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| xENVIRO 1.33
USER MANUAL | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| OVERVIEW xEnviro is an addon software intended to be used with X-Plane flight simulator. xEnviro has been developed using modern programming technologies and architecture. FEATURES The only addon featuring volume rendered clouds and volume rendered atmosphere. Real time meteorological data with a smooth refresh interval from 5 up to 60 minutes. Historical weather for the entire world sirface and upper atmosphere. Atmosphere condition based on dynamic air parcel prediction model used for real aviation research and training. Atmosphere quality includes humidity, pollution and fine particle amount. Unlimited variability of cloud formations generated dynamically by the atmosphere engine. Advanced hurricane model based on actual data tracking and live feeds. Precise thunderstorm cell locations based on real time radar and satellite data. Physics based realistic sky coloring rendered using real time ray tracing and light scattering. Actual wind direction and speed for all levels as well as for the temperature, turbulence and windshear. Volumetric effects for different types of precipitation like drizzle, rain and snow. Reflective raindrops on windshield for any aircraft with virtual cockpit. Realistic cloud passing visual effects. Visual effects of aircraft lighting in clouds (strobe lights, beacon lights, navigation lights, landing lights). Landing lights effect during in-cloud and foggy flight. Volumetric external aircraft lights for selected set of aircraft. Light reflections by cloud surface from urban lights at variable intensities. Physics based light scattering for clouds. High quality real time cloud shading. Flexible settings for atmosphere, visual and sound effects. Surface crosswind component can be reduced during ground roll for users with no rudder pedals. Realistic braking action and braking degradation based on actual reports. Atmosphere and cloud light scattering and color depend on atmosphere quality, weather conditions and time of day. Environmental sound engine with ambient sounds and capability to add custom sounds to X-Plane scenery. xEnviro is the most technologically advanced tool that uses the most progressive technologies. xEnviro has a user-friendly interface with flexible settings for each component. xEnviro uses its own art assets along with its own sound library. xEnviro does not alter X-Plane shaders, textures or any other files. xEnviro does not require installations of any additional products or libraries and is fully ready to use out of the box. xEnviro software is constantly being updated. xEnviro has been designed by simmers for simmers! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| REQUIREMENTS X-Plane 12.09 Windows 7/Vista/8/8.1/10 DirectX 11 compatible video card with 4 Gb of VRAM Stable internet connection with data speed not less than 512 Kbps Please note in order to use advanced features you may require to install more powerful video card. VERY IMPORTANT xEnviro has been designed and tested to work with default X-Plane only. xEnviro is not guaranteed to work in any beta version of X-Plane. xEnviro is not compatible with any software, plugin or script that change X-Plane weather parameters, atmosphere parameters, sky colors, scattering, lights and light parameters. Such software shall be disabled or uninstalled prior to using xEnviro otherwise correct operation of xEnviro cannot be guaranteed. Multimonitor and VR compatibility is not guaranteed. List of known incompatible software ReShade SkyMaxx Pro RealWX Pro Ultra Weather XP Active Sky XP xVision FSEnhancer MaxxFx Real Weather Connector SoundMaxx FS Global Real Weather xNoaaWeather FlyWithLua RTH script VenturaSky VisualXP | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| INSTALLATION You can always download the latest version of xEnviro from the xenviro.net web site. To install xEnviro simply run the installation file. During the installation process you will be asked to locate the root X-Plane folder (NOT your plugin folder) on your computer so the plugin will be automatically installed in the correct folder. Every time during start up xEnviro performs a server check and displays a message on the loading screen if a new version of the plugin is available and can be downloaded from xenviro.net website. Additionally during startup xEnviro downloads updated database files from the server therefore some users may experience longer startup times occasionally. Please make sure your firewall and antivirus software are not blocking X-Plane and xEnviro internet access. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| ACTIVATION After successful installation you can access the xEnviro activation window via Plugins > xEnviro > Activate menu. Enter the same e-mail address used for purchase and the personal activation key code (Serial Number) that you receive at the time of purchase. We strongly advise to use ctrl-c and ctrl-v keyboard shortcuts to copy and paste your activation information in order to minimize the risk of data entry error. If you have issues during activation process, check that you have not included extra characters surrounding the serial number during copy. Also, some keyboards may need to be switched to English character set. If the copy and paste does not work, carefully type in the serial number. Be very careful with letters and numbers that may look similar with some computer fonts with numbers one and zero, and letters “I” and “O”. In the unlikely event of xEnviro activation drop after a major hardware change or Microsoft Windows update, please submit a ticket to the xEnviro Support Team with the activation reset request. VERY IMPORTANT Please note that xEnviro uses a state of the art security system. A transfer of the activation data to a third party in attempt to activate the software for multiple users is considered as a violation of the License Agreement and leads to a permanent blockage of the individual software activation code (Serial Number) owned by the original user. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| MAIN MENU You can find the following entries in the xEnviro drop down menu: On The ballmark in front of this entry shows the plugin current status. Without this ballmark the software will not operate. CAVOK This momentarily clears the cloud coverage and resets the visibility to 32 km until the next server weather update. Weather Briefing Opens Weather Briefing window. Settings Opens Settings window. About xEnviro Opens dialog box with brief information about xEnviro. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| SETTINGS WINDOW WEATHER SETTINGS Minimum RVR, m Limits the minimum RVR (Runway Visual Range) preventing the visibility to fall below this value. Minimum Ceiling, m Sets the lowest possible cloud base altitude AGL (Above Ground Level) Maximum turbulence, % Prevents the turbulence values to go beyond this percentage of the maximum possible turbulence. Maximum wind speed, kts Limits the maximum possible wind speed for all the levels in the atmosphere. Braking action Calculates and simulates wheels braking action based on the reported or estimated surface condition. Windshear Simulates windshear events of various intensity derived from the server atmosphere model. Thunderstorms Displays thunderstorm cells at the locations from the server live data feed. Reduce surface crosswind Reduces crosswind component during taxy, take off and landing ground roll. Weather update interval, minutes Sets the timeout period between the server weather requests and subsequent weather update. Easy mode Sets the window controls to the preset limits. Real mode Removes all the limits. ENVIRONMENT SETTINGS Clouds dynamic quality Sets the quality level when the camera moves fast through the clouds. This option reduces dynamic artifacts but implies significant performance penalty. Please note the result is noticeable only when you move. Clouds screen edge quality Sets the quality for the clouds rendered at the edges of the screen. This option improves the clouds look at the camera rotaion but implies performance penalty. Please note the result is noticeable only when you turn your head around. Clouds dynamic blur, % Sets the motion blur amount applied to the cloud rendering only when moving. This option reduces artifacts of the nearest clouds but also reduces the fine details. Please note the result is noticeable only when you move. Cloud crossfade speed, % Sets the rate at which clouds appear and disappear. This option also determines how quick the weather will change between subsequent weather reports. Draw high level clouds Option to draw high level stratus and layered clouds based on satellite data. This option creates enhanced and complex cloud scenes but may affect performance in some cases. Realistic aerial perspective (X-Plane 11) Calculates light bounces from the solid particles using real life coefficients for the scattering equations. This option may reduce visibility in some scenarios as a result of increased reflection haze. Realistic night perspective (X-Plane 11) Estimates light transmission for artificial light sources during the night time. This option may change the level of artificial light reflected by ground haze and clouds. Realistic ozone level Calculates light scattering phases for upper atmosphere based on statistical ozone level data. Control water waves (X-Plane 11) Allows xEnviro to control water wave height, direction, color and animation. Draw wet aerodrome surface (X-Plane 11) Draws wet and damp effect for apron, taxyways and runways. This effect is not reflective as of now. This is experimental option and may cause visual artifacts. Draw drifting snow (X-Plane 11) Draws dynamic drifting snow over aerodrome surface. This is experimental option and may cause visual artifacts. Draw snow in mountains (X-Plane 11) Creates snow coverage in the mountains above the local snow line. This effects requires some time for the snow to appear. Draw default night sky Makes default X-Plane night sky visible during dark hours. This is experimental option and may cause visual artifacts. Fix display flicker (X-Plane 12) Changes rendering in order to avoid displays flickering for NVidia 1xxx video card series. This option may produce minor visual artifacts at night. Seasonal changes, % (X-Plane 11) Sets the level of the seasonal change applied to the ground surface. This is experimental option and may cause visual artifacts. Simple, Realistic Presets for the environment controls. EFFECTS SETTINGS Windshield effect (X-Plane 11) Rain drops on aircraft windshield. Volumetric aircraft lights effect (X-Plane 11) Volumetric effects for external aircraft lights. Lens flares (X-Plane 11) Camera lens flares effect. Diffraction spikes (X-Plane 11) Diffraction spikes of the camera lens effect. Camera blue filter, % Adds blue tint to the post processing simulating mobile camera image. Brightness, % General