Active Sky review

[Bond 140]

5 minutes ago, Cpt_Piett said:

Actually that’s what I meant. I’ll check it out once I’m back in the sim later this evening!

Great. But could you please remind me why we need AIRAC data in ASFS? Never understood that. Something to do with Simbrief plans perhaps? 

Fom the man:

If you're flying realistic IFR procedures using recent data, this would be important to have the new data match. For those not flying IFR procedures this will not be very relevant.

 

[Bobsk8 12,942]

4 minutes ago, Bond said:

Fom the man:

If you're flying realistic IFR procedures using recent data, this would be important to have the new data match. For those not flying IFR procedures this will not be very relevant.

 

I believe it is for the map as you fly, so all the waypoints are correct from simbrief.

[Cpt_Piett 4,893]

25 minutes ago, Bond said:

From the man:

If you're flying realistic IFR procedures using recent data, this would be important to have the new data match. For those not flying IFR procedures this will not be very relevant.

 

Thanks, makes sense! I do a lot of IFR flying, Navigraph Hub integration is a welcome addition.

Btw a new ASFS worth it / not worth it thread just surfaced. As if we needed (even) more opinionated opinions (and counter-opinions), defensive, choleric (and elated) rants and so on. Go check it out and leave your 5¢. If everyone contributes we’ll make it another 39-page thread in no time! 🥳

/sarcasm

 

Edited May 2 by Cpt_Piett

[MarcG 3,065]

So those of us on the south coast of England were subjected to a pretty decent thunderstorm last night, kept me awake and unfortunately too late to go down the beach to watch it thanks to work today! Anyway I just fired up MSFS & AS to see how it depicted in Historical Mode and...it wasn't bad, but not great.

For starters I was at EGKA, which takes no METAR reading overnight (from what I can find), Gatwick however had Light Thunderstorm, Rain at 1:20am only. Going into the sim at 2am there was plenty of rain but i didn't see much, if any lightning. Going back to 1am and sure enough there are storms, the "not so good" was the storms were very broken up, not one huge cloud system as per real life last night. But they were there, in an area well away from the nearest METAR so at least it was relatively close to a real life historical event.

Overall, whilst there's obvious room for improvement, I'm again so very thankful for this historical mode.

[RALF9636 2,024]

6 minutes ago, MarcG said:

 there was plenty of rain but i didn't see much, if any lightning. 

Do you have "Prevent thunderstorms when CB reported" on or off? With this option unticked you get a higher chance for lightning.

 

[MarcG 3,065]

Ok went to Paris LFPB at 21:30 yesterday evening as they reported Heavy Thunderstorm and sure enough AS Historical shows a better depiction of the storm with blanket cloud (no gaps) and full on raging storm. I wonder if the reason for the sporadic clouds at EGKA later in the evening is because there was no METAR coverage for the area?

Either way and another massive plus for Historical Weather 🙂

[MarcG 3,065]

25 minutes ago, RALF9636 said:

Do you have "Prevent thunderstorms when CB reported" on or off? With this option unticked you get a higher chance for lightning.

 

Off, i've kept this build as default settings for now

Edit: I say "off" I mean Unticked but in the text below it says default value is "True" - bit confusing! Either way when it's "ticked" there is no storms at EGKA at 1am, "Unticked" and they appear but still broken up not solid cloud like seen at Paris.

Edited May 2 by MarcG

[sd_flyer 6,108]

Finally I got rain and approach down to minimum in AS!

 

[Cpt_Piett 4,893]

8 hours ago, MarcG said:

Either way and another massive plus for Historical Weather 🙂

Been using historical lots lately. Went back to December 6th 2023 at ENGM Oslo for low-level, thick clouds with the sun low on the horizon. I got a 5000ft thick full overcast stratus-layer and light snowfall. Even then, I didn’t find that it was unreasonably dark. It was pretty much as I’ve experienced the weather to be many times in Oslo during winter.

I guess people perceive these things very differently. 

