...and i have this problem...

Install correct AS16, ASCA and settings correctly both addon.

Start p3d, go to EGLL, 23 local time...and i see this...

and when enter in the clouds...(same time)...

 

Why? It's a bug or my errors?

Somebody posted screen shots from AS16 and ASCA on another thread here at avsim that are much better. Anyone can put together a crappy screenshot to make something look bad. I guarantee you can do the same with REX if you want to.

 

I flew earlier today and enjoyed very much most of the clouds. I did find some that I was not very keen on but by and far was pleased. I saw some towering CB going into NY area and they looked very real.

What cloud set were you using when you had this result, have you tried different ones?

 

Reason I ask is I also used REX SC all the time and when I started using ASCA first just like you I often found ASCA clouds to look very cartoonish and "painted" and I did provide my feedback on to the developers and now in the finished product and using Global Automatic I think the clouds most of the time look really good!

 

Another thing I really like with ASCA in combination with AS16 is how things look different from flight to flight both looking at the clouds but also the sky. Compared to when I was using REX SC when it did look nice and "realistic" but the overall "look" never changed.

 

I'm not trying to argue with you and I can see where you're coming from, I just suggest give it some time and set ASCA to use the Global Automatic theme/set and see what you think after doing some flying in different places and weather conditions.

 

Happy flying whatever cloud textures you end up using :smile:

 

 

I'll have to agree with you, those clouds certainly look "different"... :wink:

Somebody posted screen shots from AS16 and ASCA on another thread here at avsim that are much better. Anyone can put together a crappy screenshot to make something look bad. I guarantee you can do the same with REX if you want to.

 

I flew earlier today and enjoyed very much most of the clouds. I did find some that I was not very keen on but by and far was pleased. I saw some towering CB going into NY area and they looked very real.

 

You can also cherry pick, carefully angle your shots to hide the bad, tweak the lighting so something doesn't look completely rubbish, then crop it a bit and hey presto, it looks great. You can make the bad look good and the good look bad. Also a fun thought; if it looks so good, why have we've had an absolute sea of questionable screenshots? The good ones have been far and few in between at this point. If it was so good, I would have expected a larger ratio of impressive shots.

...and i have this problem...

Install correct AS16, ASCA and settings correctly both addon.

Start p3d, go to EGLL, 23 local time...and i see this...

and when enter in the clouds...(same time)...

 

Why? It's a bug or my errors?

Perhaps I'm blind, but I don't see any issue at all with your first screenshot of the ramp at EGLL. The amount of twilight in the sky looks just about right for the latitude of London in early July at 23:00 local.

 

If you are referring to the purple line on the windscreen in the second image, I'm pretty sure that is not a bug, but a feature - and a rather clever one at that, considering that the aircraft has entered cloud in close proximity to thunderstorm activity (based on the radar image). Do you know what it is?

You can also cherry pick, carefully angle your shots to hide the bad, tweak the lighting so something doesn't look completely rubbish, then crop it a bit and hey presto, it looks great. You can make the bad look good and the good look bad. Also a fun thought; if it looks so good, why have we've had an absolute sea of questionable screenshots? The good ones have been far and few in between at this point. If it was so good, I would have expected a larger ratio of impressive shots.

For sure there is some headroom for texture improvement. But consider a few things. REX has been doing pretty much nothing but texture type software for quite a while now. They have perfected many things when it comes to textures. HiFi has been out of the texture business for a few years now. They have now gotten back into and this is there first release of a texture software package in a very long time. Secondly, HiFi had been in the weather engine department for a long time. So far nobody touches them in this area. Nothing from anyone else comes close to AS16. Thirdly, with both AS16 and ASCA one can have auto texture input into the sim based on real world weather. Not just clouds but sky textures as well. So I'm willing to bet by SP1 of ASCA we will see much improvement. Some seem willing to write them off 48hr after initial release. I'm not. I would rather have the full integrated product than two separate programs with just clouds changing during flight. Each their own.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Running AS16 and DYNAMIC THEME of ASCA  - I'm not sure about the settings displaying horrible clouds-- but I think mine are looking pretty good

Bought both today...I've owned every version of Active Sky for as far back as I can remember (plus X-graphics way back when) and these guys have never let me down.  Flew a long Westjet flight CYHZ-CYVR today and luckily (though maybe not surprisingly) had lots of clouds on both departure and arrival (plus some rain in Vancouver).  Overall I'm impressed, the overcast is actually overcast, and when I was sitting on the ramp @ CYHZ, what I saw in terms of weather depiction and textures closely matched what I saw out my window (about 20 km away in real life).  Overall I'm happy with my purchase.

