SkyMaxx Pro v3 is Out

[scotchegg 4,170]

Yeah that's been a disappointment.  I really liked SMP at first but again the thing I hate is that clouds just hang around the plane even with max distance set.  I completely understand that you're limited by what XP is providing but it might be a nice touch to just create some fake weather at a distance (same as XP does) that eventually fades (or do I have a setting wrong).  I say this as if you guys haven't thought of it...I'm sure you have.  I'm sure there are technical issues as a user I'm not aware of.  Just hope it gets better, but for now I'm back to stock.  I do like your cirrus layer options.  Also appreciate your presence here.  

 

 

+1

 

This is the 3rd iteration of SMP I've ended up deleting because the very, very realistic looking-clouds that it produces just surround you wherever you are, or then suddenly disappear. The screenshots look fabulous (because the clouds really do), but in motion it's a very unsettling effect. Also SMP 3 has introduced regular micro stutters, no matter what draw distance / cloud size I have.

 

Hopefully they can get this sorted at some point as I'm a huge fan of the clouds it does produce, although the fact users have been raising this issue for the last few years with no solution offered doesn't offer much comfort. Until they do this will probably be the last investment I'll be making in SMP.

[Cameron XA 272]

Have you talked to Austin about giving you access to the metar data ?

 

Of course. It's not so simple for them (Laminar) at this time.

 

Until the SDK can open up some more I would not expect much. We have to work within the confines of what's allowed via the SDK. We've pushed the limits for now.

[Malombroso 1]

SkyMaxx Pro gets information about local weather conditions through the datarefs that X-Plane exposes to plugins. That information only includes the conditions at the current location. We do the best we can with the data given to us; the METAR data is not exposed to us. So, all we can do is fade in new cloud conditions around the plane once you've flown into them.

 

We might find some creative work-around for this limitation in future releases of SMP, but for now that's just how things work in X-Plane I'm afraid.

I am not a programmer so I am not to skilled in those things, but I am guessing that FSGRW creates a metar file that has been used by xplane weather to generate the cloud coverage and so on... Maybe a collaboration between SMP and FSGRW could lead to a solution to the problem??? Make SMP to generate the weather taking into consideration the weather injected by FSRGW???

I don't kkow if this could help! I am sure 100% that the weather generated by FSGRW is GLOBAL and not on a current location.

It would really be amazing to have the SMP clouds globally!

I am really surprised that Laminar is not helping developers to create cool plugins...

FSX and Prepared are the most diffused sim programs because they have lots of plugins available! If Laminar was helping developers, there would be more plugins and Xplane would certenly take over FSX and prepared, cause the flight dynamics are a lot better and FOR THE MOMENT is the only simulator running at 64bit. I am worried that if they don't take this chance to attract customers that are currently on prepared and FSX, as soon as prepared will create a 64bit version, xplane will end up in "bankrupt".

X-plane is worth a lot, but external plugin designer need more information in order to make it even better and more appealing!

I say that because I have lots of friends in my VA that still use (FSX or Prepared) ONLY because there are not many cool plugins for xplane yet! Otherwise they would all switch to xplane to take advantage of the 64bit.

[fkane 6]

I do want to make it clear that Laminar most certainly does work with plugin developers and they are really helpful. Their API for plugins is actually much more powerful than what the other big flight sims offer in many respects; building SkyMaxx Pro (a complete cloud engine replacement) for FSX would be just plain impossible. If there are more "cool plugins" available on the other sims, it's more about those markets being larger and able to support larger development teams for add-ons. It's a business limitation, not a technical one. But times are changin' as more people discover X-Plane.

[Malombroso 1]

And if I can say it, the more people will discover Xplane the larger the business and the more plugins. I am an ex FSX simmer and since I found Xplane I never went back, but I think it is like a cirlce of infinity, because lots of plugins are not being developed because there is not enough business, but the less plugins there are the less people are switching to xplane! I guess daring to improve the xplane platform with lots of plugins will bring lots of new people from other platforms! That is all...

 

It is not a critique to the hard work of few people that created (even if just few) really amazing plugins!!! I really have confidence that one day Xplane will be 100 times better!

 

))

Keep up the amazing work guys to give us the best weather engine possible!!!

[Morrigan 90]

According to steam's statistic, X-Plane is on a steady, +9% grow monthly (compared to +2,5% for FSX) on steam platform alone. While obviously the playerbase numbers are extremely in FSX's favour, I guess we don't have to panic, since X-Plane seems to be growing just fine 

[jcomm 5,890]

Just got SMP v3 - like it very much so far...

 

Smooth and Nice :-)

 

Stupid me having skipped the chance to get a discount :-/...

 

The SaaB will have to wait...