Best Weather Generator

[CVEP 13]

Default is pretty good now

[jaydor 233]

Take a look at the screen shots via the link using Ultra Weather XP @$35 in the .org store:

Also Xenviro:

[Guest Mik75]

I have them all and used them extensively in XP10, and a bit in XP11. Default is all I use in XP11 right now. I loved xEnviro in XP10. But things have dramatically improved in XP11. But I‘ll have an eye on the future development of xEnviro for sure. 

[Colonel X 1,430]

Enviro needs to step up their game. Deliver on the promised features. It's been a while.

For now, default with better puffs is the way to go - especially considering VR performance, the clouds in 11.10 are basically SUPER fast. Plus you get the sensation of flying through real puffs, not some texture.

[Cellinsky 15]

I use FSGRW with XP 11.11 and the results with default clouds are ok-ish.  More diversity than the default weather and very fast.  It does however changes instantly too. I think this is a XP thing and will eventually change for the better when Vulcan and the new particle effects show up. At laest I hope so. Unless that happens I dont think that any weather injector can overcome the issue.

[CFIJose 5,485]

On 12/17/2017 at 6:05 AM, kneighbour said:

This has been one of my very small issues with XP as well. xEnviro does NOT fix the problem either, although I have to say it is fairly good. But certainly not realistic in that you can be flying along next to clouds and then you are in instant whiteout. You also get clouds materialising like magic in front of you. But if you can overlook this issue, xEnviro really does generate a very good and fairly realistic weather system. Some of the cloud formations are just stunning. And much better than SMP (IMO).

Mind you, if this was my only problem with XP 11, I would count myself thrice blessed.

Thanks for your input and for saving me $70.

[CFIJose 5,485]

5 hours ago, Colonel X said:

Enviro needs to step up their game. Deliver on the promised features. It's been a while.

For now, default with better puffs is the way to go - especially considering VR performance, the clouds in 11.10 are basically SUPER fast. Plus you get the sensation of flying through real puffs, not some texture.

I've tested some nice LUAs and clouds. What better puffs are you referring to?

Is there a tweak that  can use to delay the injection of weather in XP 11? Maybe this could stop the sudden visibility or cloud changes.

[Paraffin 2,197]

I've used NOAA + default, and I've bought XEnviro and SkyMaxx Pro +TWC.

It turns out I can't use XEnviro because it only shows current real weather injection with no (or not enough) manual control. In the light GA and helicopters I fly in the sim, and in the parts of the world I like to fly in, I'd be grounded too many times with real weather. 

So I've been sticking with SkyMaxx Pro + TWC for now. For me, it has the best rendition of low level clouds filling mountain valleys, and I do a lot of mountain flying. SkyMaxx isn't popular with people flying airliners because the high altitude coverage is either too small or framerate-killing, but I never fly up there in the sim so it doesn't bother me. The TWC add-on (which really should be an integral part of SkyMaxx) does reasonably smooth transitions between METARs. At least I don't remember any sudden jumps recently. And I saw plenty of those with XEnviro or default weather.

Another reason I'm sticking with SkyMaxx, at least for a while, is the pending release of the TerraMaxx add-on -- winter scenery textures -- from the same developer. I'm hoping there is some integration between that product and what SkyMaxx is showing for weather. It would be a missed opportunity if it wasn't linked, but we'll see.

One thing I've learned about weather add-ons for XP is that, regardless of one's real-world flying experience, there is a huge difference in preferences among the sim community. Not just the low-level GA vs. airliner split, but even things like aesthetics of cloud shapes, colors of sunsets, etc. You basically have to just try everything out there, and see what you like best. As well as what fits your type of flying. 

P.S. I'll also repeat my yearly rant -- we need some fundamental changes from Laminar to get any major increase in realism, and not just different ways to paint pretty clouds. We need a full 3D system that supports vertical convection and discrete weather systems, so we can have realistic CBs. Thunderstorms don't actually exist in X-Plane except as distant 2D billboards, or a simplistic horizontal wind/rain component in the sim. And what is a weather system without thunderstorms?

[Colonel X 1,430]

1 hour ago, DJJose said:

I've tested some nice LUAs and clouds. What better puffs are you referring to?

Is there a tweak that  can use to delay the injection of weather in XP 11? Maybe this could stop the sudden visibility or cloud changes.

These here. 5-8 are really good. https://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/files/file/37834-hd-unique-clouds-variety-pack-payware/

[deetee 164]

Been using FSGRW for the last few flights with default or improved clouds. A fan of xEnviro too, just waiting for the promised updates. Really liking what FSGRW is doing though, so might stick with it for the time being. Also the FF A320 rain effects work better than with xEnviro. 

[CarlosF 1,239]

The problem that I have with the default weather system is that it only depicts weather in a sort of a circle around the center of you airplane. Yes XE is not perfect but I really like the way it depicts weather, quite plausible.