brightness setting for the entire x-Plane image. Contrast, % General contrast setting for the entire x-Plane image. Vibrance, % General vibrance setting for the entire x-Plane image. Gamma, power General gamma setting for the entire x-Plane image. Tonemapping Selects tonemapping method. Tonemapping level, % Tonemapping level and intensity adjustment. Natural, Vivid Presets for the effects controls. SOUND SETTINGS (X-Plane 11) External sound volume, % Volume for the sounds when the camera is out of the cockpit. Internal sound volume, % Volume for the sounds audible inside the cockpit. Ambient sound volume, % Volume for the standard xEnviro ambient sounds. Scenery sound volume, % Volume for the sounds located in the custom scenery. Total volume, % Total master volume for all the sounds. Manage X-Plane rain sound This option disables X-Plane environmental rain sound when it snows outside. Disable, Optimum, Maximum Presets for the sound controls. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| HISTORICAL WEATHER Historical Weather General switch to enable historical weather mode. Month Sets a month for the historical weather. Day Sets a day for the historical weather. Time UTC Sets a time with 30 minutes increments for the historical weather. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| WINDSHIELD EFFECT xEnviro features generic windshield rain and fogging effects that add immersion and realism to the environment. However please note that rain effect best suits general aviation aircraft as a consequence of the fact that rain droplets cannot be removed by the aircraft wipers due to the X-Plane limitation. LIST OF AIRCRAFT WITH VOLUMETRIC LIGHT FEATURE
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| KNOWN ISSUES Precipitation follows camera This will be fixed during future development. Snow coverage may appear in the regions where no snowfall encountered recently Snow data is calculated and accumulated on the server over time. Some server parameters still require further tuning and this issue will be reduced as we continue with the server updates. Cloud edge artifacts In some situations visual artifacts may appear at the edges of clouds including dots, lines, random cutouts. This will be further refined in the future versions. Clouds may be loaded partially after aircraft repositioning In some cases only a part of the cloud coverage may be loaded after aircraft reposition. Unnatural cloud shapes Sometimes cloud can form unnatural shapes. This will be improved during 1.17 cycle. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| TECHNICAL SUPPORT In order to streamline support requests and better serve you, we utilize a support ticket system. Every support request is assigned a unique ticket number which you can use to track the progress and responses online. For your reference we provide complete archives and history of all your support requests. A valid email address is required to submit a ticket. If you are experiencing activation difficulties please include the following information in your ticket: your email address, activation key and proof of purchase. If you request an activation reset after a hardware change, please include your activation email and activation key number in your ticket. For a general issue report please include both an X-Plane log.txt and xEnviroLog.txt files located in the X-Plane root folder, attach screenshots or a small video depicting the issue. Additionally, please provide the geographical place of occurrence or the nearest airport name or ICAO code and a general summary of preceding actions taken before the issue occurrence. Please note that although we provide assistance regarding activation, setup and general usage where possible we usually do not provide immediate fixes for most of the software issues reported but we collect and thoroughly analyze them in order to include the necessary changes in our future releases. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| LICENSE AGREEMENT ATTENTION! Please, carefully read the present License agreement before using the software. By pressing the accept button in the window with the License agreement text when installing the software or entering the appropriate symbol(s) indicates Your unconditional acceptance of the terms of the present License agreement. If You do not agree with the terms of the present License agreement, You must abort the installation. 1. DEFINITIONS 1.1. The developer company is the rightholder of the software, supporting materials and updates that are described in the User's Guide. 1.2. The Rightholder (the owner of all exclusive rights to the software) is the developer company. 1.3. Computer is the equipment, where the software is installed or used by. 1.4. The user (You) - an individual who installs or uses on their behalf, or lawfully owns a copy. 1.5. User's Guide - supporting materials, manuals, handbook, help file and similar printed and electronic documents, the copyright of which belongs to the developer company. 2. CONCESSION OF LICENCE 2.1. You are granted a license to use the software, in condition of Your compliance with all technical requirements described in the User's Guide, and all restrictions and conditions of the software use specified in the present License agreement. 2.2. You have the right to make a copy provided that this copy is only for archival purposes and for replacement of a lawfully acquired copy in cases when the original is lost, destroyed or became unsuitable for use. Such copy may not be used for other purposes and must be destroyed in case if possession of the copy ceases to be lawful. 