Hi,This may be a silly question, but, I like to use MSFS to practice instrument flying in IMC. However, when it is overcast outside, if I get real weather in MSFS, sometimes I get overcast, sometimes I don't. And when I do, it seems that the overcast cloud cover is only at most 50-100 feet thick, and when you get on top, it looks as if the cloud layer isn't even there.Does ActiveSky simulate overcast conditions better? How thick is the cloud layer? How does it figure out how thick it should be from the metars? Can you see through it from on top (I hope not)?Thanks,Thomas Perry

>Hi,>>This may be a silly question, but, I like to use MSFS to>practice instrument flying in IMC. However, when it is>overcast outside, if I get real weather in MSFS, sometimes I>get overcast, sometimes I don't. And when I do, it seems that>the overcast cloud cover is only at most 50-100 feet thick,>and when you get on top, it looks as if the cloud layer isn't>even there.>>Does ActiveSky simulate overcast conditions better? How thick>is the cloud layer? How does it figure out how thick it>should be from the metars? Can you see through it from on top>(I hope not)?>>Thanks,>>Thomas PerryHere is a pretty simple answer. If you fly in a real aircraft in overcast weather, and you like what you see when you look out the window, then you will like Active Sky. By the way, they have a very Active Forum on this web site.

Go to the ActiveSky forum and search for posts with "overcast" in them. You will find a TON of info.Michael J.WinXP-Home SP2,AMD64 3500+,Abit AV8,Radeon X800Pro,36GB Raptor,1GB PC3200,Audigy 2

Hi Thomas,Thanks for your interest in our product!1. Yes it does!2. Overcast can be thick. We use a formula based of the METAR data.3. No you cannot see through it from the top or from the bottom!Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Sales and Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004proudsupporter.jpg

I have had mixed success with overcast and Activesky. One issue I have come across is that if a METAR contains VV(vertical visibility) rather than OVC(overcast)that will cause issues with how AS creates overcast. Unfortunately in my area VV readings are pretty darn common when it

My experience with ActiveSky is that it does a fine job, but it suffers from the limitations of FS and METAR observations, particularly with high overcasts that cover large areas and widespread LIFR (Low IFR) conditions. My experiments with FS using the "FSW Highest Performance Clouds" set from FS Sky World show that FS9 cannot create a solid overcast using cirrus clouds (FL250 and up). I have created up to nine layers of "overcast" (10/10ths coverage) but there is still plenty of blue sky visible from the ground. I suppose I should try with other cloud sets, but with a very limited amount of flying time each week, I haven't managed it yet.Obtaining observations which accurately report high overcasts is all but impossible, too. Auto METARs report only 12,000' AGL and below. Here in Texas, there are very few cities with human observations: Houston, Dallas, Amarillo, Midland, and El Paso. These cities average more than 200 miles apart, so even when they do report a solid overcast, AS and FS do not produce one, even on the ground at one of these cities.That's why you'll see days where it's raining out of a clear sky. The ceiling is OVC 140, but the METAR doesn't pick it up because it's limited to 12,000'. This is very frustrating to me.In fact, unless there is a restriction to visibility (<10sm), there is always some blue sky showing from the ground, no matter how many layers.Plus, there's always the blue edge showing out there caused by the cloud draw distance slider setting (unless there's a vis restriction).Again, AS tries, but FS is limited by it's station-based WX engine, which got us away from the "everything changing at once" problem, but makes homogenous WX over large areas difficult without lots of additional programming, and even then, the non-uniform station spacing is problematical. And until some bright person works around that, plus figures out how to use the Area Forecast (which gives tops) or the satellite Cloud Sounder output to generate cloud layers above 12,000', large scale and high altitude weather systems will be beyond our grasp.

TIP....Just set viz to...say...3/4 mile and set your clouds to ZERO. That will simulate 200 and 1/2 minimums with NO hit for dense clouds.It doesn't matter what the restriction to visability is...coulds...haze...smoke...whatever. The point is you can't see far so you are in IMC.(:Jim