I can't agree with the volume statement. The very simple illusion falls flat as soon as you get anywhere close to the clouds. I'm pretty disappointed so far.

 

 

 

The extremely low resolution isn't helping.

 

 

Guess we all have different expectations. Coming from years of X-Plane's default weather or costly weather combinations, running into hundreds of dollars in total, that still couldn't render distant clouds, still didn't look up to par, also had low-res qualities and generally just fall incredibly short of basic expectations. Then I'm ecstatic to see an addon that is actually able to not only do away with weather update and tile refreshes, but also render distant weather. Also the reason why I got on the beta team recently. Not to mention, this is their very first release, their very first product and it's still far superior, in my opinion, to all the other solutions we've had so far, both in terms of overall look but also the technical side.

 

Having towering demands and expectations from X-Plane's weather, given the current underlying code / SDK limitations, probably means you'll never be satisfied. That's not to say there isn't room for critique, nor that none of it is warranted. Just saying, support the developers actually making progress on the platform by helping them out, provide constructive criticism and not expect the world constantly, out of the gate. That has killed the passion and spirit of more than one team in the past. 

 

Same thing with SMP4, I'll buy it, use it, provide feedback despite having xEnviro. I genuinely find it important to support the developers who are actively engaged in the platforms we use. 

What I would like to know is do any of these third party weather generators help with performance.

 

The default clouds in 11 just bring my system to a stutter fest. Using a 970 4gb card not powerful but no slouch.

 

Many thanks

 

Mark

The concept of the plugin is good but there is some remarks which hopefully will be adressed:
1st thing i noticed was the atmosphere has changed: color of sky, haze reduced, more light, thats a nice feature and this is not texture change i beleive, it is done by changing atmospheric values of the original sky texture.
From far this type of clouds formation as in the image looks ok but approaching them i expected them to be more HD still acceptable though, but hope to see HD textures. I need to check other type of cloud formation too...this is not a full review just trying to describe what i see











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climbing altitude clouds look better in this weather, good coverage

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Yeah, I guess clouds in P3D with REX have nowhere near the volume of those clouds in XP 11.

 

This was in P3D before I really knew what I was doing with the cloud settings.

 

the weather at boston i can hear birds
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Still i hear birdies and as you can see the environmental ambiance , sky color, light , haze reduced, the overall ambiance fits the weather.

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interesting i can see the sun, i could not before in xp11 beta 

 

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the weather at boston i can hear birds

 

 

Cool shots quick question - when I turn on xEnviro I am loosing my shadows - what video driver version are you using ? thank you

climbing altitude clouds look better in this weather, good coverage

 

Thanks for posting the shots. Screenshots and videos from those who took the plunge are really the only helpful information to decide whether this is worth it or not. And to be honest, I actually don't understand some of the criticism. All the pictures and videos I have seen so far look pretty amazing and a million times better than anything that was available so far for X-Plane. And isn't that alone a reason to be excited given that weather has always been a weak spot of X-Plane?

can you see the clouds in the horizon being rendered!

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Cool shots quick question - when I turn on xEnviro I am loosing my shadows - what video driver version are you using ? thank you

Thanks Rich, i still have my shadows but in settings i have draw shadows on scenery disabled, which leaves only 3d shadows on aircraft on...im using GE gorce GTX 1070 8GB OC Strix gaming

Thanks for posting the shots. Screenshots and videos from those who took the plunge are really the only helpful information to decide whether this is worth it or not. And to be honest, I actually don't understand some of the criticism. All the pictures and videos I have seen so far look pretty amazing and a million times better than anything that was available so far for X-Plane. And isn't that alone a reason to be excited given that weather has always been a weak spot of X-Plane?

my advise is not to judge immediately this weather plugin, test it in many weather environments/scenarios, it has good potential. The lighti, haze scatering is happening automatically which is changing the ambient light and affecting sky colors depending on weather...thats a nice feature, and the clouds looks fine but some of them maybe needs to be revised by the developer...still other cloud formation needs to be tested , but with all the limitation of the weather in xplane, i think this add on has some potential regardless the negative things we are discovering together...we still need to test more... 

W O W !! Not an X-Planer (Yet!) but some of the screen shots look amazingly realistic! Once I sort out a new GPU I'll definitely give this combo a go.

can you see the clouds in the horizon being rendered!

 

Thank you but I had those off - hence my question on your driver version ? also do you have any special nvidia control panel settings - turned off optimized thread but does nothing either way - also vsync doesnt see mto do anything in xp menu

NYC weather Metar is showing below from web (not sure if web accurate)http://en.allmetsat.com/metar-taf/pennsylvania-new-york.php?icao=KJFK ,
maybe visibility settings need to be checked with the developer..., the cloud heights seems ok
 

Scattered clouds at a height of 4800 ft
Scattered clouds at a height of 6000 ft
Scattered clouds at a height of 9000 ft

Visibility: 16.1 km

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Thank you but I had those off - hence my question on your driver version ? also do you have any special nvidia control panel settings - turned off optimized thread but does nothing either way - also vsync doesnt see mto do anything in xp menu

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Thank you all for your precious info and shots.

 

I haven't made my mind yet, but it sure looks promising.

 

There's nonetheless, a remark I would like to make, comming from some years of Active Sky experience in FSX ( mainly as a beta tester for HiFiTech ).

 

The way cloud layers are depicted in a flight simulator that uses ** only ** METAR for it's input is very limitative and can cause a "huge" deception the first time one uses it at airfields where a relatively low sector altitude is used. LPPT has 5000' sector alttude, so, any water meteors above that altitude will simply be absent from depiction. Same applies at most cities all around Europe, and some other parts of the World where similar "limitations" apply.

 

Weather injectors like those by HiFiTech take other very important information into account. I at the Portuguese MetOffice have, otoh, access to the latest weather forecast and nowcast products ( by ECMWF and Meteo-France ) I I would love to see them available for simulation... anyway, even through access to some of the older / more basic versions of these professional weather products, HiFiTech has been able to "do miracles" with it's weather, not being limited by only METAR strings in as far as it goes.

 

I wonder if X-Enviro uses / plans to use such a similar approach ?

LOWI Metar from web METAR: LOWI 030920Z 25006KT 9999 FEW030 M02/M04 Q1022 NOSIG

 

Few clouds at a height of 3000 ft

Visibility 10 km or more

 

seems matching in xp11 + x enviro

 

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Is out and I can't wait to try it! 

Not trying to be negative, but XP 11 has just been released ($60) and already a $70 addon to replace the default environment? So XP 11 "out of the box" is not adequate? Hmmmm, I'm I missing something here?

LOWI departure

 

 

 

 

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LOWI higher altitude

 

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