Active sky upgrade

[CAP1234]

As the title suggest active sky is currently on sale so I'm thinking whether upgrading my current active sky version to latest P3D version would be any beneficial. I currently use P3D 4.5 and as a result I use Active sky version which was specifically created for V4 along with rex cloud textures. Are there any benefits of upgrading to latest active sky version - I am guessing most of new features are for P3D v5 so for me in V4 it won't make a difference.

What do you people think?

[Sparkrite]

Active sky has versions written specifically for each version of P3D, ie.  Active Sky P3D v6 will NOT work with P3D V5 etc.

By all means update to the latest version of Active Sky for your particular version of P3D, but not to any other version.

This is usually free.

[CAP1234]

1 hour ago, Sparkrite said:

Active sky has versions written specifically for each version of P3D, ie.  Active Sky P3D v6 will NOT work with P3D V5 etc.

By all means update to the latest version of Active Sky for your particular version of P3D, but not to any other version.

This is usually free.

Thanks - I currently use Active sky for P3D V4 or ASP4 as it is known, this version is no longer developed or supported I think and current version is ASP3D for which there is no free upgrade or even upgrade at small fee. That is why I asked whether it would be beneficial to spend another £25 but if the features are not beneficial to P3D 4.5 owners then it makes no sense to spend extra money. 

[Rogen]

5 hours ago, CAP1234 said:

As the title suggest active sky is currently on sale so I'm thinking whether upgrading my current active sky version to latest P3D version would be any beneficial. I currently use P3D 4.5 and as a result I use Active sky version which was specifically created for V4 along with rex cloud textures. Are there any benefits of upgrading to latest active sky version - I am guessing most of new features are for P3D v5 so for me in V4 it won't make a difference.

What do you people think?

Myself, I do have both P3D4.5 & 5.3 as well as ASP4 & ASP3D and below are a few notes regarding ASP3D.

• ASP3D will install to both P3D 4 & 5 as a separate xml addon for each sim, it can be a little tricky to sort out initially and there will be a need to disable any ASP4 configs in the P3D config files.

• ASP3D is needed for P3D v5 but you could run ASP4 (for 4.5) and ASP3D (for 5) as separate entities.

• ASP3D requires an account with Active Sky to run and thus links AS to your account, (you would need to create an account), there are also specific account recovery questions to be set up for proof of ID. Note I had to access account recovery myself when I needed to change my email and I found the AS staff to be prompt and helpful in updating my email address but do always keep a record of what you've setup.

• I had installed the ASP4 WX radar as a popup in many aircraft assigned to a gauge number, which promptly stopped working upon installing ASP3D and needed to be reworked. Note the AS xml install method actually installs the WX as a popup for all aircraft, however it doesn't assign it to a gauge number value. You'll find the WX gauge available to select in the main gauge menus of P3D, with it's actual configuration in the AS missionpanels.cfg (in the AS xml addon directory).

• Of note I use the AS missionpanels.cfg to also install Groundhandling v6 to avoid needing to individually configure every panel.cfg of every aircraft for the Groundhandling v6 gauges.

• I found the clouds generated by ASP3D to be of a flatter look as compared to ASP4, not always the case though but was an item that struck me as notable, of course if you're running P3D v5 ASP3D is your only option, although ASP4 could still be run for P3D 4.5.

• I also recall the AS crew discussing changes in their serverside weather delivery mechanism as a cost reduction (for them), at the time they were working on their MSFS release while their P3D customer base was stagnate/falling and were bleeding out money in keeping their serverside delivery mechanisms up and running. Whether those changes occurred I'm not sure, there was mention of an update but it may have been achieved at the serverside of things. I mention because at some stage a AS update maybe required and there maybe a need to go from ASP4 to ASP3D anyway.

Cheers

Here's a pic in my P3D v4.5 using AS, Rex cloud textures and a customised cloud shader.

 

 

Edited December 20, 2024 by Rogen

[CAP1234]

15 hours ago, Rogen said:

Myself, I do have both P3D4.5 & 5.3 as well as ASP4 & ASP3D and below are a few notes regarding ASP3D.

