weather add-on for v4.x advice?

[DavidL25210]

Hello,

please could someone recommend decent weather add-on software for my freshly installed Prepar3D_v4_Academic_4.5.14.34698? I keep searching this forum, however search engine rejects my searches because words are always "too common", or something like that...

Right now I installed and testing the FSrealWX 3.0 64-bit for P3D (I use it for FS9/FSX sometimes too), but when comparing to my current, well tuned FSX Acceleration + ActiveSky Next, the P3D v4 + FSrealWX looks worse. Im considering either the current HiFi ActiveSky P3D (for P3Dv5 and P3Dv4), or FS Global Real Weather (for Prepar3D v4 only). Same price.

My PC is a bit outdated Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3770K CPU @ 3.50GHz, 16GB RAM, nVidia GTX 660Ti 2GB, standard 2TB HDD, and running @1920x1200 screen resolution. Latest Win10 21H1 release.

I fly primarily with MegaSceneryEarth (or other ortho), with added payware airports. Thinking about ORBX stuff down the road too, to have access to their airports and have generally some variety.

Which weather add-on to get?

Thanks in advance for advice.

[Aussie1234]

I can only speak on behalf of Active Sky. I have never tried any of the other packages as I have been very satisfied with Active Sky over the years.

I was on P3d V4.5 straight and then from HF1 to HF3 and purchased Active Sky early in the piece. Very nice real weather results worldwide. I added REX Sky Force for improved cloud art and it got even better. I then had REX Environment Force for more textures. Very satisfied for years while on P3d v4. My PC at the time was similar to yours.

I am now on P3d V5.2HF1 on a faster machine, and naturally purchased the Active Sky upgrade which works out of the box, both on Version 4.5 and 5.x. They are very pro-active and even have a beta out, for the latest P3d Hotfix 1, within a day.

I had previously updated REX Skyforce to the v4/v5 version and simply ran that for even greater cloud textures (turn their in-built weather engine off).

If you go Active Sky you will find it will take you into the future as you upgrade your hardware and software.

Aussie

[DavidL25210]

I can only speak on behalf of Active Sky. I have never tried any of the other packages as I have been very satisfied with Active Sky over the years.

I was on P3d V4.5 straight and then from HF1 to HF3 and purchased Active Sky early in the piece. Very nice real weather results worldwide. I added REX Sky Force for improved cloud art and it got even better. I then had REX Environment Force for more textures. Very satisfied for years while on P3d v4. My PC at the time was similar to yours.

I am now on P3d V5.2HF1 on a faster machine, and naturally purchased the Active Sky upgrade which works out of the box, both on Version 4.5 and 5.x. They are very pro-active and even have a beta out, for the latest P3d Hotfix 1, within a day.

I had previously updated REX Skyforce to the v4/v5 version and simply ran that for even greater cloud textures (turn their in-built weather engine off).

If you go Active Sky you will find it will take you into the future as you upgrade your hardware and software.

Aussie

Thx Aussie for sharing your experience with ActiveSky P3D. I generally do lean towards ActiveSky, rather then FS Global Real Weather. I've been using ActiveSky too for years, although an old version and on FSX, however, it's a fine add-on. Plus, the P3D version of ActiveSky covers both v4 and v5, while FS Global RW sells license for each version separately, and I will most likely step up to P3D v5 some day too once I'll put together a better system to run it on. I currently don't have clouds add-on for P3D either, will check out what's available, ActiveSky Cloud Art looks like a good choice, plus single license covers both of my flightsims (FSX + P3D v4)...