FSX-MS Will OpusFSI match or surpass ASN?

[Airmail 1]

frosty777 - I must have misunderstood. I thought that this was a discussion, not a request for support?

 

 

 

Poppet - No support needed,

 

That was more of a challenge to others to find any one program that matches the added features of OpusFSI.

 

It was also my way of pointing out that not everyone thinks that ASN is the greatest, and that Opus is trash.

 

 

OpusFSI combined with the cloud Improvements in Prepar3d suits me just fine.

 

Having a triple screen setup (not counting the two 9" screens for instruments, and a GPS screen) I find OpusFSI VERY useful.

 

 

I also have a ButtKicker Gamer 2 system mounted to me chair, with an added transducer screwed to the underside of a heavy computer table.

 

Without the added control that's built into OpusFSX/FSI I wouldn't recommend the ButtKicker for either FSX or P3d.

 

 

 

I did download ASN just to try it out, and one of those questions was quite real;

Question - Do you have to file a flight plan just to cruse around and get real weather?

 

Both versions of Opus detects where you are and changes the weather from where you were to where you will be. No plan needed.

 

 

Also, unless I was doing something wrong with ASN, the weather outside my house didn't look very much like it did with ASN.

 

OpusFSI matched It almost exactly.

[tttocs 301]

It was also my way of pointing out that not everyone thinks that ASN is the greatest, and that Opus is trash.

 

I don't think the majority of us feel that way at all.  Unfortunately, I see axe grinding exaggerations from some Opus users just as I do from some ASN users.  Most of us recognize that both packages have value, but that one or the other suits our preferences better.

 

 

 

I did download ASN just to try it out, and one of those questions was quite real;

 

Question - Do you have to file a flight plan just to cruse around and get real weather?

 

Both versions of Opus detects where you are and changes the weather from where you were to where you will be. No plan needed.

 

No you don't have to, but as I understand it, the flight plan will optimize what you're getting along your route of flight.  Just as Opus will function better if you give it your destination airport and alternates.  In both cases, a little additional information makes the package work better.

 

 

 

Also, unless I was doing something wrong with ASN, the weather outside my house didn't look very much like it did with ASN.

 

 

 

OpusFSI matched It almost exactly.

 

 

In my experience with both packages (I've been an Opus customer for several years now) both give accurate, if sometimes slightly different depictions of wx conditions.  This is based on literally hundreds of comparisons between Opus, REX and now ASN.  There's no real magic here, as all are fundamentally based on METARS. 

 

Most of the time when I see folks reporting substantial differences it's due to either a misconfiguration, a misunderstanding of how the programs work, or it's because they're looking at one side or the other of a METAR that changed recently.  Remember that in general, METARS only update hourly.  Even if you live next door to a reporting station, a METAR approaching its one hour mark may be wildly off from the current wx you see outside your window.  ALL of these packages have these limitations, and the "MY package matched it almost exactly when yours didn't" comment has been made in almost every wx package comparison I've seen at one point or another, and in pretty much every case there's been a solid reason for the mismatch which had nothing to do with which one was most "accurate".

 

Sorry to sound a bit frustrated, but the "did the software give me the wx that was going on outside my window" test is to my mind one of the least important, and most misunderstood "tests" out there.  Given a level playing field, there's little difference between the major wx packages in this simple test.  You just have to understand how they work to understand why there are sometimes big differences.

 

Scott

[tf51d 284]

No you don't have to, but as I understand it, the flight plan will optimize what you're getting along your route of flight. Just as Opus will function better if you give it your destination airport and alternates. In both cases, a little additional information makes the package work better.

