Simviation Forums

I've been thinking I don't necessarily need birds, animals, and vehicles on roads in a flight sim, but cloud shadows on the ground (and on the aircraft)would be nice for this mostly-low-altitude, mostly-VFR flyer.
In RL, it adds a challenge, sometimes, to finding checkpoints and airports, and it's nice to be able to duck out of the sun sometimes... anybody heard anything about that?
Also, I was working with an A.V. control systems guy yesterday (who had some interesting stories about working on a full-motion military helicopter training sim for the Saudis recently), and his take on FSX, from what he'd heard, was that it would be "less realistic" in tems of flying in general, although much prettier...
I think I'll be waiting to see how others make out with this version before i dive in...

X-Plane has it.

X-Plane has it.

Why is it that X-plane has everything everyone wants in a Flight Sim yet everyone hankers after FS?

In one of the videos (check the video thread) it was mentioned.  He talked a lot about "atmosphere".  I take it lighting effects; HDR, cloud shadows, light refraction etc.

dont take what he says to far   he may just mean on the aircraft and not mean cloud shadows. its funny i was just thinking about it yesterday   it would be GREAT to have cloud shadows in fs tho

He specifically said cloud shadows though.  he listed a bunch of light effects, such as HDR, but nothing else.  So I suppose atmosphere = lighting.

See, well we all know aircraft have shadows naturally in FS becuase it's a model, which some how M$ edited into all aircraft, it's possible for Clouds too also have shadows coz their made up of Polygons with the cloud textures apply, I really don't know why the clouds dont have any contrast-shadow etc. Interessting huh.

We need cloud shadows and dynamic shading on the plane.  No more nighttime shadows on the damn fuselage

We need cloud shadows and dynamic shading on the plane.  No more nighttime shadows on the damn fuselage

Does it really matter? I fly now mostly inside the cockpit while training, so I rarely get to see the paint..

LOMAC has it too, and I must say, it's pretty nice feature!

Yes, it does matter.  Whenever the model is shaded so that you could tell where the parts are in gMax is one of my biggest gripes in FS.

Although truthfully, the number one deciding factor in me buying the new sim will be autogen draw distances.

Although truthfully, the number one deciding factor in me buying the new sim will be autogen draw distances.

Hands down on that one.

When I look at the pictures mentioned in this post
http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb/ ... 1137069988
It does not look like they implemented cloud shadows !!

What a pitty because cloud shadows would dramatically increase realism.

When I look at the pictures mentioned in this post
http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb/ ... 1137069988
It does not look like they implemented cloud shadows !!

What a pitty because cloud shadows would dramatically increase realism.

We said this a long time ago. We are still one year away [well, about 10-11 months to be exact]. So, if M$ is reading this thread [which is more than likely - Hello Mr. Gates!] then M$ might impliment the cloud shadows since there are already becoming the norm in simulators like:

IL-2 Sturmovik
Orbiter Space Flight Simulator

If cloud shadows are so important couldn't someone cleverer than me make a very large odd shaped flat A/C that has invisible textures but casts a shadow to float over the ground at about 5kts.?

It would have to be AI with a flight path etc and the shadows would hit FPS but it could in theory be done in FS9.

I can here the ATC.

"This is Cumulo Nimbus flight 345 at 20 feet and 2 knts, request permission to land..."

Will