xEnviro 1.10 in Beta

[strider1 575]

3 hours ago, Paraffin said:

FYI, SkyMaxx Pro has had moving clouds (and moving cloud shadows) for a long time. This is not unique to xEnviro.

Again, SkyMaxx Pro has had volumetric clouds for a while now. This isn't new or unique. 

I'm not trying to push SkyMaxx here; it's one of several add-ons I've purchased including xEnviro and ActiveSky, and I'm actually not using it right now. Just ActiveSky and default clouds, while I test the ActiveSky features. But sometimes the hype is over the top for xEnviro, when others have been doing similar features for years.

Personally, even though I bought it, I can't live with xEnviro's real weather only design with minimal adjustment. I fly light GA planes and helicopters in parts of the world with severe weather. I need enough manual control to back down the winds, and occasionally raise the cloud deck, or I can't fly at all. Not all of us fly tubeliners that can (mostly) ignore the weather. Also, I do most of my flying in the FSEconomy game, where I can't just choose to fly somewhere with better weather because I "own" two aircraft that are locked down to specific parts of the world. 

Regarding the new snow effect in xEnviro, if they add "historical weather" then this might solve the issue of choosing it when you want it. That still won't work for me, because I'm looking for "what's out there right now," with some adjustment so I can still fly. ActiveSky does that, along with some other nice additions like more realistic turbulence (when it's working) that I like for immersion when flying. 

I will still take a look at xEnviro's new update when it comes out (since I bought it), but I'm not keeping my hopes up for enough adjustment. The devs have posted in the past that manual adjustment will never happen, due to their server-side modeling.

I used to be a big fan of SkyMaxx but with each new update, they have gotten more billboard looking! The last update was horrible looking! Its sad when the default clouds look better than the payware! 

[Adrian123 1,015]

14 minutes ago, strider1 said:

I used to be a big fan of SkyMaxx but with each new update, they have gotten more billboard looking! The last update was horrible looking! Its sad when the default clouds look better than the payware! 

I'm not seeing that. Looks fantastic to me. The only complaint I have about SM is certain clouds FPS impact but seems, they all have that issue with XP.

[Paraffin 2,197]

1 hour ago, france89 said:

What do you mean with Skymaxx Pro having volumetric clouds? That clouds can appear volumetric by having layers of textures and billboards?
When looking at the clouds on Skymaxx Pro and x-Enviro 1.10, what differences do you see and what do you think made them so?

Well, let's start with the claims on the SkyMaxx Pro sales page:

Quote

"truly 3D clouds. VR compatible too!"
"3D volumetric cloud layers adjustable up to 320KM wide"

 

So either the clouds are 3D and "volumetric," or they're guilty of false advertising. 🙂 I think there is a clue in VR compatibility, because that's where 2D billboard clouds vs. full 3D clouds is so easily seen.

I don't have VR so I can't test that. However, In terms of what I see on my 2D monitor when I fly the sim with SkyMaxx Pro running, I don't see billboards, except maybe in the more distant clouds that may be 2D for the sake of efficiency.

When I actually fly in and out of a cumulus cloud puff, it looks like a 3D object to me. I don't get the sense that it's stacked 2D layers at close range to do that. If it is, then it's doing a good job of masking the effect. And at that point, I don't really care how they do it, as long as it looks like a 3D cloud as I fly through it. It's down to semantics at that point.

And again, I'm not really promoting SkyMaxx Pro here over anything else. But we need to be clear about what each different add-on has to offer, as well as the weak areas. SkyMaxx Pro has some problems looking realistic up in the flight levels, for one thing. I mainly fly at low altitude where I like how it renders clouds in mountain valleys. But the default XP cloud rendering is good enough now, that I haven't bothered to re-enable SkyMaxx Pro lately. I'm just using default XP clouds with ActiveSky now, and waiting to see what ActiveSky brings out later in the year with their own (extra cost) cloud depiction add-on.

I'm basically keeping my eye on everything, and will buy any likely candidate for improving the weather in X-Plane. Then choose whatever works best for the way I fly. 

Edited January 18, 2019 by Paraffin

[bgpearce01 36]

1 hour ago, Paraffin said:

Well, let's start with the claims on the SkyMaxx Pro sales page:

So either the clouds are 3D and "volumetric," or they're guilty of false advertising. 🙂 I think there is a clue in VR compatibility, because that's where 2D billboard clouds vs. full 3D clouds is so easily seen.

I don't have VR so I can't test that. However, In terms of what I see on my 2D monitor when I fly the sim with SkyMaxx Pro running, I don't see billboards, except maybe in the more distant clouds that may be 2D for the sake of efficiency.

When I actually fly in and out of a cumulus cloud puff, it looks like a 3D object to me. I don't get the sense that it's stacked 2D layers at close range to do that. If it is, then it's doing a good job of masking the effect. And at that point, I don't really care how they do it, as long as it looks like a 3D cloud as I fly through it. It's down to semantics at that point.

