Active Sky review

[Bobsk8 13,200]

8 minutes ago, Cpt_Piett said:

I can imagine! Had to divert around several CBs when doing PPL training down under. Btw the thermal turbulence was sometimes so severe that I suffered from air sickness as pilot in command 🤢 I’d love to experience realistic turbulence in the sim though!

I flew across the everglades years ago from KTPA to KFLL  in a C 152. The turbulence was so bad, we had black and blue marks where the lap belt crossed our waists. . 

Edited April 20 by Bobsk8

[Drumcode 1,967]

3 hours ago, Alvega said:

Which sim do you know that has a better weather system than MSFS? 

I don't know, I only use MSFS. Don't tell me you're stunned by how amazing this looks in this YT video. LOL

[Cpt_Piett 5,107]

20 minutes ago, Bobsk8 said:

I flew across the everglades years ago from KTPA to KFLL  in a C 152. The turbulence was so bad, we had black and blue marks where the lap belt crossed our waists. . 

Ive never experienced severe turbulence in RL, but I’ve certainly had a strong desire to land on more than one occasion. Flying in turbulence in a light aircraft is physically and mentally challenging, especially when other things are added into the mix (severe heat etc). 

https://www.weather.gov/source/zhu/ZHU_Training_Page/turbulence_stuff/turbulence/turbulence.htm#:~:text=Friction between the air and,the stability of the air.

Edited April 20 by Cpt_Piett

[turbomax 3,455]

34 minutes ago, Cpt_Piett said:

Had to divert around several CBs when doing PPL training down under.

all by yourself or with an instructor? at least you could blame him when you're dead.🤣

[Cpt_Piett 5,107]

3 minutes ago, turbomax said:

all by yourself or with an instructor? at least you could blame him when you're dead.🤣

Haha 😆 Both. The scariest was trying to land the 152 in gusty x-winds and turbulence. Don’t think I’ve experienced that combination in the sim yet.

[Bigmack 42]

16 hours ago, Silicus said:

I purchased Active Sky today, honestly being very skeptical, since it is a preset based weather engine (thanks MS for not opening up the API.....)

If nothing else I wanted to support HIFI, because during FS9 days it was my reliable go-to weather engine, that I used for years with much enjoyment (remember 2D clouds?).

A bit of a background. I have a home cockpit, a A320 cockpit build to scale 80% done. Running the Fenix.

The two front views are running on two different PC, on two copies of msfs connected via network.

I did a flight from CYYC to KMSP, I picked this route, because it pretty much had cloud cover all the way.

 

That resulted in having Active Sky running on the left (main view) and default msfs live weather running on the right view. I know, not perfect, but it gave me a clear impression of the difference. And the difference is huge just looking at the clouds.

For the first time ever I saw cloud depiction, that I have never ever seen before in a sim ever! Yes, finally not always the boring, same dramatic looking cumulus clouds that I have been complaining about for years and that belong into a game, not into a simulator!

Having the comparison right in front of my eyes during the 2 hour plus flight was amazing! Even during cruise and overcast skies, things changed, sometimes there where cirrus clouds, sometimes haze 50 miles out above the overcast. Things I have seen during real flights over the years as well...

Descending into KMSP METAR called for three layers of clouds with a breakout at 6500 feet. On the Active Sky view I had those three distinct layers, all with different depictions and light, in the msfs view three layers where kind of bunched together, you guessed it, in the same boring looking cumulus clouds. What an amazing difference!

In the real world there are 16 different cloud types. MS has one, AS at least 5, but that is just after a short test.

Shame on you MS.

Clouds are one thing. But winds and turbulences are another. With AS the air feels alive. When you hit a cloud or a cloud layer, you can 'feel' the light chop or a more distinct raddle.

I did not experience any sudden wind shift, everything felt very realistic. 

I did have one frame rate drop during cruise with some haze above the overcast, but I can not say 100% it was an AS issue.

Now I have to figure out how to run AS over network, or just buy a second copy. 

Beside the Fenix, Active Sky is the best MSFS add-on I have purchased. Weather is such an important part of flying and MS ought to get their act together for 2024 or just hire HIFI.

One recommendation is to have a trial version of AS. People who will try it will buy it! Period.

 

 

 

very very nice post, I agree 100%. I'm blown away how weather is now depicted using s versus msfs LIVE.. I'm also a very early user of AS from the FS9 days and was always pleased with AS as my weather generator.

keep up the great work Damion.

[turbomax 3,455]

4 minutes ago, Cpt_Piett said:

trying to land the 152 in gusty x-winds and turbulence.

you could always go around and take a runway better suited re. winds. but try to turn away or outclimb a towering Cb system left, right, in front and behind you.at your max. service ceiling in a single non-turbo charged piston aircraft.nowadays there is satellite weather radar even for light GA airplanes overlaid on your GPS, not so some 30 years ago. best not to have any passengers/family with you in the cockpit in such situations so at least no innocent ones die with you because of your faults.

yes I agree night flying in a sim can be pretty boring, again not so as single pilot in night flying in real life. while you don't see clouds or scenery, at least you can see and recognize other traffic much easier by their lights. night landings are also more challenging.

[jcomm 6,209]

I have ASFS in sync with sim date/time just as in all platforms I use AS with, and I often start sim sessions at some date / time on the past, só I mostly use histotic weather...

Edited April 20 by jcomm

[qqwertz 850]

Bought it today and love it 🙂

[Jack_Sawyer 4,662]

Hi, I just bought this and installed it.  I loved it in P3D.

But I have a dumb question.  Where is this 86 or so page manual I read about in another thread here.

Thanks.

[Freq_flyer44 146]

18 hours ago, Silicus said:

Descending into KMSP METAR called for three layers of clouds with a breakout at 6500 feet. On the Active Sky view I had those three distinct layers, all with different depictions and light, in the msfs view three layers where kind of bunched together, you guessed it, in the same boring looking cumulus clouds. What an amazing difference!

Great review. I have purchased AS for FSX, P3D, XPL.. but knowing the limitations that MS (via metoblue licence blah blah..) But I actually hesitate on this given the other products that have tried within these same limitiations (yep, I even bought XE for MSFS) I knew it could be potentially better given  Damians 'track record' of going above and beyond on the same product for the other platforms, but I can wait. Your review picks out exactly what I was hoping it would do.. layers and wind  / turb depiction so I am happy to have read your views on it. Not sure I need to wait now, lol.

[vgbaron 3,766]

17 minutes ago, Jack_Sawyer said:

Hi, I just bought this and installed it.  I loved it in P3D.

But I have a dumb question.  Where is this 86 or so page manual I read about in another thread here.

Thanks.

In the location you installed ASFS there is a Documentation folder - manual is there - or click help in the program.

[Jack_Sawyer 4,662]

11 minutes ago, vgbaron said:

In the location you installed ASFS there is a Documentation folder - manual is there - or click help in the program.

Thank you sir, I found the manual as you described but I have the program running as I type this and when I click on Help nothing happens.

[vgbaron 3,766]

4 minutes ago, Jack_Sawyer said:

Thank you sir, I found the manual as you described but I have the program running as I type this and when I click on Help nothing happens.

Hmmm. When I click on mine with the sim not running, it opens the manual.

[Jack_Sawyer 4,662]

Just now, vgbaron said:

Hmmm. When I click on mine with the sim not running, it opens the manual.

Sim running or not it doesn’t work.  I updated it on initial install a few minutes ago.  I even rebooted the PC.  And the weather works great.