Hi mates,

It's a long time I have not used Active Sky...

I want to buy the MSFS2024 version for this unique reason: historical weather (since it is limited to only 24h in the sim).

My question: is it possible to NOT install the clouds and other "goodies"?

As far as i know active sky fs do not have own cloud textures and instead uses the MSFS clouds 

22 minutes ago, flieger28 said:

As far as i know active sky fs do not have own cloud textures and instead uses the MSFS clouds 

Thank you. Can somebody confirm that please.

Nowadays Active Sky is still a no brainer choice?

29 minutes ago, Simicro said:

Can somebody confirm that please.

He's right.

1 minute ago, JetClipperJR said:

He's right.

Thank you!

I get it now, the clouds textures is a pack sold separately: "Active Sky Cloud Art"

1 minute ago, Simicro said:

"Active Sky Cloud Art"

For FSX and P3D v3, v4, v5 and v6.

2 hours ago, Simicro said:

Thank you. Can somebody confirm that please.

Nowadays Active Sky is still a no brainer choice?

Ah it's not nearly as powerful as it was in previous sim days.  Mostly because they don't have full access to the weather "ecosystem."

I've flown with it a few times.  I don't use it anymore.

I switched from default weather to AS in the past year or so.  I am very happy with ActiveSky and basically use it every flight.  That said, I wouldn't say it is a no-brainer.  The default weather has positives and negatives as does AS.

My #1 gripe with the default weather was inconsistency.  Sometimes, it could capture weather so well and accurately, but other times it would fail the "out the window" test.  

One weekend locally we had overcast skies and low ceilings all weekend.  We didn't see the sun once, yet in 2024, the weather was "partly cloudy".  I wanted to practice some real IFR approaches in marginal conditions, but with default weather, I could always see the runway.  Meanwhile, I can look out my window and see planes breaking out of the clouds at a few hundred feet.   

AS is metar based, which means sometimes you see transitions between reporting stations.  However it seems to do a pretty good job smoothing out these transitions.  However, sometimes you'll be between two stations and see clouds suddenly evaporate.  That's just a limitation of the way it works (my understanding is the full weather API isn't open to them either, but I don't understand all the details).

That said, AS is my weather for each and every flight.  It simply matches real weather conditions much better.  I don't use the historical weather feature at all so I can't comment on it.  

4 hours ago, Simicro said:

My question: is it possible to NOT install the clouds and other "goodies"?

I use default live weather, unless it doesn't work. Then I rely on Active Sky. I like that you can monitor the weather throughout your flights an the map is excellent. It shows traffic and clouds. I use BATC for ATC & AIG models. All 3 are a terrific trio.

Thanks kerosene31 and CFIJose for your wise testimonials. Yeah maybe I exagerated for the no-brainer 😉

4 hours ago, Simicro said:

Can somebody confirm that please.

Nowadays Active Sky is still a no brainer choice?

Regarding AS in MSFS 2020/2024, it does not have its own cloud textures.

 

It does have a few very good manual adjustments to compensate for the unrealistic ASOBO weather accuracy and implementation.

 

From my perspective, the issue is that with AS, transitions between stations are abrupt and noticeable. Instead of a smooth, progressive change, it changes instantly.

 

This is the only instance where ASOBO does a very good job. 

Active Sky FS does not include the cloud product like before in FSX and P3D times.

ASXP is still a great option if you want Historical Weather, and more physical effects from the weather even if you opt for passive mode.

I still use it together with RealTurb v2.

Edited May 6May 6 by jcomm

I use AS only in the passive mode. So that everything regarding weather effects comes from AS, the rest is MSFS. The greatest strength in my view is the fact that MSFS ia ver good in modeling the weather as a whole. And it's very consistent. Maybe some thunderstorms or similar things are not placed on the km spot on. But the weather as a whole is most of the times correct. And MSFS ia very good in modeling local weather like rain showers. You would lose some of rhe strengths if you use AS in mormal mode and not passive mode.

Thansk everyone for the additional infos! I appreciate.

So I bought the addon, and indeed it is a trade-off: sudden change of weather between two stations against historical weather.

I think I'll forget historical weather, and let MSFS manage the global weather, AS taking in charge the physical effects from the weather in passive mode,  as suggested by flieger28 and jcomm.

Thanks again everyone, my question has been asnwered.

9 hours ago, Simicro said:

Thansk everyone for the additional infos! I appreciate.

So I bought the addon, and indeed it is a trade-off: sudden change of weather between two stations against historical weather.

I think I'll forget historical weather, and let MSFS manage the global weather, AS taking in charge the physical effects from the weather in passive mode,  as suggested by flieger28 and jcomm.

Thanks again everyone, my question has been asnwered.

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