I was just thinking about the fact that each layer of clouds cast shadows and reduce the ambient light from ground

if you put 24 layers (i think it's the maximum) of overcast it may be completely dark as in night time, it would be so weird to see that

I can't wait to mess with the personalized weather 

I don't think the 24 layers refer to cloudiness...

It's a 24 layer grid of wind / temp / moist + sigmet events I think...

And I include "moist" although it's really not the correct designation, because they mentioned FS2020 will also take it into account for the air density calculation.

Ideally it would be T / Td at 24 levels...

Edited October 19, 20196 yr by jcomm

Well it can get pretty dark with just one layer of cumulonimbus clouds already in reality (and this can also be seen in some of the material we've seen from the sim). They can at least render two layers, so if you add another high altitude layer on top of that it should become pretty dark. Now if they can also render eclipses correctly (probably not and also not that important anyway) you can get some really spooky situations. 

I think this might be the part of the sim that will improve a lot as gpu power increases over the next few years. 

If it were to be 24 layers of clouds then you had better like the graphic because on current top end computers you will get about 1 FPW. That is 1 Frame per week.😁

In my memories, custom weather is not available, only presets or live...

3 hours ago, Noooch said:

In my memories, custom weather is not available, only presets or live...

As of now it indeed is limited to that from what we've heard. I don't recall if we've already heard that this will remain the same at launch though. I don't believe that they won't allow us to precisely set the weather eventually (maybe later after launch) as this is a valuable tool to be able to practice crosswind landings. 

I just hope they get the cloud colors correct.  Some of what I've seen makes me think they want to use black as a daytime shadow color but during the day, the predominant color of clouds and haze is some shade of blue.

21 hours ago, jcomm said:

I don't think the 24 layers refer to cloudiness...

It's a 24 layer grid of wind / temp / moist + sigmet events I think...

And I include "moist" although it's really not the correct designation, because they mentioned FS2020 will also take it into account for the air density calculation.

Ideally it would be T / Td at 24 levels...

Given that it builds clouds dynamically based on those factors you listed, it's possible there could be 24 different layers, but that's extremely unlikely in the real world. 

In practice, it's the differentials between all those different layers will be what produces the cloud cover we see. It should result in some of the most realistic presentations we've ever seen because it's not just reading a METAR anymore and randomly throwing some clouds up at reported ceilings. 

Edited October 20, 20196 yr by bonchie

i hope MSFS2020 get the same precisión in clouds as in earth. Both are this world! i think they are gonna get it this time!

On 10/19/2019 at 8:30 PM, Raymond.Groenendijk said:

Well it can get pretty dark with just one layer of cumulonimbus clouds already in reality (and this can also be seen in some of the material we've seen from the sim). They can at least render two layers, so if you add another high altitude layer on top of that it should become pretty dark. Now if they can also render eclipses correctly (probably not and also not that important anyway) you can get some really spooky situations. 

The cumulonimbus in FSW was amazing given the texture sprites we had before in flight simulators. I think FS2020 will be even better as the dark cloud shadows and cloud base will make everything feel threatening and we already know the turbulance and rain in those areas are a possibility as well. It's all looking very promising. Next video will be on Weather so we'll no doubt have more information then.

If these are true volumetric clouds as they appear to be, It’s the entries and exits to cloud layers and breaking out through a cloud deck that will be so awesome. Active sky try to emulate it but having seen these previews I find it quite a step down....the wait is already killing me!!!

One os the aspects I would really like to see considered, in any flight simulator is the "simple" fact that humidity / moist does play an important role too in aviation, and is taken seriously into consideration, in it's various forms, when we go flying for real.

Also the fact that the lapse rates of pressure, just as those of temperature, aren't fixed, as practically all sims assume...

I would like to see my GS above according to my instruments, in a cold Winter day, with the reference altitudes in the approach chart being met, and the opposite in hot Summer days... I would like to feel in my sim that old aviation adage - "In Winter, the mountain tops are higher...".

And, of course, those mentioned up / down drafts, frontal systems, convection, convergence(?), etc...  Great for soaring ! And with the detailled terrain, specially good for training emmergencies and get prepared for our RL tasks 🙂

Edited October 21, 20196 yr by jcomm
typos mostly...

10 hours ago, Purr said:

If these are true volumetric clouds as they appear to be, It’s the entries and exits to cloud layers and breaking out through a cloud deck that will be so awesome. Active sky try to emulate it but having seen these previews I find it quite a step down....the wait is already killing me!!!

They have confirmed they are proper 3D, volumetric clouds. 

I still can't understand how the weather doesn't affect performance. This was the major problem for all the current sims...