Opinions On SkyMaxx Pro?

Pieces
Posts: 342
Joined: Fri Jul 13, 2012 8:25 pm
Location: Ely, IA (KCID)

Opinions On SkyMaxx Pro?

Post by Pieces »

I just stumbled up SkyMaxx Pro, a weather engine for X-Plane. The reviews on X-Aviation are pretty spectacular. Does anyone here use it? What are your thoughts?

It looks like the cloud textures are higher quality than default, but I'm concerned with how visibility and low level fog is portrayed. The trailer has a suspicious lack of flying through clouds and doesn't give a good idea of how that looks.

I like how the clouds move with wind, and it sounds like the weather is a bit more dynamic than the fairly static default XP weather (with drastic changes when the METAR file updates).
Reece Heinlein, PPL - IR, KMZZ
PilotEdge I-11
Alphabet Challenge
DeRiet
Posts: 13
Joined: Sat Jan 05, 2013 8:32 am

Re: Opinions On SkyMaxx Pro?

Post by DeRiet »

I also stumbled upon Skymaxx pro a few days ago and decided to buy it. I haven't flown a lot with it yet but I really like what I've seen so far. It sure looks pretty and it gives you a more "immersed" feeling. I can confirm that it doesn't seem to have a negative impact on fps when you use the more conservative settings. On high quality settings you will see a drop in fps.

I believe the plugin requires the newest xplane version (>10.25) and I think it only runs in 62 bits. It seems stable though, haven't had issues yet.

All in all I can certainly recommend it.

Cheers,
Vincent Meier
Posts: 249
Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2012 11:37 am
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Re: Opinions On SkyMaxx Pro?

Post by Vincent Meier »

Pieces wrote:I just stumbled up SkyMaxx Pro, a weather engine for X-Plane. The reviews on X-Aviation are pretty spectacular. Does anyone here use it? What are your thoughts?

It looks like the cloud textures are higher quality than default, but I'm concerned with how visibility and low level fog is portrayed. The trailer has a suspicious lack of flying through clouds and doesn't give a good idea of how that looks.

I like how the clouds move with wind, and it sounds like the weather is a bit more dynamic than the fairly static default XP weather (with drastic changes when the METAR file updates).
I just bought it and burned some rubber off the tires on the first run. I find it far superior than the default X-Plane clouds. When going through clouds there is none of that pure grey screen for 0 visibility. It seems more realistic and you can "peek" through the clouds more. Well done and well worth the $40.00.
Just my two cents.
Vincent Meier

Skyhawk 172: C-FEGU
Baron 58: C-FEED
Cirrus SR22: C-FLAG
Pieces
Posts: 342
Joined: Fri Jul 13, 2012 8:25 pm
Location: Ely, IA (KCID)

Re: Opinions On SkyMaxx Pro?

Post by Pieces »

Vincent Meier wrote:When going through clouds there is none of that pure grey screen for 0 visibility. It seems more realistic and you can "peek" through the clouds more.
Well, if you're in a large cloud the visibility should be essentially 0. Have you seen any conditions where there are low level clouds/fog?
Reece Heinlein, PPL - IR, KMZZ
PilotEdge I-11
Alphabet Challenge
Vincent Meier
Posts: 249
Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2012 11:37 am
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Re: Opinions On SkyMaxx Pro?

Post by Vincent Meier »

Pieces wrote:
Vincent Meier wrote:When going through clouds there is none of that pure grey screen for 0 visibility. It seems more realistic and you can "peek" through the clouds more.
Well, if you're in a large cloud the visibility should be essentially 0. Have you seen any conditions where there are low level clouds/fog?
What I was trying to say is that the 0 visibility in X-plane is immediate, which I hate. In SkyMaxx Pro it is not. I have not tested to the extent of complete 0 vis, but it certainly gives you the feel that you would need to be looking at your instruments during an IFR flight. I did fly in the clouds at about 10,000 ft and down in the mountain range there were nice pocket of clouds nicely nestled in amongst the valleys. I was oooing and awwwing for most of my flight...come on man, dish out the forty bucks!!! That is like 7 import beer at the bar...
Vincent Meier

Skyhawk 172: C-FEGU
Baron 58: C-FEED
Cirrus SR22: C-FLAG
Pieces
Posts: 342
Joined: Fri Jul 13, 2012 8:25 pm
Location: Ely, IA (KCID)

Re: Opinions On SkyMaxx Pro?

Post by Pieces »

Ah. Great. The instantaneous visibility changes are definitely annoying in the default weather. Thanks for the opinions everyone. I'll give it a try.
Reece Heinlein, PPL - IR, KMZZ
PilotEdge I-11
Alphabet Challenge
DeRiet
Posts: 13
Joined: Sat Jan 05, 2013 8:32 am

Re: Opinions On SkyMaxx Pro?

Post by DeRiet »

Vincent Meier wrote:
Pieces wrote:
Vincent Meier wrote:I was oooing and awwwing for most of my flight...come on man, dish out the forty bucks!!! That is like 7 import beer at the bar...
Agree with that!
Vincent Meier
Posts: 249
Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2012 11:37 am
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Re: Opinions On SkyMaxx Pro?

Post by Vincent Meier »

Pieces wrote:
Vincent Meier wrote:When going through clouds there is none of that pure grey screen for 0 visibility. It seems more realistic and you can "peek" through the clouds more.
Well, if you're in a large cloud the visibility should be essentially 0. Have you seen any conditions where there are low level clouds/fog?
Reece,
I found this while drinking an import beer...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QX0f2XBANyU

This is what you are looking for I suspect.
Vincent Meier

Skyhawk 172: C-FEGU
Baron 58: C-FEED
Cirrus SR22: C-FLAG
wolfram44
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Jan 07, 2014 12:29 pm

Re: Opinions On SkyMaxx Pro?

Post by wolfram44 »

I have a question for users. The examples I have seen in demo videos show basically the puffy "cotton ball" clouds and cirrus which look great, but are there other cloud types such as alto cumulus or stratus overcast layers? How is SkyMaxx at reading Metar data? Also, in the default X plane, clouds, when seen from high altitudes ie: 30000 feet or higher, appear as a large donut of clouds that does not stretch to the horizon. I haven't seen any shots of SkyMaxx from these altitudes.
dhplane
Posts: 72
Joined: Sun Dec 13, 2015 9:06 am

Re: Opinions On SkyMaxx Pro?

Post by dhplane »

Most of the time I use Skymaxx Pro with real weather (RWC) the system crashes, usually while “parsing METAR data” of “repositioning cloud layers”. NOTE: I have the latest versions of Xplane 11, Skymaxx and RWC.

Is there away to fix this, or do I finally give up and install xEnviro?

Thx.

Joey
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