I've been using the freeware FS SkyWorld 2004 for some time and have enjoyed it. I'm hearing great reviews now about Flight Environment. Can anyone who has used both let me know how the two differentiate? I wouldn't want to spend money for payware if the freeware is nearly as good. Thanks for any replies.

Believe me Mate !!! It is Excellent !!!! You will have spent your money wisely if you get it..I can wholeheartedly recommend it to you..you will not regret it !Did you see the screenshots on Flight1's website ? Well it REALLY looks that good !!! And the FPS doesn't get hit either !!!Post your findings if you decide to get it !Cheers

I don't have either, but I'm good at sensing overall opinion. I can't recall anyone coming in here having regretted purchasing FE. That's a pretty strong community endorsement, I think. And if you would need any support, answers from FE consumers and staff seem to come in a heartbeat. -John

You won't regret the purchase of Flight Environment.

we troll the forums looking for FE questions to answer.

How about "we continuously monitor" instead of "troll". Troll = bad. :)I have not used SkyWorld, but FE is an excellent product, and very easy to use and customize. Or you can just let it select random options.Tony

<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>But nobody's answered the question yet, just said that FE is great! To repeat the question, what is the difference, or are the differences?I have Chris' FS SkyWorld, Gerrit Kranenbarg's Bluesphere textures, Gerrish Grey's trees, Ed Truthan and Vilk's water modifications and Chris Arrington's environment upgrades. I get beautiful results IMHO, and they're all freeware. So, out of interest, what would FE do for me that they don't?I guess the same applies to Active Sky, does it not, which is a payware version of Chris Willis, I believe, with a few bells and whistles?All answers greatly appreciated ....Mark "Dark Moment" BeaumontVP Fleet, DC-3 AirwaysTeam Member, MAAM-SIM[a href=http://www.swiremariners.com/cathayhk.html" target="_blank]http://www.paxship.com/maamlogo2.jpg[/a]

I used troll on purpous, we (FE support) were accused on this forum by a certain indivisual of trolling the forum to promote FE. So thats why I used "troll"

><<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>But nobody's answered the question yet, just said that FE is>great! >>To repeat the question, what is the difference, or are the>differences?>>I have Chris' FS SkyWorld, Gerrit Kranenbarg's Bluesphere>textures, Gerrish Grey's trees, Ed Truthan and Vilk's water>modifications and Chris Arrington's environment upgrades. I>get beautiful results IMHO, and they're all freeware. So, out>of interest, what would FE do for me that they don't?>>I guess the same applies to Active Sky, does it not, which is>a payware version of Chris Willis, I believe, with a few bells>and whistles?>>All answers greatly appreciated ....I would love to answer this one but I am bias and thus couldnt give you "fair" information. I could give you information that I have read from other user in the FE vs Skyworld threads if you want that.

>I used troll on purpous, we (FE support) were accused on this>forum by a certain indivisual of trolling the forum to promote>FE. So thats why I used "troll"OK, makes sense then. I like your choice of words then.Tony

You are going to get me in trouble again my friend.The differences are subjective and based mainly on artistic content. I got in sersious troble when I something here the last time by a certain individual who I hope this time stays of my case.Normally I ignore these kind of which is best questions as it's hard to reply without knocking somebody else.Sky world clouds are not used in ASV which also uses Chris's clouds who made FS Sky World. This by defintion means clouds can and have got better since FS Sky world came out.People on forums are usually very kind and considerate and therefore do not like to publically say in an open forum which witch is which. They certainly don't like to say which is better.So I don't think you will get somebody to say which is better in a direct sense.And really that's what you are asking because the only differences are quality and quanity.FE is able to produce a lot clouds which are made on the fly each time the game is loaded. This would be like FS Sky world being a 50GB download. FE does things in this respect in a very clever way and therefore can produce something like 35,000 clouds. Update 3 out next can produce almost 90,000 clouds but these don't take up disk space. They are stored in an unfinished state that means the total download is only 80MB.Quality wise is in the eye of the beholder. You have been pointed to FE site to see some example of clouds and really that's where it will either win you over or not. If those screen shots can't do or or the postitive review or the positive remarks from pepople here nothing will.http://www.flight1software.com/showcase/flightenviro/http://www.flight1software.com/showcase/fl...viro/index2.htmhttp://www.flight1.com/products.asp?product=fe2004This is not to advertise the product but only to help you form an opinion.As for what are the differences they are all clouds, they all do the same things so the only difference is the quality and that is up to you to decided.Oh yes, FE has also got water and a lot of variations of it. There is eveything from normal water colours to green, black and grey water. Inland water has been made suitable for a lot of different situaitons. The best part is I get to fly when testing clouds. But even since update 2 just out last week I've since done loads more clouds and I'm finding ways of making clouds and water look better all the time.Yesterday was Sunday and I worked all day and produced my best clouds so far. I must be crazy. You bet I am.All update will be totally free of charge to existing users. So the other thing is not just support it's the fact the product is constanly being expanded. It is alive and growing.Peter

Hi Mark,Active Sky is firstly a weather program, which has now incorporated Chris' skills. It is not a payware version of SkyWorld.Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Sales and Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/asv_dev_team.jpg http://www.hifisim.com/images/asv_proud_supporter.jpg

Thanks, Jim. I do have FSMeteo so I guess that plus Chris's clouds would give me much the same scenarios. I must say though that FS itself, with FSSkyWorld and real weather enabled, seems to do a pretty good job. The only thing it doesn't seem to handle too well are the transitions.Mark "Dark Moment" BeaumontVP Fleet, DC-3 AirwaysTeam Member, MAAM-SIM[a href=http://www.swiremariners.com/cathayhk.html" target="_blank]http://www.paxship.com/maamlogo2.jpg[/a]

One option Active Sky V gives you is the ability to choose which cloud options to use automatically based on current weather conditions. I really like that option, though it currently only works with the clouds included with Active Sky. Tony

>>>I have Chris' FS SkyWorld, Gerrit Kranenbarg's Bluesphere>textures, Gerrish Grey's trees, Ed Truthan and Vilk's water>modifications and Chris Arrington's environment upgrades. I>get beautiful results IMHO, and they're all freeware. >Thanks Mark,I hadn't heard of Gerrit's stuff or Ed's. Thanks for the heads up. Off to download them. (Already have Skyworld and Gerrishs' Trees.)Grab My FREEWARE Voice recognition Profiles here:[a href=http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fs2004misc&DLID=58334]Cessna 172 Voice Profile[/a][a href=http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fs2004misc&DLID=60740]FSD Avanti Voice Profile[/a].You will need the main FREEWARE Flight Assistant program to use it, get it here:[a href=http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=genutils&DLID=39661]Flight Assistant 2.2[/a]