FS9 Weather Scheme Selection via FSUIPC

[737SimGuy]

Hi Pete,

Any plans to incorporate FS9 Weather Scheme Selection via FSUIPC, similar to selecting and loading a saved flight?

Hope Santa was kind to you. Did he bring a PFC jet cockpit? ;-)

[Pete Dowson]

Any plans to incorporate FS9 Weather Scheme Selection via FSUIPC, similar to selecting and loading a saved flight?

No. Two reasons -- no one ever asked and I don't see a reason for this as most folks are interested more in real weather, but much more importantly I have absolutely no idea how to do such a thing.

What sort of use would you see of such a facility?

Hope Santa was kind to you. Did he bring a PFC jet cockpit? ;-)

No, unfortunatel not :? .... but I've saving my pennies and hope to get one this year! :D. Santa did bring me a Hoverfly helo though (http://www.snelflight.co.uk) which I've been crashing quite regularly these last few days whilst away from base. :D :shock: :D :shock:

Happy New Year!

Regards,

Pete

[737SimGuy]

Hi Pete,

What sort of use would you see of such a facility?

For our (and soon to be PFC) Instructor Station preset weather selection. I can of course program different scenarios myself, but this would allow a bit of flexibility for the end user. Just a thought.

I have been trying to figure out how to convert the binary wx theme to a flight wx file for loading with a flight, but no luck so far.

Santa did bring me a Hoverfly helo though

Hey, that looks like a lot of fun! Is there a helipad on your railway setup? ;-)

James

[Pete Dowson]

I can of course program different scenarios myself, but this would allow a bit of flexibility for the end user. Just a thought.

I have been trying to figure out how to convert the binary wx theme to a flight wx file for loading with a flight, but no luck so far.

To be honest I don't know anything about themes and scenarios. I thought they used rather different data internally than straight-forward WX files. The latter just contain a list of weather settings for Global and each of any number of weather stations by ICAO id. I thought the scenarios included data about how things are to develop. Is this not the case?

When you've programmed a scenerio, where do you put it and how do you load it? Is this all via the Themes list in the ALT W W dialogue?

Hey, that looks like a lot of fun! Is there a helipad on your railway setup? ;-)

:D No -- wrong scale anyway. my model railway is N-gauge (2mm to the foot), so the hoverfly would look monstrous. Anyway, while I learn to fly the thing properly I need lots of relatively unobstructed space! :lol:

Best,

Pete

[737SimGuy]

Pete,

I thought the scenarios included data about how things are to develop. Is this not the case?

I don't recall there being any of that when I used the beta theme generator, but not sure.

When you've programmed a scenerio, where do you put it...

/weather/themes

...and how do you load it? Is this all via the Themes list in the ALT W W dialogue?

Yes. Quite clumsy. Was hoping for a more elegant solution but it is not a critical issue. Maybe someone down the line will develop a 'Theme-To-Text' converter or something, and then I could read the text and load the resulting weather via your NWI.

You know me, always looking for something to add! ;-)

Have a Happy New Year!

James

[Pete Dowson]

I thought the scenarios included data about how things are to develop. Is this not the case?

I don't recall there being any of that when I used the beta theme generator, but not sure.

What's the point of themes if they are just static weather? Isn't that the same as defining static weather? I though themes had moving fronts, developing storms, stuff like that. A sort of "weather script".

If not, what is the point of them?

Maybe someone down the line will develop a 'Theme-To-Text' converter or something, and then I could read the text and load the resulting weather via your NWI.

It baffles me even further why you should need to develop weather in one form and convert it to another, especially if there's no programmatic element to it, like development over time.

Colour me confused! :o

Best Regards & Happy New Year!

Pete

[tuomas]

I'm planning something like this for an "instructor panel" for our aviation club sim - basically a few knobs and switches on the back of the simulator. Something like a 4-position rotary knob for cloud setting (SKC, FEW, SCT, BKN, OVC), a rotary knob for setting the cloud height, wind direction and speed etc.. And a small LCD display that shows the current METAR and a button for "load real weather from the net". Maybe date and time too.

That would be pretty nice and useful in case someone wants to practice certain conditions etc..

I have the impression all that can be worked form FSUIPC, althouhg I havent looked at it yet in detail.

Best,

Tuomas

[737SimGuy]

Hi Pete,

What's the point of themes if they are just static weather? Isn't that the same as defining static weather? I though themes had moving fronts, developing storms, stuff like that. A sort of "weather script".

If not, what is the point of them?

The way I understand it they are there so that you can apply a pre-defined set of weather to any flight quickly, instead of building it through the weather dialogs. I was also under the impression that the weather would change based on the settings used for wind, season, etc, not from a script. Anyone else here know for sure?

It baffles me even further why you should need to develop weather in one form and convert it to another, especially if there's no programmatic element to it, like development over time.

Colour me confused!

Well, if there is one thing I am good at, it is confusing you! :-) The whole point in doing this would be to allow the *end user*, not the programmer, to either download Themes or build them himself, then be able to select and load one via the Instructor Station without interupting a flight session in progress. That's all.

[Pete Dowson]

I was also under the impression that the weather would change based on the settings used for wind, season, etc, not from a script.

Hmmm. There's a lot of local climatological infomation built in then? I certainly didn't know that. How would it know to improve the weather or worsen it? It can't be at random, surely, as the supplied themes seem to change in a specific described direction.

The whole point in doing this would be to allow the *end user*, not the programmer, to either download Themes or build them himself, then be able to select and load one via the Instructor Station without interupting a flight session in progress. That's all.

Yes, but if these are merely static weather sets, as WX files would be, what is the difference, the advantage of themes over any savesd set of FLT+WX files?

Regards,

Pete

[737SimGuy]

Pete,

Yes, but if these are merely static weather sets, as WX files would be, what is the difference, the advantage of themes over any savesd set of FLT+WX files?

Well, other than being able to apply a theme to any flight in progress, I guess nothing. There obviously must be much more to all this than I will ever know. Maybe when more data about Themes is available we can then re-visit this.

Thanks Pete,

[Frank.O]

Hi all,

there is a weather theme How To on flightsim.com . May be there's some useful information in there. The file name is wx_theme.zip. Since it is freely distributable freeware I tried to attach it here (36k) but for some reason I wasn't able to do so.

Anything changed there? I've allways seen the "add an attachment" form before.

Happy new year,

Frank