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Captains, It is with a lot of enthusiasm and excitement that I get the opportunity to announce SkyMaxx Pro v5 to you today! Version 4.0 was our longest major version run, and it's time to turn the page to Chapter 5. A release date is at the bottom of this post. We have wanted to bring what v5 has in it for years, but it just wasn't feasible till now. With that said, SkyMaxx Pro v5 brings GPU ray-casted clouds. Internally, we attempted GPU ray-casted clouds many versions ago, but the performance was just not there. However, they will now be the fastest clouds we offer (you read that right...faster than v4!), and they also feature the most complex, realistic lighting effects of any cumulus cloud layer offered (you will still have the option to run v4 style particle-based clouds). It is now possible to draw volumetric cloud formations to the horizon with v5. These are true 3D, voxel-based clouds with physically-based cloud growth. 3D textures do consume a fair amount of video memory, but modern video cards generally can handle the load without a problem. Technology has finally caught up with this approach, and thus SkyMaxx Pro v5 is here. These new volumetric clouds use a novel approach to split the computational load of lighting between the GPU and CPU in an optimal manner, resulting in framerates we never thought possible for true 3D voxel clouds. We’ve also come up with some clever ways to minimize the complexity of the shaders without introducing visible banding or slicing effects in the process. Our approach also minimizes texture lookups within the cloud shaders, which is also key to maintaining fast performance. Volumetric, ray-casted clouds are especially valuable in VR setups, where the rotation of particle billboards can be very distracting while flying near a cloud. Volumetric clouds do away with billboards entirely, leading to a smooth experience as you approach and fly through them. And the per-fragment lighting, including full Henyey-Greenstein phase effects, leads to stunning details both outside of the clouds and within – especially at dawn and dusk. So, to re-cap, SkyMaxx Pro v5 brings: GPU ray-casted clouds The fastest performing clouds we have offered The most complex, realistic lighting effects of any cumulus cloud layer offered in the SkyMaxx Pro series It is now possible to draw complex volumetric cloud formations to the horizon with v5 True 3D, voxel-based clouds with physically-based cloud growth No more rotating clouds, where the rotation of particle billboards can be very distracting while flying near a cloud (especially in VR) Virtually unlimited layers are still possible with Real Weather Connector in use With SkyMaxx Pro v5 we will be introducing an updated version of Real Weather Connector to go with it. This update will be free of charge to existing Real Weather Connector users. Some previews. Be sure to click on the image for full size! Clicking them once more in the popup will allow you to view the image in original size form. I have elected to do a series of flights with real world weather, and am including a series from each of these flights... Flight 1: KACV - KSFO An easy flight down the coast, and while KACV was overcast (as it usually is), the weather did start to break around Santa Rosa, CA. This provided a nice variety of clouds on the way down to San Francisco. I really enjoy how the sunlight interacts with the clouds, especially ascending up through the layers. Between the new per-pixel lighting and the lack of billboard rotation, flying through these is a really nice experience! For reference, cruising altitude in these shots is 36,000ft. Important for those who used to complain about feeling like SkyMaxx Pro v4 was not acceptable at high altitudes. Flight 2: KSFO - KFAT This flight I decided to fly into the Central Valley of California. There were some weather fronts in and out of various areas of the flight, and they were pretty cool to fly through! Having Real Weather Connector installed allows me to see the distant layers and fronts I'll be flying over, and makes for some scenic cloud boundary lines. Not much else to add, so enjoy! Flight 3: Random Shots I am including these images because I just liked the perspectives they provided. Slightly different than what I've shown here, some nice mountain blending included. I just liked them, so why not? Low Light For good measure I wanted to provide some evening and morning pictures. These show a little bit of the per-pixel lighting playing with the clouds from the direction of the sun. While more subtle in these shots, there are moments where this can be more pronounced and spectacular! It's especially cool in sim, and where the sun is lower (rising or setting). Intensity changes based on sun angle. The first picture is the sun rising, the second is setting. Though the sun is behind the mountains, you can see how clouds closest to the mountains are lit brighter than the others. IMPORTANT INFORMATION Information on upgrade eligibility: SkyMaxx Pro v5 will be a paid upgrade for all current SkyMaxx Pro v4 owners. Those of you who qualify will receive a 50% off ($19.95 instead of $39.95) upgrade discount which will be valid for 60 days from the time SkyMaxx Pro v5 goes on sale. After this, the product will go to full price for all customers. We do not make exceptions to this, so if you want the promotional pricing, you need to get in on it while the 60 day window is in effect! Information on release: SkyMaxx Pro v5 will be released next week on Friday, January 22nd, 2021 @ 12PM Eastern (USA - New York Time)! Vulkan & Open GL: We will support both Vulkan & Open GL. There will not be a separate cost for these products. What about Metal? Mac users will be able to run SkyMaxx Pro v5 in OpenGL, as has also been the case with v4. When it comes to Metal, we have no viable option to bring custom cloud rendering. Laminar has looked at this previously, and the bridge we need to allow this is just not made available by Apple. Additionally, Laminar Research is not yet prepared to open up an API for Metal. As such, we can only offer OpenGL use until this changes (if at all). If it's any consolation, every screenshot above was taken on a Mac, and I am happy with the performance. SkyMaxx Pro v5 is enough to make me not fly in Metal, which says something (as much as it pains me to wish we had Metal support). Thanks to everyone for their continued support in this amazing product! See you in the skies...next week!

