FSMeteo question

[Guest Moghdad]

How does this program measure up? Does it effect framerates and does the periodic dialup, download and weather creation routine interrupt FS or cause it to slow down?What about Active Sky?Thanks

[Guest]

FSMeteo is wonderful. It has never caused me any FPS loss, stuttering, or compatibility issues with all of the latest mainstream add-ons such as Flight Max and Radar Contact. It offers both online and offline modes and will even dial and hangup your internet connection as needed while you fly. FSMeteo is the only program I've seen for FS that correctly brings in world-wide winds aloft data. It's also the cheapest of any commercial weather addon at $15.00 US if you purchase via Postal Money Order. In short, it's 'bulletproof' and super reliable, I love it and wouldn't fly without it.I have also used Activesky. Personally I feel it has some serious issues, especially with winds aloft downloading. You can only use real world weather information if you maintain an open internet connection all the time - if you use offline mode it only simulates winds aloft. Even then you don't really get complete world wide winds aloft data, a lot of gaps in coverage. The US area is ok though. It also causes a lot of stuttering on my high-end P4 computer when it downloads data from the internet. A lot of people have this problem as well. They (the developers) are supposed to be trying to fix this issue but they don't know what's wrong as of yet. Also, Activesky doesn't work correctly with FS2002's built in ATC and FS2002 ATIS. You won't get the right runway assignment when you land and the landing airport ATIS information will be wrong. Activesky does work with Radar Contact if you have the latest patched executable but still has to simulate winds in the landing terminal area to work right. Also, the developers of Activeky have stated that they will probably eventually start charging for a subscription service (this from a message on their forum here). In short, my personal opinion is that FSMeteo is a must have. Everything works like it's supposed to, you don't have to cross your fingers or fiddle with it constantly to get it to do what you want. I highly recommend it!

[Guest Moghdad]

Sounds interesting, but does FS pause or slow down each time new weather is loaded?The reason I ask is that lately I've gotten into simulating 1930s-style aviation, all VFR down low, based on sectionals, dead-reckoning, an E6-B and stopwatch (and Bill Lyons's J-3 Cub!). For this method to work FS has to run in accurate real time without any slowdowns or pauses whatsoever.Does FS continue to run at normal speed as FSMeteo downloads and generates new weather?

[CharlieZ 0]

You can also download FSMeter which is free and works as well as FSMeteo in my opinion. I have both and neither affects my frame rates.

[Guest Moghdad]

Sorry, I didn't make my question clear enough. Does FS pause each time the weather generator updates the weather?I downloaded the demo but cannot figure out what it is supposed to be doing. It seems to have no effect at all.

[Damian Clark 1,106]

Hi,Version 1.7 adds offline winds aloft, there is a public beta avail now via forum. Stutters have been improved a lot since earlier versions. If you are having problems please email me and I can help try to identify the problem. Runway assignment depends on correct usage of the destination force feature, you need to enter a valid ID for destination and check the force box. There are also new "disable all updates during force" options. Hope this helps.;-Damian[table border=0" cellspacing="30" cellpadding="0][tr][td align = "left"]Damian ClarkHiFi Simulation SoftwareDeveloper of ActiveSkyThe next-generation weather environment simulation for FS2002!http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky[/td][td]http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpg][/td][/tr][/table://http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/ima...][/tr][/table

[maxter 0]

No it doesn't pause stutter or any such thing when uploading or updating the weather.I suggest you have a look at the weather forecast in your country, find an area that has good weather and fly to an area that has not so good weather. You will be amazed at the difference FS Meteo makes.I have recently completed an "Around the world" flight using the excellent FSD Seneca (all in real time and real weather). FS Meteo made the trip for me, especially flying from the bottom of the Kamchaka Peninsula to Alaska along the Aleutians. The weather was horrendous and accurately replicated along the way.Cheers,Chris Porter:-outtaPerthWestern Australia

[Guest CYOW_pilot]

Short answer, No.I would not fly without FSMeteo. No stuttering at all. It is completely transparent to me (FS2K, PIII, 833MHz, 512RAM, cable modem).I highly recommend it.Kevin in CYOW

[Guest Henri W]

Waldo,I have also used both FSMeteo and ActiveSky wxRE and in my case it worked out the other way. Whereas I certainly liked FSMeteo, I really was blown away by the great features ActiveSky wxRE provided. For you apparently winds aloft are a big issue (As Damian mentioned elsewhere in this thread offline winds aloft should work in the latest version wxRE as well now). For me things like visual appearance are high on the priority list. Realism is killed when clouds instantly appear or disappear. In most cases cloud transitions in wxRE are really smooth. Also I was more impressed by how wxRE renders the clouds than by the way FSMeteo performed in this area. Another great feature is the dynamic aspect of wxRE. By using TAF reports and extrapolation it shows great dynamic weather and not just weather that is updated when the METARS are updated. And did I mention wake turbulence. I do not want to say that FSMeteo is a bad product. On the contrary, it is a great product as well, but I really do like wxRE much more. And that is not because of the fact that I am a beta tester for wxRE.BTW, I am surprised to see you mentioning a price of $15 for FSMeteo. I ordered it on-line and I paid 29 euro for version 5.1 (now certainly more than $30). I get the feeling you are mixing things up, since $15 was the old price for ActiveSky wxRE. I just saw that it now is $19.95, which I still consider a bargain.ActiveSky wxRE does a lot more than just displaying downloaded METAR reports. A lot of development effort went into the program and when looking at the result it clearly shows. And before I forget, no stutter problems at all with wxRE on my P3 800 with 384 MB, GeForce2 GTS 64 MB.Just my two eurocents.Best regards,Henri

[Guest]

I just purchased and installed ActiveSky Ver. 1.6 over last weekend for $21.21 U.S.. I wavered awhile reading reviews and some user comments here for both FSMeteo and ActiveSky. Not having any personal experience with either weather program, the deciding factor for opting for ActiveSky was the difference in price. At the FSMeteo download site, the going price on 3/24/03 was $30.70 for the basic FSMeteo DL plus $18.50 for their "must-have" panel DL package. Fifty dollars makes for a weather addon nearly the same price I paid for FS2002Pro when it was initially released. There is another interesting weather addon named "WeatherCenter" currently available for $17.50. None of these programs offers much of a worthwhile trial deal or period, so one must opt for one and never knows what he might have missed with the others (unless he has a friend who will let him play around with a competitor's program).Too bad, but I have a feeling any one of these three programs is better than FS2002's "Real World Weather." I got tired comparing my printout of actual, current enroute winds aloft showing a 30kt tailwind and finding I was flying into a 25kt headwind, then landing at my home airport in a driving rain storm when it quit raining here 24hrs ago. I think Jeppesen simply got fed up with the deal they made some time back with MS and is no longer very interested in updating winds aloft or enroute and destination metar data.

[Guest etanin]

"I think Jeppesen simply got fed up with the deal they made some time back with MS and is no longer very interested in updating winds aloft or enroute and destination metar data."They never did!

[Guest Henri W]

Hi,I am not sure I understand what you are saying. I think you indeed mean the default online weather of FS2002 is bad. I must say I never used it. When using ActiveSky wxRE I consistently get the same weather in the simulator as what I observe outside. Have fun using wxRE. You might want to download version 1.7. It will further improve a few things.Best regards,Henrihttp://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpg