New here, though I've been simming on and off for years. Currently on MSFS 2024.

I hold a UK PPL, but these days far more of my flying happens at a desk than in a cockpit. What keeps pulling me back to the sim is how close it now gets to the feel of the real thing — and the particular ways it still doesn't. Mostly atmospheric: the little burble over the trees on short final, thermals coming off a warm afternoon, and honest visibility. A British summer is 8km in haze far more often than it's severe clear, and I miss that when everything is glass-smooth and CAVOK.

Mix of GA and short-haul jets, mostly around the UK and Europe.

A question while I'm here, since I'd rather ask than guess: for those of you on 2024, what are you using for weather these days? Sticking with live weather as it comes, or running something on top of it?

Looking forward to reading around.

@Maxijam Welcome to AvSim. I’ve moved your post to the MSFS forum where you’re more likely to get an answer to your question.

52 minutes ago, Maxijam said:

A question while I'm here, since I'd rather ask than guess: for those of you on 2024, what are you using for weather these days? Sticking with live weather as it comes, or running something on top of it?

Flying only VFR GA on places and aircraft I fly in real, I'm only using the default MSFS weather. With the historical feature.

53 minutes ago, Maxijam said:

What keeps pulling me back to the sim is how close it now gets to the feel of the real thing

What keeps me pulling back to the sim... is the $ cost and time spent of the real same activity ;)

Edited 6 hours ago6 hr by vbazillio

I do not use live weather. I prefer my flights to be calm and steady, so I generally use a "Custom Scattered Clouds" option with three layers. The generally "flat look" of each cloud base annoys me from time to time, but otherwise it looks good.

Yep, flew in IRL until medical issues forced me out of the cockpit.

Weather and atmospheric’s are my biggest issues with this sim.

I use ActiveSky but just in passive mode, for the turbulence and wind effects, but use live weather in sim for the rest as active mode can result in abrupt weather changes.

I don’t think Ive ever had to deviate around weather in either 2020/24., thunderstorms are pretty much non-existent. You see the odd lightning bolt, but only cotton ball clouds associated with them, not towering cumulonimbus clouds.

Sometimes i’ll pop on over to that other sim just to experience that feeling of having to actually take notice and act on weather events, rather then not giving you no what because i know nothing will happen.

2 minutes ago, vbazillio said:

What keeps me pulling back to the sim... is the $ cost and time spent of the real same activity ;)

This!!

I use live weather but pick the time I want, usually early am, no third party software. I used Rex Atmos for a while but don't any more.

Same. PPL but feel I can get a big chunk of the experience for far less cost (and risk!). Mostly fly airliners in MSFS mind you, and suffer the same thoughts re the atmosphere. Have been tempted many times by ActiveSky for the passive extras but always end up putting myself off. Quietly hoping one day we get a better atmosphere overall.

I too have spent time in X Plane. Did some serious hours in X11 previous to MSFS launching. Shame we can’t have a hybrid of both!!

1 hour ago, pan pan pan said:

I don’t think Ive ever had to deviate around weather in either 2020/24

Interesting to read. On the opposite, in areas and weather I met (MSFS live or 24H historical), I had several times challenging decisions to take. As real as it gets. The 360 different weather condition is also interesting for my usage.

Flying a lot in San Diego area with a cool variety of terrain and so weather conditions : Pacific coast, high mountains, desert...

Edited 4 hours ago4 hr by vbazillio

1 hour ago, Christopher Low said:

I do not use live weather. I prefer my flights to be calm and steady, so I generally use a "Custom Scattered Clouds" option with three layers. The generally "flat look" of each cloud base annoys me from time to time, but otherwise it looks good.

I tend to do a lot of my sighseeing with this setting and a lot of testing too which keeps tests comparable. I do use live weather if it is reaonable for VFR, moreso in the summer than winter.

On the subject of weather addons, I still use the inbuilt weather, though I guess a number of addons could improve that somewhat at additional cost (a price I have not yet been convinced I should pay).

What I find with the default weather is that sometimes it can be really amazing, other times totally wrong. It is just a mixed bag in my experience. I live right near an airport/weather station, and too often, MSFS just didn't show anything close to the correct weather. Sometimes it can be perfect, but other times, not so much. We had a weekend a couple years ago with low ceilings and IFR conditions all weekend. Planes were breaking out of the clouds a few hundred feet. I wanted to practice some IFR approaches, but MSFS 2024 gave me a partly cloudy layer up high and nothing else. Weather was VFR in the sim.

That said, I've seen default weather simulate the unique snow patterns we get around my area. It just has this weird tendency to sometimes just make the weather nicer than it is outside.

I ran out and bought ActiveSky for 2024 and have used it ever since. It isn't perfect, but seems to be overall more accurate. ActiveSky can have transitions between weather stations, but I don't fly long flights and it isn't much of an issue for me. Overall, Activesky gives me that "out the window" accuracy more often.

My tip though is don't rush out and start throwing addons at the sim. Do some research. There's lots of Youtube videos that will show products and various options. It is perfectly reasonable to use default weather.

No weather addons for me, the default live weather is plenty impressive in free flight. I do most of my flying in Career Mode however, so weather for me is whatever the mission calls for - often that means calm or light winds and clear skies, daytime missions. But not always! This past weekend there was some crazy wind and MVFR in the Death Valley area where I was doing some SAR rescues, just to keep me on my toes

What keeps me coming back to the sim is the fact that Brexit has decimated my IRL flying prospects (I have a UK passport but EASA ATPLs), and that Aeromedical in Birmingham have taken the entire summer to process my Class One medical.

The only problem I have with virtual flying is AI traffic without landing gears.

Edited 3 hours ago3 hr by The Flight Sim Doctor

I also use live weather and Active Sky in passive mode. Suits my needs quite well for GA & airline flights.

4 hours ago, pan pan pan said:

I don’t think Ive ever had to deviate around weather in either 2020/24., thunderstorms are pretty much non-existent. You see the odd lightning bolt, but only cotton ball clouds associated with them, not towering cumulonimbus clouds.

Interesting. I often see buildups that I avoid. As recently as a couple of days ago, I had to request a deviation (Say Intentions) to avoid a significant tower on climbout from KEYW. I would definitely agree that they're not particularly well depicted, and that the penalty for punching through one isn't what it should be, but I treat them as though they were more consequential anyway.

Scott

1 hour ago, tttocs said:

Interesting. I often see buildups that I avoid. As recently as a couple of days ago, I had to request a deviation (Say Intentions) to avoid a significant tower on climbout from KEYW. I would definitely agree that they're not particularly well depicted, and that the penalty for punching through one isn't what it should be, but I treat them as though they were more consequential anyway.

Scott

What phraseology did you use that's SI friendly? I'm worried about messing up my flight because I've asked for something incorrectly. I struggle to get it to accept my destination airfield when I'm flying VFR.