ActiveSky vs WeatherMaker vs FSMeteo...

[Kyprianos Biris 12]

When I found out about FSMeteo needing recharge for update, I complained to Marc. This was his reply, judge for yourself ;-)--------------------------------------------- Original Message ----- From: "Marc Philibert"To: "Kyprianos Biris"Sent: Tuesday, September 24, 2002 7:18 AMSubject: Re: FS_Meteo - Marc ?> Why i decide to charge this version.> The metar server #1 of previous version of FS_Meteo was a NOAA server.> Since fiew months they have major problems to update there weather > stations and> many stations was not updated anymore, some part of the world wasn't> there and new stations aren't there at all...> > So to keep the top quality service, FS_Meteo needed big changes!> You know FS_Meteo it's not only the program you run at home...> There is a lot of others program i create to support the FS_Meteo> client.> > FS_Meteo need mirror servers, switch, router, ups, backup system and a> new T1, do you know the cost to rent a T1? Now the new FS_Meteo V5.2 use> new systems to provide the top quality services.> All thoses system cost a lot of $ and i never thought that i need to buy> them when i start selling FS_Meteo.> > When i talk about quality...> > Today i was reading my email went the my pager bip...the FS_Meteo server> failed in less then 2 minutes (remotely) all FS_Meteo user was route to> a new server that was in standby, that's very fast no, that's top> quality!> > When i arrived on the site, it was the mother board of the FS_Meteo> server that burnout ...> > So if you said "well just thoses new fonctions in the new FS_Meteo and> he want us to pay for that"> Think of all new hardware the new FS_Meteo need to be the best system> software...> > I dont want that you buy it, but please understand my decision.> > Kind Regards,> Marc> Kyprianos Biris :-cool[link:avsim.com/greece/hvacc]Hellenic vACChttp://vatsim-eur.org/images/VATSIM-EURs.gif

[Guest etanin]

I have to agree with Marc. I bought FSmeteo over 2 1/2 years ago I think I was one for the first to get it. So after 2 1/2 years a $18.00investment is well worth it for me, if your not using FSflightmax or do not want to spend the $18.00 your FSmeteo still works.

[Guest]

Mmmmm....I guess the last few posts summed things up, Payware = FSMeteo or Freeware = ActiveSky. Except that, well, thats about all there is!?!Being a "Scrouge" type I have (tks to FSUIPC) been able to continue to use Flight Director 99 (yes I know, I should never have PAID for FD99!!!) for generating the weather in FS, so I have never shelled out the

[virtualstuff 750]

FSMETEO the best money ever spent for a FS2002 Add on :-)awfEHAM

[ls25 0]

I have only used ActiveSky, and FSMeteo, and I cannot really say that I have used a later release of FSMeteo since about 4.87 version, but I would prefer one of the freeware versions anytime. Even with less features & a bit less in the quality of transitions, I say free is the best way to go.I do have a biased opinion though, as FSMeteo updates ceased to be in my mailbox after 4.7x & I had to beg to get my updated versions. Eventually, I stopped emailing the writer of the program after I heard of every new update, & of course, never received anything further.The worst part of that is that I purchased FSMeteo when it first came out, and I never thought I'd need to keep the receipt, so it was lost in the move a few years after i purchased it.Anyways, I will never re-purchase FSMeteo, & have run out of patience with not receiving the product. I refuse to beg for it, after I paid by money, so I say freeware all the way!!

[Guest abent]

Well I installed ActiveSky v1.2 last night and gave it a go. I did an IFR flight from CYQM (Moncton, NB) to CYUL (Dorval Montreal. PQ) in my DF734. All was fantastic until about 40 minutes into the flight and the winds aloft changed from 45 degree crosswind of 22kts to a direct headwind of 89 kts. Man you want to see that puppy go into hyper overspeed. :-eek In real life are winds that erratic? It's based on metar, so I guess it's gotta be right. Also the plane climbed about 500 ft in less than a second and ATC started barking at me. Tonight I'm gonna try it without winds aloft simulated. The transition from overcast to about 3/8 broken was instantaneous. After reading the many informative responses to my first query, it seems that time is the factor in determining weather and not a/c position. So it appears that it may not be possible to have smooth transitions. If my limited understanding is correct, your update is immediate from one reporting station to another.I read somewhere that FSMeteo 'interpolates' the data from two adjacent weather stations and makes an 'estimated' transition. Those that use FSMeteo, please tell me about how smooth the transitions are. Most of my flights are IFR at high speed so I will always be crossing at least a few different reporting stations.Thanks again for all the valuable help!Adam:-) P.S I love having different Alt settings and the cloud effects with ActiveSKy seem better than default FS.

