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SkyMaxx Pro v4.8.1 Update Released!


Cameron
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Hello All,

This will serve as a formal forum announcement that we have released the version 4.8.1 update for SkyMaxx Pro. All customers who have purchased SkyMaxx Pro v4 up till now have been sent an e-mail by X-Aviation with complete instructions on how to obtain your update. We have made this a very simple process! For those that purchase SkyMaxx Pro v4 from today forward, your purchased download will already be updated to version 4.8.1 for you.

What if I didn't get the update e-mail?

If you did not receive your update e-mail don't fret! X-Aviation has updated our system to allow all customers to update with ease, regardless of whether you received an e-mail for the update! Here's what to do:

1. Login to your X-Aviation account here: https://www.x-aviation.com/catalog/account_history.php

2. Find your original SkyMaxx Pro v4 download and re-download the file. It will download as the latest version!

The following is a list of additions/fixes included:
 
What's New / Changed:

  • Fixed bug where cloud art settings could be reverted while using SMP's main configuration
  • Added "force cirrus" option back into the main configuration UI
  • When used with Real Weather Connector in "Always" mode, SMP will only attempt a synchronous backup weather download of its own once per hour
  • Real-world weather data is checked for updates every 30 seconds instead of once per minute

As always, thanks for purchasing from X-Aviation!

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Hello All,

This will serve as a formal forum announcement that we have released the version 4.8.1 update for SkyMaxx Pro. All customers who have purchased SkyMaxx Pro v4 up till now have been sent an e-mail by X-Aviation with complete instructions on how to obtain your update. We have made this a very simple process! For those that purchase SkyMaxx Pro v4 from today forward, your purchased download will already be updated to version 4.8.1 for you.

What if I didn't get the update e-mail?

If you did not receive your update e-mail don't fret! X-Aviation has updated our system to allow all customers to update with ease, regardless of whether you received an e-mail for the update! Here's what to do:

1. Login to your X-Aviation account here: https://www.x-aviation.com/catalog/account_history.php

2. Find your original SkyMaxx Pro v4 download and re-download the file. It will download as the latest version!

The following is a list of additions/fixes included:
 
What's New / Changed:

  • Fixed bug where cloud art settings could be reverted while using SMP's main configuration
  • Added "force cirrus" option back into the main configuration UI
  • When used with Real Weather Connector in "Always" mode, SMP will only attempt a synchronous backup weather download of its own once per hour
  • Real-world weather data is checked for updates every 30 seconds instead of once per minute

As always, thanks for purchasing from X-Aviation!

Thank you for the continued update!
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Hello,
 
with the new update 4.8.1 i can install "weather connector 1.1"
That did not work in version 4.8.0

Farther i have no cloud shadows on the ground. It works great on Version 4.7 i think but not with 4.8 and 4.8.1 New problems with every update.
 
The rest runs great!
 
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4 hours ago, qvwnMadness said:
Hello,
 
with the new update 4.8.1 i can install "weather connector 1.1"
That did not work in version 4.8.0

Farther i have no cloud shadows on the ground. It works great on Version 4.7 i think but not with 4.8 and 4.8.1 New problems with every update.
 
The rest runs great!
 

Thanks for updating - I just checked out cloud shadows in 4.8.1 and they seem to be working here. There have always been situations where they are hard to see, and I think you just happened to encounter one. Try turning up the cloud shadow darkness setting all the way in the SMP configuration, and try setting up a single few or scattered cloud layer in conditions that have good visibility, and you should see them. Some cumulus cloud options are more opaque than others, too - "Fast" and "Soft" for example won't cast strong shadows. They're also easier to see over water.

If you have direct sunlight over the clouds that isn't obscured by another cloud layer above it, and you're not within an area of low visibility, you should see them.

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I could not install 4.8 on Windows 10 and XP10.  I contacted support several weeks ago and never heard back from them.  I uninstalled 4.8 and installed 4.8.1 and just like the older version, it appears to install, asks for my credentials etc but Skymaxx Pro never appears in the plugins section and yes, I did select the correct folder for where the XP is installed.  The earlier version 4.7 installed and appeared in the plugins section.  For some reason the new installer does not work.  I submitted another support ticket.  Can anyone help?

