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ShortFinal

Is Active Sky worth it? New to P3D

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Hello all! Still getting settled into P3D and finding stable settings, having come from FS2004. Currently I'm on the hunt for a weather engine. I own FSRealWX as that is what FS2004 used, but it seems there are better options with P3D. with EA enabled, how does Active Sky do? is it worth the 40 euros? I'm still trying to find stable settings with EA to not crash my sim all the time, so if I switch back to the old style clouds, how will that do? youtube seems to give me videos from 2016/17 and I kind of want to see something with P3Dv5.1/2. thanks!

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Short Final,

There are numerous threads on this subject but in summary, I would say that the generally preferred options are:-

1. REX SkyForce.

2. Active Sky

A lot of simmers are using both because REX is not the greatest weather engine but it has the best graphics whilst Active Sky is a brilliant weather engine.

There are other options out there as well and it would depend entirely on what your priorities are and what your budget is.

Plenty of reading material on this subject in AVSIM.  Do not buy without doing some research.

Regards

Tony


Tony Chilcott.

 

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OS Win 10 Pro 64bit. Simulators ... FS2004/P3Dv4.5/Xplane.DCS/Aeroflyfs2...MSFS to come for sure.

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Activesky is great and has been the weather saviour for simmers for years, but the world is moving on and I wouldn't recommend chasing or investing anymore in P3D personally unless you really are happy with what it offers graphically.  

My experience today of ASP3D and 5.2 EA is not what I was hoping for. P3D is still incapable of rendering local wx areas using the new enhanced atmospherics, instead it renders a global scene in EA which updates as you fly from METAR to METAR melting the scene into the next. The old clouds allow you to approach wx areas as your flight progresses. 

HiFi have said they are looking at developing for MSFS and I am very interested in that but its some way off for real given the limitations that platform imposes wx wise (no simconnect access to wx) 

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If you fly airliners, then it's Active Sky with TOGA products.  Rex's products don't come close to matching (I have them and I did extensive testing and comparisons).  Every single high-end simmer I know personally (that's a few hundred) who fly commercial airliners agree.

Best wishes.

 

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Dave Hodges

 

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In addition to TOGA products are you using ORBX as well?

Edited by Chuck Dreier

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Yup, it is worth it, but sometimes it goes at a reduced price if you are not in a hurry to get hold of it and prefer a bargain.

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Alan Bradbury

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3 hours ago, DaveCT2003 said:

If you fly airliners, then it's Active Sky with TOGA products.  Rex's products don't come close to matching (I have them and I did extensive testing and comparisons).  Every single high-end simmer I know personally (that's a few hundred) who fly commercial airliners agree.

Best wishes.

 

I used TOGA Projects in FS2004 and loved it. looking at it currently. I may just stick with FSRealWX as it seems to do a decent enough job for what I need.

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Its a must have , simple as that !


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Never fly without it! 


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I would say the following - the ActiveSky does to P3D weather what ORBX Global addons are doing to sceneries 😉

In other words - yes, it is worth it. I personally added ASCA to the mix, since AS alone does not change the way the weather looks. Others prefer REX, I think most of 'others'. I preferred ease of use of the combo from HiFi. 

 

Either way ActiveSky is among the 3 most important addons form me along with ORBX Global/Vector.

 

&

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I had asked myself the same question time and time again...  I already have REX SF3D and REX EF (REX EF is now a dead product if you are on P3D5)... but have never really been satisfied with their weather engine... bit the bullet last week and bought Active Sky P3D... and WOW, with the ASP3D Weather Engine on... and using REX Sky Force only for cloud generation (REX Weather Engine disabled), the results are brilliant... and in addition, I now have weather radar available on the PMDG product, which did not happen with REX...

So the short answer is, "ACTIVE SKY IS MOST DEFINITLY WORTH IT"...


Faisal Niazi

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I'll go against the flow here and say that any DLC or Add-On that forces you to log in to use is not worth buying, same goes for Flightbeam.

With every plane, scenery and utility, what? It's a runaway process, soon I'll need 30 log-ons and call home for permission just to be able to fly. I'm drawing the line but that's my opinion.


Ryzen 5 5600X - Noctua U12A, 32Gb Vengence, Sapphire Pulse 5700xt, WD Black SN750 NVMe SSD

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Yep, if you want your PMDG birds to have weather radar it’s Active Sky. I use ACSA plus ENTEX from TOGA for cloud and sky graphics.


Vic green

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1 hour ago, FPStewy said:

I'll go against the flow here and say that any DLC or Add-On that forces you to log in to use is not worth buying, same goes for Flightbeam.

With every plane, scenery and utility, what? It's a runaway process, soon I'll need 30 log-ons and call home for permission just to be able to fly. I'm drawing the line but that's my opinion.

This is the most stupid reason I've ever heard. 

What does a login have to do with the quality of a product in a negative manner?

I would turn this around. Developers who protect their products put effort in it and probably for a good reason. 

I do not expect an answer from you....your statement tells me more than enough about your opinion and lines you draw. 

M.

 


Regards,

Marcus P.

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