Hi @Honey56, This is a pretty extreme comparison. If $19.95 USD is going to cause you a life or death situation, you should probably re-evaluate flight simming. I'm sorry that you're in tough times. I do hope things improve for you in 2021. On our side, SkyMaxx Pro v4 has been on the market for 4 years. In that time there have been many updates; all free. At some point, just like X-Plane 11 going to X-Plane 12 will be, new transitions must be made to keep development flowing. This is common in software (heck, even cars!). We are happy to offer you the 50% discount and feel this is a more than fair price discount for your past support. All the best!

Great new , in two ways, first in the performance of the software itself with Vulcan and second nice commercial approach for us the users and owners of SMP and RWC I'll be there next week for buy V5 , thank you

Looking forward to promo video or stream to understand the improvement being made.

fantastic piece of news, when I fly XP11 I always use SMP4 with RWC and Activesky, on the odd occasion it may be a little slow but my system is 3 years old.......I have tried them all and still come back to SMP as this to me usually looks great and especially lately performs very well.... can't wait for release and also feel the upgrade cost is good to....

Hi there!, I see that you're in a part of the world where it's currently past sunset. Technology is a fun thing, and these days manufacturers of phones and computer operating systems now have the night shift where blue light is removed and a yellow hue comes in. This got me the other day. Be sure to turn off any night shift mode on your operating system or phone, and view again. These clouds are very...white.

Not when using the new volumetric option for overcast clouds. You can always switch this back to one of the other options if that feature is important to you. The reason is kind of technical, but it boils down to there not being a good way to do this without really affecting performance - it's a tradeoff that's not worth it in our opinion.

The best solution would be JoinFS (https://pmem.uk/joinfs/), it´s free and you have a higher update rate than on IVAO or VATSIM

This looks and sounds terrific Cameron, SkyMaxx Pro, RWC and ASXP have become absolutely essential to all of my flights, to the point that there is a little pang of disappointment whenever I load a flight and discover that the weather is clear blue skies! (Might be linked to growing up in 'not-so-sunny' South Wales as a kid) Very excited to experience the volumetric clouds sans billboard rotations, I will be able to get out of the habit of glancing away to busy myself checking flight plans and making coffee while flying into those lovely fluffy big white clouds, thank you Cameron, Sundog and the the team of SkyMaxx pixel wizards!

You can alleviate abrupt weather changes with Real Weather Connector in use. I'm going to be out of office through the weekend, so will have to wait. I'm going to leave this one for @sundog. The answer is yes in OpenGL. I don't remember if this carried through to Vulkan (I'm on Mac, so no Vulkan here). 3D rain has been a thing since SkyMaxx Pro v4. However, it is only available in OpenGL. Vulkan does not allow for this kind of thing to be done at this time until Laminar creates an SDK for it. Thanks for your interest and the questions!

