More cloud formations!

[Earth5250]

Aircraft basically live in the sky. Which makes the sky very important, especially in a flight simulator. I think eventually, we need to see all the possible cloud formations that are true to life. As mentioned in a previous Q&A, they (MSFS) are striving to create a replica of the earth.

Below is an image that illustrates some of the cloud formations that we see in our everyday-to-day life.

Source: List of cloud types - Wikipedia

This image is only the tip of the iceberg regarding clouds, as there is much more to it, however, it would be amazing to have these implemented into the simulator, especially to match the live weather!

There are multiple images online such as the ones below that really make the sky so beautiful to look at, and I’m sure these clouds would make massive improvements to the flying experience.

Source: https://twitter.com/nickywhiffin/status/1324671488578985986?s=20

Source:Cool Clouds Photograph by SJ Lindahl | Pixels

Source: The Coolest Weather Picture Ever! | A Word of Weather

Source: https://twitter.com/mark_tarello/status/859235641699250177?s=20

Not forgetting the noctilucent cloud which is one of my favourites!

Source: Noctilucent clouds - Met Office

And did anyone ask for some arcus clouds? I’d hate to be under one…

Source: Arcus cloud - Wikipedia

[Airwind1962]

The current situation of the representation of the clouds, although already in itself optimal, does not reflect the variety of the clouds themselves, there are entire families of clouds (both generated by real weather and by situations created by the user) to clarify the ideas refer to the attached image and to the original MSFS video where it clearly said “NATIVE SUPPORT FOR ALL CLOUD TYPE” (episode 3 aerodynamics)

[trashmon49]

Your picture misses the 11th cloud type, found between 2500 ft and 25000 ft, Cumulogranite.

[Fsxlover2]

+1
While the clouds we’ve got currently are good, it does get bland after a while with the same cloud type

[Earth5250]

Tell me about it!

Along with the thread by @JackMartin7440 about Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) ( Aurora Australis) Northern and Southern Hemispheres, these extra cloud formations would go amazingly well with it.

[DrearySquire253]

I very much agree to this.

[Brunocarvalh0]

100% this. Can’t wait for these improvements.

[Salem978]

<This old man yells at clouds, tells them they can be better!

[MLTAVIATOR99]

As much as I’d like to see more cloud formation, clouds are one of the most resource intensive settings in this game.
Imagine them being more complex.It would probably tank fps further.

[ClayishCoast9]

I’m optimistically hoping that they’re still working towards this. The magnificent (but exclusive) vistas of cumulus clouds we saw in the early days seem to have been replaced by a wider range of mostly stratus forms. These too are great - but an appropriate mix would be nice

Higher level cloud types need to be brought into the weather engine at some point … that’s a huge omission in the experience. This has been asked for repeatedly and extensively … here and you can vote for improvements here and here.

(Any Managers/Moderators watching - looks like these need to be combined into a specific ‘cloud types’ topic…)

[Earth5250]

What I will say is this, there are clouds in the game already. And these clouds are used to cover all the types of clouds around the world. Just because there are different types of clouds, it doesn’t necessarily mean that there will be more clouds.

All it means is that there will be the same amount of clouds but they’re just different from each other. I mean, unless you’re travelling at Mach 3, you won’t really be heavily impacted by different cloud types. And even if you are, I’m sure there would be an option to disable different cloud formations.

In review, MSFS can be repetitive and a bit bland with the cloud system at the moment. There is an opportunity to spice up the sky, so let’s hope they can make that opportunity a reality.

[Earth5250]

But the reason why the clouds look like that is because there are not proper cloud formations in the game to recreate it!

[GamingCat2130]

Hi, I´m always in when it comes to awesome cloud formations and cloud rendering
Fantastic idea!

[Legendsy7041]

Do you have any new information for me if Asobo have pland to bring it in an update?

[mbraortns]

more cloud types and better colors/lighting would make the flying environment much more realistic.

[Relentless101]

Live Weather is a great feature, but many times, the cloud types are not accurate. Sometimes, there are high level stratus clouds over LAX, but the Live Weather will put low level cumulous clouds instead, that block the scenery. Even shallow marine clouds will be placed with billowing cumulous clouds at times. I think the new preset Desert Conditions have the high altitude cloud type that I hardly see with Live Weather turned on. The weather preset is an awesome feature that some of the high level clouds should be utilized with Live Weather on. They also need to include high altitude cirrus clouds, as well as stratus clouds to further add to the beauty. I love the cumulous clouds, but I think Live Weather overuses them, especially when there should be high level cirrus, and stratus clouds. Wispy cirrus, clouds, and stratus clouds would add to amazing sunrise and sunsets also.

[Parorng]

This needs more attention. There is a huge array of very distinct cloud types that the sim could generate.

Also, fat transparent clouds do not exist…

[DementedCorn327]

FYI, there is also a thread opened in the Bug/Weather forum related to the same since it was announced that all cloud types were supported at FS2020 launch: METAR keeps disrupting the weather/ bugged weather/Cumulus/CB clouds only/no medium to high cloud coverage

[DementedCorn327]

Thank you using the Bug section, using templates provided will greatly help the team reproducing the issue and ease the process of fixing it.

Are you using Developer Mode or made changes in it?

No

Have you disabled/removed all your mods and addons?

Yes

Brief description of the issue:

The different clouds types are not represented. In the weather feature discovery, minute 6:43 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8TGT87Fxyw, it is stated “Native Support of all Cloud Types”. I have tried many locations around the world where clouds are reported on the world map and unfortunately 95% of the time we always see same clouds, cumulus clouds type that are not even correctly depicted (too transparent). The other types of clouds that may appear looks like same cumulus clouds but thiner or thicker. It looks like the diffrent type of clouds have not been defined and implemented. I have opened a zendesk ticket.

Provide Screenshot(s)/video(s) of the issue encountered:

Main cloud types are:

Provide coordinates (DevMode > Options > Display position)

everywhere clouds are reported

Provide time & date of the observed Weather issue

Detailed steps to reproduce the issue encountered:

Fly where clouds are present on the world map

PC specs and/or peripheral set up if relevant:

Build Version # when you first started experiencing this issue:

SU7. Even if at FS2020 launch maybe not all clouds types were represented, definitly pre-SU7 versions had more realistic clouds depiction.

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Do you have the same issue if you follow the OP’s steps to reproduce it?

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[usamor]

I fully agree. Pre SU7 clouds weren’t perfect, but at least there was a reasonable variety. Since SU7, clouds depiction has gone to hell.