Flight 1 Flight Environment

[Guest Eric]

Hi SteveJ, The new version of active sky is ASV, I don't have ASV not released yet, but they said they include everything, clouds, sky and all others environment interface with many option, like flight1 except water.-Mike he is talking about ASV not Active sky.-For others post, Generic texture= replacement texture to me, sorry for my error.BestEric

[Guest spookymufu]

Hello all,I have never posted here before but since I am on the FE2004 beta team, I felt I should come here.Let me say, that you cannot compair FSSkyworld and FE2004, they are simply different animals. I wont say anything bad about FSSkyworld, I used Chris's FSW clouds for a long time and was happy with them untill I started testing FE2004. The biggest differance is FE2004 uses the 32bit clouds with detail you wont see anywhere else, when you take off from an airport that is overcast and punch through a stratus layer with FE2004 you wont believe your eyes, it feels so real you can almost feel the mist.For those of us who are FPS hungry (me included) there are "fast" sets that will look almost as good as the 32bit sets, and if you like the DXT3 style that FSSkyworld uses, then you'll love FE2004s, they are all sister sets to the 32bit sets.The water is also something else, it's more then FSWaters old textures, Peter has revised them to make them look a lot better, the tropical areas are amazing and if you hate that hard line you see at a distance, these will make you very happy, they were designed in such a way as to eliminate that line as much as visualy possible.The randomizer option is my personall favorite, you see something different easch time you fly.One other thing I'd like to mention, the ability to save your favorite enviroment set (clouds, sky, water, sun, contrails, ect) allowes you to share them with your friends (as long as they have FE2004 as well), the files are swappable and I wouldnt be suprised if we see some on the AVSIM download area.Anyway, try it, I think you'll like it

[michal 44]

>>biggest differance is FE2004 uses the 32bit clouds Unless Chris corrects me I would like to set the record straight that FS Sky World also have 32 bits clouds, they offer DXT3 only as an option.Michael J.WinXP-Home SP2,AMD64 3500+,Abit AV8,Radeon X800Pro,36GB Raptor,1GB PC3200,Audigy 2

[OHN 1]

>>Unless Chris corrects me I would like to set the record>straight that FS Sky World also have 32 bits clouds, they>offer DXT3 only as an option.Yes FSskyworld uses 32bit textures also, but spookymufu said "32 bit textures with detail you wont see anywhere else".OHN

[BobP 56]

I spent the better part of today with Flight Environment and I like it. The user interface is thought out very well and easy to use after a little familiarization. My compliments to the "chef" for providing an exceptional menu layout. It is novel and more importantly it works! The real value in this add-on may well be the user interface. The renderings are great and climbing out through the scud and overcast layer is better than any FS9 atmosphere I have seen. I believe Active Sky is coming out with a complete package of weather and environment and I'm sure it will be excellent.I do like the idea of programs biting off smaller chunks of my simulation world. I think the more a program tries to do, the tougher it is to optimize and keep clean of those pesky bugs. I prefer a compact high fidelity add-on like Reality XP that has a well defined job description. (i.e. navigation and weather radar). Another like Environment keeps their focus on clouds, sky and water. The overlap (i.e. Active Sky and RXP radar) waste my money. I never use the AS radar. I hope all this makes sense.In summary, I plan to keep it as it provides a very clean and centralized "locker" for controlling the FS9 environment.Bob... :)

[Guest spookymufu]

OHN,yup, your right, thanks for pointing that out!

[michal 44]

>Yes FSskyworld uses 32bit textures I am glad we agree. He clearly stated "and if you like the DXT3 style that FSSkyworld uses" clearly suggesting that FS Sky World doesn't have 32 bits - hence I wanted to set the record straight.Michael J.WinXP-Home SP2,AMD64 3500+,Abit AV8,Radeon X800Pro,36GB Raptor,1GB PC3200,Audigy 2

[Guest Peter Wilding]

Thanks Mike; if you have any problems at all please don't hesitate to contact me. P.Wilidng@btopenworld.comI'm glad you are taking the plunge and that you are also a happy customer of FS WaterPeter

[brucewtb 249]

Based on the video this looks like a great addon but it seems ASV will do much the same job when it is released. While the ready response of the developers to queries in this thread is to be commended, we will have to wait and see which product has the better clouds; but as others have noted the differences are likely to be quite subtle. The only advantage I can see for F1E is the water effects. However, I generally don't use water effects partly because of the FPS hit but mainly because they never look right IMO. Screenshots can look great but in the sim the cyclic wave rippling effect which you can't turn off destroys it all. I live by the ocean and can look out the window from where I am now sitting and see what water should look like - yet to see this in any water addon for FS9.At least there are now going to be some choices between various combinations of AS4.5, ActveSky, ASV and F1E.Bruceb

[Rudi 0]

I like this add-on and think it has excellent value. Good job. Love the cloud streets. Best wishes for good success with this product.

[Mike T 208]

Whoops, my bad :-)M.T.