EA on with volumetric clouds off

[Bob Scott 7,720]

I see that v5.2 now permits EA on, but with volumetric clouds off and replaced by legacy 2D clouds.

First...what does that combination do for us?  I've not played much with EA--it's been so problematic in prior versions, I just turned it off early after upgrading.

Second, are any of the add-on aircraft or third-party radar gauges going to be able to depict weather when using the EA+2D cloud combo?  I'm left to believe still that none of the add-on radars can depict EA volumetric clouds (correct me please if I've missed something).  So I find myself wondering if I can preserve wx radar capability and still gain something with EA + 2D clouds.

[GD5 3]

I flew into Porto yesterday evening with EA+2D Clouds and was able to see the TS depicted perfectly fine via the NGXu WX Radar 👍🏻
 

G

[Pilot53 544]

Does EA with volumetric off fix the issue with weather transitions?

[micstatic 4,319]

This thread is great.  I also have similar questions.  Particularly now about transitions.  I'm also unsure if EA on / vol off is even going to look better than both off and envshade (when it's updated for 5.2)

[chapstick 2,757]

EA with 2D clouds means you get the benefits (subjective, I suppose) of EA's lighting and atmospherics without the many drawbacks of volumetric clouds. Just try it and see what works for you. 

[micstatic 4,319]

8 minutes ago, Chapstick said:

EA with 2D clouds means you get the benefits (subjective, I suppose) of EA's lighting and atmospherics without the many drawbacks of volumetric clouds. Just try it and see what works for you. 

I intend to. But I haven’t had time to upgrade to 5.2 yet. So I’m monitoring others first 

[gianluk81 3]

 

I have a simple but important question. If I use EA but with volumetric off, can I use rexskyforce + EA or ASCA + EA clouds? If yes, from external programs, with EA on, do you only take the clouds or even the sky textures? Thank you.

[neilhewitt 493]

1 hour ago, w6kd said:

I'm left to believe still that none of the add-on radars can depict EA volumetric clouds (correct me please if I've missed something)

As far as I know this is still true, but ActiveSky X-Gauge worked in EA mode in 5.1 by a hack involving reading the underlying 'classic' cloud data (which was still there, apparently, not sure that's still the case but it probably is?). So you got radar returns but not exactly confirming to the 3D clouds. With 2D clouds I guess you'll see the right placement and shape. 

Whether anything's changed with EA in 5.2 enough to let WX 'see' 3D clouds, I don't know. I didn't see anything particularly relevant-looking in the release notes, but I guess HiFi or Milviz could tell us...

[gianluk81 3]

1 minute ago, neilhewitt said:

Per quanto ne so, questo è ancora vero, ma ActiveSky X-Gauge ha funzionato in modalità EA in 5.1 con un hack che prevedeva la lettura dei dati cloud "classici" sottostanti (che erano ancora lì, a quanto pare, non sono sicuro che sia ancora così ma probabilmente è?). Quindi hai ottenuto ritorni radar ma non esattamente confermando le nuvole 3D. Con le nuvole 2D immagino che vedrai il posizionamento e la forma giusti. 

Se qualcosa è cambiato con EA in 5.2 abbastanza da consentire a WX di "vedere" le nuvole 3D, non lo so. Non ho visto nulla di particolarmente rilevante nelle note di rilascio, ma immagino che HiFi o Milviz potrebbero dircelo...

During some tests I did yesterday, I was seeing stuff on the 737ngx weather radar.

[neilhewitt 493]

Hey! I didn't know I could speak Italian 🙂

 

[gianluk81 3]

3 minutes ago, neilhewitt said:

Hey! I didn't know I could speak Italian 🙂

 

Sorry, I didn't understand why he quoted your comment translated into Italian;)

[neilhewitt 493]

1 minute ago, gianluk81 said:

Sorry, I didn't understand why he quoted your comment translated into Italian;)

Heh, no problem. I can get by in pidgeon Italian, enough to order a coffee and a meal. I understand most of what I read in Italian because I speak French and a bit of Spanish. Also German and Russian, but that's not relevant here 🙂

[GD5 3]

1 hour ago, Pilot53 said:

Does EA with volumetric off fix the issue with weather transitions?

I did notice that the METAR was indicating FEW035CB but the weather was being interpolated against Vigo - which is further to the North - which reporter CAVOK. The interpolated weather gave an actual cloud base around ~7000ft, so this clearly needs addressed. Refreshing through the ‘Debug’ area of Active Sky seemed to rectify that though.

21 minutes ago, gianluk81 said:

 

I have a simple but important question. If I use EA but with volumetric off, can I use rexskyforce + EA or ASCA + EA clouds? If yes, from external programs, with EA on, do you only take the clouds or even the sky textures? Thank you.

I am using Active Sky + REX Sky Force Textures and EA ON, Volumetric Clouds OFF.

looks very good to me! And a nice compromise until LM can fully sort out the Volumetric Clouds.

Very impressed with 5.2, it’s a great step forward, but not without some minor faults.

G

[CaptKornDog 282]

Wtih EA clouds, I never got more than one cloud layer at a time it seemed....very pixelated clouds despite setting the highest resolution....frequent waffle-grids.....and the time-lapse transitions; really killed it for me.  In 5.2, I still only see what seems to be a single cloud layer and frequent repeating patterns and grids.  I love the EA lighting for the atmosphere, but it seems 2d clouds will still have to do for me.  At least I can enjoy the lighting of EA without struggling with clouds.

[B777ER 2,486]

Not sure how it works with EA on but the volumetric clouds off (which would cause one to use ASCA for clouds), but are you supposed to keep Sky Colors checked on in ASCA under Enabled Content? Does leaving EA on for the lighting control the sky color? @Rob_Ainscough or @mpo910