You have lost me here, Richard. Why would you need FSUIPC to make the Content installer work properly? :huh: Or have I misunderstood your comment?

 

Yes I am referring to spad not any installers Chris

 

Does anyone have any tweaks to force clouds to be not so uniformly flat-bottomed....

 

Yes, the generally "flat bottomed" look of clouds is rather annoying. It makes them look too similar, which in turn makes the brain think "not real".

Some quick, random print-screen shots (snipping tool) over EGLL a few mins ago:

 

I shouldve saved the images as PNG instead of JPEG because they did not come out so nice in JPEG

 

 

 

 

 

 

It acts as a driver for your controllers also talks to FSUIPC somehow which I forgot to mention you need FSUIPC fot ir to work

Just to clarify: The freeware version of SPAD.neXt relies on FSUIPC indeed. The paid version does not but can be used based on Simconnect. I use it on a networked laptop for all my Saitek gear (Panels, FIPs, even controls like Cessna yoke etc) via SImconnect only, freeing quite some resources from the main machine. I can even use the Cessna Trimwheel with it (but should add which worked also using the Saitek drivers before). The only annoyance for ages has been I have to turn it a few times after reboot before starting the simulator, otherwise it's plainly dead. This must be a deeper issue which seems to be neither caused by SPAD.neXt nor Saitek but Prepar3d. There was a thread on this on the Prepar3 forum some time ago (which I "partially" understood).

 

But this is certainly outside of the topic and should be better discussed elsewhere, preferred on the SPAD.neXt forum under http://www.fsgs.com/forum/.

 

Kind regards, Michael

Also, can anyone please offer advice about which clouds to set up for a thin layer of volumetric fog/haze/stratus clouds which hover over the ground similar to a typical spring/summer morning when the sun has not yet burnt off low level mist? I tried using cirrus but they are not solid/dense enough, and using stratus results in the opposite - too solid.

 

Don't know if this will fit your needs.

Cant post some screens as I'm not on my PC

 

With Rex Essentials+Overdrive I'm using:

 

Sky Textures:

Sunrise: Dawn Set REX Natural Dawn

Daytime: Day Set REX Natural Day

Sunset: Dusk Set REX Natural Dusk

Cloud Textures: Cumulus 23 (I don't use REX low level stratus sets)

 

In Options Manager:

Cloud Textures checked Both: Cumulus and Cirrus

Optimization (depends on your system), I have both 3D clouds and Cirrus at 1024, some use 512.

 

I let ASN take care of the weather. I Draws a fantastic early morning mist.

(ASN only changed drawdistance to 90)

 

Note: Some settings were suggested by another user 'Filou' in ORBX forums, and they suit me well.

Just to clarify: The freeware version of SPAD.neXt relies on FSUIPC indeed. The paid version does not but can be used based on Simconnect. I use it on a networked laptop for all my Saitek gear (Panels, FIPs, even controls like Cessna yoke etc) via SImconnect only, freeing quite some resources from the 

 

" This must be a deeper issue which seems to be neither caused by SPAD.neXt nor Saitek but Prepar3d"

 

Exaclty thats what I said - I am no guru on spad thats for sure

Does anyone have any tweaks to force clouds to be not so uniformly flat-bottomed be wider and less high?

 

sorry, I haven't made any adjustments ... but I'm sure someone can probably come up with something more to your liking or get the right combination of textures for the cloud options you seek.  If I'm not using ASN, then when making my own weather, I use "stratus" making sure I use odd numbers for base and tops (seems to help induce more randomness).  But I'm sure you can probably come up with a combination of weather settings and cloud textures that would get the look you want.

 

The REX settings/sets I use are here: http://www.robainscough.com/REX.html ... but be careful to not actually apply any REX changes, I think there is an issue with REX and V3.2

 

Personally I think FSX clouds look like 2D cartoon drawings, but that's just me.

 

Some quick, random print-screen shots (snipping tool) over EGLL a few mins ago:

 

Nice shots rene ... you probably should think about putting those in the screenshot section.

 

Cheers, Rob.

 

sorry, I haven't made any adjustments ... but I'm sure someone can probably come up with something more to your liking or get the right combination of textures for the cloud options you seek.  If I'm not using ASN, then when making my own weather, I use "stratus" making sure I use odd numbers for base and tops (seems to help induce more randomness).  But I'm sure you can probably come up with a combination of weather settings and cloud textures that would get the look you want.

 

The REX settings/sets I use are here: http://www.robainscough.com/REX.html ... but be careful to not actually apply any REX changes, I think there is an issue with REX and V3.2

 

Personally I think FSX clouds look like 2D cartoon drawings, but that's just me.

