KERNEL32

I was just testing flying up the west coast of Florida last night using live weather and tis mod - and I was SUPER impressed with something I saw in the distance, the lightning kind of "lit up the clouds" which I've never seen like this before in a sim. Somehow the shaders are assisting the way lightning acts behind or within the clouds? Just the other day I saw lightning while using this mod and the lightning looked as it "usually does" kind of bright bolts. But this was really neat. Maybe because it was so far away? I zoomed way in and took a snipped of the screen shot so it will look "pixelly" but at least can see what I am talking about:

My beef is that the clouds did look a lot better pre MSFS 2020 pre SU5. They looked great! And performance, even on my PC in 2020 was fine. But then they dumbed them down for "performance reasons" and never brought them back. This is live weather before MSFS 2020 SU5: https://flightsimulator-forums-cdn.azureedge.net/uploads/default/original/4X/8/3/e/83e6ab87f24ca352db3d6792fdae549d599fefb6.jpeg And here is another example: https://flightsimulator-forums-cdn.azureedge.net/uploads/default/original/4X/f/6/9/f69b6ed31a089d246807e07fa8c28be718a2faad.jpeg Here is an example of a weather theme prior to MSFS 2020 SU5 update: https://flightsimulator-forums-cdn.azureedge.net/uploads/default/original/4X/8/c/0/8c0329edb931478291b525f44d603047e7dea1b7.jpeg No $10,000 card needed!

I get that, but what I meant was, as far as improving the clouds, atmosphere etc. There's been zero since some tweaks to thunderstorms a couple of years ago that they rolled back anyway. Lightning was the last visual "improvement" they actually accomplished.

I like it. It's better than the nothingburger from Asobo these past couple of years.

I like it - it's more than Asobo is trying to do!

Frankly, no. But here we are..

ok I thought the same thing! I swear it was a video I was watching of him with a 757 model on his bookshelf or something - he was really stoked about PMDG doing a 757.... anyway did PMDG sell their model to Bluebird a long time ago maybe? HERE it is, how do I remember this stuff lol? https://youtu.be/VID16IyTUJQ?t=8315

Thanks @SeedyL , Regardless if the reduction was for the sake of console users or not, there have been very obvious reductions in visual quality since MSFS2024 release. How do "we" (PC users with the overhead to turn it up) get our LOD back that was taken away, how do we get clouds back to the quality they were years ago (MSFS2020 pre X-Box)?

But WHY on Earth can't they just "killitoff if xbox=1" in the code? Why PUNISH us PC users? Asobo seems to forget who carried the spirit of Flight Sim from Sub Logic all they way through the "dark ages" post FSX/Aces closure leading to it's revival; hint, it wasn't Xbox or Playstation gamers..... why do us PC users always get kicked to the curb?

Yeah, it is because they cannot make improvements, literally due to the performance cap they hit (they cannot make PC better without making XBox and PS5 better too - that wouldn't work!) so they have essentially painted themselves into a corner.

Couldn't agree more! If you sit and just wait on the ground, watch the weather/clouds. Every so often (I've not timed it) clouds just "change out" or update like as if you were running ActiveSky. Nothing against ActiveSky, just not my cup of tea (having the transitions), but not sure why it took me this long to figure out that the live weather basically does the same exact thing as ActiveSky. Not sure how long it's been like this but, it keeps degrading more and more as time/updates come out! The only difference between activesky and MSFS live weather is that you can actually see the fronts or a clear area transition to a non-clear area. BUT if you happen to be in the sim when those "updates" happen, it totally removes the immersion. The live weather (BEFORE this METAR blending thing circa MSFS 2020 SU5-ish) used to be organic, naturally seeing clouds, fronts storms, etc sweep in and move out if you did a timelapse for example.

Yeah there's a trial so that's good! It's not 1:1 simulation of "real" ATC, but it's darn good enough, and to me, it is addicting so that must mean it's fun ;) Maybe it's a phase but for now I keep going back. Using "live" traffic, FSLTL models and their free sound add on. I'm hoping some day they expand to departure/arrival control and/or even center.

Yes. It might be better to disable it if you're into clicking on the aircraft on the radar and viewing/zooming to it. As far as I know there's no way to hook Chase plane into the viewing system that way. I set my view up like as if in the tower on the field. You can do that without ChasePlane as well though of course.

I don't know, but... I am hooked. I've also always been a sucker for good ATC games, and this fits right in. Great program, it's very fun to me and the dev keeps adding more stuff! Very few bugs, "clean" program.

hmm, a cumulonimbus tower to what, 10,000 feet max? lol - or did you mean that tall tower structure beaming up on the southwest side of Key West 😆 Anyhow, yeah ppl since 1987, flown a ton more hours in sims.. why? Cost of course.

Placebo effect - Asobo has made no changes to clouds whatsoever.

If Asobo cannot make improvements due to caps on memory (i.e. x-box or PS5) then allow devs outside of Asbobo/MS to access the engine to read and write to it, so at least us "PC users" can enjoy improvements! It is obvious, that after all these years (and 2 versions of MSFS), that they will not be able to return the clouds and weather systems back to how it was at launch of 2020 (before Su5). Those clouds looked fantastic! Anyhow, I'll add something, thanks for posting this!

There's a plugin called X-Pro Turb and it takes the atmosphere to the next level in XP! This coupled with AutoHaze and the newest Beta release (fixed precipitation now!) and XP is looking and feeling really good these days! Clouds are improving, sometimes mehh but the big difference is they are trying to improve the weather. Asobo all but dropped any graphic improvements to their clouds, they are a 3.9 versus XP 5.0 outta 10 rating IMO. They are reeling it in!

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oh darn! Sorry about that. If one is familiar with windy.com it is very similar to that. And.. I suppose similar to Meteoblue, who MSFS currently uses for their data. I think my "wish" one day is so that MSFS will focus much more on weather and atmosphere, updating to the standards of their aircraft systems, flight model and scenery fidelity. It just seems that the weather and atmosphere visuals and effects have been "left behind", IMO... and weather should be one of the top concerns of any pilot.

This is a pretty cool tool, I've been messing around with it and dreaming how it would be so neat to integrate this into MSFS somehow - some day - along with a super huge atmosphere / cloud update (maybe MSFS 2028?) - AI can do some really cool stuff - and I imagine with clouds etc. in game? https://deepmind.google.com/science/weatherlab?utm_content=

🎻

Home run - THANK YOU!

Yes, like many out there, I loved RC!! Not trying to "defend" this developer but that was then, and AI nowadays can really do some amazing stuff including trig ala ATC... so it's just this guy and "Steve"? Hmm - yeah I call scam on this "claim to ATC fame!" (Comment removed by moderator).

Jorg is a man of his word. I clearly recall him saying something like "we will make it up to the community" when the initial 707 release did not "go as planned". sounds like they're making good on it! Might check this one out..