And again, I'm not really promoting SkyMaxx Pro here over anything else. But we need to be clear about what each different add-on has to offer, as well as the weak areas. SkyMaxx Pro has some problems looking realistic up in the flight levels, for one thing. I mainly fly at low altitude where I like how it renders clouds in mountain valleys. But the default XP cloud rendering is good enough now, that I haven't bothered to re-enable SkyMaxx Pro lately. I'm just using default XP clouds with ActiveSky now, and waiting to see what ActiveSky brings out later in the year with their own (extra cost) cloud depiction add-on.

I'm basically keeping my eye on everything, and will buy any likely candidate for improving the weather in X-Plane. Then choose whatever works best for the way I fly. 

It would be hard to describe the difference. But the effect will actually be neat. Skymax has to use textures to create clouds. You don't actually fly through them but around them. The noise based rendering is more like particles and you fly into them. Volumetric just means three dimensional. Xenviro is completely different from traditional flight simulator tricks. Just saying...

[Pilot53 544]

If anyone is complaining about the wait, I don't think they fully grasp the magnitude of what XE is trying to achieve here, especially given the enormous limitations xplane has put on them.  I'm disappointed its taken so long too, and i am even more disappointed that 1.1 wont support VR as I won't fly without VR.  But I am most disappointed in LR's unwillingness to give us even basic weather improvements like snow for goodness sake, it's ridiculous.  How can you have a flight simulator without weather.  I hope XE is a massive success and that they release the VR compatible version soon after, I can't stomach XP without it.  

[FlyBaby 659]

6 hours ago, Paraffin said:

See, I have this old-fashioned idea, that when one pays for a product like I've done with xEnviro, one has a right to discuss how one feels about it. And to mention the limitations that might help others considering it. Any new update for existing software has to be considered in the light of what has already been released, and how developers have responded in the past. 

 

If you feel that strong about it, then you can start a new thread every week to discuss your gripes with xEnvrio; or plug Skymaxx.

The problem is when a constructive conversation gets muddled with "grudge" posts that only serve to distract from the OP. You obviously have an agenda that is against xEnviro. 

Whatever 1.10 will be, it took a developer trying something new, taking a risk, and practically starting over from scratch to re-deliver a product that pushes the barrier. Would you happen to know anything about that type of determination?

 

Edited January 18, 2019 by FlyBaby

[JGregory 76]

1 hour ago, Pilot53 said:

But I am most disappointed in LR's unwillingness to give us even basic weather improvements like snow for goodness sake, it's ridiculous.

Could you provide any concrete documentation that shows LR has said they are "unwilling" to make the weather improvements as you claim?

[Adrian123 1,015]

1 hour ago, JGregory said:

Could you provide any concrete documentation that shows LR has said they are "unwilling" to make the weather improvements as you claim?

20 yrs?

[Colonel X 1,430]

I just learned here that FSW is dead. Made my day.

[Paraffin 2,197]

4 hours ago, FlyBaby said:

If you feel that strong about it, then you can start a new thread every week to discuss your gripes with xEnvrio; or plug Skymaxx.

I'm not plugging SkyMaxx. I've gone out of my way to say that, and to also say that I'm not currently using it after buying it. That's hardly an endorsement.

Quote

 

The problem is when a constructive conversation gets muddled with "grudge" posts that only serve to distract from the OP. You obviously have an agenda that is against xEnviro. 

 

Wrong. I have an opinion about xEnviro, as someone who paid for the program, and it's not meeting my needs. That's not an "agenda." It's an opinion of someone who bought the add-on.

You may have noticed that others here are also voicing their opinions about it, pro and con. That's how these forums work, unless you only want to see positive opinions?

Quote

Whatever 1.10 will be, it took a developer trying something new, taking a risk, and practically starting over from scratch to re-deliver a product that pushes the barrier. Would you happen to know anything about that type of determination?

Sure, I see it all around me with various developers trying to approach improvements with add-ons in different ways.

I've also seen it in real life, in the businesses that I've run, which you know nothing about. So let's drop the ad-hominem in this discussion okay? And let's talk about these products and how they do or don't fit our individual needs in a flight sim.

[JGregory 76]

23 hours ago, Adrian123 said:

20 yrs?

Nice try, but prioritization is a different matter than being "unwilling"

[GCNorth 7]

@JGregory "Unwilling" to change priorities?

[Adrian123 1,015]

1 hour ago, JGregory said:

Nice try, but prioritization is a different matter than being "unwilling"

22 years?

[JGregory 76]

1 hour ago, GCNorth said:

@JGregory "Unwilling" to change priorities?

That's not what Pilot53 said.

[JGregory 76]

1 hour ago, Adrian123 said:

22 years?

Still not = "unwilling". 🙂

Edited January 20, 2019 by JGregory