I am using AS4.5 for quite some time now but despite all the tweaking I just cannot get rid of those terrible visibility changes, especially annoying when on on approach, etc. From what I could gather around the various sites/forums the latest version ASV is basically the same program, so I am not sure whether to upgrade or not. I certainly don't need another sets of cloud/sky textures running Flight environment and BEV. I am just after natural looking smooth visibility changes.How does Weathermaker handle viz changes/viz smoothing? How do the two programs compare in that regard?Roland

The only time I have ever seen this is when flying `free` without having loaded the flightplan into AS. The program doesn't know where you are flying next, so globalises the changes and as you cross a weather threshold you see a dramatic or sudden change rather than a smooth transition. Unless the REAL weather also has a sudden and dramatic change - did you check the METAR?I certainly haven't seen it in the AS6, but IIRC the new version of Flight Environment will feature it's own weather engine. Allcott

Upgrading Active Sky wouldn't hurt anyway 'cause the developers made the product even better: new version, new features, improved functionality ;-)I have both but use them for different reasons (offline real weather: ASv6, random weather: WM).Cannot answer your question, though, maybe it's an FS limitation or so...Andreas

I haven't had problems with visibility since I bought ASV. Infact, I was extremely impressed when it simmulated some of the strange waether patterns we get in the Spokane area. I flew through a fog bank, and popped back out, and not only did I see clear visibility on the other side, but in looking behind me, I saw the fog bank and not clear sky like I would have seen with FS's default weather. I have to say, I was impressed. Visibility smoothing is more noticable in slow light GA aircraft than in jets. Ofcourse in reality, you often find yourself popping into poor visibility quickly anyway. It's the lack of visuals to know where this poor visibility is that is the problem. AS seems to do a good job of using clouds to build up fog areas so you can see the banks and know that you'll be in fog.Weather Maker has a demo, but I'm not aware of an ASv6 demo.----------------------------------------------------------------John MorganReal World: KGEG, UND Aerospace Spokane Satillite, Private ASEL 141.2 hrs, 314 landings, 46 inst. apprs.Virtual: MSFS 2004"There is a feeling about an airport that no other piece of ground can have. No matter what the name of the country on whose land it lies, an airport is a place you can see and touch that leads to a reality that can only be thought and felt." - The Bridge Across Forever: A Love Story by Richard Bach

I just did a short hop in the Aeroworx King Air from KFLL to KEYW using an FSnavigator generated flight plan, Radar Contact and AS4.5's online weather. Climbing out of Fort Lauderdale I've experienced haze on/haze off conditions at different altitutudes and the same happened on the descent into Key West. The actual appraoch was fine though.Could my AS settings be wrong then?Roland

Why not upgrade to AS6? It's free.

yeah, but only for users of ASV and not AS4.5.Roland

Hi Roland,Speaking from my own experience, I'm like you in that I've never been able to get Activesky to work right no matter what the version. Something always goes wrong, be it visibility problems, overcast clouds not working right, temperatures aloft, winds aloft, not accurate ect. Activesky seems to promise a lot, just doesn't deliver. I found it too frustrating to continually try to work out the kinks and switched to Weathermaker.I love it!It performs as advertised and seems so much more stable and reliable than Activesky has even been for me. I just wished I'd tried it sooner.Just my .02 cents from personal experience.

Interesting thread. How is WeatherMaker compared to default FS9 weather?

Hi All,I will not try to influence anyone's choice one way or the other, but I must comment on this visibility issue.In the time that FS04 has been released, this is the number #1 situation that NOBODY has been able to TOTALLY fix. The man-hours we have spent alone on this would blow your mind! And yet the problem still remains; when the visibility jumps from less than 10 to greater than 10 it is not a smooth transition, and the reverse is true as well. I am pretty sure there have been MS blogs on this also.There are ways to adjust for this. If using AS you can limit the maximum visibility to 29 and this makes the jump a little less noticeable.Also, if you own a registered version of FSUIPC you can experiment with the visibility settings.Finally, we cannot wait to see if FSX will adjust this situation for the better. Only time will tell!Edit: Rico, I don't recall any e-mails or posts from you. Did you contact us about your situations? Just asking! Hope this helps,Jimhttp://www.hifisim.comhttp://sales.hifisim.com/pub-download/asv6...development.jpg http://sales.hifisim.com/pub-download/asv6-banner-proud.jpg

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HI Edam,I have both, they do a pretty good job, I use WMP for offline function, AS6 are better for online weather with much more feature and controls, ASV6 is excellent with stunning graphics.For the visibility, it's limited to Fs2004, ASV6 reduce alot the issue with some setting, it's hard to fix it always at 100%Both are good for differents task.BestPaul

Roland,Are you using the registered version of FSUIPC? As Jim says, it lets you control the visibility rate of change.I'm using the registered version of FSUIPC and I have my visibility set to change 10% every 5 seconds. That enables a 50% haze to change to clear unlimited skies over 25 seconds. I can increase or decrease the change to my preference. With my setting, I see a very gradual increase in visibility and it's not so sudden as to seem fake.I've noticed that many of the problems people are reporting with the weather can be solved by combining an add-on weather program with the registered version of FSUIPC. Those extra controls that are enabled with the registered version of FSUIPC really makes the difference.For example, before ASV implemented Direct Wind Control (DWC), I was using FSUPIC to control the wind. There was nothing I could do about the rotating wind vectors, but at least I was able to temper them to a very slow rotation rate of 1 degree every 2 seconds. While some people were complaining about falling out of the sky from instantaneous wind shear, I was flying along for a full 6 minutes before a headwind turned into a tailwind - no problem with the autopilot dealing with that rate of change!Bruce

Thanks for the response, Paul. WeatherMaker sounds like it might be something fun to play around with.

Bruce,Many thanks!I am using a registered FSUIPC version and am fiddling around with it's visibility settings for ages. However til now I have never tried to experiment with it's visibility rate of change settings. Sounds interesting and makes sense. Will try that out and see. Fingers crossed.Roland

Probably should have mentioned I have ASv6 already. Hehe. I was just trying to convey that I haven't seen any visibility issues since I bough ASV.----------------------------------------------------------------John MorganReal World: KGEG, UND Aerospace Spokane Satillite, Private ASEL 141.2 hrs, 314 landings, 46 inst. apprs.Virtual: MSFS 2004"There is a feeling about an airport that no other piece of ground can have. No matter what the name of the country on whose land it lies, an airport is a place you can see and touch that leads to a reality that can only be thought and felt." - The Bridge Across Forever: A Love Story by Richard Bach