The Sky is the Limit

[pmb 5,137]

5 minutes ago, FlightSimDimm said:

I was really hoping that Prepar3d would include this in their next release....

https://simul.co/main/truesky/

After running FSW occasionally, I am not sure I would like LM to include this. Promotion images are nice, of course. However, terrain in FSW looks snow-covered seen through clouds even in Summer, and the clouds are boiling and wafting quickly and unnaterally.

I am not in a position to judge if this is the fault of Simul or Dovetail, but I know I don't like it. Even the default Prepar3d sky and clouds look better overall.

Others may disagree of course.

Kind regards, Michael

[FlyBaby 659]

16 minutes ago, FlightSimDimm said:

I was really hoping that Prepar3d would include this in their next release....

https://simul.co/main/truesky/

 

This relates to my original point. I don't think that there is much more that a 3rd Party Dev can do to enhance P3D weather.

I think that any major "weather" update will have to come from LM themselves by overhauling the core sim.

[MatthewS 761]

1 hour ago, FlyBaby said:

However, if SF3D took 3 years to develop, then I wonder what more can really be done by any 3rd party Dev to “radically” transform P3D’s sky in the near future.

I very much doubt they spent 3 "man years" worth of effort on development, so it's quite likely HiFi could release ASP5 later this year which leapfrogs whatever it is that REX have done.

[HUSSAR 262]

2 hours ago, pmb said:

After running FSW occasionally, I am not sure I would like LM to include this. Promotion images are nice, of course. However, terrain in FSW looks snow-covered seen through clouds even in Summer, and the clouds are boiling and wafting quickly and unnaterally.

I am not in a position to judge if this is the fault of Simul or Dovetail, but I know I don't like it. Even the default Prepar3d sky and clouds look better overall.

Others may disagree of course.

Kind regards, Michael

Same here Michael, I have tried FSW a few times and have enjoyed it.  However, the immersion that TrueSky provides isn't as breathtaking as I had hoped, the core of the sim does look great though.

[FlightSimmer68 9]

Perhaps HiFi are prioritising AS for X-Plane.

[Blaze 102]

I don't remember much pre-release hype about Envtex in fact I think the first time I saw it on Simmarket I said to myself, "who are these guys?" and what a pleasant surprise it turned out to be! I'm not concerned in the least, and now that we have a 64bit platform I think this will be the year of much/many improvements!

[kingm56 1,023]

4 hours ago, FlyBaby said:

With the recent release of SF3D and no announced major updates from HiFi. I don’t think we have anything else coming up in 2018 for weather / cloud advances in P3D.

I currently run ASP4 / ASCA, but I do have Rex TD & SC as well as Rex’s older Essentials.

This is not a debate over which combo is the best; that opinion will differ and we have been there / done that here many times. They “all look pretty good” to me along with their own set of limitations (like performance).

However, if SF3D took 3 years to develop, then I wonder what more can really be done by any 3rd party Dev to “radically” transform P3D’s sky in the near future.

My concern is that “nothing” more can be done with P3D regarding the weather while maintaining good performance (30 fps for me). I think we have hit a plateau with respect to sky enhancements for P3D.

FlyBaby, I assume you're not familiar with HiFi's business model, which is vastly different than their competitors.  For the last decade, HiFi has released a new weather engine about every 2.5 years.  In the last 8 years alone, we've gotten ASE, AS2012, ASN and AS2016.  These products were not announced until they were within weeks of release; to that point, there were no exaggerated claims or hyperbole advertisement announcing their development.  Instead, we got a black and white list of the software capabilities and an opportunity to test it for 7 days before purchasing.   My Point?  HiFi's silence doesn't equate to much...it's simply how they've operated for the last decade.  While I'm at it, I'd like to thank them for how they operate, which to me is as important as the quality of the products you release.  In short, I doubt HiFi doesn't have something planned for the next year....

[simaddict 46]

4 hours ago, pmb said:

After running FSW occasionally, I am not sure I would like LM to include this. Promotion images are nice, of course. However, terrain in FSW looks snow-covered seen through clouds even in Summer, and the clouds are boiling and wafting quickly and unnaterally.

I am not in a position to judge if this is the fault of Simul or Dovetail, but I know I don't like it. Even the default Prepar3d sky and clouds look better overall.

Others may disagree of course.

Kind regards, Michael

Spot on, Michael!! I can't believe more people haven't commented on this! Didn't DTG FSW have any other choices? The default FSX clouds are an upgrade compared to "True Sky".

Michael.  

[B777ER 2,484]

6 hours ago, vgbaron said:

stay tuned............

 

 

 

Vic

You cheeky b...... 😉

[vgbaron 3,496]

1 hour ago, B777ER said:

You cheeky b...... 😉

  we all know that most good stuff comes through Avsim first. This is a new year and I fully expect our dev's to start showering us with all sorts of goodies down the pike.

Vic

[Alexx Pilot 23]

It seems like REX guys are working on a new Weather Engine from the ''Force'' series...Weather Force, isn't that?

[Rimshot 1,134]

17 hours ago, pmb said:

After running FSW occasionally, I am not sure I would like LM to include this. Promotion images are nice, of course. However, terrain in FSW looks snow-covered seen through clouds even in Summer, and the clouds are boiling and wafting quickly and unnaterally.

I am not in a position to judge if this is the fault of Simul or Dovetail, but I know I don't like it. Even the default Prepar3d sky and clouds look better overall.

Others may disagree of course.

Kind regards, Michael

That is ofcourse a first time implementation of Truesky in a sim that is still in early access. Personally I think this combo has huge potential. But yes, for now it can look very bad.

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, Alexx Pilot said:

It seems like REX guys are working on a new Weather Engine from the ''Force'' series...Weather Force, isn't that?

Correct. However, they've been working on SkyForce for something like 2.5 years and their 'revolutionary' SimAir has been announced in 2011 or so already and STILL isn't finished (the site is still online so I suppose they are still working on it...?) so I wouldn't hold your breath for Weather Force.

[FlyBaby 659]

22 hours ago, pmb said:

After running FSW occasionally, I am not sure I would like LM to include this. Promotion images are nice, of course. However, terrain in FSW looks snow-covered seen through clouds even in Summer, and the clouds are boiling and wafting quickly and unnaterally.

I am not in a position to judge if this is the fault of Simul or Dovetail, but I know I don't like it. Even the default Prepar3d sky and clouds look better overall.

Others may disagree of course.

Kind regards, Michael

As someone already stated, that sim is still in early access and future updates should address the current issues.

I think that LM will need to take a similar approach (be it partnering or developing something in-house) to transform P3D at the core level to make major advances in weather / sky / clouds while maintaining good performance.

 

[bean_sprout 1,201]

To be honest, even if I had the perfect Wx engine - I wouldn't use it.  The reason is that I dislike real world Wx so much.  I prefer to use Themes and especially the ORBX ones and tweak them to my liking.

Cheers
bs