 

 

 

Nice shots rene ... you probably should think about putting those in the screenshot section.

 

Cheers, Rob.

 

 

Thanks Rob. I'll try the odd numbering. I'm using FEX (Flight Environment X). It has been updated and it works pretty well in P3d although its clouds look a  bit different in P3d compared with FSX. I used FEX and also HDVE2 clouds (very good for freeware) in FSX and they looked quite convincing - not cartoonish but I concede it is a matter of taste. Thanks for all your generous contributions.

Nice shots rene ... you probably should think about putting those in the screenshot section.

 

Cheers, Rob.

 

Thank you, Rob.

Thank you, Poppet.

So I just uninstalled the old CONTENT 3.1.

I tried to run the new CONTENT 3.2, but then an error came saying: cannot find cont1.cab

 

So I dropped the new CONTENT 3.2 into my old install folder 3.1 (seperate HDD) and ran the setup again. In this folder, are all the previous files of the P3D 3.1 install, also the cont1.cab.

However, now it gives me this error: the file 1A02AF92046D01F7FF0B3D1C15640E41 cannot be installed because the file cannot be found in cabinet file cont1.cab.

 

Hmm...any suggestions on this one please?

 

EDIT: do I by chance have to download the new CONT1.CAB file too? Hmm...logic tells me so hahaha...hope that is the case, downloading the 1.61GB file now...oh please please please let this work )))) Thank goodness its Friday...because any other day of the week, I would have to take the day off work :=)

Just in fun, of course, but you must have missed out on all caffeine today  :smile:

Performance improvements? Numbers, frame rates please.

 

I compared the performance of 3.2 and 3.1 by means of FSUIPC logs. Same scenario, same settings, different results! 

 

 

Ran several times, Windows and P3D always restarted. As you can see, the increase of frame rate is significant. VAS usage is reduced. Used scenario is relatively GPU intensive (4 cloud layers), I have 980Ti.

 

Antialiasing is improved too. I cannot support it with quantitative data, but would bet they switched on Transparency Multisampling and/or Supersampling. In version 3.1, I used Transparency Multisampling ON + 8x Supersampling (not Sparse Grid) in Nvidia Inspector with great results. Now I can switch those off without any loss in picture quality. 

Antialiasing is improved too. I cannot support it with quantitative data, but would bet they switched on Transparency Multisampling and/or Supersampling. In version 3.1, I used Transparency Multisampling ON + 8x Supersampling (not Sparse Grid) in Nvidia Inspector with great results. Now I can switch those off without any loss in picture quality. 

 

Very interesting find have to check that out for sure 

Just a quick flight over EGLL Extended in the 737, ASN, all FTX Global layers....I am extremely happy, cause currently it is totally overcast/foggy and usually, I attained around 24FPS in those conditions (25% AI Airlines)...now on average 27 jumping to 32

 

As an aside to the main thread (sorry folks), I've just updated my Orbx layers to the latest versions (first time since I first bought them at their beginnings), all of them -- FTX Global, Vector and Europe OLC. At Aerosoft's EGLL scenery I am getting grass textures over some parking areas and a bit over taxiways, mainly at the East end. Do you get this? If not, how do you get around it? I've applied all the tweaks offered on the Orbx Forum to no avail.

 

Thanks,

Pete

Installed client and went well. Frame rates are the same or maybe down a bit but it is so much smoother.

 

My test is load the opening window, select the Capt Sim 777 and go to the default airport. Before got 24 to 28 fps with judder when panning the vc - now get 22 29 fps with no judder when panning the vc.

 

Have been running 8xsgss in NI and 8x in sim and will maybe turn that down to 4 and see if the fps come up.

I compared the performance of 3.2 and 3.1 by means of FSUIPC logs. Same scenario, same settings, different results! 

 

Well that didnt work for me - back to 4x - 4x and 4x sgss in NI for me - thanks anyway 

As an aside to the main thread (sorry folks), I've just updated my Orbx layers to the latest versions (first time since I first bought them at their beginnings), all of them -- FTX Global, Vector and Europe OLC. At Aerosoft's EGLL scenery I am getting grass textures over some parking areas and a bit over taxiways, mainly at the East end. Do you get this? If not, how do you get around it? I've applied all the tweaks offered on the Orbx Forum to no avail.

 

Thanks,

Pete

 

Pete try this may help not seeing a lot on the subject

 

http://forum.aerosoft.com/index.php?/topic/99376-mega-airport-heathrow-xtended-texture-problem/