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ASv6.5 now officially supports Flight Simulator X using FSUIPC v4.0
or later.
FSUIPC v4.0, or the latest available version can be obtained from
http://www.schiratti.com/dowson.html. To install FSUIPC v4,
download it and run the included installation .exe.
Important Notes:
FSX includes various improvements to the weather system including
improved smoothing, better cloud lighting and depiction, included
vertical air simulation (thermals and updrafts/downdrafts), and
better turbulence representation.
The release version of FSX and SimConnect (the new interface to FSX
variables that FSUIPC v4 uses) does have a few known issues that can
affect weather simulation:
1) Winds Aloft
Wind aloft directions are currently not fully settable by external
weather programs including FSUIPC/ASv6.5. Thus, variations in actual
wind aloft direction experienced can and will vary from the data. In
many cases the difference will only be slight... in others, the
difference may be large. An update to SimConnect with an associated
fix for this problem has been speculated by Microsoft and we eagerly
anticipate its arrival. Note that this problem does not affect wind
speeds, only directions.
2) Smoothing
FSX does not support direct ambient control of weather variables
including wind direction/speed and visibility. For the most part,
FSX has improved its own internal smoothing yet some limitations do
exist.
3) Depict FS Haze Layer Option
FSX does not support ambient control of visibility, and thus "Depict
FS Haze layer" MUST be enabled using FSX in order to have visibility
clear as you gain altitude.
4) Graphical weather flashing at the upper end of the sky
depiction
When weather is set via ASv6.5 through FSUIPC v4, FSX may depict a
flashing area of sky directly above the aircraft when at higher
altitudes and during certain times of the day.
5) Vertical Air Simulation
Because FSX does not support direct ambient vertical wind velocity
control, VAS is not compatible. FSX does however include its own new
thermal and vertical air simulation effects.
6) Aloft Temperature Layers
Certain problems with aloft temperature layers may be experienced,
and, similar to the Winds Aloft issue, we expect this to be solved
with the first SimConnect update (not officially announced but
speculated and highly anticipated!).
7) ActiveSky Graphics and ActiveRadar NOT Compatible with FSX
ASG's textures are designed for FS9 and are not compatible with FSX.
Attempting to submit textures via ASG may result in problematic
texture depiction and potential FSX crashing. We are working on new
graphics content solutions specifically for FSX!
ActiveRadar is an FS9 module which does not support FSX's new module
format. We are working on a new radar gauge solution specifically
for FSX!
More information about new graphics, radar and other FSX solutions
will be posted on our website at http://www.hifisim.com as it
becomes available.
8) Potential stutters during weather updating with FSX
If you experience any stutters during weather writes, it is
recommended to disable all throttling options in ASv6.5. The new
SimConnect interface used by FSUIPC v4 may result in slight stutters
for each weather station write on certain systems when throttling is
enabled.
9) Using both FS9 and FSX with ASv6.5.
If you have both versions of FS installed and wish to use them both
with ASv6.5, you may wish to point the ASv6.ini FS9 folder entry to
your FSX path instead of FSX, so that AS can properly update any
required station database files. This is generally not required and
will not make a significant difference in depiction either way, but
may help in certain areas with few reporting stations. If you've
pointed the path entry to FSX, there will be no need to point it
back to FS9 when using FS9 because such database entries will have
already been updated.
10) Potential performance issues when using "Auto Submit" option
with FSX
As mentioned, ASG is not compatible with FSX. Using the "Auto
Submit" options within ASv6.5 can potentially result in performance
issues as ASG attempts to load ASG at each weather update. Thus, it
is highly recommended that all Auto Submit options be DISABLED when
using FSX.
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ActiveSky is programmed by Damian Clark
and graphical texture content is created by Chris Willis.
Support and Usability Design Assistance is provided by Jim Skorna.
Work first began on developing
ActiveSky back in 2001. The first version (original ActiveSky)
was released in early 2002. Since then, we've released
ActiveSky wxRE (December 2002), ActiveSky 2004 (December 2003),
ActiveSky 2004.5 (November 2004), ASV (June 2005), ASV Enhanced
(October 2005) and just recently: ASv6 and ActiveSky Graphics
(December 2005).
The ActiveSky private beta team is a
core group of approximately 30 members who have been testing the
product's various versions since 2002. They put many hours
into testing and interacting with the development team on a daily
basis. Most of them are actual real-world Pilots and all of
them have extensive simulation and weather experience. Several
members hold advanced degrees in aeronautics and meteorology.
The various ActiveSky versions have
earned numerous awards for Best Flight Sim Add-on Utility and Best
Weather Engine. Our most recent award was given by AVSIM
for ASv6 (Gold Star Award).
Damian Clark, Programmer and Lead
Developer, is a Commercial Pilot Certificate holder with
Multi-Engine and Instrument Ratings.
The HiFi DataNet took over 2 years
to develop and consists of 3 separate servers (2
collection/distribution, 1 collection/control). The system is
responsible for collecting weather data automatically from several
different sources, synthesizing it into station-based data,
archiving snapshots, and providing the real-time or archived data to
AS users in a secure (encrypted) and efficient format. Over 30
gigabytes of weather data are collected and served each day!
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