Of course, and I have to say that most of the time when I'm flying, XEnviro looks very good. But it doesn't take much to break immersion when something goes wrong.

 

This shot of repeating cloud bitmaps is actually a minor flaw. It took me a few seconds to realize why it looked so wonky. I can live with that. It's the strange ground layers of rain with nothing above, and the sudden snap changes in weather that are more disturbing.

Not to mention the inevitable crash during a weather data update if you fly long enough.

Wow!

 

If that is true about snap weather changes it puts me off investing in this software...I do hope that they can get this to work as ASN does with gradual transitions

 

X plane needs a good weather engine...let's hope they can crack it..

 

 

Cheers

Wow!

 

If that is true about snap weather changes it puts me off investing in this software...I do hope that they can get this to work as ASN does with gradual transitions

 

X plane needs a good weather engine...let's hope they can crack it..

 

 

Cheers

I must be fortunate...I've done lots of long-distance flights and have not had wx-related crashes or sudden snap changes to weather.  But then I'm flying tubeliners that don't linger in one spot very long!

There is plenty of good with xenviro.. but here is one example of "bad".. the fog layer.. (this is with 1.04 at least, which i use for VR, since 1.06 has issues in VR, with all settings to the "full" or recommended levels)

 

With default "real" weather looks more like this

I must be fortunate...I've done lots of long-distance flights and have not had wx-related crashes or sudden snap changes to weather.  But then I'm flying tubeliners that don't linger in one spot very long!

 

In a tubeliner you're also above most weather systems that can cause sudden changes in visibility, if the weather plugin isn't interpolating smoothly. 

 

Maybe aircraft speed and location also tends to smooth out the transitions, when you're moving through more frequent METAR station reports. Flying at low speed (140-200 kts) in a fairly remote area like northwestern Canada like I've been doing lately, METAR stations are few and far between. Maybe if the plugin has been sitting on one set of METAR data for a long time before it's updated, it just throws up its hands, and jams in the new weather if it's too different from the last report.

 

I'm not sure that's the explanation though, because a tubeliner on a trans-oceanic crossing should also be getting very infrequent weather updates. Although maybe flying that high masks the effect of a sudden change. One cloud deck looks like another at FL350.

Not to mention the inevitable crash during a weather data update if you fly long enough.

 

This is what I'm hoping will be addressed and fixed, as it's quite frustrating to be an hour or two into a flight and then BAM a crash to desktop out of the blue because of a weather update issue.

 

Honestly, if I'm doing anything more than local flights I disable Xenviro now until this is fixed.  There are some days it's every single flight it happens.

 

Any who, a ticket has been submitted a week or two ago, hopefully the next version has some sort of fix.

There is plenty of good with xenviro.. but here is one example of "bad".. the fog layer.. (this is with 1.04 at least, which i use for VR, since 1.06 has issues in VR, with all settings to the "full" or recommended levels)

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah, that's one I've been getting a lot. And it's not just a fog layer. It looks the same from above the layer when it's raining or snowing down there. Which is extra weird, when I climb above that sharp demarcation line and there are no clouds above it to be causing rain.

Here's another thing that's bothering me right now with XEnviro 1.06, aside from sudden weather changes and some weirdness with rain layers. It's cloud bitmaps that repeat too often. You'd think that with 2D bitmaps taking up very little room in RAM, they could use a few more separate images so you don't get repeats like this. 

 

For example, this doesn't look very realistic to me to begin with, but look at the repeats:

 

 

In case it isn't obvious (and I think it is), here are two of the repeating shapes outlined. There are at least two more repeating bitmaps I didn't outline and aren't as obvious:

 

 

To be fair, SkyMaxx Pro v4 sometimes shows obvious repeating cloud shapes, but it's not as glaring as this. The general appearance of clouds doesn't have this hard-edged, pasted-on look, and clouds move with the wind.

 

I'm not bailing out of XEnviro yet, but it's hard not to notice this kind of thing. I know they're working on better cloud appearance, so let's hope they can get a few more cloud shapes in the inventory as well.

 

Seeing the same repeats for that type cloud often as well in much different areas, but overall when combined with more layers doesn't look as bad; it's still the best looking overall option without a doubt.  But, when you only have one choice for a proper weather engine, is that really a choice ha?  I look forward to future updates.

 

Outside of xEnviro the best clouds I have seen are with ASN running on FSX-SE (I have AS16 but only for P3D). The clouds (not fog) took a nose dive in P3D compared to FSX, and can look like a real dog's breakfast even with ActiveSky.

