Thanks. Hopefully they will tell us something soon.

 

They said, it would probably be mid year until they know what they're going to do, so that would probably put it between June and July (or later) before they tell us anything concrete.

ASN for XP10 would be very much appreciated from my side, especially the possibility to recapitulate certain weather conditions via the ASN historical weather database is a feature that is great... B)

ASN for XP10 would be very much appreciated from my side, especially the possibility to recapitulate certain weather conditions via the ASN historical weather database is a feature that is great... B)

Right on!

 

JJ

Mind you, historic weather can already be injected via the freeware FSrealWX Pro. Still, would be nice to see some more weather engines coming to X-Plane.

Problem are the hooks available in X-Plane's SDK to properly implement weather like ASN does for MSFS and P3D... I believe we will have to wait for XP11...

This would assume that the weather system works in the same manner as in FSX/P3D while also assuming that ASN goes SDK ways on those platforms. I have doubts regarding both cases.

 

I believe we will have to wait for XP11

I don't. I also wouldn't communicate the issue as if the lack of ASN points to an unavailable path. Much of the ASN (proprietary) methods try to work around the old MS engine and its shortcomings, so there's no application in the X-Plane realm by design.

 

With weather plugins and addons already being available and the platform's abilities being different to the old MS one (which didn't change from FSX onwards), it seems more like a business decision than a 'hard' technical barrier.

 

Let there be clouds! ^_^ (goes for FSGRW too btw, I would like to see their client interfacing XP)

 

 

Let there be clouds! (goes for FSGRW too btw, I would like to see their client interfacing XP)

 

i think they talked about it on their facebook page at one time but I haven't seen anything in a while.

True, might not be that pressing for them. They still feature the text on their product page (pick FSGRW from the side menu) though, so it might arrive sooner or later.

 

ROAD MAP FOR FUTURE UPDATES
We are currently working on or planning the next mayor updates which may contain:

      .) A Weather Radar api is being worked on. This will be a documented api for free usage.

      .) Completely new interface and server structure in V1.8.
      .) X-Plane support
      .) More local weather effects. Please email your requests!
      .) Further performance improvements for weather transfer

I really don't think anyone will need to wait for XP11.

 

Devs are doing amazing things for FSX, a dated and no longer supported platform. Why wouldn't they be able to do something with XP10? When you have a direct channel to contact the developers, whom are constantly working in the product?

 

I follow their Developers Blog, and they seem pretty humble regarding considering peoples opinion. Not that they will do anything anyone asks, though.

I really don't think anyone will need to wait for XP11.

 

Devs are doing amazing things for FSX, a dated and no longer supported platform. Why wouldn't they be able to do something with XP10? When you have a direct channel to contact the developers, whom are constantly working in the product?

 

I follow their Developers Blog, and they seem pretty humble regarding considering peoples opinion. Not that they will do anything anyone asks, though.

 

The problem with doing anything better in the existing v10 weather system, is that it doesn't have the tools to work with. It's just three horizontal layers for clouds and other weather effects; very simplistic. It's enough for cosmetic enhancement effects like SkyMaxx Pro, but it's not enough for modeling things like thunderstorms, which develop as a vertical weather system, not a bunch of clouds strung out horizontally. It also prevents modeling wind shear in different directions while in the same flight altitude, strong updrafts and downdrafts, and so on.

 

If an add-on like ASN can do something with that, and show us realistic CB's with all the associated wind directions and temperature gradients, I'd be amazed (and I'd buy it in a heartbeat). But I think we need a better foundation for weather modeling from Laminar. Hopefully in v11, with a complete re-write of the weather engine so add-on developers have more to work with.

I didn't mean to judge how things work internally right now, because I don't know how they work.

 

I meant, a lot of things were said as impossible long time ago when MS dropped FSX. And yet, in 2015 we have things like weather radar! So, it's probably less complicated having developers working on the product to talk about, than nothing at all! Well, as I said, probably! Who knows.

 

Anyway, judging by the pace of things, I wouldn't "hope" anything for XP11. I would just forget about it, otherwise it will be a long road of painful wait!

Indeed, Fabio. That constant wishful thinking regarding assumed future versions and their equally assumed fixes and improvements is what drove me to use XP (10) in the first place. Working with what you got, not with what you dream about.  :smile: 

 

Very good point on the dev's input channel and constant stream of stable updates. That's a foundation which already established a technological lead, despite the fact that the team is small and the financial background much more limited when compared with MS or LM.

Don't forget Skymaxx Pro completely replaces the X-Plane cloud rendering, its major limitation is the very basic weather data it can get from X-Plane which I believe is why it has to render the same weather in every direction, and change the whole sky abruptly as X-Plane reports a change in the weather you're currently flying in.

 

However, even though I dislike Skymaxx Pro for that reason, it does prove a point. Similar rendering technology driven by an external weather engine like ASN could easily bypass X-Plane's weather system altogether, the only problem might be getting things like turbulence, weather radar and windshield rain effects to work in harmony with all the available aircraft. PMDG could rely on ASN for their weather radar but existing aircraft using the built-in weather radar module might have a problem. Not sure if XPUIPC could inject some parameters directly into the sim to overcome this...

 

Austin Meyer did say in an interview a while back that weather & clouds are on the list for X-Plane future development. Glad to hear it because not only is the weather engine basic, the cloud rendering performance sucks since the 10.30 update.

 

http://xplanereviews.com/index.php?/topic/201-interview-austin-meyer-the-man-behind-x-plane/

 

Also, Aerosoft haven't given up on their free Skytools project which brought attractive cloud textures and sky colours to older versions of X-Plane 10.

http://forum.aerosoft.com/index.php?/topic/81749-sky-tools-free-with-x-plane-1030-and-higher/

 

So, when it comes to weather and clouds in X-Plane, I just think we need to bide our time, plenty good things will happen one way or another.

This would be a great addition to X-Plane and make it an even greater sim!

Well, I guess it's mid-year. Hopefully we'll get an update soon. For anyone with more knowledge than me, would it be possible for HiFi to completely redo X-Plane's weather engine so they are not limited by the

3 cloud layers, weather centering around the aircraft, etc. I'm sure Laminar would be willing to help so that they can focus on features other than a weather engine.