Just a quick AS question.....

[Guest allblack]

Hi Jim. How's that for presumptuous!When downloading weather, I get the message 'Writing Station Data'...My flight is Schipol to Frankfurt Main.Q1: What is 'Writing Station Data'?Q2: Why is it writing, amongst others, LIRF?LIRF is a wee way away from both airports? Is it getting weather data from Rome???? I stand to be corrected, but I didn't see EGLL flick through...Heathrow's a lot closer than Rome but didn't see to have it's station data 'written'....Told you it was quick!CheersTim

[JSkorna 137]

Hi Tim,Writing station data is when AS is processing its data and sending it to FS04. AS writes(processes) data in a two hundred mile radius of your current location. I can assure you that EGLL popped across!Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Sales and Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004proudsupporter.jpg

[Guest allblack]

Cheers Jim!Sorry to be a pain, but could you please dumb-down the 200-mile thing for me. Does AS pull in weather from 200m around even though I'm flying between airports 60 miles apart?What if the destination is more than 200 miles away? Do I get AS weather for 200 miles then if not on-line updating get no more?(I rarely fly more than 200 miles so haven't seen this for myself).ThanksTim

[JSkorna 137]

Hi Tim,It's not a problem, you have legit. questions!On each download from the server the worldwide weather is downloaded to your computer in a file called current_wx_snapshot.txt. Now, what happens next is that AS recognizes your current position in FS04 and processes all the weather in a 200 mile radius. Now remember, you know where you are going to fly, but AS doesn't. So next you fly, and at this point it doesn't matter to AS if you fly 50 miles or 5000 miles; it already has the data for the whole world, even if you are not on-line. Think of it as a moving bubble with a 200 mile radius. The bubble moves as you move and you will always have weather.And really that is the way Offline Mode works; you download one set of world wide data and AS will use that data wherever you fly.Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Sales and Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004proudsupporter.jpg

[Guest allblack]

Awesome! Thanks Jim, it answers my question.Though, as you've mentioned it, I have to ask! Worldwide weather is downloaded....I'm a sad case with a dial-up connection, and usually the AS download takes approx 120 seconds.Are you saying that ALL the weather for ALL the world is downloaded to my AS in that timeframe? Wow. Must be some pretty flash gear you have there.No reply necessary, just thinking out loud.Thanks againTim

[Damian Clark 1,233]

Hi Tim,Yes it's pretty flashy stuff :) Actually, some may find it interesting to know that over 80% of all coding development time is spent on server wx data collection, data storage and client access technologies. The other 20% is what you see as AS features, wx depiction, interfaces, etc... So the 80% is all really behind the scenes!With cable internet we're getting an average of 5-10 second download times, and as you mentioned about 100-200 seconds on dialup. Since most of the time during updates is spent on actually writing wx to FS, even on dial-up it's not too big a deal :)ASV adds increased oceanic/sparse reporting points and virtual wx stations for increase wind resolution depiction, so each download is a little bigger but not by much. Remember each download contains METAR, TAF, and Wind aloft reports for over 6000 unique station points world-wide. We compress and encrypt these files for transfer from DataNet servers to AS clients and each one is about 350-400K in size (approx 1.4MB uncompressed). FS2004's own real wx system was our original inspiration for the world-wide snapshot design. They do the exact same thing, yet they have much less overal completeness and resolution in the base data (leaving FS9 to interpolate more often than not). Just some fun information for you! :)Best,

[Guest allblack]

5-10secs??Cable (as you call it) is very expensive in NZ. What we call Broadband is still the domain of the rich and famous, and those that don't have kids!!!Still, that's what work is for, fast internet access! CheersTim

[Guest glenb]

Damian,There is something wrong with my setup because it takes several minuets to download.I have cable modem that is very fast except for the AS download. The problem may be anywhere in my system because when MSFS is running even using other screens can be slow. I thought it was when I installed the full version of FSUIPC. Other downloads are fast even with MSFS running.Looking forward to ASV

[Guest glenb]

Damian,I tried to edit the previous post but was too late.I reset the FSUIPC to NORMAL DEFAULTS and that fixed the download speed. Now I will look to see what setting caused the problem.Hope you did not spend any time on this.