14 minutes ago, MarkW said:

Definitely something I would have purchased right away if released a few years ago.  Now I will wait and honestly I think its best to wait for 2024.  Activesky generally charges for all versions so expect to buy this for MSFS2020 and again for 2024, if and when released.

This is an interesting point and one which they touch on in their web page about the product. They say that they hope to release it without additional cost, if there isn't significant development time required to adapt it or if the underlying APIs don't change.

It feels, from other things that Damien had written in here before about the topic, that the product they are releasing is one that they've had mostly ready to go for a while, as it seems largely in line with what he has suggested before as a solution he'd rather not pursue (as opposed to a full API access solution). This will still likely be a quick purchase from me because I all too often fly at times other than the real time and want to be able to experience non-nighttime weather when I do so.

Still, it feels like there will be an additional charge for 2024 as I assume under the hood things like weather will be quite different than an aircraft or airport scenery being able to be used in 2024.

19 minutes ago, Zangoose said:

There is a WXR radar in the sim that developers can use but it does have missing features/functionality that developers are wanting to see. This forum post should give you some idea of what people are wanting: 

Yeah I’ve seen that post. It’s nearly three years old and since then Asobo have produced the tools to make a working weather radar that produces a 3D cone of precipitation detection in front of the aircraft. This is what several aircraft now use.

Things like accurate predictive wind shear and lightning detection from live weather - as in real WXR - are a nice idea but I suspect there isn’t a cpu on the market that can do that and run the sim…

With the exception of GSX which I bought recently, I'm not touching any of these sorts of add-ons till I hear more from MSobo about 2024.

20 minutes ago, Krakin said:

With the exception of GSX which I bought recently, I'm not touching any of these sorts of add-ons till I hear more from MSobo about 2024

Yea, this is certainly the kind of thing I would want to wait for 2024, now that we are likely within 6 months of its release. It is not so much if there is an additional charge, it is more about what weather will look like in 2024 and whether I would feel the need for a separate weather program; even with 2020 I do not feel the necessity because I am not a weather aficionado and I only ever fly in current weather -- yes, sometimes that means staying up to 2:00 a.m. or getting up at 5:00 am!

As with some others, I am also resistant to having another external program running. I told myself when I moved to MSFS that those days needed to stop -- I really found the P3D experience distasteful  in this regard -- and with the exception of Navigraph Charts and REX Accu-Season I have held to this. Accu-Season I run about once a month and update the Sim. I have GSX but I have a real love-hate relationship with it and generally don't have it installed, it is a program I more bought to support a long-term developer. 2024 is supposed to have seasons so that will eliminate my need for Accuseason and if only Asobo would program out a somewhat more interactive pushback routine I would be happy not to struggle with GSX any longer. If not, I may look for a less comprehensive and lighter solution for pushback when I move to 2024 -- which will be pretty much the first day it is released.

This said, as with GSX, I will likely buy ASFS to contribute to Active Sky and the work they have done over the years to support the hobby. I don't see myself using it, unless the reviews and feedback confirm that it is a substantial, really substantial,  upgrade from live weather in 2024.

Edited April 14, 20242 yr by Cognita

3 hours ago, Tuskin38 said:

The problem with the WXRADAR is third parties can’t create their own as they’re not allowed to read the in-sim data.

Why would this make it any different?

Because they do not need to read the in-sim data when ActiveSky injects the weather? They can read it directly from ActiveSky. That's exactly how we got WX radar in P3D for the PMDG, FSL etc. They all used the ActiveSky data (everyone and their mother was using ActiveSky back then).

Is orbx going to come out with FTXglobal Vector one day? /s 

The way I see it is that ASFS will probably be good at what it does given it's track record in previous sims. However, adjusting custom presets and setting the same weather globally is essentially going back to FSX (not that it's HiFi's fault). Despite the flaws in MSFS' own weather engine, it's a big leap forward in weather simulation given that it builds different weather systems in different locations. I don't think I'm willing to make that step backward at this point.

2 hours ago, DD_Arthur said:

Yeah I’ve seen that post. It’s nearly three years old and since then Asobo have produced the tools to make a working weather radar that produces a 3D cone of precipitation detection in front of the aircraft. This is what several aircraft now use.

