ActiveSky For MSFS | Is It Worth It?

ActiveSky for Microsoft Flight Simulator has been released and today we're going to discuss my INITIAL impressions and see if I feel the software is worth the money in its current state.
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0:00 Intro
0:48 ActiveSky Active Mode
8:52 MSFS Live Weather
13:23 ActiveSky Passive Mode
18:22 ActiveSky Passive Mode Thoughts
20:32 Final Thoughts
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#microsoftflightsimulator #msfs2020 #flightsim

[@briank3754]

The only real benefit I’ve found with AS is that the cloud layers are far more realistic. A low stratus layer at EGPH was 18,000 feet thick with MSFS weather, while in AS it was about 4,000 feet thick. Flying cross country IFR flights with AS is far better with AS. This won’t affect the heavy metal flyers much. But, for GA aircraft this is much more realistic and allows you to get above low status clouds as you would in real life.

[@ArieGBoom]

Great video and looking forward to the next review, I mean when the program received an update again. I'm still interested in buying but will wait until there is more clarity on the realism settings in conjunction with MSFS.

[@fefi747]

Great video!! Thank you for sharing!! I was wondering if there's was a way to combine Active sky and MSFS textures and you explain it very well. Hope in a near future and update it gets to the quality that Active sky has been in other simulators. Thank you for all your hard work and info,keep doing the good work!!!

[@VRFlightSimGuy]

Really enjoyed your comparison video, cheers buddy.

[@jeffreyc2074]

The only real interest I have in it is "historical" weather so I can fly in weather based on the time in the sim instead of real time.

[@Jigsaw407]

ActiveSky was great for FSX and P3D, because it didn't do anything worsre than the default weather. But this is over a decade later! We've already seen what the MSFS weather engine can do when it's at its best. Active Sky's preset injection is a huge step back in that regard. Historic Weather is very important to me, but not as this sector preset injection system that suddenly changes the weather on you from one second to the next and uniformly all the way to the horizon. As for the passive mode: I have RealTurb for that at a much smaller price point. Unfortunately I don't see any use for ActiveSky in its current form.

[@Multicam2]

Great review. Honest and straightforwarding. I was also disapointed with the first release, but maybe my expectations were too high. In the past, there was a massive gap between AS and FS, but it seems MS made an significant effort on the live weather engine.

[@brucedrummond1197]

Thnk you for yet another helpful video. I really like aAS for the following reasons> The weather effects are more realistic, thunderstorms nearly ble my monitor up and the formation of clouds is much more subtle and realistic. For example, one phenomenon is that sometimes we get cumulus base which is dead flat and I saw this in Spain yesterday. Also, the atmosphere he's great depth and colour and the haze effects are much more realistic. I have flow a lot in the Caribbean IRL and rarely do you get 70m of visibility due to the haze from the sea and sun. I note the general criticism is that the clouds are not full enough but I am sure that will change as updates are done. All in all, I wouldn't go back to msfs fas I would miss the viz effects effects.

[@I_Evo]

Good companion video with Easyjetsimpilots review. If you haven't seen it, he came to the same conclusion re the cloud depiction and value for money but from a different perspective (comparing the accuracy of real weather between Active Sky and MSFS). One thing that did spring to mind re the comparison of turbulence, I may have missed it but did you say what you had urbulence set too in MSFS (low, medium or realistic)?

[@flightsimcockpit6911]

Hiya it would of been nice of you to click on the options such as cloud to max same as turbulent scale to see what options there are , If you could turn them up a little ?

[@chrispeel9263]

What is it like when flying through clouds?In MSFS with live Weather you can fly your Cessna 150/Cherokee through Cu and feel nothing.

[@danceswithsheep3058]

It’s when you compare the two with real weather at a location you see the difference and is for me the point. I don’t need ‘nicer’ looking weather if it doesn’t reflect the actual weather and MS weather has the upper hand there.

[@shinkicker404]

What's it like for landing small GAs with, because default can be an absolute pain in the backside to land with in default Live Weather at times.

[@Belfran]

I'm trying to find the biz reason behind this project. I own ASXP and it was a game changer, for MSFS you need to find the opportunity to improve something that looks better than XP11 + ASXP back in the day. Xing fingers they will update it with 'that' differentiator.

[@JenniferinIllinois]

It's definitely a person perception thing but I actually find the clouds with AS running to be better looking.

[@tf51d]

Will it play nice with BeyondATC, or does it conflict?

