Where's the rain?

[Guest MikeSS]

I saw rain on the aircraft windscreen at a Microsoft demo booth at a trade show about a year ago. Now that I've got FSX set up, I put the thunderstorms on and push the precipitation slider all the way to the right, and I still don't see rain. I hear it, but don't see it. Anybody know why I can't see the rain? Thanks, Mike

[Guest DALTech_Ops]

Me either.I use Level-D in VC mode and I do not see it either.

[cklink 0]

ACES dropped the VC rain animations (chained animations) that were in FS9 for some reason when they did FSX. Lots of topics in this forum (and others) about them being missed, and it was mentioned they were possibly going to add it back in in one of the service packs, but it didn't make the list. Maybe the demo you saw was FS9, or possibly it was a view from the 2d cockpit. I think they still work in that view, but I couldn't confirm as I fly everything from VC.Regards'Garett

[Guest DALTech_Ops]

One thing I sure wish they would add that I have not seen since around FS2000 is the flashing strobe backdrop when your in clouds/ For the life of me I cannot understand why they ever removed this. Such a realism factor gone array.

[Guest MikeSS]

I've noticed I couldn't get the flashing strobes as well, although I turn them off in clouds (just like in real life). That was a nice realistic touch though. In fact, when I look at my plane (Baron 58) from an outside view, I don't see the position lights or beacon either, even though they are turned on. I'm still tweaking the system so maybe it's my fault, not the software.I installed SP2 but had to uninstall it since FSX would lock up whenever I went to the menu. I've learned on the forum that's a common problem. Maybe the fixes to some of these things are in the Service Pack? I'm not very happy with the control response with my X52 controller. The stick part is very imprecise (sloppy!). Very unrealistic. I've adjusted all the control settings within FSX but it doesn't seem to make any difference what I do. Thanks for the responses. I'm glad to know I'm not overlooking something in trying to get rain on the windscreen. It's just not there, along with some of the navigation fixes. Is there any way to update the FSX database? Thanks, Mike

[cklink 0]

"I'm not very happy with the control response with my X52 controller. The stick part is very imprecise (sloppy!). Very unrealistic. I've adjusted all the control settings within FSX but it doesn't seem to make any difference what I do."Mike I've got the same controller. I run the joystick sensitivities at full right. If they are even one notch left, it's like a ramping action instead of linear. I also added this which helps:under {CONTROLS} in your fsx.cfgstick_sensitivity_mode=0As a side note: I don't know if something is screwed within my controller (although it works for fs9 fine & other stuff no problems) but I can never "stick out" the trim in FSX. Meaning I MUST always trim my A/C to neutral for any and all speed changes, or the joystick does not have the range to control intended flight (whether I recalibrate prior to flight or not). Feels like the trims tabs on the A/C are bigger than the control surfaces themselves LOL.Garett

[Guest MikeSS]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I've found that choosing "snow" under type of precipitation gives a realistic return. Trying to find the runway with blowing snow and 3/4 mile visibility and thunderstorms is downright scary. Good stuff!My sliders were all the way to the right on control settings (I thought) but in checking I found one not quite there. Fixing that seems to have improved things with the X-52 controller. I've come across some fixes for the sloppiness issue with Saitek - one is to take the bottom off of the unit and put one or two washers on it to tighten it up. I haven't done it yet, but the instructions were pretty detailed. I don't know exactly where I found that but it was on the Saitek Forums site. Mike

[slashed2 53]

If you are using SP2 you should have rain in the 2d cockpit. For VC it is not available unless using FS9 aircraft, and only then by replacing out the VCrain files in FSX with the ones from FS9.

[Guest MikeSS]

I'm just using the 2D cockpit at this point, although I'm getting ready to try the VC a bit. I like being able to put the radio stack and GPS on the other monitor, but maybe I can do something neato with two monitors and VC too. Don't know. I'm still trying to get a stable foundation. This morning I did a complicated flight out of Great Falls and when I got to my destination Benchmark Airport, the airport wasn't there. That's the second airport that wasn't there when I got there. I thought the first instance was just a one-time thing, but now I'm losing my confidence that when I get to the destination I'll be able to land. Could I have a setting somewhere that filters out very small airports?SP2. I had to uninstall it because after I installed it everytime I went with the mouse cursor to open something on the menu bar, the program would lock up and I would have to reboot. That wasn't occasional, that was every time. So I uninstalled it and now FSX works. Anyway, snow is even better than rain for my IFR training purposes so I'm not unhappy now about the lack of rain. Anybody know why I'm losing my very small airports? I can see them right below me looking in the overhead outside view. On the FSX map it's right below me. On the GPS it is right below me. Looking out the cockpit windows, either in 2D or VC, no airport. Bruce Williams confirmed the airport is actually there in FSX. He thinks I've got a display setting "mucked up." Any ideas anyone?Thanks, Mike

[Guest Sirocco]

I can understand how rain in the VC might have been left out in the initial release, but it seems odd to take the time to put it into the 2D but not the 3D view. I can understand that it's more complex but not seeing rain on the windscreen in the VC just doesn't feel right. I was hoping this could turn into a third party fix, aside from the FS9 workaround.

[n4gix 4,947]

>I can understand how rain in the VC might have been left out>in the initial release, but it seems odd to take the time to>put it into the 2D but not the 3D view. I can understand that>it's more complex but not seeing rain on the windscreen in the>VC just doesn't feel right. I was hoping this could turn into>a third party fix, aside from the FS9 workaround.Think of it as a paradigm shift in the way that textures and animations are handled. The FS9 version of "VC Rain" is processor intensive, as each bitmap in the "chained animation" is loaded/unloaded to the image buffer every cycle.FSX has moved as much as possible off to the use of shader based drawing. This process simply doesn't allow the "old chained animation" method to work.

[Guest Sirocco]

>Think of it as a paradigm shift in the way that textures and>animations are handled. The FS9 version of "VC Rain" is>processor intensive, as each bitmap in the "chained animation">is loaded/unloaded to the image buffer every cycle.>>FSX has moved as much as possible off to the use of shader>based drawing. This process simply doesn't allow the "old>chained animation" method to work.Thanks for your reply. It just seems a shame to have things like Active Sky X and then break the immersion to some extent through having a clear windscreen when it's raining. But it doesn't look like we're getting another patch.

[n4gix 4,947]

>Thanks for your reply. It just seems a shame to have things>like Active Sky X and then break the immersion to some extent>through having a clear windscreen when it's raining. But it>doesn't look like we're getting another patch.I suppose so... but, FS existed for 23 years without having wet windshields at all, I guess we'll survive the loss... :-lol

[Guest UlfB]

>I suppose so... but, FS existed for 23 years without>having wet windshields at all, I guess we'll survive the>loss... :-lol True, and if I fly in Southern California, where it never rains, this isn't a problem...let the sunshine in ;-)A nice day to you allUlf B