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Post by jscharpf on Feb 4, 2018 13:20:02 GMT -5
I've had FSX since the beginning, and over the years all I hear about the weather engine is that it is no good and you NEED to buy one (Active Sky, Real WX, etc.)
I had one of the early versions of Active Sky, I've tried several free weather generators, now I own FS Global Real Weather.
In the end I don't see any difference. I sit at my home airport (Madison Wisconsin). It is cold and snowy outside. I load the game, use FSX dynamic weather. It is snowing, cold, looks fine to me.
I load up FSGlobal Real World Weather, wait for it.. then update weather in FSX.. It's cold and snowing.
Not to sound like a jerk, but this has always been my experience with all weather generators. They use up extra memory I assume, but in the end I don't see anything different.
Can someone explain to me what I am gaining by having to exit out of FSX, load up a weather program, wait for it to update, then watch my AI get reset every time it updates weather.
Sorry I'm ignorant, just wondering what all the hype is about. I would like to understand.
Jeff
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Post by alaskanflyboy on Feb 4, 2018 13:47:25 GMT -5
I'm a fellow Wisconsin based captain as well.
A lot of it has to do with how FSX manages the weather. FSX's weather engine did not change much from FS9, and weather popping was one of my greatest pet peeves in either sim. It's not as noticeable sitting on the ramp, but as you move from one airport's weather influence to another, cloud layers, precipitation, pressures, and winds would instantly change with no transition. FSUIPC can help smooth out the weather and pressure changes, but can't do much about the cloud and precipitation changes. It's a little jarring on final approach in clear weather and halfway into final approach, you lose sight of the runway and the wind instantly dies to nothing, leaving you disoriented and close to stalling.
Active Sky and FSGRW take methods to reduce this weather popping phenomenon. I also believe they do a better job of predicting changes in weather so future weather updates are not as jarring in times of rapidly changing weather (Keep in mind METARs are published hourly and a lot can change in an hour without being enough to warrant a SPECI report).
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Post by jscharpf on Feb 4, 2018 17:08:49 GMT -5
ok thanks for the explanation! I guess I will continue to use FS Global Real Weather, since I already purchased it  . I do seem to remember things happening like you were saying, sudden changes in weather.. just never really bothered me much but I guess I'm not serious enough about the sim. Thanks! |
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Post by peter on Feb 4, 2018 17:15:41 GMT -5
Hi Jeff,
first of all: to use FSCaptain weather features you don't have to buy a weather engine. FSCaptain can download the current weather from online sources, so as long as you are connected to the internet and use current weather in FSX you are going to be fine. Also, note that the weather data in FSCaptain are only needed to make fuel and timing predictions while you are planning a flight.
But now to your question about the advantages of a decent weather engine. I guess it depends a little on where you are flying and what planes you are using. If you are using GA planes and stay close to one airport, the FSX weather will probably do. However, as soon as you do a flight that's longer than 50 nm, and in particular tubeliner flights, the difference can be dramatic. My own reason to invest in a weather engine was an annoyance: with the built-in FSX weather, winds aloft while cruising above 20,000' or so are _completely_ random. I live in Atlantic Canada, where the jet stream is a major factor. I regularly (every other flight or so) encountered the issue that the wind changed from 100 kts headwind to 100 kts tailwind within a few seconds. This is not exaggerated (the jet stream has often winds of that strength).
The problem with FSX weather is that it interpolates the weather from sometimes far away weather stations. The interpolation algorithm is really buggy, so wind changes like I described it above are not only possible, but quite common if you regularly fly above 20,000'. I got overspeed warnings and FSCaptain penalties for doing nothing wrong, so I eventually bought Active Sky. Not only does it resolve the infamous winds aloft problem, it also adds a whole lot more.
