You make an excellent argument. More lines of code equals a similar or greater price than SkyMaxx in fairness imo. It's a reasonable expectation on your part. I really do like the central idea of it and it's likely I'll purchase it as big improvements to X-Plane come along so seldom. Thanks for the clarification.

Frank put it this way in a post somewhere else:

 

"...we're not bringing XP's default real-world weather functionality to SkyMaxx; we're inventing our own. We're parsing and interpolating raw METAR information, and using it to position cloud formations and storm clouds in ways X-Plane's built-in weather cannot. For example, we can have hundreds of distinct cloud layers in view at once, all at different altitudes - and we offer cloud types like cumulonimbus and towering cumulus that the default engine doesn't have. We didn't replicate what X-Plane's default clouds can do, we went beyond that.

 

Towering cumulonimbus in the distance as a purely visual effect, would definitely sell me on this. Towering CB's that also act the way they should, with severe vertical up/downdrafts, and in discrete formations that I'd be able to duck in between... and I'll be throwing money at the screen.

 

I kinda doubt that's possible with the current v10 weather engine, but I'm looking forward to see how much can be done with this add-on. 

To be quite clear, this is really a grey area of perception. It's middle ground between a weather injector and an enabler. The truth is, while it doesn't fetch the weather, it does much more of a lot of things you'd expect a weather injector TO DO, and does it better in a lot of areas.

 

Frank put it this way in a post somewhere else:

 

"...we're not bringing XP's default real-world weather functionality to SkyMaxx; we're inventing our own. We're parsing and interpolating raw METAR information, and using it to position cloud formations and storm clouds in ways X-Plane's built-in weather cannot. For example, we can have hundreds of distinct cloud layers in view at once, all at different altitudes - and we offer cloud types like cumulonimbus and towering cumulus that the default engine doesn't have. We didn't replicate what X-Plane's default clouds can do, we went beyond that.

 

I think once folks start to get their hands on it and spread the word, folks will understand why it's a product in its own right. For now, stay tuned while we get through beta testing."

 

We're just leveraging SkyMaxx Pro's clouds because we can. It's definitely no small project, especially considering there are more lines of code in this little add-on than in all of SkyMaxx Pro itself!

 

Looks promising, but you should go beyond METAR strings - they're too limited in the vertical plane specially around Europe and other areas where very low sector altitudes are common.

 

It's easy in Europe to have your captain reporting to the passengers that the aircraft is approaching the destination airport on a beautiful cloudless day, to just find out there's that, sometimes thick, overcast at 6500' over the area and surrounding towns...

 

When it comes to storm coverage, it's important ( I'de say mandatory ) to have a synoptic scale view of the weather around you, merging not only METAR info but also other ( forecasts such as TAF, GAMET or AIREP ) sources...

 

I've ( again ) given up on using XP10 as a flight simulator ( maybe I should have bought the SaaB 340, but I spent my money on SMP3 instead because I skipped the promotional campaign for v2 users :-/ ), but the flight dynamics are sooo disappointing that the only thing it is really good at is World coverage of airport scenery and navaid data, night scenery, and now, the effects of SMP3, which not being comparable to what I got in MSFS or P3D are still much better than without ... I use Aerowinx PSX as my weather injector, and indeed I notice a much better performance and at the same time a better quality of depiction of cloud coverage with SP3 - it was worth the investment, and I look forward fro that upcoming product too.

 

 

Looks promising, but you should go beyond METAR strings - they're too limited in the vertical plane specially around Europe and other areas where very low sector altitudes are common.

 

One thing at a time, Jose. If it were easy everyone would be doing it already.

Looking forward to trying this Cameron, SkymaxxPro is the best addon I have for XP hands down and makes it possible for me to actually fly with clouds. I know this isn't the aim of the product, but if it could do what OpusFSI does with the weather in P3D, I'd be very happy, but I know there are some limitations in XP that probably prevent this, but I trust one day you'll work it out ;-)

 

 

 

I've ( again ) given up on using XP10 as a flight simulator

 

I'm sad to say that it's the same here José, I gave up using it as a flight simulator some time ago, probably one of the reasons is that I treat it as something I work/hack on and not something I use just for simulation (where it fails for me in many important areas such as ATC, AI, weather, etc). Unless I want to fly around in a helicopter (which I actually love in XP10 and is immensly fun and challenging), I use P3D (But I'm not enjoying it at all, that isn't allowed, I'm only simulating training scenarios and looking at it as a development platform  :wink: )

Speaking toward the limitations of METAR in Europe - keep in mind METAR is just an interface X-Plane uses for weather information. Weather engines like FSGRW write their own METAR strings that are fed to X-Plane, which presumably use a wider array of weather data sources in their construction. In that case, Real Weather Connector will happily use these enhanced METAR files and not just the ones that come directly from individual reports. So, we're not really tying ourselves to actual METAR data; METAR is just the format we read.

Speaking toward the limitations of METAR in Europe - keep in mind METAR is just an interface X-Plane uses for weather information. Weather engines like FSGRW write their own METAR strings that are fed to X-Plane, which presumably use a wider array of weather data sources in their construction. In that case, Real Weather Connector will happily use these enhanced METAR files and not just the ones that come directly from individual reports. So, we're not really tying ourselves to actual METAR data; METAR is just the format we read.

 

Thx for making that clear.

 

Again, it would be great if you could read what is actually being injected into X-plane from the weather injector being used ( FSGRW, NOAA, ...).

 

In my case I seldom use FSGRW, because I seldom use X-Plane 10 as a standalone flight simulator. Instead I use XView, which allows me to use X-Plane 10 for what it does very nicely - World scenery depiction, specially during night... - while the simulator is Aerowinx PSX. PSX has it's own sophisticated weather model, and XView injects weather ( winds / aloft winds, turbulence, T, Td, clouds, precipitation... ) into X-Plane. In that case it would be great if your connector could "intercept" what is being injected and pre-process it...

José, Please ask Hardy to sell his "weather injector" as a stand allone ap.

I did already, but he is too busy keeping PSX :-)

Injecting weather into a custom flight model that you own 100% end to end is an entirely different problem to that of injecting weather into X-Planes flight model to work with all existing aircraft.

Very true Ben,

 

but it would be great to have :-)

Ben,

 

further to my last message, and knowing you're not X-Aviation but rather a freelancer whose ( excellent!!! btw ) work also impacts on X-Aviation's branded products, I though about a possible "partnership" between Aerowinx and X-Aviation / "Gizmo"...

 

Hardy Heinlin has it's own "one man show", and he does it remarkably, like he did in times of PS1 now with PSX, the best 744 simulator available ( Ever... ). X-Plane 10 with it's World model and graphics, free scenery much more accurate by default than vanilla MSFS or P3D, night visuals, and the much better rendering of the skies provided by SkyMaxx Pro, is by far my preferred platform for using when I land my PSX or takeoff, specially under adverse weather scenarios.

 

Maybe approaching Hardy with some ideas about a possible enhanced connector could give us all an even better end-result ?

 

Of course, there is the problem of the potential buyers of such a product, and the investment could probably not be feasible to X-Aviation / Gizmo to support the idea :-/ and I can only understand and respect such an argument...

 

 

 

Just my, not even 2 cents.... half broken cent :-) 

https://youtu.be/VlM1se42_Wo

 

great !!!!!!!!

thank for all your work !

 

 

If the layer cloud is 'overcvast' instead of broken like in the video, would the result be the same ? (holes the cloud ?)

 

 

 

 

Guillaume