Feedback

[jumberlack]

Hi Steve,

I've got some feedback and questions for you after my most recent flight with Ideal Flight.

1. Cloud problem
9:20am local, 22 Oct 2011
Route - CYQQ FASBO YVR KPAE
Weather Severity 2
Wind Severity 2
General Visibility 2

I don't know if it's because I have the edited cloud file from ASE (haze layer) installed, as I use ASE sometimes, but I had a massive problem with flickering clouds cutting into the mountains and sea (?) on this flight.

Perhaps you could try this flight and you will see what I mean. It was especially bad near CYVR Vancouver Intl. It's not the popping cloud problem, it's the z-buffer issue when the clouds intersect a polygon model...
It was never this noticeable with ASE.

Q. Is there a way to avoid this happening again, it kills the immersion that IF helps to create.

2. Could you please consider adding the option 'random' for Weather severity? I have it set to 2 but every flight now has rain and thunderstorms. I know that I can change it but it would be great if it was randomly selected.

3. The 'weather changes over time' option in FSX (fsx.cfg - [Weather] DynamicWeather=x) has been changed to 50% and I didn't change it. It was previously set to 0. Did IF change this setting?

Thanks,
Toby

[Steve Waite]

Every now and again in places with poor weather and low visibility you will see the change in visibility layers when a cloud intersects the land, or there is a change in general visibility level, that's just FSX.

Every now and again you may get a hill just the right height and a change in visibility layer intersecting where somewhere else the change is hidden elowground.

The randomness of weather is out there in IF Skies when you fly around. The thing to do with IF is leave the weather set to normal, and wait for changes in condition come to you as you fly around.

As the date changes the type of weather will change as well. So there is no point having "Random Weather". When you spend more time with IF you will see see what randomness you get.

Check out the round the world trip on the IF: World pages, see the weather as Peter flies all around the world. http://members.home.nl/pwm.willems/PHRTW/pagina8.html

IF weather changes with time at rates determined by the changes in weather, so at the end of a flight the 'weather changes over time' option will reflect the last value being used.

Thanks Toby. All the best;
Steve

[Steve Waite]

I've just been checking the visibility stuff. Generally a layer only changes by one or two miles visibility at any time, but even then, in FSX, this is enough to show a line, if you happen to get a place where the hill and the change is just right for it. Different weather at another time will change the view.

[Steve Waite]

Remember that IF weather is different, fly around and you'll get different weather.
As with low level visibility, IF uses a special cloud texture for low fog and mist.

http://www.codelegend.com/graphics/ss_steve_waite_13.jpg

[jumberlack]

Hi Steve,
My weather didn't look anything like that.
I have set all weather settings to normal and will try a flight tonight and report back...
Do I need to do anything to activate the IF texture?
What happens if I use ASE and it copies it's own haze texture across?
To get visibility per your screenshot, what setting should I use? Normal?

Thanks for your explanation about the weather, now I understand better how IF works.

Best Regards,
Toby

[Steve Waite]

Go for normal settings, REX and ASE both have a similar texture that IF will use for fog.
To get a screenshot like that, wait till the weather comes...don't try to get IF to present a certain type of weather, the weather will come. It you increase weather severity, a cloudy place becomes overcast, a blue sky becomes cloudy.
regards;
Steve

[jumberlack]

Hi Steve,

I set the weather to normal but I'm still having a huge problem with clouds cutting into the ground/ sea level. I've uploaded a couple of films to youtube, so that you can see.

Link 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bCYvCybmts
Link 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpzH0AWS1QA

I know about this problem, as I have seen it using ASE and REX but I have never seen it this extreme. I read here (http://forum.avsim.net/topic/255351-clouds-submerged-in-the-ground-at-wrong-height/page__view__findpost__p__1608444) that this can be caused by FSX's incorrect interpretation of clouds above MSL instead of AGL... is that what's happening here?

Question 1
What do I need to do to avoid this happening?

Question 2
I am often seeing double cloud layers, which can be caused by using too many layers in ASE, except I'm only using IF. Can I avoid this with IF or do I have to live with it? I can avoid this in ASE by using no more than 5 layers.



Question 3
Sometimes during a flight, the sim will freeze briefly for a few seconds and then, when it unfreezes, the weather is completely different. I guess this is a weather update but how can I avoid this happening? I don't want my sim freezing mid-flight or the weather changing drastically.


I am really getting into IF and use it now for every flight but I don't want to have to go back to using ASE to get my weather. I really like the one click aspect of IF.

Thanks for your help,
Toby

[Steve Waite]

Every 60 Miles or every hour, the weather is updated. IF is different, and sets up the present weather and the weather it is going to be turning into. At this point the exact cloud locations can appear to alter. This is normal and yes, not very imersive, but only for a second or two.

Rather than using global weather, the weather is generated for the area. So you don't get cumulous at ground level like you do with other weather. None the less there are limitations in FSX weather.
At the edge of two systems you can get a double layer, since the clouds in one system are different to the other.

The fog layers and dawn/dusk don't flutter here like they appear to on your films, and I've had no reports of similar elewhere. Is that REX or ASE clouds? Have you got anyhing else running? Can you try without the IF thermal and Ridge engine running? (uncheck box in weather). Can you try default aircraft and scenery?

Let me know how that goes
Thanks
Steve

[jumberlack]

Hi Steve,

It's not immersive when the weather front you've been staring at for twenty minutes suddenly disappears... That's like waving an attractive toy in front of a child's eyes and then snatching it away... Any chance of adding a weather update radius slider so we can choose if we want the sim to freeze or not? I only ever fly 100-120nm trips and it would suck if this happened every flight.

Dawn/dusk wasn't fluttering (bad video), only the clouds that intersect the ground...
I'm using FEX cloud textures.

I'll try without the thermal ridge and report back.

If this doesn't work, I'll go back to using ASE but I would love to see IF working for me.

Thanks for your help,
Toby

[Steve Waite]

Hi,
You can play with the radius in the settings.ini.
The weather itself won't be changing as such, just the clouds and positions.
I'm on the phone to others that don't get that fluttering at all. Have you turned off ASE?
Speak later
Steve