For instance, weather can change on much smaller scales than in FSX weather, because AS has more weather stations and injects micro weather to the simulation. I'll never forget my first flight with AS 16. I just did a 100nm flight in a Cessna. Being used to simulator weather, I just looked up the weather at departure and destination, which was looking fine. So I hopped into the plane and planned for a nice flight across the Bay of Fundy. However, AS 16 put a snow storm on my route. Since then, I know that a Cessna doesn't have anti-icing capabilities. I crashed into the bay, and I really don't crash very often.
Instead of telling you a lot more (e.g., that turbulences on approaches make the final stage of a flight much less predictable), why don't you try the demo of the current version of AS?
Cheers,
Peter
P.S.: I am not affiliated with AS, just a very happy customer. I only tried AS and Rex weather engines. Rex makes incredibly good looking clouds, but the AS weather engine is more sophisticated.
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Post by alaskanflyboy on Feb 4, 2018 20:45:28 GMT -5
ok thanks for the explanation! I guess I will continue to use FS Global Real Weather, since I already purchased it . I do seem to remember things happening like you were saying, sudden changes in weather.. just never really bothered me much but I guess I'm not serious enough about the sim. Thanks! It wasn't as bad at low altitudes in GA aircraft. The winds are typically light enough that sudden shifts feel more like turbulence. In jets, it could stall out the aircraft or violently roll the aircraft at cruise altitudes, often resulting in the autopilot freaking out. |
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Post by Travis on Feb 5, 2018 4:15:51 GMT -5
ok thanks for the explanation! I guess I will continue to use FS Global Real Weather, since I already purchased it . I do seem to remember things happening like you were saying, sudden changes in weather.. just never really bothered me much but I guess I'm not serious enough about the sim. Thanks! It wasn't as bad at low altitudes in GA aircraft. The winds are typically light enough that sudden shifts feel more like turbulence. In jets, it could stall out the aircraft or violently roll the aircraft at cruise altitudes, often resulting in the autopilot freaking out.
I'm not going to name any specific commercial external weather engine, but I know that some of the commercial engines allow you to define "thermal sources" at specific locations, and some commercial engines will do unique things such as generate wake turbulence if you insist on landing too soon after an AI aircraft.
I think there's a commercial external weather engine that can generate hail... but I've not experience that... so AFAIK that's hearsay....
Personally with one weather engine, I have been slammed into the ground on final approach because I was too close behind a heavy aircraft.
Also, with another weather engine, I was able to define a real-world 'thermal source' near a nearby-to-me airport which I used for 'small turboprop flights' and I was able to have my C208 go all wobbly if I flew too close to the "power plant" that I defined! (I placed "power plant" structures in the area so I could visually know what I was getting in to!)
Then too, some commercial external weather engines can use proprietary cloud & sky textures to make your journey look as close as their artists can manage.
Finally, there was a time 5-8 years ago when the default FSX weather source was widely unavailable... if you used it then, there was a good chance that you would have gotten spurious (old) weather data. (I assumed that applied to FS9 too. I've no idea on the P3D default weather source....)
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As for FSCaptain, the default FSX weather (and possibly FS9 weather, although I can stand to be corrected) only sets weather out to the extent of the "bubble" that your aircraft is in. (My guess is that's around 300nm.)
Now our external Administrator can't see FS9 / FSX / P3D weather... only 'weather files' that are generated by these external weather sources. So if you are planning a moderate-to-long-range flight in the Administrator, then you need an external weather file to give you both wind guidance and TAF information.
If you're going to do a short range low-altitude flight, then I'd suggest that you make your route independently and load the PLN file into the FCDU and get the weather that's available. (Although there's no guarantee what weather will be available.)
If you're going to do longer-than-short range flights in pressurized aircraft, then I'd tend to suggest an external weather engine which can be read and understood by FSCaptain so that your Company Dispatch can give you better estimates on Block Time and thus fuel requirements....
File-based weather that an external weather engine depends upon can be used to warn dangers, such as lightning in the area, local mountain (or visual point) obscuration, possibilities of thunderstorms, or volcanic ash... things that aren't recognizable with simulator weather.
Hope this helps with your enquiry....
Regards,
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