Hello,

With this script you can have better control on how X-Plane 11 is drawing clouds in various sky conditions e.g broken, overcast etc.

You can lighten or darken the bottom parts of clouds, lighten or darken the clouds shadows and change the drawing style per sky conditions and if there is rain or not.

I made this script for my own usage to get as much FPS as possible running real weather and having adequate clouds (I'm running a triple monitor setup 3 x 60°) and I thought it was a good idea to share it.

You don't have to use the script with the included values, rather you could alter the values to get the best results based on your own preference and aesthetic.

The script acts more like a tool to set it your own way, than a final ready made script.

X-Plane 11 default datarefs values are included (commented) as reference points.

The above screenshots are from X-Plane 11.01 with default clouds textures and default clouds puffs set to 0.25.

The included values will give you better FPS but the clouds will become a little softer.

You can use the script with different clouds textures (.png files). You may need to modify the values to have better results.

Installation

To install it just place the file X11-Clouds.lua in X-Plane 11\Resources\plugins\FlyWithLua\Scripts folder.

To uninstall it simply remove the file X11-Clouds.lua from FlyWithLua\Scripts folder. Next time you start X-Plane 11 you will have the default clouds.

You need to install the FlyWithLua for XP11:

Notes:

The script works fine with X-Plane 11.00 and 11.01. May not work well with future X-Plane updates if LR make changes to the datarefs the script is using.

The script won't work with X-Plane 10.

Remove any other lua script that is using the same datarefs to avoid conflicts. Alternatively you can just comment in other scripts the duplicated datarefs.

The script works with manually set weather, real world weather and NOAA weather plugin. According to the weather type you are using you may need to modify the values to have better results because X-Plane will draw clouds with different way due to different Metar interpretation.

Clouds flickering and transparency of lights at night are known X-Plane 11 issues that existing till version XP 11.01. They don't caused by the script and unfortunately cannot fixed with the script.

Use the script at your Own Risk.

Best Regards!

Important Update!

Since version 2.6.0 this and some other scripts can stop working!

This is because of some new restrictions accessing DataRefs. Check the FlyWithLua topic:

You need the FlyWithLua v2.5.3 to have the script working.

v2.5.3 is the last FlyWithLua working version for scripts accessing private datarefs.