Any intel on a potential new Active Sky (AS18) ?

[ErichB 3,642]

If I remember correctly AS16 was released about mid-year in 2016 and it seems to me that this year might be the battle of the weather engines. 

REX is presumably releasing Weather Force /Air Force/ Wind Force/Rain Force (I'm still confused) weather engine soon to replace the new Sky Force weather engine (which isn't the real weather engine).    Jokes aside..

Presumably HiFi will be releasing a new (AS18)?    Does anyone have any scoop?

 

 

[AFL581 6]

Hifi keeps the program curent and TBH it fits my P3D very well, does the job without the feeling of it being a nuclear powerplant operation.
If I recall correctly they updated it for P3DV4.
What would you like to see/have that you do not have now ?

Cheers

[ErichB 3,642]

16 minutes ago, AFL581 said:

What would you like to see/have that you do not have now ?

Fair question.  Short answer is 'nothing', but that doesn't mean that their innovation stops.  .

[MarkW 1,491]

I don't know that much but one thing I do know is that HiFi are the masters of repackaging their weather program and releasing an new version every 2 years.  Now admittedly they have made many incremental improvements over the years to get to where we are today but surely we have reached the point of diminishing returns.

[Nyxx 6,993]

An interesting question Erich.

Where do we go from here? AS weather engine is as i think we can all agree the best we have currently. 

When I try SF with the built in weather engine that comes with it, I see a new level of cloud depiction. When used with AS it's not as good.

So for me we sort of have a problem, AS weather engine is one thing, bringing a new level of sky depiction is another.

AS+SF is still a compromise. 

If SF had its own AS weather engine then it would be heaven! If AS had SF depiction again heaven. But that's how I see things at currently. Sadly HiFi is best at weather engines and imo REX SF have just bought us a new level in cloud depiction.

We could do with them both combining their strengths.

 

[Bobsk8 12,681]

I was going to check my crystal ball, but unfortunately it is in the shop for an annual. 

[ErichB 3,642]

 

1 hour ago, Bobsk8 said:

I was going to check my crystal ball, but unfortunately it is in the shop for an annual. 

Did the guy at the shop try selling you the CB2018 edition?   I bet you told him where to stick his balls.

 

[iFlySimX 751]

Does P3DV4's new SDK have new features that AS could use? Maybe? 

[FlyBaby 659]

3 hours ago, MarkW said:

I don't know that much but one thing I do know is that HiFi are the masters of repackaging their weather program and releasing an new version every 2 years.  Now admittedly they have made many incremental improvements over the years to get to where we are today but surely we have reached the point of diminishing returns.

I think we will see more of the same for the next few years while shelling out more dollars for 5% improvements at a time. To me, any “major” change will have to come from LM by overhauling the core sim.

I feel the same way about Orbx and other ground scenery Devs. I don’t believe that things will get much better without LM changing the core.

Here we are in 2018, paying top dollar for addons that are limited (including performance) by the core sim itself.

I like my ASP4+ASCA….and I won’t spend any more money on sky enhancements unless something truly revolutionary comes along….I just don’t see that happening from any of the 3rd party DEVS at this point.

[BlueStar 323]

I would like to see an improved weather radar depiction.  A lot of times what is shown visually is not accurately depicted on the aircraft weather radar.  If possible I would like to see an interface where real world weather radar is accurately reflected in AS and the aircraft radar.  

The red "dots" need some work.  

blaustern

[HighTowers 1,434]

I am waiting for the state of the art WX engines in about 8 years time.  Active Sky Professional 3D 2026. Wx engines will command outside drones equipped with sensors and cameras and survey the airport and relay back to the servers in order to be compiled and presented in the sim.  Drones will have complete aircraft avoidance technology  and fly up to 45k to have a vertical data as well. You will need to deice your aircraft else ask for big trouble. Dont even think about flying thru a T-storm, else you will crash rendering your sim useless with a 1 month reprimand. 

Should be VR in 8k by then complete with compact motion effects on your body.  

[Nighthwk 566]

I’d like to see the radar be able to pick up returns greater than 80nm, but maybe that’ll come in an update to ASP4 rather than a whole new engine.

[vgbaron 3,612]

One thing I'd like to see is the ability to search for specific historical weather in an area.

We have current historical weather - we select date/time and metar's are retrieved. We also can search for specific weather on currently selected date - actual or historical.

I want to select a flight plan from KMIA to KJFK. I want to search the weather for a date/time when there were Tstorms in KMIA and low vis and snow at KJFK. I think that would be a good addition to the historical weather.

Vic

[RALF9636 1,951]

2 hours ago, vgbaron said:

One thing I'd like to see is the ability to search for specific historical weather in an area.

We have current historical weather - we select date/time and metar's are retrieved. We also can search for specific weather on currently selected date - actual or historical.

I want to select a flight plan from KMIA to KJFK. I want to search the weather for a date/time when there were Tstorms in KMIA and low vis and snow at KJFK. I think that would be a good addition to the historical weather.

Vic

+1

[Bruce Nicholson KMFR 20]

I think the next big step for activeSky is releasing a version for X-Plane. I haven't used that platform, but watching videos on YouTube reminds me of the early days in flight sim before ActiveSky was developed. The ActiveSky P3D platform is very mature at this stage.

I agree that a method for searching for historical weather in a location would be a good enhancement. The radio echoes are way overstated compared to real world echoes.

One thing I'd like to see that doesn't exist is visibility averaging between reporting stations within a certain radius. Currently AS places a visibility zone around a station. As soon as you travel outside the zone, it's clear, then  20 miles later the visibility lowers again at the next station. It seems the visibility should be consistent the entire way, just as the temperature and winds are averaged between stations. When stations are hundreds of miles apart, it's not reasonable to average over that distance, but the closer stations should be averaged.

The altitude of thunderstorm tops are limited in AS. What really kills the reality for me in all sim weather products is the repeating grid pattern of clouds. Maybe it's a limitation of the SDK, but even SkyForce has a repetitive pattern to it's clouds. Stratus exists to a grid boundary, and then there is a line along the grid boundary where it stops. ????  If a developer can get past that hurdle, it's a step toward more realistic clouds, not just by using better textures.

I am confident Damian and crew with come out with improvements and maybe something more. They have a track record of consistent improvements and surprising new developments.