Active Sky for XPX Released!

[regis9 4,014]

I have to say I’m loving flying with Active Sky in X-Plane...it’s the weather engine I’ve used for longer than i can remember in P3D, FSX (and maybe FS2004?).  Great job to the hifi team, I’m really looking forward to seeing where this goes next.

Two suggestions/thoughts:

- In AS for P3D we can get weather information for current location, arrival and departure airports from an in-sim menu.  Hopefully we’ll see that in ASXP as well, it’s quite a useful feature.

- would it be possible to have a shared location for the weather snapshot file between the P3D and X-Plane versions?  This way, regardless of which sim/Active Sky version I’m using, I can use the weather snapshot with PFPX, Pilot2ATC etc without having to change the location within those programs each time.

Dave

[Adrian123 1,015]

30 minutes ago, regis9 said:

In AS for P3D we can get weather information for current location, arrival and departure airports from an in-sim menu.  Hopefully we’ll see that in ASXP as well, it’s quite a useful feature.

I di miss the 'In Sim" capability. Window.

[Paraffin 2,197]

Finally had time to buy it this evening. I have to say the purchase and authorization process was the most convoluted I've ever seen for an X-Plane product. I understand the need to verify accounts with a remote server, but this just seemed unnecessarily busy with too many clicks and repeated menus, including one that said I had already authorized and should I shut down the previous one. Just not very well designed for balancing the new user experience with needed security.

Maybe FSX/P3D users are used to this, but it's a lot of extra purchase drama for people familiar with X-Plane. I'll try to get some flying time later this evening, reading the manual now.

Edit to add: It did handle without any problems my X-Plane install on a non-system D drive, as well as setting up the main program on the D drive /program files, which is a good thing.

Edited December 13, 2018 by Paraffin

[Adrian123 1,015]

17 minutes ago, Paraffin said:

Finally had time to buy it this evening. I have to say the purchase and authorization process was the most convoluted I've ever seen for an X-Plane product. I understand the need to verify accounts with a remote server, but this just seemed unnecessarily busy with too many clicks and repeated menus, including one that said I had already authorized and should I shut down the previous one. Just not very well designed for balancing the new user experience with needed security.

Maybe FSX/P3D users are used to this, but it's a lot of extra purchase drama for people familiar with X-Plane. I'll try to get some flying time later this evening, reading the manual now.

Edit to add: It did handle without any problems my X-Plane install on a non-system D drive, as well as setting up the main program on the D drive /program files, which is a good thing.

With today's hacking and security, better get use to it!

[Paraffin 2,197]

56 minutes ago, Adrian123 said:

With today's hacking and security, better get use to it!

Believe me, I'm aware of the issues there. I'm not an IT professional, but I used to own an Internet business where that was a consideration. I'm not arguing against security and protection of intellectual property. That's important for any Net-based business to survive.

I'm saying the AS purchase and authorization routine is more Byzantine and has more steps than is needed. I don't have to go through that much when authorizing Adobe Photoshop! It has too many steps, compared to what others are doing and still managing to maintain their IP. Much of it seems to be predicated on buyers who have already purchased their products before, which adds layers for those who are dealing with the company for the first time. That's not a good design.

This is just my personal opinion, and anyone interested in this should still buy it and step through the process because we need more XP weather options. I'm looking forward to exploring the plugin now that I have it authorized.

[Dirk98 354]

5 hours ago, Paraffin said:

Yeah, I got that notice about the new SkyMaxx Pro version and FSGRW integration with RWC. 

In addition, I noticed in some posts over at the .org that it seems you can use AS as the weather injector along with SkyMaxx Pro as the cloud generator (???)

Did I read it right somewhere you could use UWXP as cloud/sky colour generator with ASXP as well?

Thanks.

 

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

Since I've been stumbling along with FSGRW and SMP, I'm going to wait and see what xEnviro brings. Thanks to everyone else for testing and posting their experiences with ASXP, though.

[ricka47 611]

51 minutes ago, jabloomf1230 said:

Since I've been stumbling along with FSGRW and SMP, I'm going to wait and see what xEnviro brings. Thanks to everyone else for testing and posting their experiences with ASXP, though.

I'm waiting as well.  If I hadn't already invested in xEnviro, I'd be getting this right away as I've used it in FSX/P3D for many years.

[Dirk98 354]

I had used both UWXP/XP (+FSGRW) and xEnviro (v1.09) and I did try ASXP first time yesterday. All I can say it's kinda like feeling home after MSFS/P3D, i.e. the best interface in the industry so to say )).  It does a very good job smoothing out all wind-related serious inconsitencies or the above 3 wx software. You do feel flying in the atmosphere both when there are no winds or when there's strong turbulence, or even when there's a significant crosswind. I still have to try ASXP with UWXP to go beyond the stock clouds and sky visuals.  xEnviro will be definitely onhold till v1.10. But honestly I don't expect much from it in the wind department, particularly knowing what HiFi Simulations is capable of.   

Edited December 13, 2018 by Dirk98

[BobFS88 635]

On 12/11/2018 at 11:57 AM, jt8d9a said:

Will it be also sold at the Org? I´d prefer to buy from the Org.

