There seems to be an issue with PrecipitFX 1.5.0.4 and Active Sky Next (Build 5848) under P3D v3.1.

 

Following Image shows the correct precipitation of +SN (Heavy Snow). This is generated from the built-in Weather Theme "Heavy Snow" of Prepar3D:

 

This image shows the same scene with ASN connected:

 

As you can see, the snow flakes are too small and too barely!

The Slider "Special effects detail" is set to "High" and I did reinstall PrecipitFX more then one times.

 

What is going wrong? I like the Textures of PrecipitFX and want to yuse it together with ASN like sure many others of you ...

+1 I am happy that someone got the same concerns !

It's not only the snow : The rain can't barely be seen as well :/

I anticipate HiFi to state that it's an FSFX's problem, and FSFX to check the Special Effect slider (which unfortunately makes no difference in my case too).

 

To my guess the issue lies in the amount of snow/rain drops depicted, as if ASN actually instructs the sim to be a little shy about the amount.

Any tweak much appreciated, or maybe we need specific .fx files crafted to be used in conjunction with ASN.

I just got PrecipitFX 2 days ago, and noticed the exact same thing. With snow in Active Sky Next, the snowflakes are exactly like the lower screen shot above, hardly visible. If I use the snowstorm in P3D V3.1, the flakes look like the upper screen shot in size. This can easily be demonstrated by setting up heavy snows in P3D, and Active Sky and turning Active Sky on and off. As soon as ASN is launched, the snow gets really light and barely noticeable. 

To my guess the issue lies in the amount of snow/rain drops depicted, as if ASN actually instructs the sim to be a little shy about the amount.

 

You are right, ASN sends such instruction to the simulator.

 

Remember that PrecipitFX only replaces the rain / snow textures but not their behaviour.

 

You might want to go ahead and contact HiFi Sim directly, they are probably aware of the issue as it should also occur with default textures.

I've raised a thread at their forum, I really hope this won't be a statu-quo forever. By the way Keven, are you aware of such an issue with Opus too ? Also, wouldn't be a good idea to document this in your FAQ or sticky forum post, as many-many people use ASN and might be concerned ?

 

Another thing is "occurs with default textures" : it probably does, but the default snow "sprites" are sooo big, that you won't even notice !

Again, could you perhaps craft .fx files that are ASN-friendly ?

Tell me you use ASN, please

I've raised a thread at their forum, I really hope this won't be a statu-quo forever. By the way Keven, are you aware of such an issue with Opus too ? Also, wouldn't be a good idea to document this in your FAQ or sticky forum post, as many-many people use ASN and might be concerned ?

 

Another thing is "occurs with default textures" : it probably does, but the default snow "sprites" are sooo big, that you won't even notice !

Again, could you perhaps craft .fx files that are ASN-friendly ?

Tell me you use ASN, please

 

1. I am not aware of any issues with Opus. I don't actually have anyone in my contacts using it. A community feedback would be great!
2. It would be a good thing to document indeed, we will include it in the next User Manual Update.
3. The fact remains that heavy snow should be sent to the sim as heavy snow... not light snow. At least giving the user an option to change that behavior.
4. Editing .fx files is never a good idea as they change from version to version. This is not logical to do on a 15$ product. But we have a few things coming in the future, no worry!
5. Yes I use ASN, I have seen this issue but not to those extremes.

Kevin - The question was posed in the ASN Support forum - this was the answer provided - I took the liberty of a cut/paste - the thread is here: http://www.hifisimtech.com/forums/showthread.php?5542-P3D-PrecipitFX-compatibility

 

+++++++++

 

Hi,

 

ASN varies precipitation rate according to the actual cloud above the aircraft. So, even though the metar in one area says "heavy snow", this does not necessarily mean than you'll get heavy snow everywhere in the airport area. This is not realistic but unfortunately this is the way the sim works. You'll even get precipitation out of nowhere. This is not the case with ASN. ASN precipitation handling is tightly coupled with the radar itself (that's the reason why the radar is so accurate). So, you'll get precipitation rate (and other effects like downdrafts, turbulence etc), based on what's shown on ASN's NexRad radar display shown on the map.

 

Having said that, I think there is no issue here (even though I don't have PrecipitFX and I can't test or reproduce this). Just keep an eye on ASN debug window and move the aircraft around (or wait for the clouds to move above you ) until the precipitation rate reported in the debug window is "Heavy snow". Only then compare the final effect to default weather.

 

 

 

Kostas Terzides

Lead Programmer

 

++++++++++++++

 

Vic

Kevin - The question was posed in the ASN Support forum - this was the answer provided - I took the liberty of a cut/paste - the thread is here: http://www.hifisimtech.com/forums/showthread.php?5542-P3D-PrecipitFX-compatibility

 

Vic

 

Alright, thanks for fetching this information!

I checked the ASN debug window this morning as was suggested on the Active Sky forum, and when the snow is light with PrecipitFX, it is showing that ASN is calling for light snow in the debug window with real weather, so it looks as if it is all working properly.