Richard64 0 Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 You'll have to forgive my ignorance of how some things work, I'm not very technically minded. The thermal energy that I see in the debug window varies according to the month I set in FSX, in June it is about 4.0 and today of course theres nothing. However I still don't seem to be able to get much lift despite flying to as many thermlas as I can. What can I do to influence the thermal energy i.e increase it and hence create more lift. I have been to Australia and the lift there is fantastic. I know that Australia is a hotter country and the UK is not so hot, weather wise but is there any way I can create more lift. I have played with the settings in the configuration panel but don't see much difference. Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Lürkens 30 Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 Hi Richard, that is all the trouble if one makes data public which is not primarily intended for end users. Everyone starts guessing and wasting time to figure out how to change it. The "Thermal Energy" value cannot be changed at all, but is a function of geographic latitude, season, and local solar time. It is used to make an estimate, when thermal activity start and when it ends. It is also used when distinguishing between favourable and unfavourable places of thermals in the mountains. It is not (yet) used to define strength of thermals. Strength, frequency, and other parameters of thermals can be adjusted using the configuration pane of CumulusX!. For this, activate CumulusX!' main window and select from the menu "Tools/Configuration". You can do this prior to start FSX. CumulusX! will always memorize most recent settings. If you have problems finding thermals, first make sure that you are looking at the right places. CumulusX! clouds look different from the usual FSX clouds, but not very much anymore. To identify the clouds, try weather theme "Clear skies" and turn on CumulusX! flag "UnBlue". If you see clouds then, these are exactly those to look for. In addition, it can be difficult sometimes to estimate the right leaning of the thermal column, if there is a relevant wind component. At "Clear skies" wind is zero, so this should simplify things, too. best regards, Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard64 0 Posted October 3, 2009 Author Share Posted October 3, 2009 Hi Richard, that is all the trouble if one makes data public which is not primarily intended for end users. Everyone starts guessing and wasting time to figure out how to change it. The "Thermal Energy" value cannot be changed at all, but is a function of geographic latitude, season, and local solar time. It is used to make an estimate, when thermal activity start and when it ends. It is also used when distinguishing between favourable and unfavourable places of thermals in the mountains. It is not (yet) used to define strength of thermals. Strength, frequency, and other parameters of thermals can be adjusted using the configuration pane of CumulusX!. For this, activate CumulusX!' main window and select from the menu "Tools/Configuration". You can do this prior to start FSX. CumulusX! will always memorize most recent settings. If you have problems finding thermals, first make sure that you are looking at the right places. CumulusX! clouds look different from the usual FSX clouds, but not very much anymore. To identify the clouds, try weather theme "Clear skies" and turn on CumulusX! flag "UnBlue". If you see clouds then, these are exactly those to look for. In addition, it can be difficult sometimes to estimate the right leaning of the thermal column, if there is a relevant wind component. At "Clear skies" wind is zero, so this should simplify things, too. best regards, Peter Hi Peter, well that is very much what I thought and you have now confirmed that for me. The more I am using CX in different countries the more I am understanding. I have to say that it is a great tool and together with Winch X makes gliding far more "real" Thanks again Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdodds 0 Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 In the configuration pane there is a set of values for Lift ceiling - minimum and maximum. Do these values influence the height at which a thermal will start - i.e. the "bottom" of the thermal? If I lower the minimum value to, say 300 metres, will I start to pick up thermals at that altitude? The default minimum is 7500 metres which awfully high for a "minimum" Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Lürkens 30 Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 Exerpt from manual p.17/18: The Lift Ceiling range defines the altitude above mean sea level to which the lift extends, when there is no other information on thermal height available. When there are cumulus cloud layers from the built-in weather system below 20000 ft, this value is used for the lift ceiling instead. If weather conditions are suitable for thermals, and there are no cumulus clouds produced by Flight Simulator X, CumulusX! will generate blue thermals within the defined ceiling range. A pseudo random value from the given range is selected... and: The Weak Surface Layer defines an altitude above ground (AGL) from which the thermal lift tapers out to zero at zero AGL altitude. See also Fig. 7 on p.9 best regards, Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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