HiFi Technologies - Active Sky XP

Active Sky XP (ASXP) brings the popular award-winning Active Sky weather engine to the XPlane platform for the first time. Using a hybrid weather depiction interface through XPlane 11’s weather API, a realistic, high-performance and high-fidelity weather experience is realized.

Features:

• Active Air Effects
Replaces internal XPlane turbulence and air effects, providing enhanced turbulence, drafts, thermals, terrain-based wind effects, surface friction, gusts, variability, wake turbulence, microbursts and more
• High-Performance Weather Depiction
Uses internal XPlane 11.2x/11.3x cloud depiction for maximum performance and smoothness, with multiple weather depiction modes including theme cell “real weather” mode and global static mode – VR compatible and optimized!
• Active Sky Weather Engine
An evolved version of the Active Sky platform brings the core features that made Active Sky the leading weather engine for other platforms: Advanced weather synthesis and interpolation, high-resolution global winds aloft, realistic air and atmosphere effects, a comprehensive weather data network, integrated visual mapping and planning, and much, much more
• Voice Weather Delivery
Active Sky ATIS and Flightwatch are available at any time by listening on 122.00, 122.02 or 122.03 for closest station, actual/current interpolated conditions and destination weather reports, respectively
• Surface Crosswind Attenuation
Optional, for better ground handling in crosswind conditions while preserving headwind/tailwind component for performance accuracy
• Mobile Companion App
Use any device/browser to connect with Active Sky over your network and view and control the weather

Limitations:
Not a complete visual cloud rendering replacement:

• We have put our previous XPlane visual cloud rendering replacement efforts on hold (until next year) due to performance considerations and changing API environment/tools that are not yet finalized
• We expect our visual cloud rendering replacement technology to debut in Q4 2019, subject to change based on many factors
• ASXP features high-performance cloud depiction with a focus on conditions accuracy, utilizing the X-Plane internal cloud rendering via a hybrid API approach, with two different modes available
• ASXP also features an optional high-performance photo-realistic cloud texture replacement with a simple texture installation wizard

Windows 64-Bit (v7 or later) only:

• Mac, Linux and 32-bit XPlane / Windows versions are not supported
• In a networked environment, the ASXP application/client may run on Windows 32-bit (7 or later), but XPlane must be 64-bit on Windows 64-bit (7 or later)
• We hope to bring additional OS/platform support in the future
• XPlane version 11.26 or later (64-bit for Windows) is required

Resources:

• ASXP User’s Guide
• ASXP API for 3rd-Party Developers

XPlane 11.26 or later, 64-bit Windows version (Mac and 32-bit Windows versions are not compatible)
Windows 7 or later (64-bit)
500 MB available hard drive space
1 GHZ+ CPU
2 GB+ RAM
OpenGL 3.3 graphics device (nVidia GTX500 or or equivalent, or better)
1024×768 minimum available screen resolution to display all user interface features

Active and stable internet connection (broadband recommended)!*

*Active Sky XP is an online product that will require the creation of a new user account. You must be logged in to use the software. One login per user account is permitted. You can install the software on multiple machines and/or move the software to other machines, but may be logged in only once at a time. Using Active Sky XP, creating a user account, and logging into the system require the acceptance of HiFi Simulation Technologies' Privacy Policy.

Update 070820 (Build 7494):

• Added version logging of ASXPConnect plugin module during initialization (to log.txt)
• Updated weather download processes
• Misc fixes related to TCAS/radar usage and attempted fix for potential associated crashes with new 11.50 beta builds
• General fixes and improvements in traffic data, map display and wake turbulence simulation data
• ASXPConnect plugin (ID=HiFi) module version updated to 1.0.0.69

Update 041920 (Build 7414):

• X-Plane compatibility updates
• Fixed issue with API regarding multiple sigmets not being returned
• Changed registration process to require e-mail address verification before user account verification, preventing typo or other email access issues
• Adjusted registration process to prevent stuck email registration step if process fails during initial email verification, now continues normally
• Server weather data network complete overhaul using new cloud computing components and network resources for increased performance, better data consistency between sessions and better load balancing
• Attempted fix for problem with Privacy Policy date parsing using Arabic calendar/region settings
• Fixed problem with some stations in flight plan parsing (i.e. KTNX) from Navigraph data when an unexpected 3-letter (TNX) station existed in the airport database
• Fixed problem with some sound devices in networked mode, during audio device selection process from server, when using device with non-ASCII UTF-8 characters X-Plane compatibility updates
• Changed metar.rwx suface data output filename casing to METAR.rwx
• Fixed potential issue with email verification during registration not showing verification code entry window

Update 092319 (Build 7205):

• Fixed issue with surface layer/aloft layer inter-layer interpolation at airports approx 5000ft agl, and a related issue with airports over 3000ft agl
• Fixed issue with “Save manual changed” coming up when changing mode through http/API
• Changed max email address length in forgot password form to 64 vs 30 (was preventing resets for users with long email addresses)
• Clarified manual route entry popup form instructions (in Flight Plan) that Departure and Destination are expected in the route string
• Added hurricane wind speed to better represent variability based on eye and position from eye
• Fixed issue where some hurricanes may become “stuck” for several days at their last known position