ActiveSky FS Released

[Damian Clark 1,273]

11 minutes ago, falcon71 said:

The visibility with the default live weather is always half of that of the METAR and it has ruined many non-precision approaches for me.
If this is fixed in Active Sky, then this alone would be a reason for me to get it.

The default msfs live weather vis control is different than the preset control and subject to different parameters and limitations.  For example in presets you can't assign low vis (without precip) below about 3SM without making a cloud layer act as a fog layer (which ASFS does automatically when it needs to for that vis condition).  Between 3 and 9SM we are using control of other parameters (like humidity) to influence as required.  ASFS was criticized for having too high vis at least a couple times in streams today, compared to live weather, but it looked right to me according to METAR (except for a bug related to LFVP and too many cloud layers that we resolved in the open beta posted now).  So maybe that helps you.  Note that if you are in/under active precipitation, MSFS will reduce vis beyond any vis setting/adjust control (that we or msfs live wx has), which is somewhat realistic, perhaps a bit overdone IMO but still pretty close.

Edited April 19 by Damian Clark

[avhpilot 156]

is there any chance that we will ever see cirrus (and stratus) clouds in this sim?

Will AS be able to help in that area? Sofar i haven’t been able to see any of those in the streams.

[dfeldman 35]

Does it matter what turbulence setting we use in MSFS? Or is it just personal taste?

Dave.

[Damian Clark 1,273]

5 minutes ago, avhpilot said:

is there any chance that we will ever see cirrus (and stratus) clouds in this sim?

Will AS be able to help in that area? Sofar i haven’t been able to see any of those in the streams.

We specifically provide stratus and cirrus layers along with cumulus, cumulonimbus base types (and several sub types).  It depends on the conditions and the cloud type determination.  There is a slight bias towards cumulus vs stratus when conditions are ambiguous (they are more visually popular) but they are there.  In general our stratus types are 2000-4000ft thick and at mid to low levels in more stable air.  You can also configure custom wx with specific cloud types as desired, but in real/historical this is based on the data.

[RALF9636 1,999]

3 minutes ago, dfeldman said:

Does it matter what turbulence setting we use in MSFS? Or is it just personal taste?

Dave.

It's just personal taste.

[Fiorentoni 4,411]

8 hours ago, TangoSierraMike said:

Has anyone heard anything about AS compatibility with 3rd party software such as Pilot 2 ATC?

It works, already tried. Procedure just like with P3D back in the days

[Damian Clark 1,273]

14 minutes ago, dfeldman said:

Does it matter what turbulence setting we use in MSFS? Or is it just personal taste?

Dave.

Personal taste for sure.  FWIW, I tuned the ASFS turbulence with MSFS turb set to Low.  I felt that at higher settings it's too constant and unvaried.  You can get good control of the effect with the available turbulence effect scale option (Options, wind).  We have more options/sliders planned soon for turb customization as well (such as individual dampening, frequency and amplitude settings).

Edited April 19 by Damian Clark

[avhpilot 156]

16 minutes ago, Damian Clark said:

We specifically provide stratus and cirrus layers along with cumulus, cumulonimbus base types (and several sub types).  It depends on the conditions and the cloud type determination.  There is a slight bias towards cumulus vs stratus when conditions are ambiguous (they are more visually popular) but they are there.  In general our stratus types are 2000-4000ft thick and at mid to low levels in more stable air.  You can also configure custom wx with specific cloud types as desired, but in real/historical this is based on the data.

then the problem in this sim may be the available data you both (msfs and AS) use?

i fly all around the globe and use live weather only. I’d say there’s a 5% chance i will encounter cirrus clouds when in real life that would be perhaps a 30% chance? and in the rare occasion it does happen it’s a poor attempt at best (never feather type cirrus).

I am still amazed by how few people seem to be bothered about this substantial flaw in this sim. Perhaps that the pmdg 777 will change this when people realize they are practically always flying in clear blue skies above  30k feet or so.

[Damian Clark 1,273]

31 minutes ago, avhpilot said:

then the problem in this sim may be the available data you both (msfs and AS) use?

i fly all around the globe and use live weather only. I’d say there’s a 5% chance i will encounter cirrus clouds when in real life that would be perhaps a 30% chance? and in the rare occasion it does happen it’s a poor attempt at best (never feather type cirrus).

I am still amazed by how few people seem to be bothered about this substantial flaw in this sim. Perhaps that the pmdg 777 will change this when people realize they are practically always flying in clear blue skies above  30k feet or so.

We generate cirrus in several circumstances, sometimes by METAR, but many reporting equipment/processes don't include or filter out high cloud layers.  So we also use the model air data as well as our own synthesis for this, with some random influence.  We like to generate it realistically.  I think it is done pretty well.  I see cirrus on nearly every testing flight with ASFS.  Feather types are not visually supported on the sim right now through their wx depiction, but hopefully that changes (we're also working on some tricks to get around this for additional variations).  For now there are some lower level cirrus (somewhat altostratus), and the higher stratocirrus, cumulocirrus, with perlucidus sub variations showing up now depending on lots of factors (data/synthesis driven with some randomness in the parameters as well).

Edited April 19 by Damian Clark

[davenicoll 104]

13 hours ago, daan_vb said:

the Metar says light rain/drizzle but there's nothing depicted by AS

Probably not expecting that Metar...was expecting heavy rain at all times in the UK😁😁

[Damian Clark 1,273]

9 hours ago, LVFRicardo said:

@Damian Clark,

Hi, flying on active Air Effects, and encountered a significant issue flying the plane starting pitching up to a stall when I entered a storm cloud around PHNL.

The plane was pitching up despite command for down, and there was no way to stop the pitch up, it eventually stalled, with or without Autopilot engaged.

I noticed something smaller when flying into another sort of cloud on takeoff, the plane was pitching up when the FD was actually commanding down with autopilot on.  This was on our A330-900.

I am posting this because I tried the same thing with default MSFS weather and did not encounter this.

Fixed here: https://forums.hifisimtech.com/threads/open-beta-update-b8874.14833/

And thanks for the report!

Edited April 19 by Damian Clark

[fluffyflops 1,865]

6 minutes ago, Damian Clark said:

I think you missed my PM!  Fixed here: https://forums.hifisimtech.com/threads/open-beta-update-b8874.14833/

And thanks for the report.

keep up ther great work Damian,  

[Fiorentoni 4,411]

34 minutes ago, Damian Clark said:

Fixed here: https://forums.hifisimtech.com/threads/open-beta-update-b8874.14833/

And thanks for the report!

Short question - are the other transitions speeds also slowed down realative to that or is only the 50% setting affected? I have it set on 25% because I like slower transitions. Wondering if it will be too slow now and I should return back to 50% with the beta.

[orchestra_nl 964]

13 hours ago, Juliett Alfa Romeo said:

It's important to read the manual, in particular from page 12 onwards...

Is the manual downloadable somewhere or does one have to buy the product first?
I haven't seen it on the AS website.

[avhpilot 156]

53 minutes ago, Damian Clark said:

I see cirrus on nearly every testing flight with ASFS. 

That's odd. From the YT streams testing AS sofar i haven't seen any.

Can you show something or tell me where to find example videos? (live weather obviously, no presets)

I'm willing to try this product if it really improves in that area. thanks!

 

Edited April 19 by avhpilot