Weather questions

[vdkeybus]

Hi Pete,

I've got some weather questions.

First, is there any way of having FS2004 load a weather theme on command ? I have tried changing the WeatherTheme entry in a .FLT file and reloaded that using FSUIPC, but it doesn't seem to work. It seems as if the weather theme in a .FLT file isn't reloaded until you enter and exit (with OK) the World.Weather menu. But that may be an FS2004 bug. Haven't had time yet to install the patch. Maybe it is fixed now.

The reason I want to load a theme is that it seems a lot easier to do than setting the whole environment with FSUIPC's NWI, because I need only a limited set of 'weathers'. What do you think ?

Second, after some experimenting with WeatherSet2, I got the following questions: (first I do a Clear All Weather and then I set the station to 'GLOB'):

1. Can I only enter one visibility layer ?

2. If I only set GLOB weather and set none of the stations, the GLOB weather is applied all over the world, right ? Have you any idea (tests or so) how much different 'weather hot-spots (local weather settings at ICAO's, LAT/LON pairs)' FS can hold ?

Third, after snow has fallen, is there any way of 'removing' the snow in FS2004 ? Clearing all weather doesn't help.

Thanks,

J.

[Pete Dowson]

First, is there any way of having FS2004 load a weather theme on command ?

Not that I know of. I never fond any way into that part of the system.

1. Can I only enter one visibility layer ?

Yes, only one visibility layer is implemented throughout. Although FS's weather structures have long had provision for any number of layers, in practice when I have tried to use these everythnig has gone horribly wrong. They don't work.

2. If I only set GLOB weather and set none of the stations, the GLOB weather is applied all over the world, right ?

Well, not at that time. THE GLOB weather is merely the default weather set for a Station that has no specific weather set for it, but weather stations only get 'populated' as needed as far as I can see. Naturally, if you ask for weather for a far-off station (or any point far off) this would invoke routines in FS to compute the interpolated weather there, and it would need to assume the GLOB weather.

Of course, as I've argued and demonstrated before (see discussions in this forum and my documentation), GLOBal weather doesn't stay global forever. The air mass is dynamic and things change.

Have you any idea (tests or so) how much different 'weather hot-spots (local weather settings at ICAO's, LAT/LON pairs)' FS can hold ?

I think it only actually computes and progresses the weather stations around your position - not sure how many, but something in the order of 50-100, probably depending where you are. However, it can store weather *ready* for computation for all of the METAR stations in its list -- you'll find a file containing all the 4-letter ICAOs in the same folder as your FS9.CFG file. It is called "wxstationlist.BIN". It is there rather than in the FS9 folder because it can change -- when you download weather using FS the stations may be updated.

Third, after snow has fallen, is there any way of 'removing' the snow in FS2004 ? Clearing all weather doesn't help.

Sorry, I don't know. Refresh scenery after clearing the weather? There is an assignable control to refresh the scenery.

Regards,

Pete

[vdkeybus]

Hello Pete,

Thanks for clarifying. I've started experimenting a bit with WeatherSet2 and a program of my own. I found out that only cloud types 1, 8, 9 and 10 should be used (Cirrus, Stratus, Cumulus, Cumulonimbus). Using any other number crashes the weather system. It took me a while to find out the reason of the crashes and I just mention it here 'to whom it may concern'.

J.

[Pete Dowson]

I found out that only cloud types 1, 8, 9 and 10 should be used (Cirrus, Stratus, Cumulus, Cumulonimbus). Using any other number crashes the weather system. It took me a while to find out the reason of the crashes and I just mention it here 'to whom it may concern'.

Thanks. I think those crashes may be due to a partially implemented expansion of the weather system. Ever since there have been clouds in FS only those four have been selectable. The other numbers were listed in some of the Microsoft SDKs with different, more complex, cloud types (like cirrostratus, stratocumulus, whatever) but only gave one of the basic types anyway when used. It looks like they changed that so that additional graphics could be selected but didn't follow through.

Regards,

Pete