Clouds not showing ahead of me (Not cloud draw distance)

[Rexxxy77]

Congrats John/Cameron, another top notch piece of software

 

This may be a limitation of XP10 but I never noticed it with the default clouds, maybe it has always been there. Clouds are not drawn at all until I am right on the edge of them (according to the weather screen in XP10). And once I reach that threshold of clouds (ironically) they are also drawn behind me.

 

Is there an option for them to be drawn (for arguments sake) 10nm in front of me, so I know I am going to hit some cloud visually. This is pretty important for VFR.

 

Apologies if this is already an issue with the default XP10 clouds or a limitation of XP10

 

 

 

Otherwise this addon rocks

[JohnMAXX]

Set the view distance in the default weather dialog to 100% and the "cloud draw distance" in the SkyMAXX Pro UI all the way to the right,  you will see a better representation.  If performance suffers you will need to adjust from the UI until you reach a good balance....

[dron420]

John, do you know that IVAO client is working now on 32 bit only, so many people is flying on 32 bit only. why only 64 bit? You have lost a lot of customers 

[Cameron]

John, do you know that IVAO client is working now on 32 bit only, so many people is flying on 32 bit only. why only 64 bit? You have lost a lot of customers

IVAO really needs to get with the times.

I have to be entirely honest with you though...in the last year of us releasing 64-bit addons I never once recall any customer complaining they could not use our products with IVAO. On the contrary, they were very, very vocal about XSB and VATSIM support. Given you are the first person I can recollect about this, I cannot agree with your assessment that there are as many holdbacks due to IVAO as you think.

[MercuryMat]

I agree. IVAO must speed up the transition to 64 bit. It's way too strange that this is the ONLY plugin that did not receive any update to 64 bit this year. Well, i know they are working on (and I had the occasion to test a semi-functional 64 bit version), but their organization is really complicated...

In my opinion the developers must give up the support and the efforts in 32 bit and concentrate only on the updated 64 bit technology. It's been a loooooong time this tech was available...

[dron420]

IVAO really needs to get with the times.

I have to be entirely honest with you though...in the last year of us releasing 64-bit addons I never once recall any customer complaining they could not use our products with IVAO. On the contrary, they were very, very vocal about XSB and VATSIM support. Given you are the first person I can recollect about this, I cannot agree with your assessment that there are as many holdbacks due to IVAO as you think.

The question is not in conflict, but in the fact that there is no 64-bit client IVAO and all use 32 X-Plane for online flights in IVAO..

[Ben Russell]

Both VATSIM and IVAO need to get over their ridiculous non disclosure policies and move to a simple open source model.

 

Their "precious" network protocol is almost entirely human readable and not very difficult to reverse engineer all the way down to their one little "secret" challenge to get onto the network.

 

They claim that it's to protect the quality of the network experience by ensuring that all clients are approved.

 

All they're doing is making the network experience suffer by holding back development progress.

[Cameron]

I understand, dron420, but we have absolutely no interest or even a thought at this point for 32-bit support.

I do apologize for the inconvenience!

[MercuryMat]

And then...sorry if I ask here: one of the reasons i was waiting for this plugin is the bad render transition between clear sky and clouds mostly when seen from the cockpit. X-plane goes from blue to gray without smooth transition, so every cloud, even of small and not "dense" seems to put the pilot in a complete blindness.

From the video you posted i don't remember to have seen nothing from the cockpit in this situation, that it's not rare...

It's possible to see something like that BEFORE giving you 40$???

Thanks a lot

[dron420]

And then...sorry if I ask here: one of the reasons i was waiting for this plugin is the bad render transition between clear sky and clouds mostly when seen from the cockpit. X-plane goes from blue to gray without smooth transition, so every cloud, even of small and not "dense" seems to put the pilot in a complete blindness.

From the video you posted i don't remember to have seen nothing from the cockpit in this situation, that it's not rare...

It's possible to see something like that BEFORE giving you 40$???

Thanks a lot

From video...

[MercuryMat]

Got this, but no cockpit view...

 

Ok, this one seems ok, I missed it...

 

 

 

Even if not perfect it's really better than X-Plane engine.

Edited November 24, 2013 by Mad Mat

[Cameron]

And then...sorry if I ask here: one of the reasons i was waiting for this plugin is the bad render transition between clear sky and clouds mostly when seen from the cockpit. X-plane goes from blue to gray without smooth transition, so every cloud, even of small and not "dense" seems to put the pilot in a complete blindness.

From the video you posted i don't remember to have seen nothing from the cockpit in this situation, that it's not rare...

It's possible to see something like that BEFORE giving you 40$???

Thanks a lot

The work in progress section has a thread with information on this.

John likes to call it the grey screen of death, and it has been adjusted in this product to not do this.