• ASP3D will install to both P3D 4 & 5 as a separate xml addon for each sim, it can be a little tricky to sort out initially and there will be a need to disable any ASP4 configs in the P3D config files.

• ASP3D is needed for P3D v5 but you could run ASP4 (for 4.5) and ASP3D (for 5) as separate entities.

• ASP3D requires an account with Active Sky to run and thus links AS to your account, (you would need to create an account), there are also specific account recovery questions to be set up for proof of ID. Note I had to access account recovery myself when I needed to change my email and I found the AS staff to be prompt and helpful in updating my email address but do always keep a record of what you've setup.

• I had installed the ASP4 WX radar as a popup in many aircraft assigned to a gauge number, which promptly stopped working upon installing ASP3D and needed to be reworked. Note the AS xml install method actually installs the WX as a popup for all aircraft, however it doesn't assign it to a gauge number value. You'll find the WX gauge available to select in the main gauge menus of P3D, with it's actual configuration in the AS missionpanels.cfg (in the AS xml addon directory).

• Of note I use the AS missionpanels.cfg to also install Groundhandling v6 to avoid needing to individually configure every panel.cfg of every aircraft for the Groundhandling v6 gauges.

• I found the clouds generated by ASP3D to be of a flatter look as compared to ASP4, not always the case though but was an item that struck me as notable, of course if you're running P3D v5 ASP3D is your only option, although ASP4 could still be run for P3D 4.5.

• I also recall the AS crew discussing changes in their serverside weather delivery mechanism as a cost reduction (for them), at the time they were working on their MSFS release while their P3D customer base was stagnate/falling and were bleeding out money in keeping their serverside delivery mechanisms up and running. Whether those changes occurred I'm not sure, there was mention of an update but it may have been achieved at the serverside of things. I mention because at some stage a AS update maybe required and there maybe a need to go from ASP4 to ASP3D anyway.

Perfect thanks - That clears up most of the things for me. I think I will stay with ASP4 for now. 

[Patco Lch]

@Rogen my goodness you make P3D look pretty. More so then pics I've seen of any other platform. 

[TurboKen]

You should upgrade to P3d v5 also. Some nice performance improvements. And everything will install just fine. Don't bother with v6.

[Zatoichi]

4 hours ago, TurboKen said:

You should upgrade to P3d v5 also. Some nice performance improvements. And everything will install just fine. Don't bother with v6.

Why not?

[sloppysmusic]

10 hours ago, Zatoichi said:

Why not?

Very few addon aircraft available. If you only use default that won't be an issue for you. 

[Sparkrite]

7 hours ago, sloppysmusic said:

Very few addon aircraft available. If you only use default that won't be an issue for you. 

Practically every addon aircraft I used in V5 works in V6, and the improved lighting and atmospherics in V6 makes not upgrading a no brainer.

I had both versions installed for months but realised I never used V5 as when I went back to it I could see how "dead" and "cartoonish" the graphics were compared to V6.

However for whatever reason, the user base in general, decided not to support V6 and either jumped ship to MSFS or stuck with a legacy version.

 

[sloppysmusic]

51 minutes ago, Sparkrite said:

Practically every addon aircraft I used in V5 works in V6,

Isn't that only true if you do manual installs as devs like PMDG do not support v6 and make that clear. They have no problem with you using it but you are on your own as there is no native installer. Did they get the weather radar working? Ironic it has/had issues in 6 and also permanently in the Asobe games. Also A2A?

I purchased 2020 Feb this year and P3dv5 in August as was sick with the state of the simulation and wanted to fly my favorite planes, the PMDG 747 and A2A fleet again. Didn't mind paying for them again. I'd have no problem paying for v6 as I only fly at night in 5 due to gfx from addon OrbX airports. I do own all the OrbX scenery and I've heard you can move that across too, IF it's needed.

[Zatoichi]

If it's 64 bit it works.

[vadriver]

As an aside (off topic a tad), I am hopefully looking forward to the "historic" HiFi DataNet developed for ASFS being accessed by ASAP3D & ASP6, alongside an API which will provide more regular archives of recent metar data to better "forecast" take-off & touchdown weather (& hence procedure assignment) for one's ATC controller.

@tegoid  & others.