X-Enviro is OUT

[pilot83 387]

After testing xEnviro on my first flight I think it works very well for jet planes, but because of the ugliness the clouds look up close not so much for GA plane. And they also need to increase the resolution of cloud textures.

Agreed, this is why in general SMP is nice for VFR and it seems Xenviro for IFR...but SMP v4 still not out so cant say yet.

For the resolution you can go to their facebook page and tell them if you want  https://www.facebook.com/groups/625829117591486/

[Denco 48]

For the resolution you can go to their facebook page and tell them if you want  https://www.facebook.com/groups/625829117591486/

I don't use facebook.

[strider1 575]

I think it would be too much to ask if one would expect X-Enviro to be on par with Active Sky. AS has come such a long way. However, X-Enviro looks promising. But it still has some weaknesses as can also be seen in this video:

 

https://youtu.be/r5qXZEboc1M

 

PS: Manny was quicker in posting the video... ;-)

 

Those clouds look like a dog ! Thanks for saving us $70

[be77solo 125]

Those clouds look like a dog ! Thanks for saving us $70

 

Yep, completely agree.  Good video, thanks Q8Pilot!

 

Hopefully things will improve with updates, but for that price I can't justify diving in blindly with an unknown.

 

I did enjoy SMPv1 way back when, so excited to see what v4 has to offer.  And for almost half the price, much more likely to pick up a copy. 

[edpatino 1,959]

Asmall comparison current Metar at LPMA Madeira METAR: LPMA 030230Z 26011KT 230V300 9000 BKN013 FEW016CB 19/12 Q1002 RERA

http://en.allmetsat.com/metar-taf/africa.php?icao=LPMA

 

default real weather xp11

image ru

 

x enviro real weather 

windows screen capture

 

Something under fire in that first shot?.

Cheers, Ed

[ricka47 611]

I really dislike those default clouds!

[strider1 575]

I really dislike those default clouds!

 

You and everybody else ! Thats why he is charging $70.

[Colonel X 1,428]

I really wanted to like this but looking at all those screenshots, for gods sake this looks like a big bag of ######. Those low resolution puffs from hell. Those comical sky colors. Awful.

[Murmur 3,941]

Personally, looking at the screenshots and the video, I find the general colors and atmopshere of xEnviro extremely well done and realistic (at least in most of the situations, nothing is 100% perfect). It is in other cases (default or not) that frankly I see comical sky colors...

 

Also the clouds, overall, for me are some of the better I've seen in X-Plane, at least from a distance. Apparently, they can be less nice when up-close though (from a video I've seen).

 

I guess every one of us has a subjective assessment of what is realistic or not, I'm just surprised other people find this "awful".

 

And yes, I think it's overpriced too.

[Guest jlindbe]

I'm going to wait for more reviews, but I don't think it's overpriced. Maybe not worth the price at initial release but how is it different from the following.

 

SMP+RWC ~ $60 (without a weather engine)

AS16 + ASCA ~ $65 (depends on exchange rate)

[be77solo 125]

I'm going to wait for more reviews, but I don't think it's overpriced. Maybe not worth the price at initial release but how is it different from the following.

 

SMP+RWC ~ $60 (without a weather engine)

AS16 + ASCA ~ $65 (depends on exchange rate)

 

AS16 + ASCA isn't even in the same conversation though; it's a significantly more complete package (granted, on another sim).  It allows custom weather, historical weather, more texture themes than you could ever use, not to mention works and looks fantastic.

 

xEnviro on the other hand is a much less developed, much less attractive, much less capable package that is simply needed so badly because of how horrible X-Plane does it by default.  Sure, it crushes the default clouds, but still pales in comparison to other platforms weather engine depictions.  Maybe just a shortcoming of XP, we shall see.

 

Am curious how SMPv4 looks though when released for comparison. 

[charleslee201 19]

Me and  a lot of others would of bought it  at 30$ even 40$ but a $70 we  wait and  see.... . and that been said it pays more to sale  a lot  then a few ...

[scotchegg 4,158]

So far I recognise that xEnviro is still a work in progress, the clouds are a lot less volumetric than I thought and the low resolution make them look pretty poor when up close.

 

Having said they look amazing from a few hundred feets' distance (especially flying over overcast or towards / away from banks) and the atmospherics, particularly sky colours at dawn / dusk are so well done.

 

Yes, it has its problems, but it reflects what I see out of the windows on flights so much more accurately than default or SMP 3.3, so I'm happy with the purchase and look forward to the future development. And also look forward to what SMP4 can answer with...

[pilot83 387]

Its always good to wait for all offerings such as SMPV4 and compare all aspects (draw distance, coverage, metar, textures...) but x enviro though bit pricey and the textures are not HD but have lot of potentials, out of the box has very good cloud coverage and realistic draw distances and surely will get better, and i already asked them to give us the option to control the haze which comes by default in xp11 and the glare, they said will add a slider in v 1.1 to adjust the depth cutoff and with regards to high resolution textures and shapes, they said "this will be changed. Not dramatically changed but mostly reworked as we advance towards v2.0. This is highly depends on some factors the most important of them - your performance reports. Please keep in mind that we have to constantly fight with x-plane for every single frame sometimes sacrificing the possible beauties of the modern shader capabilities."
I asked them to give us options of HD and low res and more shapes and we could choose depending on our systems.
The addon out of the box might look pricey relatively to what offers but surely got potential to improve, and surely better then default.

[Guest]

This will be changed. Not dramatically changed but mostly reworked as we advance towards v2.0.

Seriously... If they had said 'as we advance towards v1.2 or v1.3 I might have thought 'Ok, let's see where this goes'. But NOW ALREADY they are talking about v2...? While v1 has been released a few days ago? Seriously? And only REWORKED?

 

I hope I understand them wrong but I think I see dollar signs in their eyes. 70 is too much already and then this... I mainly want nicer clouds so I will wait for SMP4.