Weather variations in default live weather is way better than active sky. With activesky you just get a preset around you. With default weather, you get varied cloud scapes with storm fronts in the distance.

For me ActiveSky has these advantages:

• Looks nicer, more cloud variation
• Freedom to modify the weather a bit by searching for a suitabloe historic weather 

Default has these advantages:

• Other than ActiveSky it is able to show weather systems. Flying in clear sky, say above the Mediterranean Sea, you can see the weather far away. You can see whether the weather is bad over southern Italy in one direction and see how it is over the African coast in the other direction. Flying in clear sky, you can see if bad weather will await you in half an hour.

For VFR flying I therefore recommend ActiveSky because of improved eye candy.

For IFR, and especially longer range flying, I recommend default weather, because typically the weather changes many times during such a flight so you will get that "I approach a weather front from far away"-feeling several times. And flying at FL300 or higher means also, that you can see different weather from far away.

 

I forgot to mention that with my custom weather I'm basically doing what AS does - loading a preset theme and tweaking it to my liking.  Not at all what the default weather engine is doing as it creates weather on the fly.

sp

9 hours ago, Sky_Pilot071 said:

I forgot to mention that with my custom weather I'm basically doing what AS does - loading a preset theme and tweaking it to my liking.  Not at all what the default weather engine is doing as it creates weather on the fly.

sp

ASFS also creates weather on the fly. ASFS does a lot more than just load a preset and tweak it.

 

Effects that by default MSFS totally misses, much more close to real weather than default weather paints the skies, functionalities like those offered by integration in the bullet-proof (even if some call it "old") ASFS interface are enough reasons for me to choose to start ASFS in all my sim sessions.

 

I’m getting the strong feeling not much has changed in terms of core strengths and weaknesses since release.

I haven't really studied the weather in MSFS yet, and I always used AS with FSX, so forgive me if this is a silly question.

I was flying into Copenhagen last night and SimBrief/Charts/PMDG tablet was reporting the pressure at 1015 hPa, but the sim (live weather) was 1013 (pressing 'B' - set altimeter.) I set the aircraft to 1015 to see what happened and I was ~80 feet out at touchdown.

What was that all about, and would AS fix it?

Do most people just press 'B' and ignore SimBrief/Charts? If so, how do you find out the pressure at the arrival airport to put in the FMC descent forecast?

 

I bought Active Sky last week. 

I had used it in FSX and P3D.

Using default, I had turbulance set at realistic, and sometimes small GA aircraft were extremely difficult to control on the ground, and in the air on final. I could have turned that down to low or medium I guess.

Also, with default weather, I found the likes of the Cessna 152 difficult to control on take off roll unless the wind was only light, and helicopters would be wrenched around in hover in anything more than light wind.

I was hoping Active Sky would solve these things, and it has. Albeit, I don't know what the wind is really like for aviation in the real world. I only ever had a couple of real world lessons when I first got into flight sim in 2006.

I also found it too much of a faff trying to find out the winds on approach if the aircraft doesn't display it. Too many clicks to get the weather when you are hand flying. Sometimes the airport I was approaching on final wouldn't appear in the drop down menu for METAR,

So I'm happy I bought it, although it was kind of fun flying with what felt like extreme turbulance all the time.

Never fly without Active Sky, looks far more realistic than the default MSFS .

My conclusion would be that those who don't own active sky have one choice available for live weather. Those who DO own it have 3. Msfs, passive and also full ASFS. Not to mention the quality historical options. Turning it on and off on the fly is as easy as pressing a button. A really BIG button actually! 

I can't see anyone who has the 3 options saying they will never use the ASFS weather setting. Is there anyone out there who purchased it recently who has decided they will never use it again? 

22 minutes ago, sloppysmusic said:

Those who DO own it have 3. Msfs, passive and also full ASFS.

After reading all the responses I am thinking about getting AS as well.    I fly mostly airliners and lately, mostly long haul with the 777.   What is 'passive' mode with AS and how do you integrate its use with MSFS live weather?  What does passive mode add to the experience

 

Edit:Nevermind

Passive mode is used with live weather and allows MSFS's internal live weather depiction to take full control of weather depiction in the simulator, while Active Sky FS provides Active Air Effects and all other non-depiction features (mapping, planning, voice features, conditions report, web companion app, etc.)

 

 

Edited July 11, 20241 yr by ErichB

17 minutes ago, ErichB said:

After reading all the responses I am thinking about getting AS as well.    I fly mostly airliners and lately, mostly long haul with the 777.   What is 'passive' mode with AS and how do you integrate its use with MSFS live weather?  What does passive mode add to the experience

 

In my experience I'm using ASFS always BUT switching modes when needed. The big downside of AS in preset mode is the transitions taking place and no global weather model so no fronts etc. In the end flying low and slow I go preset mode to get the nicer overall view and flying tubeliners or anything that goes higher and faster I go passive mode as the transition and lack of more globalized weather is a turndown for me. Regarding whats coming plus with passive from AS (taken from their FAQ):

Passive Depiction Mode
Passive mode is used with live weather and allows MSFS’s internal live weather depiction to take full control of weather depiction in the simulator, while Active Sky FS provides Active Air Effects and all other non-depiction features (mapping, planning, voice features, conditions report, web companion app, etc.) This can provide better regional variation and cloud variations outside of Preset control, recommended for LIVE WEATHER VFR and casual flights where visuals and effects are more important than weather conditions accuracy.

Active Air Effects
Provided in either depiction mode, Active Air Effects enhance your flight with turbulence, drafts and more:
 

• Clear air turbulence
• Internal MSFS turbulence compatibility (for combined ASFS-applied and internal MSFS-applied turbulence effects)
• Updrafts
• Downdrafts
• Microbursts
• Thunderstorm vicinity turbulence and draft effects
• Gusts, wind variation and gust-related turbulence

Used AS all the time in P3D and now do the same in FS2020.

 

 

 

 

3 hours ago, Torsen said:

The big downside of AS in preset mode is the transitions taking place and no global weather model so no fronts etc.

Still this is the only, and major, barrier for me to buy. I just cannot imagine how anyone can find flying with the same weather all around you, all the time, knowing it’s being repeated around the whole world, in any way immersive. I know many do, and happily so, but I just don’t get it. I’ll take MSFS’s crushingly-disappointing post-SU7 cloud depiction with more natural placement over better looking world canopies any day of the week.

Having said that, I think Xenviro can do fronts? Is global repetition really the only option for 3rd parties?

19 hours ago, Baber20 said:

Weather variations in default live weather is way better than active sky. With activesky you just get a preset around you. With default weather, you get varied cloud scapes with storm fronts in the distance.

Just because it's pretty doesn't mean it's good.You are forgetting the main thing, namely that the default weather is most of the time wrong and each flight is the same. When you fly 25/35 hours a week, MSFS default live weather is just a repetitive joke. With Active Sky you have incredible diversity. Even if it's not perfect ,flights are never the same. That makes a huge difference. Only those who fly a lot like me can understand what I'm talking about. I have been flying with Active Sky since the beginning and always with the latest beta version in addition to Google Map enhancement (Bing Latest) and with the A320 FENIX and I can tell you that all this together we are in another world! 

But I can also understand that just "PRETTY" is enough for some people who don't have the same expectations. 

This mixture of seriousness and childish games in MSFS creates an imbalance which in certain situations spoils everything.

I dream that MSFS releases a "Pro version simulator" with a monthly subscription with a team dedicated just for that.