[MercuryMat]

Ok thanks

[Rexxxy77]

Hi John, thanks for your response.

What I am seeing may just be hard coded into xpx. It would appear that I can't find a clouds off in the distance, say 5nm and fly to them, through them, and then away from them. Clouds are either not drawn or drawn "everywhere" as soon as I reach them according to the weather map menu page. Adjusting the draw distance slider only affects how close to the clouds in the weather menu before they are drawn "everywhere" (in front and behind me).

If this is a limitation of xpx then so be it, I guess I haven't flown Much on cloudy days

Does my explanation of what I am seeing make sense?

Apologies for rambling

[JohnMAXX]

I am going to assume you are using the default real world weather?  Depending on conditions they will disappear this is due to how the default weather engine works. It will have huge "holes" in the weather patterns.  Not a bug it just isn't practical with SkyMAXX or even the default cloud engine.  

 

If you are going to use real world weather I highly suggest using the NOAA plugin which will not have the same effect....

[Rexxxy77]

Awesome, thanks John. I'll check it out.

[wcschulz3]

I am going to assume you are using the default real world weather?  Depending on conditions they will disappear this is due to how the default weather engine works. It will have huge "holes" in the weather patterns.  Not a bug it just isn't practical with SkyMAXX or even the default cloud engine.  

 

If you are going to use real world weather I highly suggest using the NOAA plugin which will not have the same effect....

Hi John,

 

I'm enjoying the new add immensely!

 

Two questions--- when I've tried to go to manual weather, even with draw distance and visibility in XP at 100, the apparent visibility seems limited (I can't see the world textures at high altitude in CAVU conditions).  Is there an inherent vis limiter with your weather engine?

 

Also...I've seen the NOAA plug in page--but can't for the life of me figure out how/what to download from Python or the installers---it's not really obvious.

 

Could you (when you have the time), give a quick, "download this from this page, etc." written tutorial!  I'd be much obliged, as this and other Python plugins look great, but I'm stymied trying to understand what to do for a Win-7 64-bit install.

Thanks!

Bill

KSGP

[JohnMAXX]

Hi John,

 

I'm enjoying the new add immensely!

 

Two questions--- when I've tried to go to manual weather, even with draw distance and visibility in XP at 100, the apparent visibility seems limited (I can't see the world textures at high altitude in CAVU conditions).  Is there an inherent vis limiter with your weather engine?

 

Also...I've seen the NOAA plug in page--but can't for the life of me figure out how/what to download from Python or the installers---it's not really obvious.

 

Could you (when you have the time), give a quick, "download this from this page, etc." written tutorial!  I'd be much obliged, as this and other Python plugins look great, but I'm stymied trying to understand what to do for a Win-7 64-bit install.

Thanks!

Bill

KSGP

 

 

As far as the NOAA Plugin is concerned, since I am recommending this for SkyMAXX users, I think putting together a step by step for you all is in order.  Just give me some time to get it together.

 

As far as the draw distance of the clouds, the last thing you may need to try is increasing the draw distance from the SkyMAXX Pro UI that should fill the clouds in much better.....

Edited November 24, 2013 by JohnMAXX

[JohnMAXX]

quick link:

 

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/425789-some-questions/#entry2847115

[wcschulz3]

quick link:

 

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/425789-some-questions/#entry2847115

 

Thanks, that did the trick!

 

Now I need to figure how the NOAA stuff works....tried it in the Aleutian Islands, and it struggled to get it right....

 

Also, is anyone reporting long "lags".   I notice, especially during approach that I'll get a 3 or 4 second pause while clouds change....not sure what setting to change to not allow any changes within 20nm of touchdown.

 

Thanks....we'll all learn the ins and outs for sure!

Bill

[MercuryMat]

Yes, me. I experienced some lags during approache phase...not really nice.

For the NOAA plugin:

1) install python 2.7x 64 bit

2) install pithonInterface plugin in x-plane resources folder

3) install noaa weather python script in the pythonscripts folder (in x-plane resources folder)

4) start xplane 64 and under plugin menu find noaa plugin.

5) check all options except VATSIM Compatible (i suggest switch to METAR at fl 95)

6) when on ground set x-plane weather to real weather (download from the internet)

Enjoy

[wcschulz3]

Yes, me. I experienced some lags during approache phase...not really nice.

For the NOAA plugin:

1) install python 2.7x 64 bit

2) install pithonInterface plugin in x-plane resources folder

3) install noaa weather python script in the pythonscripts folder (in x-plane resources folder)

4) start xplane 64 and under plugin menu find noaa plugin.

5) check all options except VATSIM Compatible (i suggest switch to METAR at fl 95)

6) when on ground set x-plane weather to real weather (download from the internet)

Enjoy

Thanks Mat