HT/1GIG/X700pro256

>Thanks for the heads up - just grabbed some weather and the>fog is gone! I'll continue testing with this replacement>weather.dll but it looks VERY promising - thank you again!Same here in Brisbane Australia. After applying the "fix" , what I see onscreen is identical to what I see outside my window. However, it doesn't fix the problem that when I set my visibility in the Sim at 10 miles, I cannot actually see an airport 10 miles away. It only barely comes into view at 6 miles.But anyway, it does fix the other problem - I got tired of flying around in 6 mile visibility all the time at just about every airport in Australia , when I know that the visibility conditions for flying are about the best in the world (apart form the bushfire smoke that is - and I don't think Fsim can duplicate that)Barry

"However, it doesn't fix the problem that when I set my visibility in the Sim at 10 miles, I cannot actually see an airport 10 miles away. It only barely comes into view at 6 miles.Visibility in aviation is measured in straight line. When you are at 5,000 ft. and ten miles from an airport you are actually looking through more than ten miles of air to see the airport. Many a fledgling pilot has run into trouble with this distinction. What's good visibility on the ground may not be enough at altitude. Say you take off for a cross country flight when visibility is 8 miles. You will soon find that you almost need to be on top of an airport or ground reference point before you see it. This can lead to disorientation and has led to some fatalities."(apart form the bushfire smoke that is - and I don't think Fsim can duplicate that)Actually it can. I flew up the coast of California when brush fires were so bad the smoke could be seen from the space shuttle and ran into limited visibility at exactly the right place. If it is enough to limit visibility at weather recording stations it'll be shown in the sim. Only thing to note however is that it will be haze in the sim rather than real smoke. FS just isn't set up to simulate smoke but it is set up for limited visibility.

Since I hear such complaints once in while I decided to measure it exactly.So I set up visibility at 10 miles with no other weather at some remote island in the Bahamas (so terrain is flat and I have a single landmass in front of me) and carefully measured distances, etc. I can say that I am pretty satisfied with the results - yes, the visibility I got was very close to 10 miles. Michael J.WinXP-Home SP2,AMD64 3500+,Abit AV8,Radeon X800Pro,36GB Raptor,1GB PC3200,Audigy 2

>So I set up visibility at 10 miles with no other weather at>some remote island in the Bahamas (so terrain is flat and I>have a single landmass in front of me) and carefully measured>distances, etc. I can say that I am pretty satisfied with the>results - yes, the visibility I got was very close to 10>miles. Sounds like a good test -- but my testing of the same thing only allows me to see an airport or land feature when 6 miles away , when the Sim is set to 10 miles vis. Maybe it's my eyes - or maybe its my monitor??Barry

>Maybe it's my eyes - or maybe its my monitor??Barry,Visibility 10 miles doesn't mean that you will be able to see clearly for 10 miles. It means you will be "barely" able to make out object at this distance. Michael J.WinXP-Home SP2,AMD64 3500+,Abit AV8,Radeon X800Pro,36GB Raptor,1GB PC3200,Audigy 2

>>>So I set up visibility at 10 miles with no other weather at>>some remote island in the Bahamas (so terrain is flat and I>>have a single landmass in front of me) and carefully>measured>>distances, etc. I can say that I am pretty satisfied with>the>>results - yes, the visibility I got was very close to 10>>miles. >>>Sounds like a good test -- but my testing of the same thing>only allows me to see an airport or land feature when 6 miles>away , when the Sim is set to 10 miles vis. >>Maybe it's my eyes - or maybe its my monitor??>>BarryWhat altitude are you at? Remember that at 30,000 feet you are 5 miles away from the ground.

>>Maybe it's my eyes - or maybe its my monitor??>>Barry,>>Visibility 10 miles doesn't mean that you will be able to see>clearly for 10 miles. It means you will be "barely" able to>make out object at this distance. Yes - you are right. With the Sim set to 10 miles vis, at 2000 feet, I can just barely make out an island offshore. The only way I can see it is because of the different textures between the water and the land of the island. To actually recognise an airport with 10 miles vis set in the Sim , I can see airport VASI lights at around 6 miles and the airport itself around 5 miles. Barry

>VASI lights at around 6 miles and the airport itself around 5Lights, airports, buildings are all 3D objects that FS may display to you later for performance reason (like for example jetways are visible much later when you are almost at the airport), but this has nothing to do with basic atmospheric visibility. You should never judge visbility based on man-made objects in FS, I am surprised you did not know about it being such a long time user.Michael J.WinXP-Home SP2,AMD64 3500+,Abit AV8,Radeon X800Pro,36GB Raptor,1GB PC3200,Audigy 2