Question About Clear All Weather in FSUIPC 3.05

[jase439]

I just installed FSUIPC 3.05. I've noticed that when I restore a saved flight, FSUIPC clears the existing weather. If I attempt to reset the weather (i.e. enable the Fair Weather Theme), FSUIPC keeps clearing it away.

When I start a new flight, however, FSUIPC leaves the weather theme untouched.

No external weather programs or WideFS was running at the time.

Allow changes to FS own weather is "unchecked"

Clear weather stops dynamics is "checked"

Here's the log output:

FSUIPC Key is provided

WideFS Key is provided

Module base=00C00000

ClassOptions: UIPCMAIN=FF7F, FS98MAIN=FF7F, FS2KMAIN=FF5E

WeatherOptions(Orig)=601C7709[601C7709]

InitDelay: 3 seconds

19281 System time = 14:23:24

Internal Debug Code 255

19281 D:\Program Files\FS2004\

21343 FLIGHTS\OTHER\FLTSIM.flt

21375 AIRCRAFT\c172\Cessna172SP.air

23625 System time = 14:23:29, FS2004 time = 14:23:27 (21:23Z)

161953 C:\Documents and Settings\Jason\My Documents\Flight Simulator Files\Enroute.flt

161984 AIRCRAFT\c182\Cessna182S.air

162234 Clear All Weather requested: external weather discarded

162875 Advanced Weather Interface Enabled

323656 WeatherOptions set, now 601C7709 (timer=0)

442343 FS98 Pressure=1013.1 mb

442343 FS98 Wind0: ground (4251ft) to 3228ft AGL, dir 0M, vel 0, gust 0, turb 0

442343 FS98 Wind1: 7480ft to 10810ft AMSL, dir=270T, vel 20, gust 0, turb 0

442343 FS98 Wind2: 10810ft to 23933ft AMSL, dir=270T, vel 25, gust 0, turb 0

442343 FS98 Vis: range=20sm, (raw value=2000)

442343 FS98 Cloud1: type=1, from 43618ft to 44438ft (+/- 98ft), cover 6, turb 0, ice 0

442343 FS98 Temp0: to 4251ft, Day 15.0C, NightVar 3.0C

442343 FS98 CurrTemp at PlaneAlt=7001: 10C

[Log closed by user request, and continued in new file]

450890 System time = 14:30:36, FS2004 time = 01:33:02 (07:33Z)

450890 *** FSUIPC log file being closed

Memory managed: 3 Allocs, 7180 Freed

********* FSUIPC Log file closed ****

Thanks for any help.

J

[jase439]

Actually, after more testing, the problem seems unrelated to restoring a saved game. I can recreate the problem this way:

Start FS2004

From the create flight menu, select KSLC

Select the Fair Weather Theme (if not already selected)

Click Fly Now

Notice (via visual inspection of the sky) that the Fair Weather Theme is indeed active

Go to Weather... and confirm that Fair Weather Theme is still active (it should be).

Take off

The moment the wheels leave the ground, the sky is cleared

Go to Weather... User-Defined Theme is now selected; all weather has been purged.

[Pete Dowson]

I just installed FSUIPC 3.05. I've noticed that when I restore a saved flight, FSUIPC clears the existing weather. If I attempt to reset the weather (i.e. enable the Fair Weather Theme), FSUIPC keeps clearing it away.

No, you are misinterpreting something there. When you load a flight, FS itself clears the previous weather. FS logs this fact, as it needs to know when this happens so that it can reset any weather supplied from outside. It merely intercepts FS's own call to the "clear weather" routine in order to detect it.

The only times FSUIPC actually clears the weather are

1) when you tell it to, via hotkey or button

2) when you start a weather program which changes the weather through the old FS98 weather interface (unless you tell FSUIPC not to in an FSUIPC INI parameter -- see the Advanced Users guide)

3) when a "New Weather" or "Advanced Weather" interface using program requests that the weather be cleared.

Here's the log output:

162234 Clear All Weather requested: external weather discarded

Yes, it means EXACTLY what it says. Something (in this case loading a flight) cleared the weather, so FSUIPC clears down the external weather requests, if any, so that next time an external weather program changes something they'll be seen as changes.

Regards,

Pete

[jase439]

Hi, Pete. Please note my follow up post (#2). It really seems to have nothing to do with saved flights.

None of the 3 conditions mentioned in the manual are true in my case:

Something happens the moment my wheels leave the ground that triggers the "clear weather" event - or at least causes FSUIPC to believe the event was triggered. When I'm on the ground, everything is as I would expect. It's not clear to me why FS would be clearing the weather immediately after takeoff. I've never observed this behavior before.

As I mentioned, no external weather programs are running - just FS.

Thanks,

J

[Pete Dowson]

Something happens the moment my wheels leave the ground that triggers the "clear weather" event - or at least causes FSUIPC to believe the event was triggered.

Even if it did, FSUIPC isn't doing anything with it that matters, unless you are running an external weather program. That mesage is only logging the fact that something called WEATHER.DLL's clear weather routine, that's all.

The log extract you showed before is just the initialisation call, for the default loaded Flight.

Regards,

Pete

[Pete Dowson]

Actually I only just noticed this message (it must have crossed with my reply to your first, so of course mine got stuck on the end of the thread:

Start FS2004

From the create flight menu, select KSLC

Select the Fair Weather Theme (if not already selected)

Click Fly Now

Notice (via visual inspection of the sky) that the Fair Weather Theme is indeed active

Go to Weather... and confirm that Fair Weather Theme is still active (it should be).

Take off

The moment the wheels leave the ground, the sky is cleared

Go to Weather... User-Defined Theme is now selected; all weather has been purged.

Aha! Correctionyes, doing EXACTLY what you say, I can get it to happen here too.

Now that is VERY weird. There's nothing I know of in FSUIPC which should care whether you are on the ground or airborne, but evidently something is doing something. Sorry I doubted you.

I'll investigate this and let you know. Please don't worry about it any more, I'll get to the bottom of it ...

Regards,

Pete

[jase439]

No worries. Glad to hear I'm not chasing a phantom spectre that lives only in my machine. I was really starting to scratch my head on this one.

I can confirm this behavior is new to 3.05. I tried rolling back to 3.04 and while the weather is set to "user-defined", the weather settings are preserved (whether on or off the ground).

Thanks for the support.

J

[Pete Dowson]

Glad to hear I'm not chasing a phantom spectre that lives only in my machine. I was really starting to scratch my head on this one.

I can confirm this behavior is new to 3.05. I tried rolling back to 3.04 and while the weather is set to "user-defined", the weather settings are preserved (whether on or off the ground).

Actually it is the same in 3.00 through to and including 3.05. The "fix" to the problem which I put into 3.05 wasn't a complete fix, unfortunately.

The symptoms here are certainly NOT that the weather clears -- there's no sign of that. But the Weather Theme reverts to User Defined, for sure. I don't know why your weather actually changes, but it must be related, somehow. Does the log show a "clear weather" at all at that time?

Anyway, the culprit is the Wind Smoothing option. Turn that off and the problem goes away. That Technical page option for not changing FS's own weather manages to cope with everything else *except* that one. Duh!

I'll fix this in the next release, but that won't be for at least a week, maybe two, unless something else really serious comes up. Sorry.

Regards,

Pete

[jase439]

Can confirm. It definitely seems tied to the wind smoothing. Everything as normal with the wind smoothing disabled.

Here is the log output from beginning to end which shows the error. You can see where the clouds get cleared after the aircraft rotates. Most odd.

-=-=-

Module base=00ED0000

ClassOptions: UIPCMAIN=FF7F, FS98MAIN=FF7F, FS2KMAIN=FF5E

WeatherOptions(Orig)=601C7F09[601C7F09]

InitDelay: 3 seconds

5344 System time = 20:33:45

5344 *VIS* SM: Min=0.00, MaxRny=20.00, MaxOvc=20.00, MaxCld=20.00, MaxClr=60.00, Upper=80.00, FT: LwrAlt=6000, UppAlt=25000

Internal Debug Code 255

5360 D:\Program Files\FS2004\

6656 FLIGHTS\OTHER\FLTSIM.flt

6688 AIRCRAFT\c172\Cessna172SP.air

8375 System time = 20:33:48, FS2004 time = 20:33:47 (03:33Z)

8500 Advanced Weather Interface Enabled

8641 FS98 Pressure=1013.2 mb

8641 FS98 Vis: range=150sm, (raw value=15000)

8641 FS98 CurrTemp at PlaneAlt=429: 15C

8750 >Change: FS98 Vis: range=150sm, (raw value=15000)

8750 >Change: FS98 Dewpoint Control: disabled

8750 >Change: FS98 Precip Control: disabled

8750 >Change: Pressure=1013.1 mb (Target is 0.0)

8750 >Change: surface wind: to alt=3232ft AGL, dir=0T, vel=0.0, gust=0.0, turb=0, shear=0, var=0.0, AMSL=3611

8750 >Change: wind layer 0: to alt=6562ft AMSL, dir=270T, vel=20.0, gust=0.0, turb=0, shear=0, var=0.0

8750 >Change: wind layer 1: to alt=19685ft AMSL, dir=270T, vel=25.0, gust=0.0, turb=0, shear=0, var=0.0

8750 >Change: Visibility[0]: range=unlimited, from=-1476ft, to=8524ft

8750 >Change: Cloud[0]: type=9, from 5741ft to 6726ft (+/- 100ft), cover=2, turb=0, topshape=0

8750 >Change: Precip=0, base=-1476ft, rate=2, icing=0

8750 >Change: Cloud[1]: type=1, from 39370ft to 40190ft (+/- 100ft), cover=6, turb=0, topshape=0