It’s probably been mentioned, but it’s possible to check METARs a 3 days back. To access older date (years), a subscription is needed. I don’t intend to pay for this, but it’s easier to search for specific weather at a certain location than just randomly choosing various times in ASFS.

[Cpt_Piett 4,893]

Yet another comparison screenshot incoming 😄 Don't worry, I'm not in any way doing it to "prove" that ASFS is better. Just trying to critically assess the difference. 

TNCM Princess Juliana | 05:59 (10:59 UTC) - I moved the time a bit forward for more daylight. 

metar-taf.com:
TNCM 031100Z 12009KT 9999 FEW016 SCT035 29/27 Q1012 NOSIG
TNCM 031000Z 12010KT 9999 FEW///CB FEW016 SCT035 28/26 Q1011 NOSIG

windy.com (outdated by 9 hrs):
TNCM 030200Z 09013KT 070V130 9999 VCTS FEW///CB SCT016 BKN033 27/26 Q1012 RMK CB/ LTG S-N (-9h 4m)

ASFS:
@POS 031000Z 12010KT 9999 FEW016 SCT035 28/26 Q1011 RMK AS DEPICTED
(Cloned by: TNCM, closest weather station when the aircraft was on the ground)

FEW016 extends to:3250 feet (Cloud type: ST)
SCT035 extends to:8571 feet (Cloud type: ST)

windy.com satellite:

What's more interesting than a static image, is how the clouds look in different parts of the horizon. In the video below, I'm panning around 360 degrees.

 

Edited May 3 by Cpt_Piett

[jkeye 159]

@Cpt_Piett,

Thanks for your efforts. 

I was under the impression with ASFS changes needs to be set and run before running MSFS. Is it possible to change settings on the fly?

 

Edited May 4 by Ray Proudfoot
Long quoted post with images removed.

[roland_lfor 253]

1 hour ago, jkeye said:

I was under the impression with ASFS changes needs to be set and run before running MSFS. Is it possible to change settings on the fly?

 

Yes it is.

[Overload 94]

Just for info, a web site that gives historical METAR/TAF date for free.

https://www.ogimet.com/metars.phtml.en

[Cpt_Piett 4,893]

On 5/2/2024 at 3:36 PM, RALF9636 said:

What I tried to say is that it is subjective and dependent on your setup if you perceive this darkening as appropriate, as too dark or as not dark enough. We've had all these perceptions in the Betateam so there would not be one setting to please all.

That's why I suggested to use the Geforce filters to obtain an image that pleases you most. In particular the HDR-toning setting I recommended does not simply brighten up everything. It brightens overly dark scenes and darkens overly bright scenes. I use such a filter myself because actually I personally also think the darkening is a little too much - but not everybody perceives it that way. Again I recommend to test the filters yourself.

 

On 5/2/2024 at 3:45 PM, Cpt_Piett said:

Got it, that makes sense. 

 

On 5/2/2024 at 3:49 PM, RALF9636 said:

Just try it. I'm interested to hear your report.

I did try it today. By the way I agree that Active Sky might make things a bit too dark at times. Tested with a 5000ft thick overcast stratus-layer from 1900ft. I did test the HDR-toning setting, but I also found the shadows slider (under brightness/contrast) useful, as that will only affect the darkest parts of the image. 

(included some previous quotes for context)

[Cpt_Piett 4,893]

5 hours ago, jkeye said:

I was under the impression with ASFS changes needs to be set and run before running MSFS. Is it possible to change settings on the fly?

ASFS has two “modes”

• passive mode (default clouds + ASFS “active air” effects)
• preset mode (ASFS controls everything)

Changing between these lets us compare ASFS and default clouds within the same sim session. In other words, “on the fly”. Outside of this method, it’s generally not recommended to change any MSFS weather settings while ASFS is running. AFAIK.

2 hours ago, Overload said:

Just for info, a web site that gives historical METAR/TAF date for free.

https://www.ogimet.com/metars.phtml.en

Thanks. Only last 24hrs it seems.