[@lftt205]

I love that you have taken the time to show Active Sky weather rendering engine, please remember that ASOBO has indicated that by no means they are going to give access to the weather SDK section to the third party development community, so these weather engines would not produce any better or realistic weather compared to the internal weather engine. This is as far as I have heard from the community as a whole, I could be wrong. ActiveSky is a well known engine using the internal weather enigines in the Xplane sims, the rendering of the clouds is no good. Another thing the passive mode took the physics of the internal weather engine and maybe fine tuned them on the outside of the sim then re-injecting them back into the sim. To me that is in-efficient. Finnaly I agree with you it is not worth it unless Activesky can confirm that Asobo has given them full control of the SDK.

[@thomasbushman5022]

I live in Upstate NY. We get a lot of totally overcast skies here. MSFS default generates a lot of dark puffy clouds like what you had, but never generally anything where it is pretty flat overcast (so even though you didn't like the flat, that is MUCH of what it looks like in western Upstate NY). So I do like that. I do like that there is actualy lightning. All I am ever able to get in MSFS is the cloud lighting up, but I never see lightning coming out the clouds. Maybe I have just been unlucky. So I like the depictions AS does based upon that is the type of weather I usually see here. But no wind effects on the plane is disappointing. I should probably try out a snow storm to see the difference between the two, because Upstate NY is known for its snow too. I guess really, I would want an inverse Passive mode, where depiction is done via AS, but effects are MSFS (except if it does snow better).

[@RocksterSAMA]

well i flew into a storm we had here in bahain (1 night before dubai's one) and the lightning and rain was quite spot on also the high winds. also at 1 point I was flying close to a cloud and the lightning was so bright It hurt my eyes IRL lol that's why I'm not changing from MSFS for now.

[@VictorGBaron]

AS displays cirrus and stratus as needed - MSFS does not. Adjust the wind effects with the sliders - I keep mine at 100 and it is very realistic. I say this from 25 years of actual flying experience.

[@RocksterSAMA]

@@VictorGBaron so you are saying its worth paying the $30 for it? for the cirrus and stratus?

[@markfroggatt7707]

@@RocksterSAMA if was just that then no but there is a lot more to the software than just that. I am currently flying the headwinds A330 over Indonesia on my way to wsss with the effects turned up from the default settings of 50 to 70 and I am getting a lot of movement of the aircraft. This is my second flight with this and I am still working my way through the manual and experimenting with all the settings

[@RocksterSAMA]

@@markfroggatt7707 Thats the issue for me, I really don't have time for all that experimentation and getting things right and I will never know what is real or what is not coz I only fllew twice in a cessna 152 (like actual pilot flying). So yeah from what I see from all the videos is that they were rushed with most of the creators not even using the manual to set it up right so I think for me ill wait for more updates and then decide later, I do remember the old days when I used it in FSX and P3D I did have to mess with the settings a bit but back then there were many reliable guides to it so its definitely the same product just minus the weather radar and having its own textures

[@brucewayne4211]

Was there any FPS difference between them?

[@spybaz]

What's the difference between this and Weather Force by Rex?

[@roysole3294]

To late to the party didn't miss active sky so i didn't really need it so no thanks for me but thanks for taking time to show us and doing your excellent videos

[@daryldavis9744]

The 9999 in the 10+ SM (9999 +M) stands for greater than 10 kilometer visability.

[@VRFSC]

Just saved me posting the same comment... he should have known this if he has any real world aviation experience. What ever... do your homework!

[@larryewoldt2702]

I have it. However ,it will not connect to microsoft flightsimulator 2020. Every thing is up to date. Any help on this?

[@lancecovel1]

Mine was doing that. I reinstalled the program totally using the latest version and havent had a connection problem since.

[@markfroggatt7707]

Go into options and change the default setting in the wind option menu currently flying using 70 for my settings and my a330 getting moved around by turbulence, using passive mode

[@OverkillSimulations]

.... interesting... you have my attention To anything specific?

[@markfroggatt7707]

@@OverkillSimulations still playing around but turbulence effect is set to 70 wake turbulence 70 and random light chop set to 50 all up from their default settings

[@VictorGBaron]

@@OverkillSimulations Due to people not understanding turbulence effects, the default has been dumbed down - TOO Many non pilots couldn't fly. Use the wind sliders to set them to your liking - I set them at 100. The effects should be the same in preset or passive mode. I have no idea why you didn't experience the turb in first scenario - if you activate the debug screen you can see exactly what wind effects are being generated. I am happy you are going to revisit ASFS next week - as too the flat clouds - AS displays stratus and cirrus where required and MSFS is mainly cumulus and no cirrus and rarely stratus - visually MSFS can be more striking but ASFS is more accurate as to cloud layers. This was a fair review I look forward to the next when you are more familiar with the product. I am a beta tester for AS and it can do and show much more than you have seen so far. Thanx for being open minded

[@OverkillSimulations]

@VictorGBaron hey thanks!! Join my discord and DM me. Let's chat so I can show the most from the product. Thank you for the insight on the turbulence and cloud layers

[@rterrero05]

Can you do a comparison with REX Weather Force? Under the weather injection perspective.

[@BrooksIngersoll]

OK, I am now very confused. I use ActiveSky with FSX and P3d. But I really don't fly those anymore so I got REX Weather force for MS2020. I guess my questian is do I need any of this? Isn't ActiveSky and Weather Force sort of the same thing? A little help please if possible. Thanks.

[@VictorGBaron]

yes but AS adds more to the mix than Rex but they are similar.

[@BrooksIngersoll]

@@VictorGBaron Thanks

[@gregorybentley5707]

This is probably the first generation of flight simulator where active sky is not considered essential, back in the day active sky was pretty much mandatory for any type of accurate live weather.

[@theogeorgiades]

I went and bought this on a whim to see what it’s like. I can’t say that my money was wasted. It depicts the weather outside my window and at my local airport better than msfs. I think a lot of simmers want prettier weather and not real weather. Thats not to say that AS doesent depict pretty weather but if the weather is flat then it does a pretty good job showing you that.

[@chinook9857]

Make sure you have no other weather engine installed and make sure no other weather files is in your community folder I have fixed mine having no issues.

[@gabrielepierattelli3948]

that s a BUG.... ACRIVE MODE should work as passive..

[@juanwhick1691]

Is there even a point in having a Weather mod? I mean REX would add Aresol, but isn’t that in the game now right? We have turbulence now too right? So I mean really what does this mod do anymore or Rex. I’m looking at buying one or the other, but only because I think it’ll fix SimFX not showing effects in live weather and rather a live weather “Preset” through one of these apps. As when it rains on Msfs live, it reads the ground is 0.0% wet lol.

[@ganntradingsystemstimecycl2783]

HiFi say they are going introduce the weather API later. I don't see how this is possible as Asobo have locked API weather data. So without that, I don't see the point buying Active Sky FS.

[@FinalLightNL]

it's their own api for their app, not the api for the sim weather. people misunderstand this completely, it's so that 3rd party addons can access HiFi's activesky app.

[@FlyingAce63]

Just by looking at the windsocks, one can easily see that MSFS weather is more realistic. Standard FAA approved windsocks will appear perfectly horizontal at wind speeds of 10 kts or greater. You said the wind was 20+ kts, therefore, there is no way the windsock tail would be pointing downward. I think I'll save my money and pass on Active Sky.

[@PepuDrummer527]

Active Sky was great, is just not needed anymore!

[@conlethbyrne4809]

Where are yah,old bot?

[@RocksterSAMA]

i have yet to see 1 favorable review for active sky, I even watched a long ass stream trying to even get a glimpse of how this could be better than the live msfs I didnt really find a compelling reason to get it honestly

[@freightdawg6762]

exactly

[@davidtsw]

And I have yet to find a single location where the default weather is closer to the metar than AS. I've had zero issues with AS so far. It's made my sim look better than ever too. All the negativity I'm seeing makes me wonder about the motives of these people. Check simmarket reviews. They're all verified customers.

[@RocksterSAMA]

@@davidtsw yeah man as a person that used AS before I'm just so confused with all what I'm seeing so far its good to see people's comments like yours to know it works well

[@davidtsw]

@@RocksterSAMA that's literally why I'm commenting a lot here and there. I'm pissed off by all the questionable negative opinions that might stop more people from enjoying proper weather simulation in msfs. If you're after realism, or better visuals, then you will 100% NOT be disappointed with AS. It's night and day and it's made default weather look so ugly and undefined I can't even look at it anymore.

[@Patrik.Pereira]

​@@davidtswnot it hasnt... Don't justify you spending 30 Bux by lying and saying it's amazing night and day, it looks worse, and its just as accurate... Airframes react better to default weather.... If you like as and Care to use historic weather for whatever reason.....

[@conlethbyrne4809]

Old, Boy. Lol ❤️ 😆 🤣 😂 Slainte well?

[@brunogt1982]

29.99 usd absolutely not worth, Just wait for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 people, everything should be significant better.

[@davidtsw]

Except they haven't said a single word about a proper weather rework for 2024 and the early footage we've seen indicates no major changes to the weather. Either way, AS will be updated too so what's your point ?

[@brunogt1982]

@@davidtsw my point is whether in mfs 2020 is great. It can only get better in mfs 2024.

[@davidtsw]

@@brunogt1982 but it's not great, that's the point. Weather in msfs 2020 is a joke. There are no proper cloud formations/layers, no visibility layers. It's just generating the same thin, transparent or popcorn clouds everywhere, from the ground to high altitudes, oftne regardless of what the metar says. AS solves all of it and more but you need to have some knowledge of aviation and weather to appreciate it.

