I'm waiting first to see what SMP4 brings. From q8pilot's video, it looks like it has some issues, but the biggest for me is that it can't use another weather engine and it doesn't respect the weather settings in X-Plane. I'm sure once SMP4 comes out, we'll see some decent comparison reviews.

 

Other than that, it's pretty awesome that we now have choice and competition is really good for us consumers 

They should really allow us to use at least the NOAA-plugin, since their simulated upper winds are completely wrong, as i saw after 3 flights (!). Or they should fix them. They refuse to admit they are wrong although it's easy to check (and compare on skyvector or other sources for upper winds like PFPX)

I don't understand all the complaining. Nobody has to buy the product, right? And from the videos I have seen so far, it already looks much better than Skymaxx Pro which is a nice toy for screenshots but doesn't display weather that comes anywhere close to reality. I'm really on the fence of buying X-Enviro. The only thing that is holding me back is the hefty price tag...

 

Here is another video on X-Enviro where the sky looks absolutely realistic.

That's the type of weather depiction that I prefer along with some TCBs with the option to use higher resolution clouds. It looks like AS16.

 

I really hope SMP v4 can accomplish this type of depiction.

 

 

They should really allow us to use at least the NOAA-plugin, since their simulated upper winds are completely wrong, as i saw after 3 flights (!).

 

Confirm. Windspeed and direction are off. Cloud shadows not working, too on my side. Sometimes plugin stopps updating weather information completely, you have to turn it manually off/on to make it work again.

 

Like the overall look, though. To be honest, Xenviro has great potential but is imho not worth 70$ atm. It's more like a beta or even alpha version right now.

I don't understand all the complaining. Nobody has to buy the product, right? And from the videos I have seen so far, it already looks much better than Skymaxx Pro which is a nice toy for screenshots but doesn't display weather that comes anywhere close to reality. I'm really on the fence of buying X-Enviro. The only thing that is holding me back is the hefty price tag...

 

Here is another video on X-Enviro where the sky looks absolutely realistic.

Funny how you never see in this video that they fly into the clouds then wou will see why it is not worth 70 dollars. 2D sprites following you around and pancake clouds. This addon is okay for 30/ 40 dollars but not more than that, well in my opinion anyway

Confirm. Windspeed and direction are off. Cloud shadows not working, too on my side. Sometimes plugin stopps updating weather information completely, you have to turn it manually off/on to make it work again.

 

Like the overall look, though. To be honest, Xenviro has great potential but is imho not worth 70$ atm. It's more like a beta or even alpha version right now.

I was just with their support on facebook and they said the shadow fix road map is today or tomorrrow in v1.1

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/xenviro/permalink/655965574577840/?comment_id=655971967910534¬if_t=group_comment¬if_id=1480851819243238

Funny how you never see in this video that they fly into the clouds then wou will see why it is not worth 70 dollars. 2D sprites following you around and pancake clouds. This addon is okay for 30/ 40 dollars but not more than that, well in my opinion anyway

you have a valid point, and only criticism will make it better and better. Untill now they seem responsive to many critiques...its only the first release i think only time will tell if this product will get better and show if the developer is serious.

Funny how you never see in this video that they fly into the clouds then wou will see why it is not worth 70 dollars. 2D sprites following you around and pancake clouds. This addon is okay for 30/ 40 dollars but not more than that, well in my opinion anyway

So... no 3D clouds...? SMP does have 3D clouds? And cloud shadows?

Funny how you never see in this video that they fly into the clouds then wou will see why it is not worth 70 dollars.

 

Not true. In the following video (it's a timelapse video) you can see how the plane climbs through clouds and at the end descends through overcast. Looks quite convincing to me.

 

https://youtu.be/5XDDcze_1wg

Not true. In the following video (it's a timelapse video) you can see how the plane climbs through clouds and at the end descends through overcast. Looks quite convincing to me. https://youtu.be/5XDDcze_1wg

Yeah, that video looks great! Unfortunately, I got confirmation that cloud shadows don't work right now. There is a slider for them in the UI, but shadows won't show up in the sim. That's a show stopper for me...

Yeah, that video looks great! Unfortunately, I got confirmation that cloud shadows don't work right now. There is a slider for them in the UI, but shadows won't show up in the sim. That's a show stopper for me...

Michael, i spoke to the developer just now about this the fix its coming in v1.1 today or tomorrow but i recommend you wait until the main issues are fixed.

Michael, i spoke to the developer just now about this the fix its coming in v1.1 today or tomorrow but i recommend you wait until the main issues are fixed.

Thanks a lot for letting me know, buddy!

It's a suprise that none of the "review" videos I've watched so far, mentioned that topic at all. Well, than again, it's something I really find extremely important for an immersive sim experience. ;-)

I'll stay tuned. Actually can't wait to give it a try and make my 1st impressions video...

X-Enviro seems in many ways about clever trickery which only looks good from a distance. I agree in some cases it looks stunning (from a distance) like the video above showing NYC at dusk but watch the following video near the start at 1:41 where you see this weird 2d sprite effect where the clouds are literally billboards that follow you around and rotate to face your direction. I was seriously considering buying it until I saw this. 

 

Thanks a lot for letting me know, buddy!

It's a suprise that none of the "review" videos I've watched so far, mentioned that topic at all. Well, than again, it's something I really find extremely important for an immersive sim experience. ;-)

I'll stay tuned. Actually can't wait to give it a try and make my 1st impressions video...

As per the developer's comment to my post on this issue: "sometimes shadows were missed and our customers reported it, well fix it in in the next update." which is v1.1 today or tomorrow hopefully

X-Enviro seems in many ways about clever trickery which only looks good from a distance. I agree in some cases it looks stunning (from a distance) like the video above showing NYC at dusk but watch the following video near the start at 1:41 where you see this weird 2d sprite effect where the clouds are literally billboards that follow you around and rotate to face your direction. I was seriously considering buying it until I saw this. 

 

Obviously many issues needs to be fixed but this is the first time we have a complete weather engine/cloud generator combo for x plane. I see this as a step forward in weather in the world of x plane. And i will upgrade SMPv3 to v4, it has nice HD 3d clouds pretty good for VFR, lets see how it will look on IFR flights, hope its better then V3. 

 

 

i spoke to the developer just now about this the fix its coming in v1.1 today or tomorrow

 

Hm, I don't think he said 1.1 will be here today or tomorrow... He said they will fix it in 1.1 but the ROAD MAP will be released today or tomorrow. So don't wait for 1.1 just yet: today or tomorrow they will tell us what there plans are.

Hm, I don't think he said 1.1 will be here today or tomorrow... He said they will fix it in 1.1 but the ROAD MAP will be released today or tomorrow. So don't wait for 1.1 just yet: today or tomorrow they will tell us what there plans are.

Oops! Thanks Jeroen, i missed this...

Okay, so I'll wait for the road map before I'll buy