 

Loading a flightplan into ASN (and I presume OPUS FSi) doesn't actually affect weather depiction. The weather is what it is. What it does do is provide enroute data for the path of your flight, this allows ATIS type reports for Origin, cruise and destination. It also gives Winds aloft data for input into the more complex aircraft models FMC's and in the case of the PMDG T7 (ASN only), does this automatically

[klamal 282]

 

 

Most of the time when I see folks reporting substantial differences it's due to either a misconfiguration, a misunderstanding of how the programs work, or it's because they're looking at one side or the other of a METAR that changed recently.  Remember that in general, METARS only update hourly.  Even if you live next door to a reporting station, a METAR approaching its one hour mark may be wildly off from the current wx you see outside your window.  ALL of these packages have these limitations, and the "MY package matched it almost exactly when yours didn't" comment has been made in almost every wx package comparison I've seen at one point or another, and in pretty much every case there's been a solid reason for the mismatch which had nothing to do with which one was most "accurate".
 
Sorry to sound a bit frustrated, but the "did the software give me the wx that was going on outside my window" test is to my mind one of the least important, and most misunderstood "tests" out there.  Given a level playing field, there's little difference between the major wx packages in this simple test.  You just have to understand how they work to understand why there are sometimes big differences.

 

Couldn't agree with this more.  Very well said!  

[FLAPS15 8]

Both of these products are good,

 

I was a long time user of Opus, found the product to do what it said albeit with limitations re cloud disappearing or filling the sky on updates...limit of simconnect and just how it works with FSX.

 

The support was and I believe still is first class...Frosty777 your remarks are offensive to all British citizens!

 

The turning point for me was price point re the upgrade, no it should not be free..but...

 

ASN. Again good, heavier on frames yes....accuracy..can be wrong at times..more so than Opus, but does run outside of FSX so no instant cloud changes...and support is good.

 

Both are software programmes both do a job...like all addons in FSX they have limitations due the old code the developers have to work with....but we are lucky to have choice...and I tip my hat to both development teams for providing me with such choice.

 

All the best

[hesynergy 67]

Put me in this list!

That would be so clever to separate the functionalities, so that we could use the modules we wanted from whichever developer we wanted, and optimazing memory and processor usage.

what in the world happened between October 1, 2014, and January 11,2015?

 

I think avsim must've lost some files...3 months worth! ; I refuse to believe that there was no conversation for that time period!

 

Chas

[tf51d 284]

what in the world happened between October 1, 2014, and January 11,2015?

 

I think avsim must've lost some files...3 months worth! ; I refuse to believe that there was no conversation for that time period!

 

Chas

The thread probably just got buried pages down from some other hot topic(s), until someone resurrected it. It happens, I don't think anything was lost.

[Wanthuyr Filho 83]

Are you guys sure that not inserting a flight plan into OpusFSI will not make the depiction worse? I mean, not the depiction, but the transition between the METARs and weather stations flown...

Well, if that's true, than it will suffice for me not to insert anything anymore, as my flight planner does all the needed job in terms of creating weather files to be imported onto the FMS, etc.

[Buziel-411 4]

Loading a flightplan into ASN (and I presume OPUS FSi) doesn't actually affect weather depiction. The weather is what it is. What it does do is provide enroute data for the path of your flight, this allows ATIS type reports for Origin, cruise and destination. It also gives Winds aloft data for input into the more complex aircraft models FMC's and in the case of the PMDG T7 (ASN only), does this automatically

I was reading the ASN manual the other day, and from what I understand entering a flight plan into ASN does affect the weather depiction. A flight plan makes ASN give priority to certain weather stations to try and make the dedication of the departure and arrival airports the best is the way I interpreted it, however I might be incorrect.

[RudiJG1 172]

I was reading the ASN manual the other day, and from what I understand entering a flight plan into ASN does affect the weather depiction. A flight plan makes ASN give priority to certain weather stations to try and make the dedication of the departure and arrival airports the best is the way I interpreted it, however I might be incorrect.

 

You've got the gist of it - loading a flightplan within ASN will give precedence to the weather stations closest to the route to ensure the greatest weather depiction fidelity for the flight.

[Wanthuyr Filho 83]

You've got the gist of it - loading a flightplan within ASN will give precedence to the weather stations closest to the route to ensure the greatest weather depiction fidelity for the flight.

 

So I presume the same occurs with OpusFSI, right?

Is Cherryl or Stephen reading this?! :-)