Wanted to share a screen shot of what continues to be an issue at least with my system..

 

Airport KAGC, metar: METAR: KAGC 280305Z 24012KT 7SM -SN BKN022 BKN039 OVC048 M02/M06 A2977 RMK AO2 P0000 T10171061  Basically solid cloud cover and 7 mile visibility with light snow in the area..

 

Here is how xenviro shows it (clearly visibility an issue, fog an issue.. just like in my one previous post with the lower alt. fog layer)..

 

Now check out my Clouds Gold 1.4 (minus the shader file) mod with the "murmur" lua script for xp11.. (much more realistic depiction too and you dont get those ugly default clouds)

 

Oh and for kicks since someone mentioned ASN.. here is asn shot (p3d) just to show you that Xplane actually does a better job at this with the gold 1.4 package anyway..

Wanted to share a screen shot of what continues to be an issue at least with my system..

 

Airport KAGC, metar: METAR: KAGC 280305Z 24012KT 7SM -SN BKN022 BKN039 OVC048 M02/M06 A2977 RMK AO2 P0000 T10171061  Basically solid cloud cover and 7 mile visibility with light snow in the area..

 

Here is how xenviro shows it (clearly visibility an issue, fog an issue.. just like in my one previous post with the lower alt. fog layer)..

 

Now check out my Clouds Gold 1.4 (minus the shader file) mod with the "murmur" lua script for xp11.. (much more realistic depiction too and you dont get those ugly default clouds)

 

Oh and for kicks since someone mentioned ASN.. here is asn shot (p3d) just to show you that Xplane actually does a better job at this with the gold 1.4 package anyway..

 

Curious to see if there is any difference in the depiction on XP10.

Andrey from XEnviro posted this a while ago. It looks fantastic!

 

His quote from the facebook picture.  Hmm, but if they manage to compress and optimize this it will be very good.

 

 

rendering of just one frame of this cloud requires around 40 minutes

There was a recent post by the XEnviro developer over on the .org forum (in their commercial sub-forum), responding to the many requests for custom weather settings. It appears that we won't ever be getting that feature, due to the way the program parses weather on the server side and then sends it in a compressed form to the plugin.

 

I still don't understand why client-side settings that alter the weather can work -- like setting minimum vis or percentage of windspeed --  and not have those expanded to full custom settings. But the developer seemed adamant about it. We're not getting custom weather.

 

This will definitely influence whether I keep using the plugin going forward, or switch back to SkyMaxx Pro. I'll wait to see what's coming in the next patch, but I don't like being constantly tied to real weather in the areas I fly, and the types of planes I fly. Hitting the CAVOK button isn't a substitute for slightly raising or lowering a cloud deck to make the runway. I want realistic weather immersion with adjustment where needed, not a magic button that clears the sky completely. So I'm still not sure what I'll end up with in the long run for a weather plugin. 

 

P.S. In that .org thread ("xEnviro update coming"), it was also mentioned that they're going to push the GPU a little harder in the 1.07 update, with Nvidia 900 series as the new low end target. It will be interesting to see how that pans out. At least there is another option for users with lower-spec GPUs with SkyMaxx Pro, which is pretty easy on the frame rate. 

 

 

In that .org thread ("xEnviro update coming"), it was also mentioned that they're going to push the GPU a little harder in the 1.07 update, with Nvidia 900 series as the new low end target. It will be interesting to see how that pans out. At least there is another option for users with lower-spec GPUs with SkyMaxx Pro, which is pretty easy on the frame rate.

That's an unfortunate development. Already rolling back most settings in xEnviro and XP11 to maintain reasonable performance. :-(

This will definitely influence whether I keep using the plugin going forward, or switch back to SkyMaxx Pro. I'll wait to see what's coming in the next patch, but I don't like being constantly tied to real weather in the areas I fly, and the types of planes I fly. Hitting the CAVOK button isn't a substitute for slightly raising or lowering a cloud deck to make the runway. I want realistic weather immersion with adjustment where needed, not a magic button that clears the sky completely. So I'm still not sure what I'll end up with in the long run for a weather plugin. 

 

This is where I think a nice middle ground could be the historical weather option. Then if you want a certain type of weather likelihood, just set the date and time appropriately. Of course it depends on the location you fly in as well (some areas are just prone to IFR conditions) but it would definitely give a LOT more flexibility then just realtime only.