May 21, 20215 yr Hi, I love Enhanced Atmospherics in P3D v5 and do majority of my flights with it. However, in some cases it looks rather bad (mostly during late sunset/sunrise with lots of clouds and when there is snow precipitation), so I turn it off for my late sunset/sunrise and snowy winter flights. Given that I already have Active Sky P3D and ASCA, which one do you recommend to improve non-EA experience and why? Could you please post some screenshots of both? My main issues with non-EA are bad sky colors (the ones that come with ASCA), bad looking sun, moon and Milky Way textures. For sky colors I started to use Pascal's freeware sky textures, which look absolutely gorgeous, but for the rest I will still need an add-on. Thanks in advance. PC specs: i5-12400F, RTX 3070 Ti and 32 GB of RAM. Simulators I'm using: X-Plane 12, Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) and FlightGear.
May 21, 20215 yr Recently i have bought ENVTEX and i already have REX SKY FORCE - in comparison, REX is far superior regarding clouds textures and shapes. For weather control i use ACTIVE SKY Artur
May 21, 20215 yr Author 10 minutes ago, Beardyman said: Recently i have bought ENVTEX and i already have REX SKY FORCE - in comparison, REX is far superior regarding clouds textures and shapes. For weather control i use ACTIVE SKY Thank you, what about sky colors, sun, moon and Milky Way textures? PC specs: i5-12400F, RTX 3070 Ti and 32 GB of RAM. Simulators I'm using: X-Plane 12, Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) and FlightGear.
May 21, 20215 yr milky way and moon i don't care, sun - in both programs sun glare does not work at all, sky colours - similar for my eye Artur
May 21, 20215 yr 1 hour ago, Beardyman said: Recently i have bought ENVTEX and i already have REX SKY FORCE - in comparison, REX is far superior regarding clouds textures and shapes. For weather control i use ACTIVE SKY Same. Recently switched back to rex for clouds. It’s a lot better than anything else for that 5800X3D, 4090FE, 64GB DDR4 3600C16, Gigabyte X570S MB, EVO 970 M.2's, Alienware 3821DW and 2 22" monitors, Corsair RM1000x PSU, 360MM MSI MEG, MFG Crosswind, T16000M Stick, Boeing TCA Yoke/Throttle, Skalarki MCDU and FCU, Logitech Radio Panel/Switch Panel, Spad.Next
May 21, 20215 yr Author 2 minutes ago, micstatic said: Same. Recently switched back to rex for clouds. It’s a lot better than anything else for that Thanks - could you send a few screenshots of sun, moon, sky colors and Milky Way? PC specs: i5-12400F, RTX 3070 Ti and 32 GB of RAM. Simulators I'm using: X-Plane 12, Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) and FlightGear.
May 21, 20215 yr When it comes to sky colors, nothing beats Envtex in my opinion. They look the most natural of all sky add-ons, while others may look spectacular, but quite artificial.
May 22, 20215 yr 18 hours ago, Beardyman said: For weather control i use ACTIVE SKY good because REX (unless its been patched) will CTD your sim after 6 hours. its still beta
May 22, 20215 yr I am using LM's true sky - modified by the tweaks to the settings that have been uncovered by others. (see this link if your not aware of it - P3D TOP TIPS 2020 | HOW TO | TRUESKY GUIDE V5.1 | CLOUDPORN | WATCH CAREFULLY - YouTube) This is a starter guide. I had tried REX but like all the other sky-cloud programs they cannot actually do much with True Sky or EA and substitute their own textures. Realism is in the eye of the beholder on some levels but as a real world retired pilot I have seen a lot of skies and different times and a lot of cloud formations all over the globe and the older sim and clouds were never really accurate - so the clear crisp well defined cloud that was portrayed (photographic really) is mostly never like that in real life - it is changeing constantly as is the light!. That said True Sky is not great with cirrus cloud and in some angular views such as on top at high levels. The lighting was an issue so I tried ENVSHADE only as it works with EA and TRUE SKY it certainly has helped and I think does a good job to balance out the colour effects. Again the sky colour is a function of the particles in the real atmosphere (dust, salt, smoke etc) and the amount of cloud and time of day (sun angle). I have seen some spectacularly lurid red and yellow skies for real and pink ones too but the cleanest crispest blue sky was in the Southern Ocean area between Australia and Antartica where the air is very clear and fast moving! Otherwise the haze that lots complain about is more the norm - human beings produce a lot of atmospheric pollution. It is my simple view that True Sky is that True it is closer to the real world than most appreciate and ENVSHADE is now balancing the shading and colour better with EA on in the sim. I ditched the rest and like what I get its pretty real to me. Here are a couple of pics to illustrate. I think we ask too much of the sim programs that try to balance light, cloud and the environment but I think LM have got it nearly right actually! This was yesterday with real time weather using P3DWX out of the Falklands - heavy overcast in layers. This was dawn in real time at Tontouta in New Caledonia. And this was inbound to Guam two days ago again real weather with buildups Edited May 22, 20215 yr by coastaldriver spelling
May 23, 20215 yr Sure here is a screenshot of the ENVIRDIR Control Panel for the Shaders - nothing out of the ordinary (still experimenting) Note it says a high performance hit - I have not noticed any with my PC and Video Card (6 core/12 Thread I7 and Nvidia RTX 2070 Super 8GB) Edited May 23, 20215 yr by coastaldriver more information
