ASFS B8883 Update Posted Officially

Posted on by admin

We’re working on a more comprehensive Service Update, but wanted to get this out to everyone to solve most post-release issues found.

B8883 has been officially posted!

Please find the download link at our downloads page.

This may be installed over the top of your existing installation (ASFS Connector Update will auto launch after logging into the client, please make sure to complete that update as well).

Changelog:

Update 042724 – B8883 (1.0.8883.1882)

  • Added new option “Periodic theme reload interval”, now set to your desired interval (default 15) or disable and use download interval only for theme reloads. See user’s guide for further information.
  • Added instant weather reset when meters/ft units changed to prevent slow smoothing of clouds associated with different altitude values
  • Added automatic start of ActiveSkyUtils.exe if it’s not already running, and the simulator is, to prevent connection issues in case there is a problem auto-starting ActiveSkyUtils.exe from the simulator exe.xml directly
  • Added automatic re-hide of ASFS toolbar button in sim (this is not used currently and should not be visible, even if you re-enabled it by disabling and re-enabling the ASFS toolbar item)
  • Moved Navigraph data from [AS install folder]\NavigraphData to C:\users[username]\appdata\roaming\HiFi\AS_FS\NavigraphData for compatibility with latest Navigraph data management and updater tools for MSFS
  • Vis/humidity adjustments per feedback
  • Re-enabled dewpoint setting in custom wx setting wizard (dewpoint setting may not be readable in MSFS and is occasionally altered by ASFS for humidity/visibility control)
  • Fixed new issue with Russian and potentially other MSFS language settings causing units conversion problems (baro, alt, wind speed errors) in some unit modes
  • Fixed issue where changing units mode could cause baro pressure to take a long time to smooth to new value (now instantly switches baro after detected units change)
  • Attempted fix for startup form not showing up in some cases requiring a force close/restart to get form to show
  • Removed option “Use period theme reloads”
  • Updated documentation and readme

Update 042524 – B8881 (1.0.8881.33550)

  • Added new option and feature: Enable surface wind attenuation cancelation – Forces expected wind speed reported to be depicted all the way to the surface/runway by doubling the speed(s) set for the surface layer. Causes ATIS to read back the doubled wind speed, but actual depiction will be correct. See user’s guide for more details. Default OFF.
  • Increased depicted precipitation approximately 50% in most cases
  • Improved humidity/visibility handling between 3 and 9SM visibility for better visible obscuration at lower vis settings (without overly obscuring at the mid/higher levels)
  • Changed Depiction smoothing rate slider to request optional Apply/Resynth after changing option, to prevent potential transition anomalies when changing settings during an existing transition (an instant reload will occur when Applying)
  • Reworked turbulence to allow much higher amplitude at higher Turbulence Scale Factor settings
  • Increased turbulence effect strength approximately 25% in general
  • Adjustments to wind layering and altitude calculations for more expected results at all elevations/altitudes
  • Added intermittent checking of units changes by users to keep conditions data synchronized
  • Fixed altitude units conversion issue when using French and some other non-English language settings in MSFS, would result in flat, ugly clouds, incorrect wind depiction, and wrong altitude in general for cloud and wind layers
  • Fixed issue with surface gusts and variability not working properly

