SkymaxxPro overcast issue

[telamon]

When running SkyMaxPro with the overcast quality set to low all I see is this (see attached files)

 

System specs:

Intel i5 at 3.4 GHZ

GTX 550 ti overclocked to 1120 MHZ

8gb ram

1 tb hardrive.

X-Plane 10 (newist version) 64bit

skymaxx version (see screenshot)

[JohnMAXX]

Looks as if the visibility in the weather dialog is set low, this is an expected result.

 

Also increase the cloud draw distance from the SMP UI......

[telamon]

Looks as if the visibility in the weather dialog is set low, this is an expected result.

 

Also increase the cloud draw distance from the SMP UI......

Visibliity was set to 35NM. I increased the cloud draw distance but it didn't do anything.

[sundog]

On the low overcast setting you will just see a gray plane for the stratus cloud above you, which is what you are seeing. That one puffy cloud in the distance is probably a distant thunderstorm.

 

For volumetric overcast clouds you will need to use the medium or high settings.

[telamon]

On the low overcast setting you will just see a gray plane for the stratus cloud above you, which is what you are seeing. That one puffy cloud in the distance is probably a distant thunderstorm.

 

For volumetric overcast clouds you will need to use the medium or high settings.

I don't actally see a plane though, its just the sky color. When I move the camera it looks like nothing is there.

[JohnMAXX]

I could be mistaken but Im seeing the stratus layer in the above images,......  for better results try changing the setting for the overcast layer to either Medium or High.....

[telamon]

I could be mistaken but Im seeing the stratus layer in the above images,......  for better results try changing the setting for the overcast layer to either Medium or High.....

That works pretty good, but is there any way I could get something that looks like this?

[JohnMAXX]

Those were the experimental clouds using ray casting,  if you look at the video the results were far from ideal so we pulled them in favor of the more volumetic clouds.    You can get similar results by creating custom weather patterns and setting specific cloud layers to certain altitudes using the default weather dialog....

 

If you are relying on real world weather you are limited to the actual weather conditions......You may get similar results if the real world weather presents the cloud layers in this fashion......

[telamon]

Those were the experimental clouds using ray casting,  if you look at the video the results were far from ideal so we pulled them in favor of the more volumetic clouds.    You can get similar results by creating custom weather patterns and setting specific cloud layers to certain altitudes using the default weather dialog....

 

If you are relying on real world weather you are limited to the actual weather conditions......You may get similar results if the real world weather presents the cloud layers in this fashion......

Hmm. I got an Idea for a plugin I could make. Basically once you fly into overcast it sets your visibility to very low, kinda like how the default xp10 weather engine does. Would this mess up skymaxx?

[JohnMAXX]

Probably will not work since we override that art control to do away with the "grey screen of death"

We are happy with the desired result and to be honest I am puzzled as to why you want that condition back?

[telamon]

Probably will not work since we override that art control to do away with the "grey screen of death"

We are happy with the desired result and to be honest I am puzzled as to why you want that condition back?

When I set the overcast to med/high there are alot of gaps in the clouds. And if you fly into a cloud you can still see the ground so there is basically no more IFR.

[telamon]

For example, here is skymaxx on very high settings with a thick overcast

 

all other weather scenarios look amazing with skymaxx except overcast.

[Cameron]

There are plenty of topics in this forum regarding this. Part of it is a limitation of X-Plane and plug-in use in a scenario like this.

 

The short and skinny: It is what it is until we get better access to things we need from Laminar.

[telamon]

There are plenty of topics in this forum regarding this. Part of it is a limitation of X-Plane and plug-in use in a scenario like this.

 

The short and skinny: It is what it is until we get better access to things we need from Laminar.

What if you did something like this? (see attachment)

 

basically put a transparent plane with texture of an overcast in the middle of the overcast layer then have the clouds around it. this would help to fill in the gaps a little bit.

[Cameron]

It would also be a brilliant way to kill frame rates.

 

Again, when Laminar has solutions ready, we're ready.

[telamon]

It would also be a brilliant way to kill frame rates.

 

Again, when Laminar has solutions ready, we're ready.

I don't see how having 1 plane would kill frame rates

[Cameron]

I don't see how having 1 plane would kill frame rates

 

I understand that you're having a hard time seeing what I'm saying. That said, it does not change the answer I have already given, and it should be good enough for you to understand that while we appreciate the suggestion(s), we have had lengthy talks with Laminar over time, explored many options, and are awaiting more. Until then, expect no crazy changes in this scenario.

[sundog]

We actually tried that at one point telamon. It ended up looking weird, especially when you suddenly flew through the (geometric) plane.

 

As Cameron said, we're doing the best we can with the information X-Plane currently exposes to us. The "grey screen of death" approach isn't unreasonable for overcast clouds, but we don't know the altitudes at which that effect kicks in which limits our ability to work with it. I'm optimistic that future X-Plane updates will enable us to do even cooler stuff with overcast though.

[telamon]

Alright. Thank you all for the help. I understand that this would probably look rather odd. I'm going to see if there is a way that you can do this with a plugin.

 

So far im pretty satisfied with skymaxx and was totally worth the price!