XP12.06.b4

[coastaldriver 920]

Well been about testing and getting to know the Shinmaywa US-1 as these updates arrived. Location has been the Iwakuni area in Japan and real time weather. No issues whatsoever with sim operation or display - silky smooth all the time. The US-1 has meant time on water and on land - the weather has been well awful, low cloud, rain and thunderstorms. Cloud rendition to my mind is now the best I have ever seen in a flight simulation program. 

Looks pretty good to me:

 

 

[Bob Scott 7,756]

1 hour ago, coastaldriver said:

 Cloud rendition to my mind is now the best I have ever seen in a flight simulation program. 

Looks pretty good to me:

I have to strongly disagree here.  The near-field clouds still appear as if I was looking at them through glasses smeared with vaseline.  The lack of clear definition is pretty underwhelming.

[blingthinger 667]

Conversely there's a lot less dancing speckle at close proximity. Distant clouds look better too. Overall looking more like DCS (zero speckle!) when considering the up-close definition levels. Well worth it.

DCS still wins the overall cloud race (for now) but that weather system isn't nearly as dynamic as XP12's is.

[Greazer 1,349]

3 hours ago, Bob Scott said:

I have to strongly disagree here.  The near-field clouds still appear as if I was looking at them through glasses smeared with vaseline.  The lack of clear definition is pretty underwhelming.

Exactly. My point since XP12 release. A 2023 flight  sim without any crisp cumulus clouds at all. And this is important!!

[strider1 577]

The clouds are looking a lot better in XP. The lighting is almost perfect except for the banding. The convective clouds need more work, too grainy and lack definition. 

DCS has the best volumetric clouds, hands down!

[Pugilist2 880]

XPL12 b4 is looking great to my eyes! The clouds and water look so much better than previous versions.

[coastaldriver 920]

Well overall the cloud management display, type layering and movement is in relative terms very good and appears to be a quite reasonable model of the atmosphere. I make no comparison to any other sim - I have none but my reference is the real sky - the one outside the window. Cloud is not always crisply outllned in real skies either - have a good look can be as indistinct and raggedy as it can be puffed and billowing, On that basis I would also concede that the cloud reproduction is not perfect - I think it is a case of too many data points not less, Nicely rounded cumulus (hence its name cumulus) is a summer sky cloud as well - at the moment I see good distant anvil heads of CB;s, I see towering and raggedy cumuluform cloud I also see good stratus cloud  and well the cirrus is very passable now, 

So I guess my view remains for a flight simulation program - Laminar's current cloud and weather depiction is more than just good it is a significant advance in graphical programming and processing, 

[MrBitstFlyer 3,897]

On 8/4/2023 at 2:17 AM, Bob Scott said:

I have to strongly disagree here.  The near-field clouds still appear as if I was looking at them through glasses smeared with vaseline.  The lack of clear definition is pretty underwhelming.

The next version of VisualXP looks amazing for clouds!

[mjrhealth 846]

ATC huge leap forward.  Lets see what else comes along.

[Greazer 1,349]

1 hour ago, MrBitstFlyer said:

The next version of VisualXP looks amazing for clouds!

Looks quite good.

[jcomm 6,020]

4 hours ago, MrBitstFlyer said:

The next version of VisualXP looks amazing for clouds!

Wow!

[jcomm 6,020]

3 hours ago, mjrhealth said:

ATC huge leap forward.  Lets see what else comes along.

That's promising!

Can you elaborate ?  What were the main updates ?

[fluffyflops 1,865]

Have they fixed the night lighting proformance issues 

[mjrhealth 846]

2 hours ago, jcomm said:

That's promising!

Can you elaborate ?  What were the main updates ?

One thing, still playing. I took off from an airfield with no flight plan. Picked an airport nearby and requested landing, and it worked. Gave me direction but Has troubles with changing rwys, kept flicking me between 06 and 24R,  but Jims aware of that and working on making rwys more sticky in variable wind conditions.

[scotchegg 4,243]

19 hours ago, MrBitstFlyer said:

The next version of VisualXP looks amazing for clouds!

Bit of work on the cirrus, and those would be DCS-beating clouds. Stunning.