You do not need ASCA to get dynamic weather changes. You ONLY need ASCA to get dynamic changing textures. Entirely different thing. Any weather addon will give you dynamic weather changes already.

 

I know. And this the only different thing here. With AS16 i dont see any difference from ASN.  So i will still need to have the ASCA software to have dynamic textures changes. Its as you need to have AS16 running all the time. 

I know. And this the only different thing here. With AS16 i dont see any difference from ASN.  So i will still need to have the ASCA software to have dynamic textures changes. Its as you need to have AS16 running all the time. 

 

I can't believe you are not seeing a difference. Are you certain it installed correctly. Just some of the differences I see, which are many:

 

1 much improved haze and visibility effects

2. Turbulence effects are amazing. 

3. When flying through clouds, you see the clouds flying up past the windscreen at high speed like in real life. 

4. Increase cloud layers with no impact on FPS. 

 

Those are just a few changes I see from ASN and I am using Rex soft clouds as I was with ASN. 

I can't believe you are not seeing a difference. Are you certain it installed correctly. Just some of the differences I see, which are many:

 

1 much improved haze and visibility effects

2. Turbulence effects are amazing. 

3. When flying through clouds, you see the clouds flying up past the windscreen at high speed like in real life. 

4. Increase cloud layers with no impact on FPS. 

 

Those are just a few changes I see from ASN and I am using Rex soft clouds as I was with ASN. 

 

Even overcast is better ? 

What is it that ASCA can do that Softclouds cannot? What is it that Softclouds does that ASCA cannot?

Also...it seems to me that ASCA has a "live mode" which portrays the clouds the way they look at the present moment. Now...if I use historical mode on AS16, will the clouds also look the same as they did at a given time and location?

 

I am looking at screenshots and reading your replies (greatly appreciated), but still confused as to what each component brings to the table.

 

 

Even overcast is better ?

 

Eesh.  Do you have cloud settings full right?

Eesh.  Do you have cloud settings full right?

Tough to say without his AS logs, settings details, location, METAR, etc.

 

I never saw anything like that in months of testing AS16 with and without ASCA and with trying both dynamic and static ASCA themes.

The 'Before with REX' shot is by far the best pic, the rest look really - really bad

 

Several step back IMHO... back to default FS9 by the look of those images

@bobsk8 - Thanx - that's exactly what I was seeing during testing. I'm a little long n the tooth but I can still remember quite well what the skies looked like when I was up in them. Shooting an approach and breaking out just over the christmas tree in P3D with AS16 and ASCA gets my heart going just as it did back then.

 

Vic

What is it that ASCA can do that Softclouds cannot? What is it that Softclouds does that ASCA cannot?

Also...it seems to me that ASCA has a "live mode" which portrays the clouds the way they look at the present moment. Now...if I use historical mode on AS16, will the clouds also look the same as they did at a given time and location?

 

I am looking at screenshots and reading your replies (greatly appreciated), but still confused as to what each component brings to the table.

Softclouds gives you cloud textures that look a bit soft. ASCA gives you a lot of different cloud textures and sky textures and in combination with AS16 it will change textures on the fly, without you having to do anything. Before ASCA was released every flight you did was done with one set of textures, but now you can see as many sets of textures as the weather dictates.

 

Concerning the clouds looking the same at a given time and location: do not expect too much of this. I mean, it will never ever be possible to see the exact clouds in the sim as you see them out of your window. It will always be some sort of generic approximation. The weather data a weather engine works with isn't detailed enough, and will never be, to simulate every cloud there is and certainly not in every spot. Weather data always gives information about weather in a larger area. If the weather looks similar to what you see out of your window, you should be very happy already.

 

3. When flying through clouds, you see the clouds flying up past the windscreen at high speed like in real life.

 

Aaaaah, so that is what that effect does! Of course. I didn't really get that. Quite some time ago there was a discussion about clouds passing by too slowly, as if the clouds you were flying through passed by at a speed you'd expect from miles away. So ASCA solves this. Very nice. A good sense of speed is something that was really lacking up to now. Now I am really getting interested. Pity there isn't much news about the new REX addons yet. But I am on the verge of buying the HIFI addons also because REX never really delivered the goods in the weather department and I would be very surprised if they would manage to surpass HIFI now.

The weather data a weather engine works with isn't detailed enough

 

This!!!!.... In this aspect it isn't detailed at all. Any claims by FS environment vendors is pure marketing and BS. Yes, they can pick a unique texture set, but if it has any bearing on what the sky looks like in that part of the world, at that time, is pure luck. The amount of variation REX, AS or any others provide is actually very minimal, so basically any cloud/sky combo will have as much chance as any other.

 

 

 

Aaaaah

 

 

Yeah, but its an effect...... when it kicks in and your not in a cloud (which it does often) it looks stupid. It looks more like your engine is failing rather than flying through a cloud.

Eesh.  Do you have cloud settings full right?

HiFi answered his question_

 

This is very peculiar, and indicates a modified cloudmask file IMO. We don't touch that file, but other add-ons might, and this would have nothing to do with AS16.

Even overcast is better ? 

 

That doesn't looks like overcast that I see..... Even with ASN. 

 

 

Aaaaah, so that is what that effect does! Of course. I didn't really get that. Quite some time ago there was a discussion about clouds passing by too slowly, as if the clouds you were flying through passed by at a speed you'd expect from miles away. So ASCA solves this. Very nice. A good sense of speed is something that was really lacking up to now. Now I am really getting interested. Pity there isn't much news about the new REX addons yet. But I am on the verge of buying the HIFI addons also because REX never really delivered the goods in the weather department and I would be very surprised if they would manage to surpass HIFI now.

0

 

 

Not using ASCA, that is with Rex Soft Clouds. 

 Yeah, but its an effect...... when it kicks in and your not in a cloud (which it does often) it looks stupid. It looks more like your engine is failing rather than flying through a cloud.

LOL That's exactly what I posted yesterday after watching a video with the effect. It's just that I didn't understand what the effect was trying to simulate. I do now, but yes, it did look odd...

What is it that ASCA can do that Softclouds cannot? What is it that Softclouds does that ASCA cannot?

Also...it seems to me that ASCA has a "live mode" which portrays the clouds the way they look at the present moment. Now...if I use historical mode on AS16, will the clouds also look the same as they did at a given time and location?

 

I am looking at screenshots and reading your replies (greatly appreciated), but still confused as to what each component brings to the table.

 

 

I'm a little confused... 

 

What did you expect?! That the weather-engine software (somehow) pulled a satellite image, live, analyzed it, and then output cloud depiction so that it would be similar to what you're seeing outside? And it would do this, how often? Every hour?

 

Weather engine depiction is put together from METARs (mostly, I presume) which are then interpolated together to match the weather conditions at a given area. It's an approximation (as already explained very well above!). 

 

Similar to what ORBX/FTX are doing with FTX Global - build on landclass data - it's an approximation of the ground so to speak - it will never match EXACTLY what you're seeing from satellite-imagery - but it's fairly close...

 

Not using ASCA, that is with Rex Soft Clouds.

 

Ah, ok, so it's an AS16 feature! Good to know. Thanks for clarifying that!