Opaque white sheet

[benjaprud]

Hi SMP team,

I've been trying that latest version of SMP (using it alongside ASXP and RWC) and it's quite promising (as in "it needs a bit of work"). However I've just had this happen on my latest flight : something appeared that looked like a white opaque layer below me (pics 1 and 2). After taking a left turn along the valley (pic 3), the white sheet would cover all the terrain in the distance, including occulting mountains that were higher than the layer itself. Basically it was all white except for the close mountains on the sides (couldn't capture that). The layer then faded out a few seconds later to reveal the terrain in the distance, leaving only the end of the white sheet below me (pic 4).

I checked the weather and I was supposed to be at an altitude inside a "few clouds" layer.

Edited January 23, 2021 by benjaprud

[sundog]

I think this is a known issue where mountains can appear inside cloud layers when using volumetric clouds under certain conditions. It is less of an issue when using Real Weather Connector.

For now this is an intentional tradeoff we made for performance as it only happens in certain locations and with certain settings, but we may revisit that tradeoff in future releases. Fixing this would involve a framerate hit, and for now we're prioritizing performance.

[benjaprud]

Yes I've had this as well (see picture attached), although what I was describing looks like a different issue (cloud looking like a sheet of paper). You may be right that it's a much worse looking variant of the same problem though, especially the "blanking out all scenery" part.

Edited January 23, 2021 by benjaprud

[Jonnti46]

Thank you very much for the post, to be honest if I can turn down settings I'd be happy with that, I just could not use the software since June last year in any kind of bad weather as the effect was so disturbing. If that horrible cloud effect is gone it might be worth upgrading. I fully understand most users still fly without VR, but strangely, since I started VR I can't imagine flying without it - to me its as close to real world flying as you can get (especially with XPlane) not tried MSFS 2020 in VR (yet!). 

[benjaprud]

Yes, for me the main reason to have the whole ASXP/RWC/SMP package is that it gets you rid of the instant changes in weather. Currently it's the only VR friendly way to fly VFR and be able to make flying decisions to get around the weather, since weather won't instantly catch up with you anymore. While I don't care too much for the clouds looks, I still wish for something that's believable and doesn't break immersion, and while we're getting close we're still not there yet.

While the rotating clouds are disturbing, I've gotten used to them. They were another good reason to stay far away from the clouds. I'd understand that it can feel nauseating to some though, which can be a dealbreaker. Thankfully if that was your issue this is a thing from the past now. Hopefully someone will crack the X-Plane weather issue someday, and I sure wish the SMP team good success with that.

MSFS in VR does have spot-on wind and weather depiction and amazing graphics and lighting, but the aircrafts that come with it all feel soulless and shallow for now. X-Plane is still where the fun is to be had in my opinion.

Edited January 24, 2021 by benjaprud