May 23, 20215 yr If any one is interested this is a copy of my current volumetric clouds config file settings. (You find it in c:/user/user/Appdata/Roaming/Lockheed Martin/Prepar3Dv5). Make a back up of your original volumetric clouds config file first. It is recommended you hand edit and not copy and paste for some reason cut an paste from a webpage does not go across acurately, there are not a huge number of changes to make. //----------------------------------------------------------------------------- // // Variable Descriptions // // max_density_gm3 - Grams per cubic meter. // distribution_base_layer - Start of the transition from the cloud base to the upper cloud (0 to 1). // distribution_transition - The transition from the cloud base to the upper cloud (0 to 1). // worley_noise - How much Worley (cell) noise to apply in cloud generation. // worley_scale - Scale of the Worley noise. Will be locked to an integer if clouds are wrapping. // diffusivity - How much the edges of clouds should be diffused. // persistence - The fractal persistence for generating the clouds. // octaves - The number of noise octaves used to generate the clouds. // upper_density - The proportion of cloud density retained in the upper layer, above the distribution_transition. // simulation - If 1.0, cloud volume is simulated. If 0.0, it is generated by fractal. // cloud_width_km - Scalar applied to cloud height to calculate width // cloudiness - Scalar applied to cloud density UI setting // base_noise_factor - What proportion of noise is applied at the cloudbase, between 0 and 1.0. // edge_worley_noise - The strength of the fractal worley edge noise. // fractal_amplitude - The strength of the fractal edge effect. // edge_sharpness - The sharpness to be applied in rendering a the boundary. // churn - The strength of the cloud edge churning effect - larger values for more turbulent clouds. // //----------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Global] render_grid_x_km_low = 0.1 render_grid_x_km_med = 0.1 render_grid_x_km_high = 0.2 render_grid_x_km_ultra = 0.5 render_grid_z_km_low = 1.3 render_grid_z_km_med = 1.3 render_grid_z_km_high = 1.3 render_grid_z_km_ultra = 1.3 cloud_resolution_low = 512 cloud_resolution_med = 768 cloud_resolution_high = 1024 cloud_resolution_ultra = 1024 max_cloud_distance_km_low = 200 max_cloud_distance_km_med = 250 max_cloud_distance_km_high = 300 max_cloud_distance_km_ultra = 350 num_slices_low = 255 num_slices_med = 255 num_slices_high = 255 num_slices_ultra = 255 cloud_shadow_strength = 0.5 cloud_shadow_range_km_low = 50.0 cloud_shadow_range_km_med = 150.0 cloud_shadow_range_km_high = 200.0 cloud_shadow_range_km_ultra = 250.0 cloud_shadow_texture_size_low = 256 cloud_shadow_texture_size_med = 512 cloud_shadow_texture_size_high = 1024 cloud_shadow_texture_size_ultra = 1024 crepuscular_ray_strength = 0.5 edge_noise_wavelength_km = 2.7 worley_texture_size = 64 cell_noise_wavelength_km = 1.7 max_fractal_amplitude_km = 3 cloud_threshold_distance_km = 0.2 [Cumulonimbus] max_density_gm3 = 1.0 distribution_base_layer = 0.45 distribution_transition = 0.30 worley_noise = 0.9 worley_scale = 5.0 diffusivity = 1.5 persistence = 0.63 octaves = 4.0 upper_density = 0.35 simulation = 1.0 cloud_width_km = 60 cloudiness = 1.00 base_noise_factor = 0.25 edge_worley_noise = 0.15 fractal_amplitude = 2.0 edge_sharpness = 3.0 churn = 2.0 [Cirrus] max_density_gm3 = 0.05 distribution_base_layer = 0.05 distribution_transition = 0.95 worley_noise = 0.55 worley_scale = 1.0 diffusivity = 0.95 persistence = 0.95 octaves = 3.0 upper_density = 0.95 simulation = 0.0 cloud_width_km = 30 cloudiness = 0.1 base_noise_factor = 0.95 edge_worley_noise = 0.0 fractal_amplitude = 1.5 edge_sharpness = 0.05 churn = 0.2 [Stratus] max_density_gm3 = 1.0 distribution_base_layer = 0.2 distribution_transition = 0.5 worley_noise = 0.15 worley_scale = 3.0 diffusivity = 0.95 persistence = 0.05 octaves = 3.0 upper_density = 0.05 simulation = 0.0 cloud_width_km = 100 cloudiness = 0.15 base_noise_factor = 0.1 edge_worley_noise = 0.05 fractal_amplitude = 1.0 edge_sharpness = 0.1 churn = 1.0 [Cumulus] max_density_gm3 = 1.0 distribution_base_layer = 0.25 distribution_transition = 0.25 worley_noise = 0.9 worley_scale = 4.0 diffusivity = 0.9 persistence = 0.63 octaves = 3.0 upper_density = 0.25 simulation = 0.0 cloud_width_km = 100 cloudiness = 0.15 base_noise_factor = 0.25 edge_worley_noise = 0.15 fractal_amplitude = 2.0 edge_sharpness = 2.7 churn = 1.0
May 23, 20215 yr This is the real world taken over the Indian Ocean from the Space Station - we all live underneath the yellow bit.
May 23, 20215 yr Whats a cloud in Prepar3d v5.1? lol.. I cannot remember the last time I saw a cloud in the sim on fair weather.....No matter what I do.. Dave
May 24, 20215 yr davenicoll - that is weird sounds like something is corrupted there. I can only suggest that you try running the installers for scenery and then client again in that order. They are in your main P3D folder that you downloaded!. When you run them they will note the sim is installed and select repair. Unlike FSX P3D does not return you to year zero and I have done this a couple of time due to power failures killing the PC with the sim running!. IF that does not work and worse comes to worse, simply do a complete clean install. Removing P3D will only remove LM's stuff not anything you added on.(Except those addons such as FSUIPC).
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