Considering the switch from Opus to ASN

I've been using Opus live weather generation for some time with 3.X. It works, though sometimes, the weather changes can be a little chunky. Since ASN also provides a weather radar feature for PMDG aircraft, I was thinking of making the switch. Other than the radar feature, what other items in ASN set it apart/better than Opus? Also, I see people speaking of AS2012 as well as ASN, is AS2012 a separate program? If so, are its cloud textures included in ASN and can it be used in P3D 3.0X? Finally, for folks using PMDG, none of which I own at the moment, can Opus' live weather be used to provide weather radar returns in any of the PMDG aircraft?

Greetings! ASN is outstanding & worth every penny. Opus is good too, just not near as capable IMHO. I actually use both in my setup, ASN for weather/visuals and OpusFSI just for the dynamic head movement. With the latest P3D (3.2) ASN's transition are a little 'clunky' because they (LM) changed the way visibilities are handled. Not to worry, the ASN devs are hard at work to correct this. I would highly recommend you get ASN, I believe you'll really like it! Happy flying! BTW, Opus cannot send to PMDG weather radar. Only ASN can currently.

I have been using ASN for quite some time now and with the emergence of P3D v3.2, ASN fixed their issues with the latest service packs and I find that ASN is no longer clunky but very smooth with weather transition. Lighting tends to get a little wonky during dawn and dusk, but otherwise, it does really well now. Combine ASN weather with P3D's cloud shadows, and you have a very realistic environment.