This is SkyMaxx v4 with 10700K RTX 2070, plane MCDU gives me only a 7 FPS hit and I have horizon to horizon freeware volumetric clouds. 38FPS

Hi @marco.auer, Thanks for the kind words. ASXP has integration with SkyMaxx Pro, but Real Weather Connector is required to get that working. Once Real Weather Connector is installed you will find a new menu option in SkyMaxx Pro for Real Weather, and then a checkbox to select ASXP. Hope this helps!

I love SkyMaxx Pro, waiting for v5

SkyMaxx Pro has been on the market for many years and is easily the highest bought software in the sim over that course of time. The current v4 product page should give you a pretty good idea about what it is: https://www.x-aviation.com/catalog/product_info.php/skymaxx-pro-p-138 Keep in mind v4 will be phased out next week when we release v5 as shown above.

Simply stunning!!. It looks great!!. Waiting anxious for the release date Cheers and keep up that excellent job you guys do everyday! Best regards!! Jerry G.

I think this ultimately comes down to: 1. Do you want 3D volumetric clouds that are not based on billboard 2D graphics (like default), look realistic as you fly through them, and dynamically interact with sun and moonlight? 2. Do you want more cloud layers for real weather than X-Plane can provide by default (limited to 3)? 3. Do you want to be able to see sun rays and have a custom sky box atmosphere model? 4. Do you want to see cloud types not offered by X-Plane (requires FSGRW or ASXP to see these added cloud types)? If you answered yes, then it's worth your consideration. If you're happy with default and don't find value in these things, then you're probably right. These aren't for you. Regardless, you have the option, and that's a great thing!

Ive been a fan of Cameron and his products for years hes a stand up guy and always looking to satisfy his customers, Ill be on the front of the line for this one..

Excellent news, thank you for the update. I too had a feeling that something was brewing in the good old Maxx laboratory - atmospheric alchemy! I have been looking at the previews with eager anticipation, and they seem to be very impressive, especially the improved draw distance. Will different cloud types be included in the initial release, for instance cirrus, tcb’s (anvil types), and stratiform types? Is there any news on the anticipated technical specifications regarding GPU requirements? Santa might have been generous in many ways, but sadly not in the GPU department! Thanks, Fabio

I will definitely get it.

Hi @smidhe, See the details right below the last preview image!

Great looking forward to the release. as i still love flying your aircraft in x plane and now it will be in you clouds.

Thanks @alexcolka! And, Happy Birthday!

I knew something big was cooking! You guys simply rock! And the update will be released one day before my birthday, beautiful pictures.

That's not how this works (and as a person who has filed chargebacks on things with AMEX that failed). AMEX is cheap insurance for tangible items of value that may be damaged or stolen, but they are TOUGH on the consumer with these things that are more black and white, as much as I love them for the cards I have (trust me, I know having just gone through an $800 dispute for 7 months and many re-tries with something that was legitimately disputable). I still lost. That said, they will simply allow us the opportunity to speak our side, and our posted refund policy is VERY clear: https://www.x-aviation.com/catalog/refund_policy.php They do tend to adhere to Terms & Conditions of a sale from a vendor. And that very question has been answered numerous times with detail. It is related to that if you take the time to read previous replies regarding why the update could not be separated as a hot fix. I don't consider Navigraph outdated, and I am not aware of any aircraft being rendered useless by using the workarounds provided. It would be one thing if this team were sitting around twiddling thumbs. Such is not the case, and as of now this situation is being blown way out of proportion, especially given the workarounds that exist; even for the current AIRAC cycle. As this thread is just further convoluting the issue, I am now closing this one as well.

skymaxx pro v4 is a fps monster. I have a 3080 graphics card. I have an i9 processor. I'm getting 20-25 fps. It's okay if you don't want to see a cloud on the horizon. You will get 40-45 fps. I have a good system and I don't want to downgrade skymaxx pro settings. sky maxx pro v5 won't be much different. there is something fundamentally wrong. Instead of paying $ 20 for the V5, I'm buying active sky.