Things like accurate predictive wind shear and lightning detection from live weather - as in real WXR - are a nice idea but I suspect there isn’t a cpu on the market that can do that and run the sim…

Really? Maybe I've been out of this loop for awhile now... But what aircrafts use/utilize this? 🙂

2 hours ago, DD_Arthur said:

Yeah I’ve seen that post. It’s nearly three years old and since then Asobo have produced the tools to make a working weather radar that produces a 3D cone of precipitation detection in front of the aircraft. This is what several aircraft now use.

Things like accurate predictive wind shear and lightning detection from live weather - as in real WXR - are a nice idea but I suspect there isn’t a cpu on the market that can do that and run the sim…

Sure the post is old but there are still some valid points in the thread. There could even be an updated one somewhere. There are still valid reasons why several developers still don't have an actual weather radar. 

  

11 minutes ago, anden145 said:

Really? Maybe I've been out of this loop for awhile now... But what aircrafts use/utilize this? 🙂

Planes such as 787, A300, MD80, Planes that use the G1000/G3000 etc have the default weather radar built in. 

Edited April 14, 20242 yr by Zangoose

6 minutes ago, anden145 said:

Really? Maybe I've been out of this loop for awhile now... But what aircrafts use/utilize this? 🙂

Off the top of my head;

All the Inibuilds Airbuses, the Maddog MD80, the Asobo 787, 747, the Asobo business jets, the TBM930, the Caravan, the Blacksquare TBM, the Carenado 337, Seneca, PC12, the Kodiak 100, etc, etc…

4 minutes ago, Zangoose said:

There are still valid reasons why several developers still don't have an actual weather radar. 

I’m sure there are but the only dev who’s actually given a reason as far as I’m aware is Fenix and apparently the wasim implementation cost them ten fps. Since the Fenix is marginal on frames this is understandable. PMDG? I get the impression they were unaware that the sim has been outputting 3D precipitation data for around two year.

The FBW A320 did use it but hasn’t for a while. I’m unaware why though.

2 minutes ago, DD_Arthur said:

I’m sure there are but the only dev who’s actually given a reason as far as I’m aware is Fenix and apparently the wasim implementation cost them ten fps. Since the Fenix is marginal on frames this is understandable. PMDG? I get the impression they were unaware that the sim has been outputting 3D precipitation data for around two year.

The FBW A320 did use it but hasn’t for a while. I’m unaware why though.

FBW link back to the thread I linked as it was posted by one of their developers. I don't know if they have a more updated stance on it though. 

3 hours ago, MarkW said:

Definitely something I would have purchased right away if released a few years ago.  Now I will wait and honestly I think its best to wait for 2024.  Activesky generally charges for all versions so expect to buy this for MSFS2020 and again for 2024, if and when released.

They certainly didn't in my case, have been very impressed at how many major versions I have gone through without paying again.

 

G

9 hours ago, jcomm said:

Which is perfectly stupid... If they don't know how to do it, even having acces to precious data, then at least leave room for those who know it... and have proved they know and what they can do since decades ...

What we saw in FSX/P3D by HiFi was done in a 2D cloud sprite-based system and just because HiFi was facile in that domain shouldn't de facto imply the same ability to use 'precious data' in this volumetric, meteo-blue based weather and cloud depiction.  IMO what's missing mostly in default is low voxel resolution and lack of physics effects in clouds and hopefully we will see more of that in 2024. 

6 hours ago, UAL4life said:

Not to mention Asobo hasn’t had Thunderstorms with lightning in the game’s Live weather for many updates now. 

It exists, just not within METAR range of airports for some reason.

3 hours ago, DD_Arthur said:

? I have several aircraft with working WXR that works on precipitation detection.

If they can’t read the in sim data how are they managing this?

That's the built in Asobo radar then some third parties refuse to use.

 

I did submit a question for next Dev Q&A asking Asobo if they'll improve the weather radar themselves (or WT) since third parties can't. Who knows if it will be asked.

Edited April 14, 20242 yr by Tuskin38