Actually, I ask because I don't know the extent of the features. Of course to me at the moment it all sounds too good to be true, to have exact cloud locations, but I just don't understand what's going on. Either AS16 + ASCA are so awesome ... or ... they are only minor improvements to what we already have.

 

AS16 is a weather engine with some nice bells and whistles...okay, I get that.

But ASCA....I don't know. I already have softclouds, and people are saying such good things about it that it makes me wonder what is it that I can expect. I know they seem to "work well together" but I don't want to go redundant with my add-ons.

Actually, I ask because I don't know the extent of the features. Of course to me at the moment it all sounds too good to be true, to have exact cloud locations, but I just don't understand what's going on. Either AS16 + ASCA are so awesome ... or ... they are only minor improvements to what we already have.

 

AS16 is a weather engine with some nice bells and whistles...okay, I get that.

But ASCA....I don't know. I already have softclouds, and people are saying such good things about it that it makes me wonder what is it that I can expect. I know they seem to "work well together" but I don't want to go redundant with my add-ons.

 

I know what you're saying...

 

I mainly got AS16 and ASCA, because of the Dynamic Texture Injection feature. If it was 'just' a bunch of new textures, I would have kept REX4 for textures, and AS16 for the weather-engine (coming from ASN)

But ASCA....I don't know. I already have softclouds, and people are saying such good things about it that it makes me wonder what is it that I can expect. I know they seem to "work well together" but I don't want to go redundant with my add-ons.

Er... maybe you should read the answers that were already posted to your questions?

So...can I download the trial version of AS16 and keep my ASN installed, in case I don't see enough difference to justify the upgrade price?  I don't want to uninstall ASN just to try out AS16.

So...can I download the trial version of AS16 and keep my ASN installed, in case I don't see enough difference to justify the upgrade price?  I don't want to uninstall ASN just to try out AS16.

Yes

hi, can i download the demo for p3d v 3.1 ? i do own ASN already. do i will loose my settings in ASN? 

 

henry

hi, can i download the demo for p3d v 3.1 ? i do own ASN already. do i will loose my settings in ASN? 

 

henry

No - AS16 is only compatible with 3.2 and up. 

 

Vic

The combination of cloud/sky textures is pretty mind boggling if you use AS16, REX, ASCA, freeware ... Sky textures can make a huge difference if how P3D looks because they impact just about everything in the sim (some sky textures will make the P3D seem "too dark" some sky textures will make P3D seem too light, some sky textures will make everything look orange, some will create an obvious band on the horizon under certain visibility settings, some cloud texture are too edge define making them seem 2D, etc. etc.) ... worse yet, they'll look different in FSX than they do in P3D adding yet more variables to the content provider equation.

 

But just as in the real world ... the combination of conditions is infinite.  

 

I wonder if HiFi or REX have thought about providing the tools to allow use an easier user friendly interface to experiment and build our own textures from scratch (a smart photoshop contained with each product but easy enough to use for the average simmer) ... something like setting halo size, color points on gradients, etc. etc.  Since the textures files being used in sim are close to impossible to "protect" ... provide a easy to use tool that makes them ... avoid the "sets" concept and debates on how it looks.  Clouds would be more difficult but I think the same concept can be applied with perhaps just a tad more restriction on what can be done.

 

Cheers, Rob.

But ASCA....I don't know. I already have softclouds, and people are saying such good things about it that it makes me wonder what is it that I can expect.

 

To make it short: you can expect dynamically changing cloud and sky colour textures. The cloud textures however appear not to have the same quality as the REX textures. I will jump on AS16, but will wait until REX brings out SKYFORCE, which will be based on more than 3000 real world cloud textures.

 

I rarley do flights > 2 hours and therefore the dynamic change of textures is not of high priority for me.

 

The pictures above look very cartoonish, by the way. Real weather is often boring, as it should be in the sim.

 

 

I wonder if HiFi or REX have thought about providing the tools to allow use an easier user friendly interface to experiment and build our own textures from scratch (a smart photoshop contained with each product but easy enough to use for the average simmer) ... something like setting halo size, color points on gradients, etc. etc. Since the textures files being used in sim are close to impossible to "protect" ... provide a easy to use tool that makes them ... avoid the "sets" concept and debates on how it looks. Clouds would be more difficult but I think the same concept can be applied with perhaps just a tad more restriction on what can be done.

 

Cheers, Rob.

That's what FEX does as an option in their UI, is provide a way to create your own sky textures using their tools and even share them with the community. Although I am not sure if FEX has a P3D compatible version as it was originally made for FSX.

 

I was always surprised that neither REX or Hifi have provides a tool like FEX has to create your own cloud textures.

Looks Like AS16, ASCA, & REX Soft Clouds CAN Work Together.

 

No, I am sorry but that's wrong.

You'll get dynamic weather changes but no clouds texture changes.

ASCA engine will only display the single set of textures you have installed from REX/Soft clouds and won't search for other textures into the REX folders.

So if you deactivate the cloud options per the video instructions you are loosing the main interest of AS16/ASCA. 

Looks Like AS16, ASCA, & REX Soft Clouds CAN Work Together.

 

No, I am sorry but that's wrong.

You'll get dynamic weather changes but no clouds texture changes.

ASCA engine will only display the single set of textures you have installed from REX/Soft clouds and won't search for other textures into the REX folders.

So if you deactivate the cloud options per the video instructions you are loosing the main interest of AS16/ASCA. 

 

Yes, that's was my thinking as well... 

 

 

Although I am not sure if FEX has a P3D compatible version as it was originally made for FSX.

 

Check out this thread, it works just fine with the (official) replacement EXE. :smile: I still use a FEX cloud texture set (Naturally Dense 2 by NickN) in P3D3, haven't found a suitable replacement in any other product...

 

Tym

 

 

I rarley do flights > 2 hours and therefore the dynamic change of textures is not of high priority for me.

 

That may be so but from what I understand the dynamic change will also make a difference in seperate flights. So yes, maybe you may not see much changes during a single flight but the next flight you do may look pretty different thanks to the dynamic changes. I at least do presume that AS16+ASCA will also change sets dynamically at the start of a flight if the current (or historical) weather calls for it. My flights usually are no longer than 1 hour but it's the difference between various flights that has me interested in this new development nonetheless.

Looks Like AS16, ASCA, & REX Soft Clouds CAN Work Together.

 

No, I am sorry but that's wrong.

You'll get dynamic weather changes but no clouds texture changes.

ASCA engine will only display the single set of textures you have installed from REX/Soft clouds and won't search for other textures into the REX folders.

So if you deactivate the cloud options per the video instructions you are loosing the main interest of AS16/ASCA. 

 

Well, I do think you are partially wrong too. You will still get dynamic sky and cirrus changes. AS16+ASCA offers three dynamics and by disabling the dynamic cloud option you will indeed be stuck with for instance soft clouds but everything else, sky and cirrus, will still change. I have the idea the difference in cloud sets is quite often hardly noticable while the difference in sky sets certainly is so using the combination of AS16+ASCA+REX may still be of interest to a lot of people, specially those who don't like the look of the ASCA clouds.

 

 

Although I am not sure if FEX has a P3D compatible version as it was originally made for FSX.

 

It works, but some features don't transfer to well P3D such as the water, which ends up being much darker than the designer suggests.

 

The design aspect of FEX was good, and I'm surprised another company has not taken some of those features and improved upon them. I made loads of custom sky's, but it was very easy to have dreadful looking sunrise/sets if you did not match the colours properly; you would end up with odd colour shifts as you panned.