Uhhh, I think ACES made an improvement in the clouds in fsx...forgive me if I just realized this lol!While flying through them they don't spin or act like a thin sheet, they actually look like real clouds...It's pretty neat actually...So, go set up some clouds and fly in them!!!http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/171663.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/171664.jpg

Ryan... Nice pix... I'm picking up my FSX machine tomorrow... Yahoo! But clouds ARE my thing... being a real world pilot with a "few" hours ... like with 4 digits. ;^) But your comment so encourages me. Can't wait to see them. I always thought the other Microsoft clouds were as you described. If these are thin transparent sheets that disappear and don't transition well into IFR flight... that don't seem like your chasing them all the time.... sounds good! I've never tried ActiveSky or anything like that. Have you? I looked at the user panel and it looked like you need a meteorologial degree to program it.Thanks for the report!Steve

No I haven't actually used Active sky but heard its pretty awesome!I limit myself to what I can buy (or my wife limits me haha) so I usually just have a few airplanes.I think there's one for FSX coming out - looks neatLet us know how your new rig goes...i spose in the hardware forum or something

Active Sky improves the clouds considerably over default weather - I highly recommend it. Oh, and whilst the user panel may look complex, it is just that it shows a lot of raw weather codes. You can read the decoded weather in english on the right hand side of the panel.Gary

and since you're a RW pilot, I wouldn't set my expectations too high. Clouds technology is, I think, still waiting for a breakthrough. The O/C sky is still poor, stratus soup is still a Fly! memory, cumuli still don't have this solid cauliflower look that makes you happy to zig-zag among them, etc... The lightscape, also very much behind, doesn't help. But, yeah, the "wigs", the "sheets" and the "blocks" of course, are pretty much gone.

I don't know, the cumulus clouds look pretty decent to me...they make me want to zig-zag through them lol!Set your clouds to maximum density, they are much better...

Yeah-when the tstorm clouds start looking like this one I flew by next year we will have arrived!http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/rxp-pilot.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/171676.jpg

>Active Sky improves the clouds considerably over default>weather - I highly recommend it. >>Oh, and whilst the user panel may look complex, it is just>that it shows a lot of raw weather codes. You can read the>decoded weather in english on the right hand side of the>panel.>>GaryI highly recommend Active Sky also, however, they are coming out with a new version for FSX Active Sky X. Since it's not going to be an upgrade, I would hold off buying the current version, so you won't have to pay for it twice!!

That is one HELLUVA shot there Geofa!! Very cool indeed!!!

Hi Ryan,Yes, the clouds still do spin around like in FS04.Jimhttp://www.hifisim.com/banners/hifi-community-sigbanner.jpghttp://www.hifisim.com/

I thought the overcast was pretty weak at first myself, then I used the advanced tab under user defined weather to set the visibility to minimum in the cloud layers. Outside the cloud layers if you leave the visibility at the default level (unlimited), it makes "punching in" and "breaking out" of an overcast layer much more realistic. Worth a try, even though you have define the tops and bottoms of each layer for both ceilings and vis...

NICE anvil...wouldn't want to be too close to that though.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian

>Hi Ryan,>>Yes, the clouds still do spin around like in FS04.>>JimI have noticed that. They're still sprite based. I hope that changes in the next ver of FS but I know it's a big performance hit. Maybe there's something efficient for rendering clouds in the DX10 API though.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian

I find the depiction of clouds and the feeling of flying through them is much better in FSX , It was one of the things I noticed in the first demo.I think Aces have used reduced visibility "tricks" when you enter and Exit clouds in FSX, and it really works yet to seen a spinning cloud from the cockpit in FSX.Plus they dont drag you FPS into single digits as it did in FS2004.John

Yep, the default clouds are nice, almost photo real at times. http://sio.midco.net/111lll/cruise.jpg