Setting local visibility in FS9

[scruffyduck]

Hi Pete

I have been trying to set local visibility using offset 2DF0. I have converted the value to meters then I am writing the 8 byte value to that offset every 10 seconds. What actually seems to happen is that I am not getting any changes in visibility at the aircraft but I am losing all the autogen textures and runway textures :? :?:

Trying to check the value of visibility using FSInterrogate to read 0F8C seems to show that it is zero

Clearly I must be doing something wrong since there are no 'scenery' offsets nearby - any suggestions much appreciated

[Pete Dowson]

I have been trying to set local visibility using offset 2DF0. I have converted the value to meters then I am writing the 8 byte value to that offset every 10 seconds. What actually seems to happen is that I am not getting any changes in visibility at the aircraft but I am losing all the autogen textures and runway textures :? :?:

That sounds like a video card or driver problem. What happens if you limit visibility to similar values using the FSUIPC options? They drive the setting in the same way.

Trying to check the value of visibility using FSInterrogate to read 0F8C seems to show that it is zero

0F8C is nothing to do with the fiddles used to override visibility values. That's just a conversion of the weather read-outs available in more detail elsewhere.

Regards,

Pete

[scruffyduck]

Hi Pete

If I write visibility any other way I get the changes I expect plus there is no loss of textures.

[Pete Dowson]

If I write visibility any other way I get the changes I expect plus there is no loss of textures.

Sorry, I'm confused. what other way?

Did you check what happens when you apply limits, as i suggested? See FSUIPC's wisibility page. All the facilities in FSUIPC for graduated visibility, applying lower and upper limits, use the same part of FS as that 2DF0 offset. Please cross-check. What you describe sounds very much like a typical video driver problem. These visibility fiddles are nothing to do with the weather, they operate on the graphics control part of FS.

Regards,

Pete

[scruffyduck]

Ah - ok Pete - my misunderstanding - I thought you were talking about setting visbility using other offsets.

Makes sense if what you are doing working directly with the video drivers - I will check that out - thanks

[jordi]

Hi Pete,

I’ve a registered license of FSUIPC and I would like to ask you or this forum about a question regarding visibility. What is the best option we have to write FS visibility through FSUIPC?

I’ve tried using offset 0x2DF0 and it works initially, but this change only lasts 14 seconds. In this situation I could write the visibility every n seconds ( with n<14). But I would like to ask if anyone knows a better way.

Thanks in advance,

Jordi

[scruffyduck]

Hi Pete

I have it working now thanks - I was writing a rubbish number to the offset - basically forgot that I was dealing with 100ths of a mile coming from my application so the values were 100 times bigger than they should have been :oops:

Jordi

I am sure Pete will give you the definitive answer but I believe that your application must write the value at an interval less than 14 seconds. My application writes the value every 10 seconds - I do not think there is any other way if you are using this offset. There are other ways to set visibility however - I guess the best would be to use the New Weather Interface which interacts with the FS9 weather engine. The other methods use either an FS98 offset or offsets related to FS2000/02. writing to these is not guaranteed to change the visibility at the aircraft because of the way that the FS9 engine works

[Pete Dowson]

What is the best option we have to write FS visibility through FSUIPC?

I’ve tried using offset 0x2DF0 and it works initially, but this change only lasts 14 seconds. In this situation I could write the visibility every n seconds ( with n<14). But I would like to ask if anyone knows a better way.

The normal way is to set the visibility as part of the weather. This, for FS2004, is best done via the New Weather Interface. But then you set each weather station's weather in FS, so your program is a full weather-setting application.

If you only want to change the visibility around the aircraft WITHOUT actually affecting the weather reports and so on, then 2DF0 is the only way. The reason for the time-out is to prevent the visibility being permanently stuck, should your program become disconnected or closed before restoring the location. If this happened and there were no corrective action in FSUIPC, the user would have to reload FS to fix it.

Regards,

Pete

[jordi]

Thanks Pete & scruffyduck for your clear and fast answers,

I've decided to use the New Weather Interface, because I also need to set clouds and winds. NWI looks very good for it.

Thanks,

Jordi

[afterburner]

Hello!