2.3. To use the software you may need to register on the copyright owner's website. 2.4. After activation of the software, You are given the opportunity to receive from the owner or his Partners: - new versions of the software as they are released (via the Internet); - access to the User's Guide, Software Development Kit and auxiliary resources (via the owner's website); - technical support (via the owner's website). 2.5. In case of violation of any terms of the present License agreement, the licensor has the right to terminate the use of License agreement at any time without any notice and cost refund. 2.6. To check the legitimacy the use of the software the Rightholder reserves the right to use means to verify that You have a licensed copy of the software. The software may transfer to the Rightholder the information needed to verify the legality of its use. If the check cannot be performed for a certain period of time specified in the User's Guide, the software will work with limited functionality. Transmitted information does not contain personal data or other confidential User information. Obtained information is protected by the Rightholder in accordance with statutory requirements. The software processes received information, excluding data related to identified or identifiable individual on the basis of such information (personal data subject), and did not associate the processed information with personal data of the User. 3. RESTRICTIONS 3.1. You may not establish active connection to the server from more than one computer at any given time. 3.2. You may not establish active connection to the server from the computer without successful activation of the software on the same computer. 3.3. You may not decompile, disassemble, modify or create derivative works based on the software, in whole or in part. 3.4. You may not access, open or send any request to the data servers used by the software. 3.5. It is prohibited to transfer the right to use the software to third parties. 3.6. It is forbidden to transfer and provide access to the activation code to third parties in violation of provisions of the present agreement. The activation code is confidential. Keep the activation code in a safe place. 3.7. It is prohibited to rent the software, hire or give in temporary use. 3.8. The holder has the right to block the license in case of violation of the terms of the present License agreement. 3.9. For violation of intellectual property rights on the software, the infringer bears civil, administrative or criminal responsibility in accordance with the law. 4. TECHNICAL SUPPORT 4.1. Technical support specified in clause 2.4 of the present agreement, is granted in case the User installs the latest update. 4.2. Technical support and delivery rules written on Rightholder's website in the relevant section. 4.3. User data specified when purchasing the software, can be used by specialists of technical support service only when processing request to the specified service. 5. LIMITED WARRANTY AND DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES 5.1. The rightholder guarantees operation of the software in accordance with the description set forth in the User's Manual. 5.2. You agree that any software is not free from errors and You are recommended to backup your files regularly. 5.3. The rightholder does not warrant the appropriate performance of the software, in violation of the conditions described in the User's Guide, as well as in case of violation of the terms of the present License agreement. 5.4. The rightholder does not guarantee the appropriate performance of the software if the User does not regularly download updates specified in clause 2.4 of the present License agreement. 5.5. You agree that the software is provided with the standard settings applied by default and You are responsible for the changes in the software settings. 5.6. WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE OF LIMITED WARRANTY, ESTABLISHED IN THE PRESENT CLAUSE THE SOFTWARE IS SUPPLIED "AS IT IS". THE RIGHTHOLDER AND ITS PARTNERS MAKE NO WARRANTY AS TO ITS USE OR PERFORMANCE. EXCEPT FOR THE WARRANTIES, CONDITIONS, REPRESENTATIONS OR PROVISIONS, THE EXTENT OF WHICH CANNOT BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW THE RIGHTHOLDER AND ITS PARTNERS MAKE NO WARRANTIES, CONDITIONS, REPRESENTATIONS OR PROVISIONS (EXPRESSED IN EXPLICIT OR IMPLICIT) TO ALL, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, NON-INFRINGEMENT OF RIGHTS OF THIRD PARTIES, COMMERCIAL QUALITY, INTEGRATION OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. YOU AGREE THAT YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR SELECTING THE SOFTWARE TO ACHIEVE YOUR INTENDED RESULTS, FOR INSTALLING AND USING THE SOFTWARE AND FOR RESULTS OBTAINED WITH IT. 6. LIMNITATION OF LIABILITY 6.1. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE RIGHTHOLDER AND/OR ITS PARTNERS ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY LOSSES AND/OR DAMAGES (INCLUDING LOSSES DUE TO LOST COMMERCIAL PROFIT, INTERRUPTION OF ACTIVITIES, LOSS OF INFORMATION OR OTHER PECUNIARY LOSS) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SOFTWARE, EVEN IF THE RIGHTHOLDER AND ITS PARTNERS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH LOSS AND/OR DAMAGE. IN ANY CASE, THE LIABILITY OF THE RIGHTHOLDER AND ITS PARTNERS UNDER ANY PROVISION OF THE PRESENT LICENSE AGREEMENT SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE AMOUNT ACTUALLY PAID BY YOU FOR THE SOFTWARE. THESE LIMITATIONS CANNOT BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW. 7. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS 7.1. You agree that the software, documentation, and all copyrights, as well as systems, ideas and methods of work, other information contained in the software, trademarks are the intellectual property of the Rightholder or its Partners. This License agreement gives You no rights to use intellectual property, including trademarks and service marks of the Rightholder or its Partners, except for the rights granted under the present License agreement. 7.2. You agree that you will not modify or change the software in any way. You may not remove or alter any copyright notices or other proprietary notices on any copies of the software. 8. CONTACT INFORMATION OF THE RIGHTHOLDER http://www.xenviro.net | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Is it possible to activate xEnviro using one activation code if I have more than one computer? You can activate your software two times. Furthermore you can request Support Team to reset your activations so you can repeat both of your activations again. Additionally you may request Support Team to increase the number of activations if required on multiple-computer setups. Please note that xEnviro uses a state of the art security system that detects excessive activation attempts from different computers using the same key and may block the original key according to paragraph 3.5 of the License Agreement. Can I activate and use xEnviro in X-Plane 10 and in X-Plane 11 with the same key? xEnviro can be activated and will be fully operational in both versions of X-Plane with the same key. xEnviro does not display any weather. Weather Briefing window is empty. xEnviro requires an active connection to the Internet, therefore please check your network connection. Please ensure that the Windows firewall, your antivirus or network security software is not blocking incoming and outgoing connections. You may need to adjust the rules and configuration for these programs. If necessary, consult with the user manual for the corresponding software settings. Finally please submit a ticket to the Support Team asking for an activation reset. xEnviro does not display any weather when running X-Plane using Vulkan. X-Plane only allows external applications to render in HDR mode. Please ensure that HDR is enabled in X-Plane graphics settings when running X-Plane using Vulkan renderer. xEnviro hangs up at the loading screen with update message. xEnviro performs scheduled database update during startup therefore you may be required to wait until all database files are downloaded and updated. Please ensure that your Internet connection is active and that the Windows firewall, your antivirus or network security software not blocking incoming and outgoing connections. You may need to adjust the rules and configuration for these programs. If necessary, consult with the user manual for the corresponding software settings. Finally please submit a ticket to the Support Team. I have screen flickering and short light flashes when running xEnviro. You may have a script or other plugin running at the same time conflicting with xEnviro. If you have ASXP installed please make sure ASXP Connector is not running. How can I check the current status of the project development? To get the latest updates and comments from the development team you are welcome to join xEnviro Threshold Club or xEnviro Discord server or visit our Facebook page. How can I update the software? Download and run the latest installer to update the core xEnviro components. Database files will be updated automatically. Can I use previous versions of xEnviro? Feel free to download, install and use any version available on xEnviro website. After xEnviro installation simulator performance decreased significantly. xEnviro is a very complex software that uses various programming techniques applying a reasonable impact on the performance so the reduction of the plugin settings or additional change of the X-Plane rendering settings may be required. X-Plane anti-aliasing setting plays a key role in the overall performance. What to do if I experience visual artifacts or graphical glitches? Although xEnviro has been designed to seamlessly blend with the default X-Plane some visual issues may occur. Initially consider checking Known Issues section of xEnviro User Manual. Please make sure you have disabled all the scripts and plugins that may be in conflict with xEnviro. Additionally please make sure you are not using third party texture replacements for the sky and lights. Finally please report any issue to the Support Team with the logs and any additional information that you consider necessary. Please avoid posting issues on the Facebook page as most probably they will be ignored or deleted, please use Support Team instead. For some reason I can not use Support Team. Do you have any other communication channels? Please send your inquiry to support@xenviro.net or you may consider using x-plane.org forum instead. I have Mac OS / Linux / Windows XP. May I use xEnviro with my Operation System? We cannot guarantee correct operation running on non-supported OS. Please check the Requirements section of this manual for the list of supported OS. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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