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mtr75

Sky Force and EA

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Just confirming, Sky Force is not compatible with Enhanced Atmospherics in v5, correct? It's either one or the other?

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mtr75 - it is not that REX is not compatible with EA in V5 none of them are in the sense they can control EA. REX will work with EA but it cannot control it. They give you the option to switch off volumetric clouds used by True Sky and use their cloud models and the option to use their sky/sun shaders,. 

The critical issue with EA is that it is the way the sim controls light and hence shading, shadows, the light in turn is dependant upon location that is latitude north or south, time of day etc etc,  etc and it has a then it has a variable focus and sweep which depends upon where the sun is so you either have it or you don't. I am not totally happy with the shading effect but overall EA does operate very well and I use ENSHADE to drop down some of the shader effects. 

REX say that their program works with EA not over the top of it. I remain skeptical however because with REX the sky colours with EA become washed out and unrealistic to my eye. 

 

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This is very confusing to me... I run ASP3D with P3Dv5.2HF1. I have been using EA and Volumetric clouds on medium. I had purchased SF some time ago but have not been using it. Today I re-installed it and started it up with ASP3D in FSUIPC Programs.

So what settings do I need?

P3D "Enhanced Atmospherics" ON (checked)

P3D "Volumetric Clouds" MEDIUM slider

ASP3D "Prevent ASP3D EA Volumetric Cloud Control in P3Dv5" OFF (unchecked)

ASP3D "Enable detailed EA clouds in P3Dv5" ON (checked)

SF "Both Wx engine selections OFF

SF "Enable P3D volumetric Fog rendering" ON


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bbuckley - These are my findings and views based on all the programs. You appear to have a number of applications working against each other or not at all,

IF you have EA selected in P3D then EA is ON. 

If you select Volumetric Clouds ON in P3D volumetric cloud is operative or ON in P3D. The slider in P3D  is now a switch so that P3D controls the cloud via True Sky and the Volumetric Clouds config file - Moving the slider for the cloud amount controls the cloud density and quality, to tune it to what your system is capable of handling - ULTRA is for high end graphics cards.

If you have volumetric cloud selected then you will not see the  2D clouds produced by REX or AS you cannot get a mix and match working as I understand it (via REX advice) you have to turn off volumetric clouds in P3D to see the 2D clouds of AS or REX.

The sky colour and light is controlled via EA (ON/OFF)and the stock LM Shaders or changed by the introduction of shaders from AS or REX for their sky themes.

As far as I see it the ASP3D switch "Prevent ASPD EA Volumetric Cloud Control in P3DV5" OFF check box is a duplicate switch for the ASP3D system to allow its cloud textures to be generated but it will be overridden by the LM P3D Cloud slider being set to active. Enabling EA Clouds is to allow ASPD to inject their cloud textures. 

Neither or any system can turn off Volumetric Fog which is controlled by a switch in the LM P3D config file and even if you change it to turn it off the LM program will reset it when it starts P3D in other words it is designed by LM to be enabled or ON. 

So the issue is whether you use either the default LM EA and Cloud system you can alter the shaders via ENVSHAD or you use AS or REX clouds.

AS for cloud, you then need to decide if you want the 2d clouds of AS or 3D cloud models of REX but you cannot have both together and for either you must turn off volumetric cloud via the slider in the P3D World GUI as you cannot mix and match 2D cloud with Volumetric True Sky Clouds. 

For weather engine (because P3D does not download real time weather) you need a weather engine to find and inject the data to generate weather so again you have a choice either AS or REX or the freeware P3DWX. 

Nobody is really explaining this and the controls in all the addons are to my mind only confusing the issues for a lot of users.

I have bought and used all three systems and I have run them extensively in a variety of weather scenarios and locations but now I only use LM's EA and True Sky with ENVSHADE to adjust the shading and intensity! I actually do not like the look of a lot of the clouds generated by the other systems and I came to the view that LM and True Sky is actually very close to the real world. The colouring, density and general shaping is fine, it may lack the cauliflower cumulus definition that you get for real (but not all the time either)  The True Sky cirrus is still not quite right, as is the horizon haze and band shading issue but it is not that bad either. I like all three programs for weather engines they all have their pluses and minuses. I like the AS radio briefing feature but the REX text one is just as good. Both do the weather map etc. Only P3DWX is different, simple but elegant and it works very well too just not as fancy in its interface. 

What is not mentioned or discussed either is the fact that if you have an NVIDIA card you get the wave motion engine generator which changes the way the water looks and behaves as well and the weather program you choose will impact that system in the way it handles winds at low level! It is the reason I do not use AS as I do a lot of amphibian flying boat simm flying and it is magnifying the wind at low level, REX less so and P3DWX the least.

I have to say that LM's default system is excellent at low and middle level attitudes but is not so good at high altitudes or FL's where you get the iight and horizon banding issue but I now understand better that it has to do with the way EA is generating light and shade and the issue of curvature of the earth. 

That is the way I understand it now - I hope this helps you to decide what to do really the best thing to do is to try a variety of days/nights and weather for short and long periods and see what work best for your system. 

And really before anybody does any of these things they really need to ensure that your monitor is set up and operating with P3D in terms of the colour etc before you go chasing the sky issue. There are a couple of good videos on the web explaining how to do this to get the best out of your monitor first!

