Amazing sunset effects are created using the right amount of haze or visual settings, along with the broken layer below, and a high cirrus style layer above. The automatic weather in FS2000 always sets the visibility at only 10 miles, so most of you will easily see the hazy evening sky effects that are even better with FSC.
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INTRODUCTION
Just clouds? Clouds in a box? $24.95 for clouds, no airplanes, no panels and no other things to try to grab you in? That's RIGHT! You don't need "filler" or half-baked add-ons as some recent companies have included in their packages to offer "something for everyone". What Flight One gives you in FSClouds 2000 is a great self-installing program that will backup your existing FS2000 cloud set, with the most convincing and most beautiful looking clouds Microsoft Flight Simulator has ever had. Are they as good as FLY!? Everyone either had or will ask me this, if the moment comes up. It's not fair to just say no. FS2000 doesn't run the same way FLY! does, and thus their cloud effects may never be as "puffy" or 3D as in FLY! or as I know and love, Flight Unlimited III. But what Flight One has done for FS2000, is to bring it to another level of sky detail, FLY!ers may really love too.
You'll get glimpses of the ground through the undercast much more realistically, with no sharp defined edges.
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There are no cumulonimbus. FS2000 doesn't have any to start with. FSClouds will replace all your default cloud textures and artwork with a far better set. It happens all in the great easy install. Everything is clear to understand and all is backed up safely, if for any bizarre reason you choose to "go back".
FSClouds brings on wispy, transparent, and ever changing formations that never look the same each flight. Gone are the rock hard edges or brick wall style pattern you'd see when flying toward a bank of clouds. You'll transition into a fluffy, non-distinct edge!
Higher terrain will stop cloud extent as it should, and will make most undercasts look so very real!
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After just a half hour of doing a flight using real weather, I knew FSClouds was here to stay. There really is no comparison to these clouds, and the "old" ones of FS2000. They are so much better, you will really catch yourself going "wow", or "I can't believe it!" Sometimes they look just a litte better, and then sometimes in between broken layers, or looking down on a broken low deck near the ground, you'll really scream for joy! Different times of day will really show them off as well. To keep the excitement going, and the discovery alive, I'd use real weather and let nature bring on the show. It can take days to discover slowly all the neat effects you'll now be flying through. Sure, you could use the easy quick start menus, and set up the sky the way you want, but I found real weather will eventually let you experience most of what you'll see.
Contrails don't appear and dissapear, but look good none the less, when set at FL300 to FL450.
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In a few weeks of trying this and that, and devoting as much time to FS2000 as I can, I have yet to see all the effects. I really don't want to. I want to experience them over time. Without waiting any longer, I wanted to get the word out. Get FSClouds!
In many cases, the way FSClouds handles the multiple layers, your frame rate drop may be not as bad as when using the default MS clouds. Frame rates were rumored to be better when using FSC, but I doubt it. They are not worse! Not at all! So sometimes when I think frame rates are not hit, I then start thinking they have improved. I may say "wow, the frame rate is actually better". I really don't think it is, but the great news, is you will not loose one frame when using FSClouds' textures! And for all of the great eye candy, that's a BIG increase in flightsim happiness!
No two skies look exactly the same with the diffuse edges and random style cloud pieces being modeled.
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You'll get a good sensation of speed when skimming above or just below the clouds. That's a pilot's favorite place to be, otherwise your 500 kt groundspeed may look like 100. Watching the clouds move by in strong winds aloft, is another favorite thing to do when parked on the ramp. This is where you'll have to program the weather yourself, as FS2000 has a bug where there is no automatic wind below 1000 feet.
CONCLUSION
This randomization is due a lot to FS2000 itself, but when the FSClouds are used over the default one, you get this type of great result!
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I have called all my flightsim friends to tell them to get FSClouds 2000. How could anyone not want all this sky enhancement, for such a little price? Screenshots don't do justice. One flight in, out, and around the new clouds of FSClouds 2000 will make you a believer. And as rare as it is seen, here's one of the rare products that installs right, the first time, with nothing scary happening to your FS setup. The easy menus, and cloud palette options will once again, make each flight a little different from the last. Since you spend 100% of your time flying in the sky, why not get the best "scenery add-on" you can?
Flight One has a few original titles out to support their name. All have proven themselves as quality add-ons. This is their first big FS2000 title. They made clouds. They done'm good! I hope everyone purchases their condensation.
FSClouds 2000 test machine:
- Dell PIII500
- 128 meg RAM
- ATI Rage Fury Maxx 3D
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FSClouds 2000 gets a 95 out of 100 points.
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