Active Sky 6 and Ground Environment Pro

[danmand]

I guess this questions stems from the fact that I just don't know that much about what GE Pro is actually doing with "textures" yet.

I just bought both this week and have already installed AV6.
I'm installing GE Pro and currently creating texture sets as the instructions are telling me to.

My question is about the sky textures. AV6 says it will create better clouds than the default FS9 and GE Pro says the same thing. Will GE Pro and AV6 somehow work together or will they both be trying to create clouds at the same time and conflict with one another?

I hope the question doesn't seem to dumb but I just don't seem to get a handle on exactly what GE Pro is doing (or can do) yet.

Dan

[JSkorna]

Hi Dan,

First thing: let's take things slow!

1. GEP does not create cloud textures only sky textures.

2. GEP manages your environmental textures so that they match your weather conditions. For example: if you have clear weather then your textures will be bright. If the weather is very cloudy then the textures will take on a darker hue.

3. The only overlap is in the sky textures as GEP and ASv6 can control those. In ASv6 Options you can choose which program will control those. All this does is forces your choice to be run last.

4. Remember that FS04 MUST be closed in order for all these things to work correctly. Once FS04 is started your textures are "locked in" until you shut down FS04 and re start.

Keep asking those questions! I try to stop by a few times a day, time permitting.

Thanks,
Jim

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[danmand]

Thanks Jim, that makes a lot of sense.

Regarding "Texture Sets"
From what I understand the more sets you have the greater variety of textures you will have when you are flying.

How many sets should I have of Ground and Sky?
Should they both be the same number?
Is there such a thing as too many texture sets?

Thanks for the help.

Dan

[JSkorna]

Hi Dan,

Sky sets are fast and small.
Ground sets take awhile and are best done at night while the computer is not being used.

Numbers can be different.

Room on your HD is the only limit. I thinkk 10 of each is a good number.

Remember to defrag your HD after creating sets.

Thanks,
Jim

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[danmand]

Got it.

Last night I finished the 5 ground sets the tutorial talks about and did some test flights.

WOW !! What a difference!

These are the steps I'm taking to run FS. Let me know if there is a better way.

1. Run FS and setup / save an IFR plan then close it.
2. Run AV6 and import the saved IFR plan.
3. Run GE Pro from the launch button on AV6.
4. Run FS again from GE Pro.

It seems strange that I should run FS twice like that and I know that I create a flight plan directly from AV6. But I'm not sure that doing two flight plans (one FS and one AV6) would result in the same route.

Dan

[JSkorna]

Hi,

Just manually enter your plan into ASv6 using the New Route button. All we need are your departure and destination airports. Yes, you can put any values for the altitude and speed.

Or use a 3rd party flight planner such as FS Build!

Jim

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