Update 042424B – B8880B

  • Initial implementation of >5000ft cloud generation especially in Europe (NSC/NCD) – More work in progress
  • Smoothing tuning, mainly in attempts to eliminate earlier shifts/clearing in some cases
  • Added new option: Use periodic theme reloads. Default On. Enable this option to have the weather theme rebuilt periodically, approximately every 7 minutes, to provide updates and variation to the weather as you fly. Without this option enabled, updates will occur only as per your download interval setting.
  • Added temporary additional UI console logging for transitions monitoring (http://127.0.0.1:19999/inspector/Main.html?page=38)
  • Added additional logging for turbulence (simconnect log) and transitions events (main session log)
  • Adjusted METAR sky condition element filtering to not bypass “on the ground” 0 AGL altitude layers specified (e.g. FEW000)
  • Attempted fix for issue where after pressing REFRESH (debug screen) and then moving download interval slider (general options), time request can default to beginning of hour and could cause historical mode to activate
  • Attempted fix for flight-plan-related anomalies in weather updates, locking, and refreshing
  • Fixed issue with Enabled temperature-based altimeter errors option not persisting properly
  • Fixed issue with AS_FS_SimConnectLog.txt not properly attaching to log exports
  • Removed Maximum Upper Visibility option (this is not having the desired effect despite our attempts to control upper visibility without MSFS overriding this at higher altitudes)
  • Fixed NCD/NSC/CAVOK cloud generation issue causing loss of METAR cloud layers in some cases

Update 042324 – B8879
– Redesigned toolbar UI interface for Parallel 42’s toolbar interop solution, establishing compatibility with most other toolbar-based mods/addons – NOTE: All developers of toolbar mods/addons are recommended to use the open-source toolbar interop by //42 to maintain compatible with all other toolbar mods/addons – please contact //42 directly for integration assistance (www.parallel42.com)
– Added new option: Enable temperature-based altimeter errors (was previously not settable and forced on) – now defaulted off
– Slowed general cloud transitions, especially during low/high coverage stages, approximately 50%. Now takes approximately 8 minutes to smooth from clear to overcast or vice versa, at default 50% slider setting.
– Adjusted AS_FSConnectorInstall to account for potential dual-sim (Steam + Store) MSFS installations, either previously installed this way or currently, which could cause improper connector installation target path and lack of any wx depiction
– Adjusted ActiveSkyUtils exe.xml install process to also account for potential dual-sim installations and handle accordingly and result in failure of simulator to connect
– Increased speed of “building” cloud layers vs. “dissipating” cloud layers (by 25%) in smoothing to reduce occurrence of unexpectedly clearer skies during some transitions
– Slightly increased cirrus generation occurrence rate in some cases
– Increased thickness of cirrus clouds at 35K and higher altitudes to prevent MSFS cloud depiction from hiding the layer in some cases
– Increased average thickness of stratus clouds and cumulus clouds approximately 15% per feedback, for more visual depth
– Increased average thickness of precipitating clouds approximately 20%
– Changed “Copying theme file to sim” message send at completion of wx theme generation to “weather theme generation complete” message to avoid confusion and bug reports due to this normal process
– Adjusted temp-based altimeter/baro error feature to only activate when both surface and current ISA temps are in excess of 10 deg, and below 10K AGL
– Reverted earlier humidity/vis change as requested for slightly less humidity (more visibility) in most cases
– Fixed issue with excessive wake turbulence effect
– Fixed issue where download time sync could be lost in longer flights or when switching modes often, or some other undetermined cases, causing historical mode to activate and download 1-hour old wx vs. live as requested
– Attempted fix for potential temperature discrepancy at higher altitudes
– Updated readme/docs including adding/updating sections regarding not changing MSFS wx mode inside MSFS as this causes failure of ASFS to properly depict weather
– Removed obsolete documentation regarding maximum cloud layer setting

Update 041824 – B8874 – 8874.32803
– Fixed temperature issue at higher-elevation airport areas (temps were too low in these areas)
– Fixed issue with fog layer generation not working when too many other cloud layers were generated/specified in METAR (now removes top layers as required to always depict fog layer)
– Fixed thunderstorm/CB coverage issue where coverage could be depicted too high (e.g. at BKN coverage instead of intended FEW/SCT coverage)
– Fixed missing scenarios
– Fixed a vertical velocity bug that could cause off-scale draft effects (and aircraft uncontrollability) especially in tstorm conditions
– Sped up effective temperature transition rate 50% (prevents slowly smoothing yielding unexpected temperatures for a long time when slewing/teleporting)
– Slowed effective cloud transition rate 50% (per user feedback requesting slower transitions overall)
– Reduced depicted visibility approximately 10% at 3-10SM ranges