Hello all,Been looking at FSX and i see some Good points and bad points.the main thing i want to see is Dark Sky at FL370.With FS9 and all the others the Sky just stays the same.a nice Dark Sky with a Small Curv in the Sky at FL370 would give me a big Smile. or if you go to FL50 it's verry dark as if you was on the Edge of the sky.RegardsSpeedbird1216

"...the main thing i want to see is Dark Sky at FL370.With FS9 and all the others the Sky just stays the same."Speedbird,The sky in FS 2004 currently does get darker as you climb in altitude. I have attached an image showing the change from on the tarmac at KBFI all the way up to 37,000 feet.There's no curvature, and it doesn't get black at high altitude (unless you edit any of the sky textures yourself, which is easy to do), but we did implement this change in FS 2004.Cheers,Jason

>"...the main thing i want to see is Dark Sky at FL370.>With FS9 and all the others the Sky just stays the same.">>Speedbird,>>The sky in FS 2004 currently does get darker as you>climb in altitude. I have attached an image showing the change>from on the tarmac at KBFI all the way up to 37,000 feet.>>There's no curvature, and it doesn't get black at high>altitude (unless you edit any of the sky textures yourself,>which is easy to do), but we did implement this change in FS>2004.>>Cheers,>>Jason>PSThat's a default installation of FS 2004-- nothing different than what's on the shelves now.Cheers,Jason

Hi Jason,It would be very nice if you guys could fix the hard horizon where the sky texture meets the ground.Below is an example of this in FS2004http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/141173.jpgThomas

Yes, that is the single most annoying thing while cruising :D

I still think the old Flight Unlimited III does the best sky simulation. It's not even textures, it's all calculated. You can change the colours, curvature etc. by editing a cfg file. The sky gets almost black at very high altitudes, it changes colour based on visibility etc. etc. Hopefully FSX will take care of this.

>I still think the old Flight Unlimited III does the best sky>simulation. It's not even textures, it's all calculated. You>can change the colours, curvature etc. by editing a cfg file.>The sky gets almost black at very high altitudes, it changes>colour based on visibility etc. etc. Hopefully FSX will take>care of this.The sky "textures' FS 2004 uses aren't true textures. They're sort of a cross between a look up table and a texture. Instead of editing a CFG, you edit the bitmap-- and you have control of lighting, haze visibility, etc. Not to mention it's possible to use the bitmaps to fake aerial perspective. The colors in the bitmaps aren't static. Yo have a wide variety of choice to edit different times of day, and the engine gradually shifts between those times.With ten sets of colors you can fly for over a week, and see something different everyday of that week. As for darkening of the sky, you can make the sky darker at highe altitudes by adjusting any one of the textures.cheers,Jason

Jason,First I would like to thank you guys at MS for giving us some insight into the new FSX and for particiapting on the AVSIM forum!I would also like to add my voice to the above post regarding the hard horizon line. Sometimes with the correct weather situation, the haze effect is fantastic. Then at other times weather / time combination you get that ugly effect noted above.Are there any plans to help address this?Thanks,Glenn

Hi,I tried slewing to 60,000 ft then to 99,999 ft and I noticed a huge difference in sky colour. The sky definitely gets darker at altitudes above 50,000 ft, although it's not as pronounced as it is in other sims. Whether that's realistic or not I cannot say.James

"Are there any plans to help address this?"If the hard horizon line is an issue, you may be interested in my small package called "soft horizons" here in the Avsim Library. I created the package using the types of edits mentioned by the MS team members, and I feel it makes an incredible difference to the horizon.-John

>Hi,>>I tried slewing to 60,000 ft then to 99,999 ft and I noticed a>huge difference in sky colour. The sky definitely gets darker>at altitudes above 50,000 ft, although it's not as pronounced>as it is in other sims. Whether that's realistic or not I>cannot say.>>JamesHmm- we need the u-2 driver to answer that question (or perhaps the SR-71 pilot)...anyone?

>Hmm- we need the u-2 driver to answer that question (or>perhaps the SR-71 pilot)...anyone?I have an illustrated book on SR-71 and they say "SR-71 is as black as the sky it flies in". Whether it can be taken literally I don't know byt it sounds like the sky up there is definitely a lot darker.Michael J.http://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/pmdg_744F.jpghttp://sales.hifisim.com/pub-download/asv6-banner-beta.jpg

>http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/141173.jpg>>ThomasThis is one of the reasons why I have skipped FS9. The "double-horizon" looks peculiar, and takes away from the realism :(

From what I've heard in military pilot interviews the most pronounced darkening doesn't start to happen until you get higher than most commercial jets fly--50,000+ feet. Since most FS users fly below that we decided not to exagerate the color.

I don't understand what you mean. That hard horizon was WORSE in earlier versions iirc. Or at least no better.Rhett