I'm on HF2 in v5. Just downloaded the active sky beta and tried it with default and EA.. the default clouds are just 'meh'.. EA cumulus clouds and overall lighting are awesome.. but there are those glitches which wont be fixed until 5.1.. so i have 3 paths in front of me.. which one should i take?

1. buy ASCA for better cloud depiction.. i like the in-cloud motion effect they advertise (if that indeed works) and the smooth weather transitions.. also well integrated into ASP3D

2. buy Rex SF3D (on sale now).. much better cloud depiction than ASCA.. but not officially supported by rex yet for v5.. lighting in ASCA and SF3D will not be as great as EA.. does SF do better than ASCA in lighting?

3. stick to EA.. great cumulus, but cirrus is not modeled well.. (actually none of the volumetric cloud engines model cirrus properly.. xenviro has same issue.. MSFS may be different.. ).. lighting is awesome in EA.. in-cloud motion effects aren't anything to write home about.. weather transitions are sudden.. 5.1 won't be ready until Oct and Active sky will take another month or two to integrate well with EA.. so we're looking at Dec '20 for a fully integrated AS+EA solution.. 

I'm estimating around 70-80 flights in the next 6 months on v5.. active sky is already the best weather engine.. but can you help me pick a good weather rendering engine? 

3

I would say path three. But if you want to go to the old weather system i would pick SkyForce as they have sales now AFAIK.

Will you be spending most of your time above 30,000 ft in a tubeliner, or more often be down below 5,000 ft among the clouds flying GA?

100% tubeliners (PMDG + QW)

1 minute ago, RobF2 said:

Will you be spending most of your time above 30,000 ft in a tubeliner, or more often be down below 5,000 ft among the clouds flying GA?

 

I would say it's between choices 1 & 2 if you fly mostly tubeliners.  I tried EA and it has potential but too many issues right now for me.  It does look really nice at certain times but I do not like the lack of WX depiction and sudden WX transitions.  I currently am using ASP4 and ASCA.  I had REX back on 4.5 but uninstalled it from my PC and may try that out again once it is compatible with V5.

I fly nothing but FSL/PMDG and for me even with the sudden WX transitions EA lighting is so much better I can put up with the faults for now.

Hopefully 5.1 will be all good with ASP3D/EA I find it hard to look at the old clouds even if  SF soft clouds comes in there v5 update I will stay with EA.

EA lighting imo is that good, i will not use any shader programs.

Edited July 9, 20205 yr by Nyxx

https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/577616-to-envtex-or-not-to-envtex/?do=findComment&comment=4262983

Maybe this discussion help´s about the options...

Edited July 9, 20205 yr by BerndB

8 minutes ago, Nyxx said:

I fly nothing but FSL/PMDG and for me even with the sudden WX transitions EA lighting is so much better I can put up with the faults for now.

Hopefully 5.1 will be all good with ASP3D/EA I find it hard to look at the old clouds even if  SF soft clouds comes in there v5 update I will stay with EA.

EA lighting imo is that good, i will not use any shader programs.

@Nyxx what are the main issues you see currently with EA? I saw some threads describing issues with 3rd party/PBR airports with fog and general cloud depiction issues...

19 minutes ago, Shomron said:

@Nyxx what are the main issues you see currently with EA? I saw some threads describing issues with 3rd party/PBR airports with fog and general cloud depiction issues...

the major issues with EA for the moment are:

1. no regional weather depiction. The actual weather arround your position is globaly and therefore no smooth changing of the athmospheric apearance while advancing the leg is possible by now.

2. AS can´t inject weather with their depiction "model" where in legacy mode the weather conditions between two staitions is computed by AS and though you have the feeling the weather changes slightly from area to area.

3. The cloud layering is unrealistic. When you are at FL380 it seems the clouds reach up to FL350 even if the clouds should have a top of 5000 ft. Because of this you can´t really "feel" the height unless you can´t see the terrain thru clouds 

Appart from this EA can´t be beaten in case of the most realistic appearance of the athmosphere, including the nightsky, the twilightzone, and all the athmospheric shading and scattering, indeed.

Edited July 9, 20205 yr by BerndB

EA will be the next dynamic vegetation. Sure, they'll give it another pass in 5.1, but I'm betting LM will never fully utilize its potential. 

17 minutes ago, BerndB said:

the major issues with EA for the moment are:

1. no regional weather depiction. The actual weather arround your position is globaly and therefore no smooth changing of the athmospheric apearance while advancing the leg is possible by now.

2. AS can´t inject weather with their depiction "model" where in legacy mode the weather conditions between two staitions is computed by AS and though you have the feeling the weather changes slightly from area to area.

3. The cloud layering is unrealistic. When you are at FL380 it seems the clouds reach up to FL350 even if the clouds should have a top of 5000 ft. Because of this you can´t really "feel" the height unless you can´t see the terrain thru clouds 

Appart from this EA can´t be beaten in case of the most realistic appearance of the athmosphere, including the nightsky, the twilightzone, and all the athmospheric shading and scattering, indeed.

to add to the above issues, these are what i faced:

4. airports and other objects sticking out of the fog (some layering issue)

5. the jaggies at the top of the screen

6. many objects in front of the clouds flicker around the edges

 

Buy ASCA on sale. With v5 you can have to different set ups. EA this flight next flight the old p3d look.What ever you feel like flying. One guy here use EA only after he is in the air. Then back to the old p3d look when he's back on the ground. Have funn! 

53 minutes ago, Chapstick said:

EA will be the next dynamic vegetation. Sure, they'll give it another pass in 5.1, but I'm betting LM will never fully utilize its potential. 

well, i guess, if the upcoming FS2020 comes arround only 80 % of what it´s promissing, LM has to use the potential, otherwise P3D will disapear into background. 

Edited July 9, 20205 yr by BerndB

1 hour ago, Shomron said:

@Nyxx what are the main issues you see currently with EA? I saw some threads describing issues with 3rd party/PBR airports with fog and general cloud depiction issues...

All of the above.

If i get the " jaggies at the top of the screen" i use another VC with CP and that sorts it, no big deal. 

Its plus's out way its negatives but it's a personal taste thing at the end of the day.