FSX-MS CumulusX opinions?

[RancidViper 37]

Hi Guys,

 

I know this is a pretty old product, but as I was doing a bit of research on cloud shadows, I came across CumulusX, which apparently does just that, and more! Now I'm not a glider pilot, but I like the little effects that CumulusX promises to give.

 

So, my questions for anyone who's used/using this product is;

 

1. How does this work with Active Sky Next? Does it still read the weather data from ASN but just inject it's own clouds in?

 

2. What happens to my REX Soft Clouds? Does CumulusX replace those? And if so, how are the textures on them?

 

3. How is it on FPS?

 

4. All in all, worth it or not?

 

Cheers,

Randev

[jcomm 5,918]

It's a good product, probably your best option if you want to try glider flying in FSX / FSX:SE, and yes it goes well with ASN.

 

I don't have REX.

[gliderdriver 6]

I gather you are not much interested in CumulusX! for soaring, but rather more for the cloud shadow?

 

When you run CumulusX! it populates the sky with its own cloud bitmaps in addition to what ever clouds are already there, it does not replace the existing FSX clouds.  So, you can clearly distinguish CumulusX! clouds from the others, be they default clouds or REX replacements.  Default clouds will sometimes appear in front of the CumulusX! clouds, which looks strange, but otherwise the 'inter-mingling' of the cloud objects works quite well.

 

CumulusX! clouds at least for the licensed version of CumulusX! do provide ground shadows with soft edges, but only for the CumulusX! cloud objects, NOT for the default FSX clouds.

 

CumulusX! and ASN do not work well together, as ASN has been shown to affect both ridge and thermal lift for soaring.

 

A good deal of analytical work has been done testing ASN with CumulusX, by two folks in Australia, James and Harry, find Harry's blog here:

 

https://harryosh.wordpress.com

 

and James': http://blog.allen.asn.au

 

Harry says that ASN depiction of stratus kills the thermals we need to stay aloft.

 

However, you are not concerned about soaring (?) - so I don't think CumulusX! will provide you with what you want, cloud shadows for default clouds.

 

Phil

[jcomm 5,918]

If you disable the ASN up / downdrafts it'll not affect CumulusX!

 

Also, ridge soaring will work ok.

 

I haven't used CumulusX!! for a while though, so I can't say for sure this applies to the latest versions of ASN I tested ( as an ASN beta tester )

[RancidViper 37]

I gather you are not much interested in CumulusX! for soaring, but rather more for the cloud shadow?

 

When you run CumulusX! it populates the sky with its own cloud bitmaps in addition to what ever clouds are already there, it does not replace the existing FSX clouds.  So, you can clearly distinguish CumulusX! clouds from the others, be they default clouds or REX replacements.  Default clouds will sometimes appear in front of the CumulusX! clouds, which looks strange, but otherwise the 'inter-mingling' of the cloud objects works quite well.

 

CumulusX! clouds at least for the licensed version of CumulusX! do provide ground shadows with soft edges, but only for the CumulusX! cloud objects, NOT for the default FSX clouds.

 

CumulusX! and ASN do not work well together, as ASN has been shown to affect both ridge and thermal lift for soaring.

 

A good deal of analytical work has been done testing ASN with CumulusX, by two folks in Australia, James and Harry, find Harry's blog here:

 

https://harryosh.wordpress.com

 

and James': http://blog.allen.asn.au

 

Harry says that ASN depiction of stratus kills the thermals we need to stay aloft.

 

However, you are not concerned about soaring (?) - so I don't think CumulusX! will provide you with what you want, cloud shadows for default clouds.

 

Phil

 

Thanks for that Phil.

 

I do have one question though. What if the weather is mostly cloudy? Does CumulusX increase the amount of it's clouds relative to the weather? And does it blend in with rain clouds as well?

 

Cheers!

[gliderdriver 6]

I am not sure if this screen shot will show what I mean, or what you want to know, but here we see a CumulusX! cloud bitmap displaying behind FSX clouds, and I can't remember whether the default clouds were FSX clouds or REX or AS2012 replacements, but the difference is clear to see.  The integration is not unpleasant, and at least allows us to identify a CumulusX! cloud, and therefore a thermal under there somewhere.

 

Remember you can try CumulusX! to see if you like the clouds for free, but you will need to buy the license if you want ground shadows with soft edges, but again, they only appear in relation to the CumulusX! clouds.  

 

CumulusX!'s algorithm for producing lift, and therefore populating with the associated clouds is very complex, sampling a very wide range of factors, topographical and meteoroligical.  I don't remember seeing CumulusX! clouds in circumstances of 8/8ths cloud cover (no sun = no ground warming?) but I can say that the 'mix' is always pleasing to me as a glider flyer.

 

What jcomm says about ASN and CumulusX! may well be true, but if you read James' and Harry's blogs you will see that they have identified issues between ASN and CumulusX! for virtual soaring.

 

I don't think one would want CumulusX! if not for virtual soaring, as it can't be considered a cloud enhancement program, as is REX or AS2012 replacement textures.