Non realistic clouds in P3D V4.3

[waseemsz 0]

Hi Guys, I am using p3d v4.3. The clouds does not realistic for some reason. They look like fake hand drawn clouds instead of realistic clouds. I am using asp4 with rex soft clouds. Having the same issue with default clouds and without asp4. Is there any setting I need to change to make clouds more realistic. 

Thanks for your help.

 

 

Regards, 

[mpw8679 428]

I’m assuming by your screenshots u are not happy with the cloud textures at night.  Unfortunately lighting and textures leave a lot to be desired at night.  It is what it is.  Programs like PTA and Envshade will help.  Envshade is cheap and easy to setup.  

[SierraHotel 982]

You Sir, have amazing eyesight! I couldn't even see the aircraft, let alone the clouds. 😜

[ErichB 3,643]

Always a bad idea to try and present any general visual problem with night shots - unless it is a night specific problem.

[anden145 2,285]

Indeed!

I can see there's clouds - but honestly I can't see, from your images, what exactly you're unhappy about?!

[Rocky_53 1,579]

Can someone please pass me a flashlight! 😂

[WarpD 824]

Looks like the volumetric fog to me.

[DaveCT2003 1,820]

Everyone has their own opinion when it comes to weather and sky textures.  I have every texture (freeware and payware), PTA, etc..  The very best weather and sky textures I've ever seen were back with REX Essentials and in my opion nothing REX has released since is as good as they were.  After experimenting rather heavily (including performance monitoring), I have settled on the combination of ASCA and Eventex/EvenShade, and I because of all the tech support I've had to do for numerous flight sim products on the development side I won't use PTA any more. 

Again, this is something that everyone and their brother is going to have an different opinion on.  The bottom line is what YOU think looks best on your system.

I wish you all the very best!

 

[Guest]

I must admit, I didn't really understand this post, so I can't really offer any suggestions.  Looks like you're flying thru fog so no idea what you mean by "hand draw clouds"?  

IMHO, the best looking clouds are 1024 texture or lower (512 texture size works very well for me) ... I've noticed that 2048 and 4096 texture quality clouds do indeed seem to be hand drawn as the higher resolution cloud "edges" tend to be too "edgy" where real clouds are much softer.

Either way, there are MANY 3rd party products that provide cloud textures and various shader products that will help provide more depth to the clouds and some will even resize the clouds based on where you're flying.  As far as "weather" there is nothing that beats P3D V4.x once you get your 3rd party cloud settings/options and shaders all sorted.  P3D weather is one of the biggest reasons why I don't fly other platforms as much (especially now that xEnviro isn't working with XP11) ... it's by far the most realistic.

Cheers, Rob.

[jimcarrel 688]

There must be fog, because no stars. For those who cant see and need a flashlight, it is because of difference in monitor settings. For me the third from top is the  telling photo. Fog. At the very least it is heavily overcast. As someone mentioned, daytime shots are better for troubleshooting clouds. Night-time presents different problems.  

[Adamski_NZ 952]

I hate to say this ... but ...

P3D has the worst cloud rendering code of any of the more recent sims. It's so bad that no amount of putting lipstick on it - regardless of what add-on you use - will hide the fact that basic maths is all wrong. I could add that water rendering is just as bad.

I've used all the utilities produced by AS and REX - and have spent countless hours tweaking, with PTA, ReShade and (lately) Tomato-Shade. Occasionally, I get the odd realistic/attractive set of clouds - but, more often than not, I get some cheesy effect that destroys all immersion. I honestly think it was better in FS2004 and FEX (Flight Environment X).

IMHO, LM have done nothing to address these issues apart from minor tweaks that haven't touched the underlying coding. Whether this will change with a possible implementation of PBR lighting, who knows?

You only have to look at the lighting in XP11 (and AFS2) to see that *it can be done*.

Adam.

[GSalden 4,657]

P3Dv4 :

That is what I see looking out my cockpit...

Edited November 17, 2018 by GSalden

[SAS443 1,723]

Sorry Gerard. Your pics is only confirming what Adamski_NZ wrote. Clouds look like cartoon painting and do not reflect the sunlight properly at all. This is a handicap we all experience and I am dying to get rid of this as everybody else is.

[GSalden 4,657]

24 minutes ago, SAS443 said:

Sorry Gerard. Your pics is only confirming what Adamski_NZ wrote. Clouds look like cartoon painting and do not reflect the sunlight properly at all. This is a handicap we all experience and I am dying to get rid of this as everybody else is.

From close-up they look very realistic.

You can’t expect 4096 per cloud and have 100+ clouds around you with a high framerate.

Btw : my clouds are 512 and overcast even 256...

Using 4096 makes it look better but at a cost of fps. So I am very satisfied with it..

Surely, better looking + no fps loss ; count me in on that 🤗

Edited November 17, 2018 by GSalden

[Guest]

24 minutes ago, GSalden said:

Using 4096 makes it look better

I tend to disagree. I myself use 512 clouds too (though SkyForce) and imho they look better than any 4096 cloud. I don't think real world clouds are 4096: they are all 512. 😉 4096 only makes clouds look more fake.

But anyway, SAS433 wasn't talking about 4096 clouds looking better: he said the clouds (like in your screenshots) look cartoonish and don't reflect the sunlight properly: this has nothing to do with the resolution but with the rendering code, as Adam posted. Using 4096 won't solve that problem. Nothing will. Only a new rendering code will.

Edited November 17, 2018 by Guest