Anyone with a pair of working eyes could notice the difference between that and this (here i'm using REX SC):

 

Today I myself saw the same set of clouds in California. It looked horrible and active sky came to mind.. But hey they were natural. They were not good looking. But nature does not produce pretty clouds always. So for me active sky produced realistic clouds compared to what I saw today. They didn't look pretty, neither in sim nor in real world

Wow, that is much worse than the other screenshots I have seen.

I can flatly state that in months of testing, I NEVER saw a cloud set like that. Something is not right. I haven't a clue what but there are many things that would affect the cloud depiction - running modified shaders for one.

 

Vic

I can flatly state that in months of testing, I NEVER saw a cloud set like that. Something is not right. I haven't a clue what but there are many things that would affect the cloud depiction - running modified shaders for one.Vic

I took the screenshots in question, there was Nothing "wrong" about them. I DO use sweetfx, but they looked equally hideous without sweetfx, as I also disabled it to test.

 

Now, I also posted a few shots in this thread that DO look good. The nature of "dynamic" texture generation leads to the fact that sometimes ASCA will look awful, sometimes it's going to look spectacular.

 

My mine gripe is more with the sky textures, some of them are plain odd, but the sky texture generation can be turned off, but you can still have the clouds change dynamically, so that's not too much of a problem.

 

The cloud sets maybe better if they were labelled into areas, such as a Europe set, Caribbean set etc, as the "wrong" shots in question were taken over Heathrow and the sky certainly didn't look anything like that in the UK today, it was far more grey than those super white fluffy clouds depict.

 

The actual AS16 itself is excellent, performance is really good, even compared to ASN.

 

One question, is there any way to stop ASCA loading up automatically everytime I run AS16?

 

Regards!

 

 

Today I myself saw the same set of clouds in California. It looked horrible and active sky came to mind.. But hey they were natural. They were not good looking. But nature does not produce pretty clouds always. So for me active sky produced realistic clouds compared to what I saw today. They didn't look pretty, neither in sim nor in real world

This couldn't be more true.  I don't know what some people expect or have in their minds as to what is "real".  I can't imagine being a dev trying to make people happy with a product like this.  Some people you could show them a picture of reality and they'd say it looks bad.  Others, you could make it look like a 5 year old painted it there and they would swear that is real.  There really is no way you're going to please everyone when it comes to how we each perceive reality.

 

I wish there was a way to take unbiased photos of the real sky in millions of situations and then straight bit for bit transform that into what we see in the sim so there is no "artist interpretation" involved at all.  I just want what's real.  Not some pretty Hollywood sunset every time I fly.  I want to see what I'd see in reality.  Sometimes that's a drop dead gorgeous sunset and some times is just bland - but that's mother nature and real.

I can flatly state that in months of testing, I NEVER saw a cloud set like that. Something is not right. I haven't a clue what but there are many things that would affect the cloud depiction - running modified shaders for one.

 

Vic

I have a feeling npole is snookering the community.

 

Jim

I have a feeling npole is snookering the community.

 

Jim

Jim, I took the screen shots in question, not this npole guy. The shots are totally unedited. As stated above, I also posted shots in this thread that look great.

 

Due to the nature of ASCA being dynamic, sometimes it's going to look great, sometimes not so much.

 

As I spent over £80 this morning on upgrades for FSX and P3D, and ASCA I personally would love it be the greatest thing ever. If I'm brutally honest, I think the price is too expensive as it is, I also think that making FSX and P3d versions separate is also wrong.

 

At the very least I personally think it would have been fairer to the community to have offered a bundle deal for a slightly lower price if you wanted to buy all 3 products at the same time, but as I wouldn't have had half the enjoyment flying without their weather engines over the years, hifi are probably the one company that I would have shelled out this much price wise.

 

It's only day 1, I'm sure hifi will tweak it and make it better over the coming months like they normally do with their products.

 

The actual AS16 itself is excellent.

AS16 + ASCA looks great to me, good job HiFi.

 

 

 

Cheers, Rob.