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Lost Wages to San Diego last night was the first leg of a few on stream. I pushed the arrival into San Diego to Youtube because it was a stellar arrival. Video starts about 15 miles from top of drop as we were cloud surfing at FL280. We broke out of the clouds about FL210 to Photo goodness.

For those who don't like xplane weather engine, or those who swear by Skymax V2 and their latest V3 release....take a look at this and tell me what you would fly. These are HD Clouds V2 (free textures on the Org) and stock xplane weather engine! (No Plug in pushing you global weather every 5 minutes and locking your sim). I am running Real Terra Haze and Photo scenery I built using g2xpl.

I have been simming for about 12 years and this is the best I have ever seen Xplane look. Think I found the sweet spot with hardware and addons to make the sim look great and run extremely smooth. Keep in mind, this was a live stream so it was only recorded at 720P, rather than 1080P.

Here's is the Vid a few miles from Top of Drop on the LYNDI4 Arrival and RNAV 27 approach in San Diego.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oseI6sN1uaE

Hardware - 4790K CPU at 4.4, 980Ti Classified, 32 GB Ram running on Samsung Pro 850 SSD.

Stop in for a stream at http://www.twitch.tv/joshjgibbs

Hope you guys enjoy and let me know if you have any questions about this set up.
Cheers,
Josh

Looks great, Josh! I've been really enjoying your photo exhibitions on Twitch.

NICE....been missing the Josh streams lately--too busy during the nights. Keep up the great work man!

Justin Lerner wrote:Looks great, Josh! I've been really enjoying your photo exhibitions on Twitch.

Thanks, Justin. Glad you are enjoying as much as I am.
Cheers,
Josh

stevekirks wrote:NICE....been missing the Josh streams lately--too busy during the nights. Keep up the great work man!

Thanks, Steve. I still see you popping in from time to time. You should join in on the group flights, tons of fun. I know the controllers love it (sarcasm may be real).
Cheers,
Josh

MrGibbs wrote:

stevekirks wrote:NICE....been missing the Josh streams lately--too busy during the nights. Keep up the great work man!

Thanks, Steve. I still see you popping in from time to time. You should join in on the group flights, tons of fun. I know the controllers love it (sarcasm may be real).
Cheers,
Josh

I've been trying to spend some time completing the I-ratings and the Alphabet Challenge flights, but I hear you loud and clear. My flight sim setup is in the home office, which overlooks the bedroom so staying up to fly means my wife can't sleep. She's out of town in a couple of weeks and that means plenty of time for fun soon.

MrGibbs wrote:For those who don't like xplane weather engine, or those who swear by Skymax V2 and their latest V3 release....take a look at this and tell me what you would fly. These are HD Clouds V2 (free textures on the Org) and stock xplane weather engine! (No Plug in pushing you global weather every 5 minutes and locking your sim). I am running Real Terra Haze and Photo scenery I built using g2xpl.

I just installed SkyMaxx v3 and took an FSE job on a night flight and wasn't expecting much on the cloud front. I am pleasantly surprised and quite satisfied with the results. I haven't notice any hits on performance either which I appreciate. It still pulls weather from X-Plane and only replaces sky and cloud textures from what I can tell. I haven't had any reload stutters and I only have a mediocre machine or slightly better.

Marcus Becker wrote:

MrGibbs wrote:For those who don't like xplane weather engine, or those who swear by Skymax V2 and their latest V3 release....take a look at this and tell me what you would fly. These are HD Clouds V2 (free textures on the Org) and stock xplane weather engine! (No Plug in pushing you global weather every 5 minutes and locking your sim). I am running Real Terra Haze and Photo scenery I built using g2xpl.

I just installed SkyMaxx v3 and took an FSE job on a night flight and wasn't expecting much on the cloud front. I am pleasantly surprised and quite satisfied with the results. I haven't notice any hits on performance either which I appreciate. It still pulls weather from X-Plane and only replaces sky and cloud textures from what I can tell. I haven't had any reload stutters and I only have a mediocre machine or slightly better.

I just installed SkyMaxx v3 hoping it would solve some of the issues the default/HD clouds have, but I'm finding that the overcast layers are far too transparent when you are in them. With weather set to 0/0 I'm seeing the ground from 1000 feet within the cloud layer. That's obviously a no-go for any serious approach practice/training. The main issue I have with the default clouds is that the ground lights are visible when in clouds at night. Also, overcast layers aren't solid when viewed from above, and so the transition from on top to in clouds is awkward.

RyanK wrote:
I just installed SkyMaxx v3 hoping it would solve some of the issues the default/HD clouds have, but I'm finding that the overcast layers are far too transparent when you are in them. With weather set to 0/0 I'm seeing the ground from 1000 feet within the cloud layer. That's obviously a no-go for any serious approach practice/training. The main issue I have with the default clouds is that the ground lights are visible when in clouds at night. Also, overcast layers aren't solid when viewed from above, and so the transition from on top to in clouds is awkward.

I just installed SkyMaxx v3 and found the same issue. While it makes some very esthetic and realistic overcast from on top, the descent into the clouds doesn't mimic the settings. For instance, setting a Cat 1 approach with 1/2 mile visibility and 200 ft overcast, I'm still able to see the approach lighting from over 3 miles out and can see the hazy ground below during the entire approach. There is no adjustment that I can find to make the cloud layer denser. So, agreed, an obvious no-go for approach practice. Very unfortunate, because this plugin makes some beautiful clouds otherwise. But I have to disable it and go back to the default clouds for IFR practice.

Rod

What i don't like about X-Planes default cloud system (no matter if I use standard textures or HD clouds) is the fact that you can very often clearly see that the same texture is just placed numerous times next to each other. It often looks like you printed the same image to several transparent films, which you then lay over each other with some offset. It's also visible in the video in some occasions.

That's more or less the only reason why I still prefer Skymaxx.