Could anybody describe how it works on a networked PC?

jt8d9a

With the limited time I had with it, I was able to install on the my network pc and it work like charm.

The installation process was smooth where it will ask you to locate your X plane installation that would me on from you network drive relative to the network client machine your installing on. Then install all ASXP connect files into the X plane 11 plugin folder. With Active Sky running you start up X plane and then you will see the connection. No need for any other utility like XPWideClient for it to work.

The only thing I have to figure out is to get the AS Wx Web companion to work on the machine where X Plane install. It install on my network client side with Active sky. I will  it need for ipad inside the aircraft for the zebo and ffA320.  When I get some time I will have to work through that issue.

Performance wise it works great as expected. I get radar information and even WT3 traffic when I turn it on. But this is with 11.26.

Bob

 

 

[jt8d9a 1,881]

Many thanks, Bob! Good to know. So i wait for the release at the Org.

[Senchai 24]

If youve got any question feel free to let me know. I saw there are are quite some misunderstandings how ASXP works and what it does.

Streams the first days before release does NOT show the latest product too and sadly i have to say that some of them did not read the manual. There is stated how one has to configure XP11 to use it in one of the 2 weather modes of ASXP and this is very important for correct function of ASXP.

Im in no way affiliated with HifiSim besides beeing a tester, usually im a mainly P3D user and i can say one thing: This ASXP does finally make me feel home (i think someone else said the same here already). Of course it wont offer P3D weather but it is a very good step in this direction. And please take into account that Hifi is new in the XP world. AS4/AS16 did not start as the product it is today too. Also one has to keep in mind that also in P3D one does NOT get a visual replacement of clouds. That is ASCA. A standalone product.

I have XP now for quite a while too, collected over 4 or 5 TB of ortho and bought nearly every weather addon there was out there. Still i always had the feeling that every flight looks same. Same clouds, same greyness, same everything. Or in case of another famous addon, introducing visual bugs that are not bearable.

FINALLY we (at least me) got the first step into this direction where this changes. 

13 hours ago, Dirk98 said:

Did I read it right somewhere you could use UWXP as cloud/sky colour generator with ASXP as well?

Thanks.

 

You can use nearly everything in regards to visual enhacments, besides xenviro. You may feel free to use it with xVisions clouds too. Or only install a xvision preset but decheck the clouds  (example xvision ImpressiveForLUA preset). Or use it with standard clouds. Or with lua scripts that enhance clouds.

And yes, also with Ultimate Weather. Atm i think only xenviro is not compatible because it implemented a fully own weather system. 

Myself tested various addons during the testing phase, everything worked fine.

Atm im using (really) the original ASXP highres clouds though, they are actually really nice. Before that i used xvision clouds. And before that xenviro. And before that Ulra weather... and beafre that... and before that...

Some pics. What you see here is ASXP highres clouds, ASXP, + xVision ImpressiveForLUA preset (with de-checked clouds in settings).

 

 

 

Edited December 13, 2018 by Senchai

[Paraffin 2,197]

Well, fooey. I got it installed, but when booting it up I'm still seeing the warning that two versions are running and I should stop one. Okay, so did that.

Got the AS main screen and I glanced through the options, leaving most everything at default (I think I changed maximum winds). I entered the ICAO for the airport where I was going to launch XP and it pulled in that information. Then I booted up X-Plane and made sure to tell it to use the custom METAR, I clicked on that, and I got weather in X-Plane that looked like it was sync'ing to AS just fine. The weather at the airport matched what I saw outside my window (aiport is just a few miles away), so it passed that test. So far, so good.

I was just about to take off, when the AS app disappeared from the task bar, and the weather reverted to baseline XP weather. I quit XP, tried launching AS again, and it won't launch at all. The AS startup icon has also gone blank. I'll reboot the computer and try again. If that doesn't work, I guess I'll try to re-install (although fearing that authorization maze). This thing is looking a bit "delicate" on my system so far. 

Edited December 13, 2018 by Paraffin

[Senchai 24]

  @Paraffin🙂

I did run into this one personally too yes and its already reported. I hope it will be fixed soon. 

What you can do is go into your tasklist (ctrl + alt + del) and manually kill the process. Then ASXP will start up normally. What windows version you run onto? Im on 1809. You can find that by rightclicking the windows symbol left down your desktop and go to system. There its down at the bottom.

Can you also please report this to the supportforum? So its in the right place.

https://hifisimtech.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?7-Technical-Support

Edited December 13, 2018 by Senchai

[Paraffin 2,197]

24 minutes ago, Senchai said:

  @Paraffin🙂

I did run into this one personally too yes and its already reported. I hope it will be fixed soon. 

What you can do is go into your tasklist (ctrl + alt + del) and manually kill the process. Then ASXP will start up normally.

I did look at Task Manager and it didn't show anything from AS running.

However, re-starting Windows did clear it up. AS launched, and I was able to do a test flight. Seems okay now. More on that later. 

Quote

What windows version you run onto? Im on 1809.

1803 here (Win10 home, current update I think).

I should also mention that I'm running X-Plane 11.30b7, the current beta. I know that's not the "right" way to test a new plugin release, but I was curious about a first look, and didn't want to revert to the current official release if it would run. And it does appear to run okay now. Just did a couple flights and will report on that soon (with pics).