Graduated Wx Changes with FSMeteo 6.01

[awralls]

Hi Pete,

I'm a registered user of FSUIPC3.04 and WideFS6.02. I'm using FSMeteo with FS9 across a TCP/IP network. Can I ask you if you are working with Marc P on any developments for MSFeteo? I'm asking you becuase there is no forum for FSmeteo that I'm aware of and Marc seems too busy to answer e-mails. My main gripe is the lack of graduated changes to the local weather with fs9. Winds, pressure and clouds all change immediately and it completely destroys any sense of realism. FS2k2 is/was far better in this respect and I'm pretty much ready to go back to it until this issue is resolved. As the smoothing of global weather is a function of FSUIPC, I wondered what efforts were being addressed to make this ahppen for the local wx in FS9?

Thanks

Andy

EGTR

[Pete Dowson]

My main gripe is the lack of graduated changes to the local weather with fs9. Winds, pressure and clouds all change immediately and it completely destroys any sense of realism.

I think by default FSMeteo 6 sets localised weather, not global, so the smoothing as you fly is performed not by FSmeteo but by FS2004 itself. I've never actually seen winds pressure and clouds all suddenly change like you say, so I don't really understand how that is happening to you.

The advantages of using FS's local weather system rather than the global system as enforced in FS2002 and before is exactly that the weather is local, you can see it in the distance and you can approach it then be enmeshed in it. It is quite a lot better in terms of realism.

There seems to be a bug in FS2004's interpolation of winds when there are a few close weather stations with conflicting wind reports, resulting in wild swings in wind direction. This can occur with FS's own downloads as well and is completely independent of anything FSUIPC or FSmeteo can do. I'm not sure what the answer there is.

If you prefer global orld-wide weather control from FSMeteo, as in FS2002 and before, I think you'll find that option is still there, but in my opinion it wastes a lot of the benefits of FS2004's improved weather engine.

As the smoothing of global weather is a function of FSUIPC, I wondered what efforts were being addressed to make this ahppen for the local wx in FS9?

It is neither possible, nor should it be necessary, for FSUIPC to smooth local weather. All FSMeteo is doing is populating the weather stations with weather data, just as FS itself does when downloading real weather. Then, as you fly, it is completely FS's job to interpolate between the different nearby weather stations. It does this reasonably well a lot of the time, but does seem to have problems sometimes when there are conflicts.

Regards,

Pete

[awralls]

Thanks for the answer Pete. I was afraid of that. I do understand the difference between local and global, but the implementation within FS9 still results in sudden changes. Also, I did not mean to imply that clouds, pressure and winds all changed simultaneously, but they do all change immediately when they do, individually, change.

If there's no plans to fix it then fine, I understand. However, if you try flying a heavy rather than a GA aircraft, you'll observe that as you go through local areas in quick succession, the weather simply flips as you coss the bounderies. It may _look_ pretty, but it's wholly unrealistic.

Thanks anyway.

Andy

[Pete Dowson]

If there's no plans to fix it then fine, I understand. However, if you try flying a heavy rather than a GA aircraft, you'll observe that as you go through local areas in quick succession, the weather simply flips as you coss the bounderies. It may _look_ pretty, but it's wholly unrealistic.

I tend to fly 737 or 757. I like short hops. But I've never noticed suden changes yet. Perhaps I've been lucky in flying through areas with either many WX stations with relatively compatible weather settings, or maybe just not enough weather stations close enough to cause a problem.

I have, however, often noticed clouds in the distance whilst it is blue sky around, and the weather noticeably gets worse as approaching the cloudy area. This seems quite realistic to me. I think FSMeteo populates weather stations to a distance of about 100 miles from the aircraft.

Perhaps you have the weather distance set too short in the FS Options-Settings-Display Weather tab? I now fly with all those sliders set to maximum, but I am limiting the visibility itself using new facilities in FSUIPC which will be incorporated in version 3.05. This helps a bit with frame rates, contrary to my expectations.

I'm wondering if FS2004 has problems with conflicting weather at nearby stations altogether, not just the odd wind fluctuations I've seen? If so then the same should be seen with FS's own weather downloads. Possibly, sometimes, the METARs for neighbouring weather stations are actually for different times of the day, hence the differences. If so, then I really think the only long term answer would probably be for (optional?) massaging of the so-called "real" weather data to make neighbouring weather stations more compatible. Maybe that should be suggested to Marc and Damian? I really can't think of an alternative and would really rather not have to revert to the global weather solution.

Regards,

Pete

[awralls]

Pete,

Understood. I was flying MMUN-MMMX and I guess wx stations in those areas are probably a bit sparse. And you're right, I think I have the wx distance set to 50 miles. I'll try it at 100 and see how it goes.

Cheers,

Andy