Troubleshooting

From time to time, mistakes happen or things don’t look quite right. Here are some things you can do to fix the issue.

Why Don’t I See the Epic Clouds?

There are two reasons why the clouds might not show up in the sim:

• You may have too many folders nested inside each other
• You didn’t restart the sim after you put the clouds into the community folder

Here is an example of what the tail end of the directory structure should look like including both the community folder and one of the Epic Cloud addons:

“\Community\Floyds Epic Clouds v1.7 – (centigrade, sort by cover)”

If you didn’t see a folder that looked similar to the above then you probably transferred the whole unzipped folder to the community folder instead of checking its contents for just the part you wanted. Inside it you will find a number of useful links and 4 folder options for temperature scales and sort methods. You should select the folder that corresponds to your temperature and sort preference and put that into the community folder instead.

Why Does The Sim Pick Wrong Preset in Career Mode?

In career mode, if you switch off live weather, you continue with an internal predefined weather. There is a point during the career path (IFR certification possibly) at which the sim no longer uses its predefined weather but instead picks a preset from your list. There isn’t anything the Epic Clouds can do to change how the sim works in this case.

The Sim Crashes When I Descend Through a Cloud?

This is not due to the clouds but the scenery. This problem was due to not clearing the rolling cache after updating the sim. After passing through the clouds, the new scenery became visible and the new and old scenery clashes caused a crash to desktop.

The ‘Addons Linker’ Says There is a Manifest Problem?

When the Addons linker sees files in a directory, it assumes the directory is a package. If you drop the whole unzipped Epic Clouds folder into the location scanned by the Addons Linker, it will say there is a ‘manifest’ problem because the Epic Clouds & User Guide folder is not a package. Move that folder out of the folder used by the addons linker and instead copy and paste in one of the 5 options. This will be a properly formed package that the Addons Linker will recognise.

Why Do I Get A Virus Warning!?

All files are scanned thoroughly by flightsim.to before they are made public. The Epic Cloud files are data structures only, there are no executable programs included that would trigger a virus alert. However, I have included a single page PDF ‘Read Me’ file which could be viewed as a threat since there are ways to make it carry and execute malicious payloads. I may switch to some other format in future to avoid this alert.

Why Do I See Boxes or Stripes in the Clouds? (GPU)

If you see boxes or stripes in the clouds, this is an indication that your computer in general and your ray-tracing hardware in particular is nearing its capacity. Note that using DLSS antialiasing in MSFS will magnify the problem, but this effect varies as Asobo adjusts each DLSS update.

Potential workarounds:

• Try TAA antialiasing instead of DLSS in MSFS General Options. This works well in combination with the OpenXR Toolkit FSR upscaling.
• Try turning down the Raymarched Reflections setting in General Options

Be aware that:

• AMD’s ray tracing tech is a generation behind Nvidia’s for equivalent GPUs, so are more vulnerable to stress.
• The MSFS DX11 graphics library is currently more efficient than the DX12 graphics library.
• MSFS Cloud setting ‘Ultra’ is best but ‘High’ is reasonable and captures the majority of the subtlety.
• Try easing the load by by adjusting settings – here is a guide you can use.

How Can I Reduce Stuttering in the Sim? (CPU)

I recommend setting the clouds to ‘high’ if possible. I have a separate web page dedicated to all the Flight Sim settings that you might want to have a look at.

Stuttering results when the complexity of the whole scene exceeds the capacity of your CPU and/or GPU. When the GPU has problems you will tend to see boxes or stripes that indicate that the ray-traced parts of the image hasn’t been rendered completely. In the past this has occurred when the graphics driver has been found to be inefficient.

The most problematic clouds will be those that have multiple layers but still allow you to see the horizon, however these will also be the most realistic and beautiful.

Why Can’t I Hear the Thunder Claps?

The volume of the thunder claps that follow some of the lightning strikes can be low to non-existent. This is down to Asobo’s implementation, but it might well be affected by the very low storm intensity I have used in an effort to make the strikes less frequent and thus, in my opinion, more natural.