Activesky X - how is it, how is it on framerates (without Xgraphics)

[Guest davidvoogd]

I'm looking to get a weather program for FSX - just a weather program and not textures (default textures work for me, find texture programs just bog the sim down sometimes).I was just wondering how good Activesky X is, and how does it affect framerates?

[flilotUK 0]

ASX does cause a framerate hit for me, if I want the weather to look decent anyway, also I sometimes got stutters when ASX was downloading weather during a flight.I have since unceremoniously dumped ASX, and now use FSX default weather updated every 15 mins, and have Flight Environment X SuperHD clouds, with a sky colour theme picked from the many avilable in FEX. Framerates are great doing it this way, and the weather looks great too.My specs for info:AMD Athlon64 Dual Core 6000+ @ 3.0GHzNvidia Geforce 8800GTO4Gb DDR2 MemoryVista Ultimate 64-bit

[kiwimail 1]

I get an FPS hit with this product bad enough that it's unflyable for me. I don't use it anymore and resign myself to downloading the default real weather and customise the look acordingly. That's not to say it doesn't work for everyone as i'm sure there are a lot of happy customers.

[Daveo 36]

I run it here and its alot better then the default weather. FSX suffers a frame rate hit if you sneeze to hard at a certain angle anyway. If you set it up correctly, balance stuff properly and don't expect more then your hardware can handle it makes for a nice real weather experience. Even on a 2Ghz single core box.

[Guest dswo]

Heavy weather hits anything hard. With ASX, heavy weather can be even heavier, because it creates its effects using (among other things) multiple cloud layers. However, you can limit the numbers of layers that it will create! Three layers will still look much more interesting than the default, and give framerates that are no lower.I'm not crazy about the interface; there's no way, for example, to resize the main window, other than to minimize it altogether. Sometimes the application crashes, but it doesn't seem to bring other applications down with it; FSX will still be running, so it's an inconvenience, not a disaster.Flaws notwithstanding, it's one of my favorites.

[Guest davidvoogd]

Well I got fed up with default weather this weekend when an airport that was in the midst of a heavy snowstorm showed clear and calm in fsx default real world weather. So I picked up ASX.I'm quite happy with it and I actually find it better on framerates than the default weather system since you can control how many cloud layers there are and what the max visibility is etc.

[A36 Apache 0]

I have ASX, XGraphics, 3D Lights Redux and FScene4X all installed and have no issues with frame rates. I like the fact that I can call up weather for past events (like hurricane Ike).ASUS P5N-E SLIIntel E84008 Gigs Corsair PC6400EVGA 8800 GT 512 (2 in SLI)

[kiwimail 1]

Perhaps someone can help me here. I would imagine that I should be getting reasonable performance on my rig but not when ASX is active. The picture shows the point where my framerate plummets to unplayable level. I have posted this in the Hi-Fi forum and they tell me it's a FS issue but can be resolved if I were to partner it up with XGraphics.I'm using FEX at the moment. Could this be the problem. I really want to use this product but so far have been dissapointed. Since there are people who have no issues with it makes me think that something is not right with my system. My apologies if this is off topic. Thankshttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/193780.jpg

[Daveo 36]

>Perhaps someone can help me here. I would imagine that I>should be getting reasonable performance on my rig but not>when ASX is active. The picture shows the point where my>framerate plummets to unplayable level. I have posted this in>the Hi-Fi forum and they tell me it's a FS issue but can be>resolved if I were to partner it up with XGraphics.I'm using>FEX at the moment. Could this be the problem. I really want to>use this product but so far have been dissapointed. Since>there are people who have no issues with it makes me think>that something is not right with my system. My apologies if>this is off topic. Thanks>>http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/193780.jpg>I run Xgraphics with ASX. What are your cloud layers set at? Mine are set at 5. (Remember old box here) Also I have Force high priority processes checked. It seems to let ASX take care of its business as fast as possible so FSX doesnt bog down as much for a period of time where it gets annoying. as if it wasn't checked. I tried both and it seems to be the better of the two on this setup.Also note this is on SP1.

[kiwimail 1]

Cloud layer is set at 3 even if set at 1 I still get the slowdown. Will try seting it at high priority and am using SP2 here. Thanks

[kiwimail 1]

Unfortunately it didn't work although FPS has improve upon take off but as soon as I get to the layer transition it feels like hitting a virtual brick wall. Once above the layer FPS evens out untill on descent when it goes haywire again. Do you guys with Xgraphics see this sort of haze?http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/193781.jpg

[A36 Apache 0]

If you can figure out a way to exchange themes so I can use your settings on my machine I would love to test it and see what FR I get.I use msconfig to eliminate startup programs and AlacrityPC to eliminate as many background processes as possible. Other then that I can't think of any optimization I have done to my system.

[shorthaul16 0]

Hi,I'm using the ASX / XG combo, and I have not seen these "flat" layers since...there was however a workaround by replacing some files to get rid of these 2 dimensional hazes..(I dimly remember "cumulus.bmp" was involved?)I do see a minimal performance hit (somewhere between 1-3 frames) with some texture sets from XG, but a corresponding improvement with others.Also the download sometimes make the flight stutter.But, all in all, I like the combo. It's convenient and with XG added it gives me a lot more variety in weather depiction.

[Guest davidvoogd]

I'm just using the default FSX clouds and environment textures. I'm running ASX over a network on a second computer so that might help.One thing I did was limit visibility to 20 miles lower, 40 miles upper - maybe try that out to see if that helps you out. In FS9 I use 29 miles as my limit so I always have the haze. I find FS looks better with some haze as it hides blurries in the distance.

[Guest etheberge]

Kiwimail,With XGraphics you can get rid of that effect by using a particular cloud texture included in the program. See the following thread: http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...ing_type=searchUnfortunately I can't remember how well it worked and I'm not at home to check for you. I think it worked fine. Maybe someone else can send you a screenshot.-Erik T.