Popcorn clouds continue in 2.5.12944

[ComSimPilot 623]

REX has said it is not their fault.

HiFi has said it is not their fault.

LM has never responded.

Everyone throws their own conclusions.

 

The fact that the problem results also with the default P3D clouds, should be enough to exclude the cloud textures I think..

[yorgosGK 7]

I have not done testing with the default clouds. I installed REX without a texture backup (I don't bother backing up because I re-install every update)

 

Can someone just launch up to FL350+ and take a screenshot with default clouds and share it?

[Valcor 9]

The fact that the problem results also with the default P3D clouds, should be enough to exclude the cloud textures I think..

 

That's complicated by the fact that users of REX OD say that cures the problem compared to REX 4.

[Glynn 405]

That's complicated by the fact that users of REX OD say that cures the problem compared to REX 4

 

Well for me it doesn't, I was really hoping it would but the clouds still look ridiculous.

LM are the folks who need to fix this but I am beginning to feel that as they fix one area of the code they break something else.

As a side note my shadows in the VC's are nowhere near as sharp as they were in 2.3

Water receives a shadow even with the option turned off and the FTX Global seasons in the sim do not always reflect the season in the startup screen, I sometimes need to reselect them once I am actually in the sim.

I am going to try a fresh install, if that turns out to be no better then I will make a call to either go back to 2.3 or just wait on 2.6

[FlightSimDimm 16]

I cured my "popcorn-clouds" with the above mentioned tweak:

 

In cloud.fx I changed from:

 

(GetScreenQuadPositions( quad, width*0.5, height*0.5 )

to

(GetScreenQuadPositions( quad, width*0.68, height*0.68 )

 

This will increase the the cloudpuffs to a more realistically looking size IMHO. I get nice volumetric clouds this way. The only downside is, that in certain conditions, they will reach the surface. Give it a try, You cant do any harm when making a backup first.

 

Marcel 

I have Rex Soft Clouds as well and was playing around with the setting in cloud.fx. I ended up only changing the width attribute to .68 and left the height to .5. This way the clouds will not intersect with the ground and they still looked good. I was expecting them to look a little stretched but was pleased with the results.

 

Like this:

(GetScreenQuadPositions( quad, width*0.68, height*0.5 )

[gfd 15]

LM are the folks who need to fix this but I am beginning to feel that as they fix one area of the code they break something else.

 

That's always the danger when you renovate as opposed to build new. My concern is that there are many more questions than answers on the LM site.

 

This is not directed at Ainscough. He didn't write the software. He does an excellent job of explaining the software to us here at Avsim. I think he and Saul do as good a job explaining us to Lockheed.

[OmniAtlas 93]

I see popcorn clouds with Opus.

 

:-\

[gfd 15]

I have Rex Soft Clouds as well and was playing around with the setting in cloud.fx. I ended up only changing the width attribute to .68 and left the height to .5. This way the clouds will not intersect with the ground and they still looked good. I was expecting them to look a little stretched but was pleased with the results.

 

Like this:

(GetScreenQuadPositions( quad, width*0.68, height*0.5 )

Thanks. Will give that a try.

[TrafficPilot 121]

The fact that the problem results also with the default P3D clouds, should be enough to exclude the cloud textures I think..

 

I don't get these popcorn clouds with the default clouds. I do with the REX textures so have gone back to the original P3D clouds (am using ASN for weather generation).

[vgbaron 3,616]

I don't get these popcorn clouds with the default clouds. I do with the REX textures so have gone back to the original P3D clouds.

Which simply points out, after 8 pages of this thread:

 

1) it happens on SOME systems

 

2) NO ONE has a clue as to why

 

3) what works for one doesn't work for another.

 

 

Vic

[virtualstuff 758]

I can confirm that launching P3D from REX+OD absolutely solves the popcorn clouds and repeated textures. Once again I see the beautiful, towering clouds I remember from FSX. I will try to report back with some comparison screenshots tonight.

 

I am very excited because now I have a plethora of cloud options to tweak, without fudging the cloud.fx. Before launching from REX+OD, I can experiment with mix/matching textures from OD, REX4 and SoftClouds, with or without ASN enabled. That's a great deal of variables. Up until now, I sort of felt backed in to a corner with ASN+REX4, with poor results.

 

Dare I hope that P3D will finally meet my visual expectations this week? This is the last piece of the puzzle, from my perspective.

 

Thanks everyone for the feedback.

Great to see you have positive results...

 

As for everyone with positive results share your cloud settings and textures set so everyone can benefit from the results ;-)

[Dominique_K 10,138]

Get them with ASN beta and default cloud textures Little doubt in my mind after reading that thread that it is purely  a LM issue

[autogyro 18]

Referring to my earlier post:

 

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/464547-popcorn-clouds-continue-in-2512944/?p=3201364

 

I personally believe the issue is this:

 

P3D by default, or the custom weather engine (ASN), is injecting singular (or low number), cumulus sprites, sized small to match a thin cloud layer/band to show clouds. Hence the popcorn.

 

The fix, therefore, other than doing the cloud.fx artificial increase fix, is that either ASN, through its coding, or P3D as the base program, should avoid injecting lone, small clouds, but build up the cloud with multiple instances of the sprite, or use stratus clouds instead of the cumulus cloud or other such wide clouds if the cloud band is a thin layer.

 

 

 

In other words, you may wish to try setting your cloud density to maximum, and modify your weather to ensure that cloud layers have sufficient thickness.

 

I'm inclined to believe REX, as it is not a cloud texture issue, but the weather engine's choice of textures, and the scaling of them ingame.

[Richard Sennett 2,499]

Referring to my earlier post:

I'm inclined to believe REX, as it is not a cloud texture issue, but the weather engine's choice of textures, and the scaling of them ingame.

 

Agreed that this has nothing to do with rex as all it does is inject textures - pretty simple concept - for what its worth just did an install of the very latest version of P3D rex4 and soft clouds and this time no popcorn in the sky - I wonder if installing it just after P3D install has something to do with it - just not sure on this one

[virtualstuff 758]

Agreed that this has nothing to do with rex as all it does is inject textures - pretty simple concept - for what its worth just did an install of the very latest version of P3D rex4 and soft clouds and this time no popcorn in the sky - I wonder if installing it just after P3D install has something to do with it - just not sure on this one

 

Just for the record Rich REX doesn't inject but does a simple install of textures to avoid confusion  ;-)

No the effect is less with particular textures...