 

Edited by coastaldriver
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@coastaldriver thanks for all the info! Actually I’m an IT / software guy, I’ve built all my flightsim PCs for years. I just didn’t know how EA and Volumetric Clouds settings in P3Dv5 impacted ASP3D and SF in terms of textures and cloud generation. Just flew a bit with EA on and Vol Clouds off using ASP3D Wx and REX SF and liked it. But after reading your info I’m going to try a few things like using REX Wx (now that my MilViz Turbo Otter is back!)

Thanks for your help!


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11 hours ago, coastaldriver said:

bbuckley - These are my findings and views based on all the programs. You appear to have a number of applications working against each other or not at all,

IF you have EA selected in P3D then EA is ON. 

If you select Volumetric Clouds ON in P3D volumetric cloud is operative or ON in P3D. The slider in P3D  is now a switch so that P3D controls the cloud via True Sky and the Volumetric Clouds config file - Moving the slider for the cloud amount controls the cloud density and quality, to tune it to what your system is capable of handling - ULTRA is for high end graphics cards.

If you have volumetric cloud selected then you will not see the  2D clouds produced by REX or AS you cannot get a mix and match working as I understand it (via REX advice) you have to turn off volumetric clouds in P3D to see the 2D clouds of AS or REX.

The sky colour and light is controlled via EA (ON/OFF)and the stock LM Shaders or changed by the introduction of shaders from AS or REX for their sky themes.

As far as I see it the ASP3D switch "Prevent ASPD EA Volumetric Cloud Control in P3DV5" OFF check box is a duplicate switch for the ASP3D system to allow its cloud textures to be generated but it will be overridden by the LM P3D Cloud slider being set to active. Enabling EA Clouds is to allow ASPD to inject their cloud textures. 

Neither or any system can turn off Volumetric Fog which is controlled by a switch in the LM P3D config file and even if you change it to turn it off the LM program will reset it when it starts P3D in other words it is designed by LM to be enabled or ON. 

So the issue is whether you use either the default LM EA and Cloud system you can alter the shaders via ENVSHAD or you use AS or REX clouds.

AS for cloud, you then need to decide if you want the 2d clouds of AS or 3D cloud models of REX but you cannot have both together and for either you must turn off volumetric cloud via the slider in the P3D World GUI as you cannot mix and match 2D cloud with Volumetric True Sky Clouds. 

For weather engine (because P3D does not download real time weather) you need a weather engine to find and inject the data to generate weather so again you have a choice either AS or REX or the freeware P3DWX. 

Nobody is really explaining this and the controls in all the addons are to my mind only confusing the issues for a lot of users.

I have bought and used all three systems and I have run them extensively in a variety of weather scenarios and locations but now I only use LM's EA and True Sky with ENVSHADE to adjust the shading and intensity! I actually do not like the look of a lot of the clouds generated by the other systems and I came to the view that LM and True Sky is actually very close to the real world. The colouring, density and general shaping is fine, it may lack the cauliflower cumulus definition that you get for real (but not all the time either)  The True Sky cirrus is still not quite right, as is the horizon haze and band shading issue but it is not that bad either. I like all three programs for weather engines they all have their pluses and minuses. I like the AS radio briefing feature but the REX text one is just as good. Both do the weather map etc. Only P3DWX is different, simple but elegant and it works very well too just not as fancy in its interface. 

What is not mentioned or discussed either is the fact that if you have an NVIDIA card you get the wave motion engine generator which changes the way the water looks and behaves as well and the weather program you choose will impact that system in the way it handles winds at low level! It is the reason I do not use AS as I do a lot of amphibian flying boat simm flying and it is magnifying the wind at low level, REX less so and P3DWX the least.

I have to say that LM's default system is excellent at low and middle level attitudes but is not so good at high altitudes or FL's where you get the iight and horizon banding issue but I now understand better that it has to do with the way EA is generating light and shade and the issue of curvature of the earth. 

That is the way I understand it now - I hope this helps you to decide what to do really the best thing to do is to try a variety of days/nights and weather for short and long periods and see what work best for your system. 

And really before anybody does any of these things they really need to ensure that your monitor is set up and operating with P3D in terms of the colour etc before you go chasing the sky issue. There are a couple of good videos on the web explaining how to do this to get the best out of your monitor first!

 

Very interesting read thanks.

Have you tweaked any settings for Volumetric clouds? Also what ENVSHADE settings are you using? I may try EA ane Volumetric clouds again


Vernon Howells

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Driver - I was using GSalden's Vol clouds prior to 5.2 HF1 but have now reverted to the LM standard or default volumetric clouds. With ENVSHADE I have used the following settings

Wp3EyGU.jpg

That is all I have altered I let the P3D program do the rest. 

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Two quick screenshots of what the results are, high level over North America then Tropical morning in PNG both real time weather: Yes there is that little banding but it is circular that is it goes from horizon to horizon and this was from memory F450 plus. Depends on the angle and the sun always, I don't really notice it from the cockpit at all. 

hz4LxVL.jpg

rXhjJ2v.jpg

Edited by coastaldriver
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20 minutes ago, coastaldriver said:

Driver - I was using GSalden's Vol clouds prior to 5.2 HF1 but have now reverted to the LM standard or default volumetric clouds. With ENVSHADE I have used the following settings

Wp3EyGU.jpg

That is all I have altered I let the P3D program do the rest. 

Amazing!

I get my EVGA RTX 3080ti today so i’ll be cranking up the settings for EA etc


Vernon Howells

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