I know Pete is off on holiday for awhile, but perhaps someone who is much more familiar with this topic than I can help out.
To start with, I'm talking about FS9, using it's own (global) weather, and FSUIPC version 3.71.
Like many others, I want to get past the problem of suddenly bursting into clear blue sky above and below as you climb out of FS's own visibility layer which I have set at 8500 feet. I've read the documentation on the subject a dozen times at least, and experimented with all the values with no success. When I climb out of FS's visibility layer, I now get a drastic and rapid -- but not instantaneous -- lightening due to haze of all the ground below both near and far. Then, climbing another 1000 feet, the horizon snaps into view. I know this can work because it does for so many others. There has be something very fundamental that I'm not getting. Here's the relevant section of my .ini file:
GraduatedVisibility=Yes
LowerVisAltitude=0
UpperVisAltitude=22000
UpperVisibility=6000
GenerateCirrus=Yes
WindShearSharp=No
UpperWindGusts=Yes
ExtendMetarMaxVis=Yes
PatchSimApAlt=Yes
DisconnTrimForAP=No
ZeroElevForAPAlt=No
AutoClearWeather=Yes
ExtendTopWind=No
WindSmoothness=5
SmoothPressure=No
PressureSmoothness=5
SmoothVisibility=Yes
VisibilitySmoothness=4
MaxSurfaceWind=0
WindLimitLevel=200
WindDiscardLevel=400
WindAjustAltitude=No
WindAjustAltitudeBy=2000
MinimumVisibility=0
MaximumVisibilityFewClouds=6000
MaximumVisibility=2000
MaximumVisibilityOvercast=2000
MaximumVisibilityRainy=1000
OneCloudLayer=No
ThinClouds=No
ThinThunderClouds=No
CloudThinness=1000
ThunderCloudThinness=10000
CloudTurbulence=Yes
CloudIcing=No
WindTurbulence=No
SuppressAllGusts=No
ExternalOptionControl=Yes
AutoTuneADF=No
KeepFS98CloudCover=No
ShowPMcontrols=No
MagicBattery=No
RudderSpikeRemoval=No
ElevatorSpikeRemoval=No
AileronSpikeRemoval=No
ReversedElevatorTrim=No
StopAutoFuel=No
TrapUserInterrupt=Yes
NavFreq50KHz=No
ClockSync=No
SmoothIAS=Yes
SetVisUpperAlt=No
VisUpperAltLimit=4000
MaxIce=-4
MinIce=-4
WindSmoothingDelay=0
WindSmoothAirborneOnly=No
LimitWindVariance=No
VisSmoothingDelay=10
VisSmoothAirborneOnly=Yes
Also, it would be helpful if someone could tell me:
What is the difference between the "upper visibility" on the lower right of the visibilty setting page and the "upper altitude of restricted visibility" to the left? I just don't understand the documentation about this.
What does the "smooth only when airborne" box do?
What is the box for that says "but after weather cleared, delay...?
FSUIPC is a wonderful set of tools and this visibility bit is fascinating, so I'd really like to get to understand it fully and make it work.
Thanks for any replies! ...Dave
Dave Jones
Fort McCoy, Florida USA