Hi All,I'm getting a little (well a lot) tired of the sudden wind changes in FS9. I really think they are one of the biggest bugs/features in FS9.Anyway, from various forums I gather that AS2004 can do something about it. But in the FAQ I read: "You must have a valid flight plan loaded (with correct cruise altitude entered) for route-based wind smoothing to be enabled". Does that mean, that if I request a different FL from ATC (as in a step-climb), I will not be able to get smoothing?TIASven Sorensen, EKCH

Hi,Thanks for your interest!Can you hang in there for a bit longer without an answer? Damian and others are working on some things in this area. I don't want to say too much because I don't know all there is to know, or ignore your post. If Damian wants to add something, he will!!Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004proudsupporter.jpg

Sudden wind changes are already taken care by AS with the ccw wind fix and wind smoothing.I never file my flightplan to AS and i never get any sudden shift.Regards

Claudio, not even during climbs or descends? If I don't load a flight plan to AS2004 I always get at least a couple sudden wind changes specially during climbs, in fact, even loading a flight plan I *might* get some specially when the waypoints in the flight plan are too close. Now my technique is to create special flight plans for AS with waypoints separated by at least 150nm, for some reason this seems to prevent the sporadic but recurrent wind shifts.Carlos.

150nm????????That's more then NY - Washington!How can you fly?No i fly normally, and sporadically, very sporadically, some sudden shift happens, but it's not violent as it occurred some time ago.

>150nm????????>That's more then NY - Washington!>How can you fly?This applies for medium haul flights (ie. CYWG-CYVR ~1000nm or CYWG-CYYC ~700nm) commonly on the PMDG's 737, if I want to fly on a GA or a Regional turboprop (relatively slow airplanes) the AS2004 flight plans are different (waypoints closer if posible).Damian or Jim could confirm this, but as far as I know, it is known that if you don't load a flight plan to AS2004 and enable enroute wind smoothing you WILL get some wind changes due to a flaw in the FS weather engine. It has been mentioned before as the only way to avoid wind shifts is to load a flight plan, so I don't know how you don't get them, could you share with us your .ini file? I would like to try your settings.Thanks,Carlos.

Without a plan loaded, in cruise, I get no wind shifts that aren't *REAL* windshifts that exist in the metar/winds aloft data. On climb particularly, but also descent occasionally, I'll get some shifting when transitioning between wind layers especially the surface layer to the first layer (~6000ft. AGL). Loading a plan corrects this 95% of the time, but I still occasionally get a shift at around 6000'.BUT---read jim's response. ;)Best,sg

Hi all, thanks for your replies..In the end, I couldn't wait so I went and bought AS. And I'm impressed, the clouds somehow look more real when they get mixed as I saw from my first, short EDDF-EKCH flight. I did supply a flight plan, but I still got a few wind shifts - not much though. On the other hand, too much smoothing can also occur: We had gale force winds in EKCH yesterday, yet I got a mild 9 kt non-gusting final. But the direction was right, and so was the low, thick cloud cover. So I like it, and wil now do the RTFM thing... :)BRGDSSven Sorensen, EKCH

The ini is attached below.I never use route based wind smoothing.Also waypoint distance does not depend on flight lenght.Wherever you are you should fly airways, and even if you enter two vors 450nm apart, but connected by the airway, then the FMC automatically loads every fix along the route.

Hi Sven,Welcome to AS2004! There is a new MR2 beta that will be available in the next few days which solves ALL wind shifts entirely (with the help of some new FSUIPC technology) and does NOT require route-based wind smoothing (this option has actually been removed in the new beta build).-Damian

Hi Damian, thanks for the warm welcome.I do look forward to the new functionality, but for now I'll play around with the 1.1 version and get to know it. Like: Now I know, why I didn't see the winds in EKCH - old data...Great product, looking forward to get to know it!BRGDSSven Sorensen, EKCH

I too wish to welcome you!! Those are the developments that I was referring to in my first post! Now the community knows.JimActiveSky Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004proudsupporter.jpg

Excellent news Damian, you have made an excellent product even better. Congratulations to you and to all the AS2004 team.Best regards,Carlos.

Wow, that's a pretty bold statement! I'm really looking forward to seeing what you all came up with now.Mark Kuebeler

Very bold indeed! Kudos to Pete Dowson for this!-Damian