[Guest KenG]

The transitions in FSMeteo are user-configurable. I can't remember exactly offhand, but I think I have it set to change winds at 1kt/sec, clouds such that it takes about 30-60 sec to go from overcast to clear (or vise versa), and barometric changes of 1" Hg/sec. Again, all these numbers can vary either through FSMeteo or FSUIPC.

[michal 44]

You can smooth-out transitions using the FSUIPC (for winds). But going from clear to overcast - this sort of transitions really sucks regardless what product you are using. You should be seeing the overcast in front of you and you should fly 'into it' rather than having the weather all of a sudden change around you. This is the biggest drawback in my opinion of the whole weather generation in FS2002. If someone could deliver this sort of realism - I would be willing to pay $$$ but until then - I use freeware.Michael J.

[Guest abent]

Thanks guys!Ken G, how do you find this transition with the setting to 60 sec for cloud changes. Does it seem fairly realistic?And Michael, that's exactly what I'm looking for - your description of flying into clouds you see on the horizon!Adam:-)

[Guest]

Hi all,I've never used FSMeteo so I can't tell anything about it. But this morning I made several tests with Active Sky v1.3, just downloaded from the author's site (link on Avsim's homepage).It looks great and is quite easy to use, but I have noticed a bug I'd like to share with you: when the visibility is very low, and/or when the cloud overcast is low too, the program doesn't seem to reproduce these weather conditions. For example, this morning in Zurich we had 2500 metres visibility (that is, less than the main runways' length), but the visibility in FS was way more than 20km...regardless of any FSUIPC "visibility" settings.Has anyone had the same experience?Many thanks,Nicola

[Flyer Ken 0]

Hi Nicola,I've had thick ground fog using ActiveSky. You have to remember that any weather setter is only as good as the METAR info it's getting. Maybe the METARS for Zurich were out of date.

[Guest]

Thanks for your message Ken.When I mentioned "we had 2500 metres in Zurich", I actually meant that the NOAA METAR reported 2500 metres, not that I lived in LSZH (I am from Torino, Italy, btw) and was seeing a 2500 metres visibility outside my window.That's where my problem is; could you please tell me what your FSUIPC settings are then, because I can't seem to have any CATx weather condition, which is quite unrealistic if you know what winters look like in Northern Italy...oh well I see you're from CYVR, you should know that ;-)Thanks,Nicola

[Damian Clark 1,081]

Hi Nicola,If you can please do me a favor, find a metar station with less than 3000 meters vis and go there, then with activesky give me a screenshot of the main screen (with the metar report showing) and one of the runtime status screen. I can try to track down the problem.. Thanks!You can e-mail to dzc66@cox.net. Thanks!-Damian

[Guest]

>Hi Nicola, >>If you can please do me a favor, find a metar station with >less than 3000 meters vis and go there, > (...)>You can e-mail to dzc66@cox.net. Thanks! Hi Damian,due to the installation of another weather program ("Weather Center") I had to reinstall my OS this afternoon. I will reinstall FS in the next minutes, re-download your proggy (which is very good, apart from my vis problem) and take a screenshot.Thanks for your help :-)Btw, and this is a message for everybody, be very careful while (and if...) installing "Weather Center": as I said before during the installation process a white screen pop'd out telling me "Reinstall Windows" or something; I rebooted my system but it was unable to run the "Explorer" program of Windows 98 (not Internet Explorer). So I had to reinstall everything :-(Nicola

[ErnieAlston 33]

Perhaps Marc should be charging one price for the FSMeteo client, and a small subscription fee for continued monthly access to his servers.Ernie.