8750 >Change: Precip=0, base=-1476ft, rate=2, icing=0

8750 >Change: Temperature[0]: alt=0ft, Day=15.0 C, NightVar=3.0 C, DewPt=5.0 C

8750 Results: Visibility[0]: range=20.0sm (32187m), from=-1476ft, to=8524ft

8750 Results: FS98 Wind0: ground (0ft) to 3612ft AGL, dir 0M, vel 0, gust 0, turb 0

8750 Results: FS98 Wind1: 3612ft to 6561ft AMSL, dir=270T, vel 20, gust 0, turb 0

8750 Results: FS98 Wind2: 6561ft to 19685ft AMSL, dir=270T, vel 25, gust 0, turb 0

8750 Results: FS98 Vis: range=20sm, (raw value=2000)

8750 Results: FS98 Cloud1: type=9, from 5741ft to 6725ft (+/- 98ft), cover 2, turb 0, ice 0

8750 Results: FS98 Cloud2: type=1, from 39370ft to 40190ft (+/- 98ft), cover 6, turb 0, ice 0

8750 Results: FS98 Temp0: to 0ft, Day 15.0C, NightVar 3.0C

12344 C:\Documents and Settings\Jason\My Documents\Flight Simulator Files\UI generated flight.flt

12531 Clear All Weather requested: external weather discarded

13422 >Change: FS98 Pressure=0.0 mb

13422 >Change: FS98 Vis: range=0sm, (raw value=0)

13422 >Change: FS98 Dewpoint Control: 0.0C

13422 >Change: FS98 Precip Control: None, Intensity=0

28203 >Change: wind layer 0: to alt=6991ft AMSL, dir=270T, vel=20.0, gust=0.0, turb=0, shear=0, var=0.0

28203 >Change: wind layer 1: to alt=20114ft AMSL, dir=270T, vel=25.0, gust=0.0, turb=0, shear=0, var=0.0

28203 >Change: Visibility[0]: range=unlimited, from=-1047ft, to=8953ft

28203 >Change: Cloud[0]: type=9, from 6170ft to 7155ft (+/- 100ft), cover=2, turb=0, topshape=0

28203 >Change: Precip=0, base=-1047ft, rate=2, icing=0

28203 >Change: Cloud[1]: type=1, from 39799ft to 40619ft (+/- 100ft), cover=6, turb=0, topshape=0

28203 >Change: Precip=0, base=-1047ft, rate=2, icing=0

28203 Results: Visibility[0]: range=20.0sm (32187m), from=-1047ft, to=8953ft

28203 Results: FS98 Wind1: 3661ft to 6991ft AMSL, dir=270T, vel 20, gust 0, turb 0

28203 Results: FS98 Wind2: 6991ft to 20114ft AMSL, dir=270T, vel 25, gust 0, turb 0

28203 Results: FS98 Cloud1: type=9, from 6171ft to 7155ft (+/- 98ft), cover 2, turb 0, ice 0

28203 Results: FS98 Cloud2: type=1, from 39799ft to 40620ft (+/- 98ft), cover 6, turb 0, ice 0

28203 Results: FS98 CurrTemp at PlaneAlt=429: 8C

29219 Results: FS98 CurrTemp at PlaneAlt=429: 11C

30203 Results: FS98 CurrTemp at PlaneAlt=429: 13C

31313 Results: FS98 CurrTemp at PlaneAlt=429: 14C

********* ADDED BY JASE439 - WENT AIRBORNE HERE ********

80375 >Change: Cloud[0]: type=1, from 39799ft to 40619ft (+/- 100ft), cover=6, turb=0, topshape=0

80375 >Change: Precip=0, base=-1047ft, rate=2, icing=0

80375 >Change: Cloud[1]: remainder cleared

80375 Results: FS98 Cloud1: type=1, from 39799ft to 40620ft (+/- 98ft), cover 6, turb 0, ice 0

80375 Results: FS98 Cloud2: type=0, from 0ft to 0ft (+/- 0ft), cover 0, turb 0, ice 0

92750 Results: FS98 CurrTemp at PlaneAlt=531: 14C

[Pete Dowson]

You can see where the clouds get cleared after the aircraft rotates. Most odd.

Yes, I get a cloud layer clearing. I think that is simply the result of cancelling the weather theme and going "user defined". Most of those themes can't be used as a basis for user weather - you can prove that by trying to change them manually. In fact the whole business of themes is odd -- nothing FSUIPC can do can even read the weather data for them very reliably or accurately.

This is not a "clear weather" action, though, which was what got me going down the wrong path originally.

I'll fix it in the next release in any case. Thanks!

Pete

[jase439]

Sorry if I had you going down the wrong track. I saw the "clear all weather requested" in the log and assumed it conincided with the phenomenon since a visual clearing of the weather is what I experienced in the sim, when in fact it looks to be as you say, a clearing of the cloud layers. In this case, the only thing it looks like I'm left with is the high cirrus.

Thanks for looking into this and posting a workaround.

J