I´ve a question to the "visibility around the aircraft" (that can be changed by setting a value in offset 2DF0):

In weather menu, they can set visibility only stepwise: above 10 miles in 10-mi-steps (10, 20, 30, 40... mi), below 10 miles in smaller steps (5, 3, 2, 1, 0.5,... mi). Visibilities between these steps can´t be set in menu.

Will the displayed visibility at an entry on i.e. 11 miles in the 2DF0-offset be rounded off into 10 miles (or 20 miles), or will the visibility around the aircraft be 11 miles like set in 2DF0 and displayed in that kind?

Thanks for answer!

Regards Konstantin

[Pete Dowson]

Will the displayed visibility at an entry on i.e. 11 miles in the 2DF0-offset be rounded off into 10 miles (or 20 miles), or will the visibility around the aircraft be 11 miles like set in 2DF0 and displayed in that kind?

I'm pretty sure it's continuously variable, to 1/100th of a mile, but try it and see. You can only tell by watching the view. Best do it at a known airport, see what you can see then measure the distance to it.

When the graduated visibility option in FSUIPC is enabled, and you climb or descend, the visibility changes reasonably if not perfectly smoothly. This uses the same fiddle in FS. There may be some "stepping" going on, but certainly not as coarse as the menu slider suggests.

There may be graphic limitations also, which may vary from one video card/driver to another, but I wouldn't have thought so.

Regards,

Pete

[afterburner]

Hello Pete!

Thank you for your very quick reply!

I would like to try it by myself, but the problem is, I don´t know how to write a value in an offset.

I´ve tried FSInterrogate, I could only read values by clicking "read buffer", but not write. Do I need FSInterrogate to write values? Maybe I haven´t fully understood this program.

Next question - do I need a registered version of FSUIPC to be able to write values in an offset (i.e. the offset 2DF0)?

[Pete Dowson]

I would like to try it by myself, but the problem is, I don´t know how to write a value in an offset.

Ahwhy do you need to know, then? I'm a bit puzzled as to why you are interested in the effects of writing to an offset when you don't intend to do so?

I´ve tried FSInterrogate, I could only read values by clicking "read buffer", but not write. Do I need FSInterrogate to write values? Maybe I haven´t fully understood this program.

Check the documentation. There's a button you can press for any offset which gives you a window with two tabs. One gives a description, the other allows you to read and write.

If you don't want to write a program, the other way is by using the Buttons or Keys programming facilities in FSUIPC. There are added controls for writing values to offsets, even incrementing or decrementing them. It's all in the documents provided.

Next question - do I need a registered version of FSUIPC to be able to write values in an offset (i.e. the offset 2DF0)?

No. The program doing so needs an access key if you haven't registered FSUIPC. FSInterrogate has one already. You cannot use the Buttons and Keys programming though.

Regards,

Pete

[scruffyduck]

When I write a value for visibility to the normal weather offsets it changes on a continuous basis by 100ths as Pete states. This is not reflected accurately in the FS weather setting menus which only have step wise changes. The value being read back from one of the visibility offsets is in 100ths however. I write the values both the the visibility around the aircraft and the mormal offsets. I'm pretty sure that if I wrote it only to the visibility around the aircraft offset then the value would not be reflected in any other offset value.

[afterburner]

Hello!

Now I´m able to change values at offsets in FSInterrogate.

I have experimented with changing the offset "Visibility" (not "Visibility around aircraft" at 2DF0, I get only zeros there...), and in fact, an almost stepless change in visibility is possible.

Ahwhy do you need to know, then? I'm a bit puzzled as to why you are interested in the effects of writing to an offset when you don't intend to do so?

My motivation of changing visibility values was checking out the visibility value below which the sky turns to grey.

I have found out that a visibility of 10.05 miles is the lowest visibility where they still have blue sky at clear cloud conditions.

And I´m pleased to have found this out because the grey sky at 10 miles (visibility I´ve set in weather menu) has made me angry. Now I know that FS´weather engine itself enables to get clear blue sky at a visibility of 10 miles (exact: 10,05 miles).

Thank you for your help, Pete and scuffyduck!

I will write more when I´m back at home (now I´m visiting my relatives).

Regards Konstantin

[Pete Dowson]

I have experimented with changing the offset "Visibility" (not "Visibility around aircraft" at 2DF0, I get only zeros there...)

You don't get anything reading it. It's for writing, not reading.

Regards

Pete