[@Patrik.Pereira]

​@botjing what's wrong with the weather now?

[@Patrik.Pereira]

​@@davidtswlol as looks like shit

[@Patrik.Pereira]

Saw a comparison video, default weather looks miiiiiles better

[@MegaPeedee]

More complications are being added to the sim with little or no gain (dependant on what the user wants), so I won't be lining up to get it. If AS doesn't produce weather the same as what is outside my door, and notr does the sim, then there is no point in having it.

[@davidtsw]

AS is much closer to the real metar in every location I've checked. And improvement/enhancements aren't unnecessary complications. It's called realism. AS is light years ahead of the default weather and that's right from the start. This will only be getting better and better with every update

[@jjstevenz]

nope

[@augustomartins9516]

This flop came to prepare us for the other one that is about to be release

[@joelmulder]

Regardless of whether it’s good or not (looks doubtful), I’d strongly advice against buying anything that changes how the simulation works like that when we know FS24 will likely bring a lot of changes to these things.

[@davidtsw]

AS will be made compatible with 2024 one way or another. no issue at all there. And so far we've haven't heard a word from asobo about any major weather rework for 2024 so yeah 😊

[@joelmulder]

@@davidtsw Compatibility isn’t the problem. We know FS24 will bring improvements to the weather engine, although we don’t exactly know yet to what extent. Why spend money on a tool that doesn’t work all that well when we’ll likely get many of the improvements it promises to make in the new sim by default.

[@bjovers1]

Seeing u take off with a crossing tailwind of above 15kts tells me everything I need to know about this channel😢

[@lancealotgalot]

This video was about Active Sky, not a takeoff tutorial. Cut the guy a little slack

[@bjovers1]

@@lancealotgalot no its always the same every video he either forgets to retract flaps or something else. It takes away all credability and weight behind anything that he says. Taking off with a tailwind is a total no no in aviation. Its like taking off with the steering lock and pitot cover on. Just spawn in on the opposite runway and people wont think you're a total jackass and actually listen to what you have to say instead.

[@nickedwards3780]

Ooooooooh man! You really burned him to a crisp! Going forward, I bet he'll be praying before every software review upload that no flight instructors are mistaking it for a check ride. Seriously- Good catch! Do you have a YT channel? I've been looking for some review vids where I can find out what gear is worth buying AND the creator is meticulous enough to do a full walkaround, procedural startup, follow all the ATC and airspace regs ... and, most importantly, start at the correct end of the runway. Ideally, something in the 90 to 120 minute range, so I can feel like I'm getting my money's worth. Checks and balances like the kind so generously donated on this occasion are essential to the health of the community and I am grateful we've got steadfast sentinels always on the lookout. With as many uncertified pilots as we've already got flying around in here, I can't even imagine how many more heartbreaking simulated incidents we might have to endure if not for this kind of no-nonsense, iron-fisted commentary keeping a boot on the neck of anyone not following the rules. On behalf of all of us, thank you for your service! 🥲

[@poppadog53]

Keep in mind MSFS is a game.

[@v_sky]

It’s a trash addon from scammers like HiFi. And I say that because of what they did and how treated XP12 users. Telling everyone stories how they completely recreated the addon for XP12 and sold it even more expensive than XP11 without even giving XP11 version owners any discount. All for money and nothing for simmers.

[@jozefff7911]

That is not true at all. We were offeren a free xp12 version if you did own xp11. I forgot about this but bought it anyways because I like active sky so much

[@mnieuwhof]

No go for me!

[@lancerproductions57]

It’s definitely a no buy for me. Also, the price is $24.99 and not $29.99.

[@juanwhick1691]

Actually it’s US $31.99. I just bought it. Had discount available so was able to grab for 28

[@davidtsw]

Um, you don't even know how to read simple weather information. Not even METAR but decoded weather information like visibility. With this in mind, don't you think you're not in a position to review a weather engine addon?

[@ceegnz]

Nice of you to leave an hour between your comments so it wasn't immediately obvious that you posted this twice, but you posted the exact same thing twice so unfortunately it WAS immediately obvious. Don't give up your day job just yet.

[@davidtsw]

@@ceegnz get off whatever you're taking mate. And to solve your mystery, it's called "edit" function. Magic, right ?

[@anthonycolon8716]

Ok keyboard warrior lol

[@freightdawg6762]

just a money grab

[@davidtsw]

Arguments ? Or you're just throwing nonsense around because you heard so from a random guy on the internet?

[@freightdawg6762]

@@davidtsw 😂🤣 ToggaF

[@onecharliemike6022]

Not worth it. Especially with FS2024 around the corner.

[@Mr_Realworld]

Of course it isn't worth it. Scamware.

[@findmeadamnname]

I can't even get it to work!!