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5 hours ago, Commander112 said:

I could not install 4.8 on Windows 10 and XP10.  I contacted support several weeks ago and never heard back from them.  I uninstalled 4.8 and installed 4.8.1 and just like the older version, it appears to install, asks for my credentials etc but Skymaxx Pro never appears in the plugins section and yes, I did select the correct folder for where the XP is installed.  The earlier version 4.7 installed and appeared in the plugins section.  For some reason the new installer does not work.  I submitted another support ticket.  Can anyone help?

@Cameron can we please check up on Commander112's ticket? He's been quite patient.

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23 hours ago, sundog said:

Thanks for updating - I just checked out cloud shadows in 4.8.1 and they seem to be working here. There have always been situations where they are hard to see, and I think you just happened to encounter one. Try turning up the cloud shadow darkness setting all the way in the SMP configuration, and try setting up a single few or scattered cloud layer in conditions that have good visibility, and you should see them. Some cumulus cloud options are more opaque than others, too - "Fast" and "Soft" for example won't cast strong shadows. They're also easier to see over water.

If you have direct sunlight over the clouds that isn't obscured by another cloud layer above it, and you're not within an area of low visibility, you should see them.

 

Thanks for the answer, but the problem persists. I have set the shadows to maximum, but no improvement

Attached a few screenshots..

Is there a way to get an older version of Skymaxx? These feel better to me

 

xplane default.png

skymaxx 4.8.1.png

skymaxx older version.png

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I had my own 'problems' with SMP cloud shadows in XP11 right from the beginning of version 4.0.  As mentioned before SMP does not draw cloud shadows in certain (foggy) situations but this did not change in 4.8 compared to the older versions. The shadows are sometimes barely visible but this was always like this. Further, your screenshots show very different situations and, as mentioned before, over water areas the shadows are more noticable so your screenshots don't help judging if everything is right or not in your installation. 

Do you have some shader tweaks or other stuff installed which is modifying the lighting situation? For me your screenshots #1 and #2 look extremely bright, the default clouds never looked this bright and free of details for me. 

 

This is how the shadows look for me, over water areas and with high visibility:

y4m1cnf4wcEGVTLqzb_KK5yaM2RgnRbmBLX0butA

 

Actually, I made this shot to report another bug or issue (taken with 4.8.0):

On the DSF edge you can see a very hard line, the shadow is cut there and does not look very natural to me. I checked with the XP map and this hard edges seem to occur exactly on the edges of DSF mesh tiles (weather was injected by FSGRW).

 

 

Edit: I forgot to mention that SMP cloud shadows take the sun position into account it seems so the cloud shadows are not just straight below the clouds but shifted depending on sun light angle. This should be noticable on the following shot below the thunderstorm cloud. You can see the cloud shadow on the left side of the towering cloud with no clouds above and on the right side below the cloud the shadow starts shifted to the left side and not directly below. 

y4m0lZZ1U0lfs6rqK12-TsEH23hH9wQTkBXNAsDb

 

 

 

Edited by FlyAgi
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28 minutes ago, FlyAgi said:

Honestly... those shadows look as if they come from the scenery, from the mountains in combination with the low sun angle and not from the clouds.

:-)

Well, I know how before the update gradually the cloud shadows were so dark that it was almost too strong. But it does not help..

 

 

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Might want to experiment with non-HDR mode in X-Plane's graphics settings, if dark cloud shadows are important to you. As I recall, it was an X-Plane update to HDR that made it more difficult to manipulate the shading of the terrain, and made the cloud shadows less prominent.

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For what it's worth, we haven't made any changes related to the appearance of cloud shadows since we first rolled out the feature. It just depends a lot on your graphics settings (HDR in particular,) the color of the underlying terrain, the types of clouds present, and the visibility. I've been struggling to make them more prominent, but we're limited in our ability to modify X-Plane's rendered terrain while staying within the rules of what Laminar supports for plugins.

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2 hours ago, FlyAgi said:

As I said, for me it did never look different than it does now since version 4.0, the cloud shadows behave exactly the same way for me, sometimes harddly noticable, sometimes very prominent - I can't see any changes in this regard.

 

I recognized that's the shadows are a bit thin with the default skycolors. Try a different skycolor set and see if that helps. I am using Eddie's Skycolors from the org, which give me quite good results with the slider set to 0.85

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