Force Destination WX in DWC mode

[bojote 23]

Hi,I've seen this problem *everytime* I fly into an airport with very low visibility, so I've already concluded that it must be some kind of bug *OR* what the developers intented is very different to what I expect to see, let me explain:I have ASE with Service Pack 2 (B642) installed and fly exclusively in DWC mode and the 'Force Destination Wx Zone' option ENABLED. I also load the flightplan into ASE everytime I fly. Generally speaking I'm very pleased with ASE and I would say it is (at least for me and based on the configuration I have/use) working flawlessly, so no complains. I do however, have noticed that every time I fly into an airport with very low visibily *or* with an 8/8 overcast the 'depiction' of this weather condition starts to occurs 'late' ( when I'm about 8 miles from the airport ) and not 80nm from my destination as the manual suggests when the 'Force Destination Wx Zone' is enabled.According to the manual, the Force Destination Wx Zone instructs ASE to force all weather stations to my present destination conditions. This *should* happen 80nm from my destination which is determined using the flight plan I loaded when I first started my flight. Last night, there was a 1 1/2 nm visibility into chicago O'Hare including light snow with a 4000 overcast. However, conditions during the approach and localizer capture where few clouds and very good visibility. When on final (7 o 8 miles to the runway threshold) conditions started to change to 1 1/2 visibility + complete overcast. So, my question is really simple: what is 'Force Destination Wx Zone' supposed to do? because the info from the manual is not consistent with what I'm experiencing, nothing happens '80nm' miles from my destination.... but more like 8nm from it.Thanks,

[Guest]

Hi,In later Builds of ASE we have had to slow down the time in which destination weather changes, whether this option is in use or not. Then on top of that some users believe that the later versions of FSUIPC have slowed down/stopped the transitions even more. Try with the Smooth Cloud weather depiction in ASE and compare your results.

[bojote 23]

Hi,In later Builds of ASE we have had to slow down the time in which destination weather changes, whether this option is in use or not. Then on top of that some users believe that the later versions of FSUIPC have slowed down/stopped the transitions even more. Try with the Smooth Cloud weather depiction in ASE and compare your results.

Hi Jim,Thanks! I'll try the Smooth Cloud weather depiction option and see if it helps.

[bobbyjoh 11]

Hi,I've seen this problem *everytime* I fly into an airport with very low visibility, so I've already concluded that it must be some kind of bug *OR* what the developers intended is very different to what I expect to see, let me explain:I have ASE with Service Pack 2 (B642) installed and fly exclusively in DWC mode and the 'Force Destination Wx Zone' option ENABLED. I also load the flightplan into ASE everytime I fly. Generally speaking I'm very pleased with ASE and I would say it is (at least for me and based on the configuration I have/use) working flawlessly, so no complains. I do however, have noticed that every time I fly into an airport with very low visibily *or* with an 8/8 overcast the 'depiction' of this weather condition starts to occurs 'late' ( when I'm about 8 miles from the airport ) and not 80nm from my destination as the manual suggests when the 'Force Destination Wx Zone' is enabled.According to the manual, the Force Destination Wx Zone instructs ASE to force all weather stations to my present destination conditions. This *should* happen 80nm from my destination which is determined using the flight plan I loaded when I first started my flight. Last night, there was a 1 1/2 nm visibility into Chicago O'Hare including light snow with a 4000 overcast. However, conditions during the approach and localizer capture where few clouds and very good visibility. When on final (7 o 8 miles to the runway threshold) conditions started to change to 1 1/2 visibility + complete overcast. Hi ******* and Jim,******* explain this so well, because I have experienced the EXACT same thing when I use DWC with Force Destination WX Zone. The other day I just became "tired" of the problems with DWC and decided to try Smooth Cloud mode. On a test flight which was my first one with this mode I saw really good results and with Force Destination WX Zone on. As I approached KT PA on this test flight I observed the winds for example changing to what they should be about 20 miles out.I cannot find it in the update info, but Jim, what have you all found are the limitations of the Smooth Cloud Mode. Yes I did see it is not suppose to be as accurate for long flights, which I do as DWC. As my many other post, I use FSUIPC with weather mode enabled to stop turbulence and dramatic wind shifts at altitude. Having said this, is there any other "gotchas" with Smooth Cloud Mode? Right now I am very impressed with how ASE works in this mode.ThanksBob JohnsonSo, my question is really simple: what is 'Force Destination Wx Zone' supposed to do? because the info from the manual is not consistent with what I'm experiencing, nothing happens '80nm' miles from my destination.... but more like 8nm from it.Thanks,

[Guest]

Hi Bob,No other problems with that Depiction Mode that I am aware of.

[NeilC 3]

I also have noticed the exact same thing.In an older version Force Destination used to use interpolation of several sites, which explained why it didn't work.But when it was updated to use the arrival airport, I got my hopes up, only for them to be dashed again.I also have mine set to 80nm, but when approaching an airport in IMC, most of the time I have lovely vis and clouds until about 6nm out. It would be great if you could fix this.I run on FS9 using solely ASE in DWC mode (I don't use any of the ASE features separately). I am really pleased with the way ASE works, apart from this one feature (force destination WX).Here's hoping you can fix it.Neil

[bojote 23]

Hi,In later Builds of ASE we have had to slow down the time in which destination weather changes, whether this option is in use or not. Then on top of that some users believe that the later versions of FSUIPC have slowed down/stopped the transitions even more. Try with the Smooth Cloud weather depiction in ASE and compare your results.

Hi Jim, tried it yesterday and it DID work.. however, I also noticed that ASE (when working in the Standard/Smooth Cloud transition mode) induces a LOT of microstuttering everytime the weather is updated. I run ASE from my laptop via a networked configuration so this is not a CPU issue but more like the way simconnect handles the individual station updates. This, obviously is not a problem when using DWC mode because there is only one station to update.So, this is what I've tried (I have to test it yet) I'll keep using DWC mode but I'll try to disable the prevent cloud redraws option. I have the feeling that this option can affect depictions by delaying weather transitions, so disabling it could help. The 'microstuttering' is 'barely' noticeable, and I know is not a big deal for most, but my FSX runs soo smooth when using DWC mode that I prefer not to change that.If you can, let Damian know about this to see if it can be addresed in a new service pack/update/patch/hotfix. It would be so nice to have all stations around me cloned to my destination while on approach. I'm sure a quick look at the code will show some glitch which can be easily fixed.Thanks!

[bojote 23]

Hi Jim,I've been able to do some more extensive tests during the week. Like I said before and based on your advice I tested BOTH the Standard and the Smooth Cloud depection modes and they DO work perfectly fine, 100% of the time when using the Force Destination WX zone.I've also confirmed that the Force Destination WX zone when used in DWC mode does NOT work at all (in fact ASE keeps updating the weather all the way to final instead of supressing any changes). What I do see in a very consistent manner is that the WX update for my destination aiport occurs 'exactly' 10 miles from the runway threshold during final. So I'm not sure if this is triggered by altitude, distance or the last waypoint on the flight plan that is loaded, but the fact is that Force Destination WX zone is completely being ignored in DWC mode.I've had a very positive experience when using ASE, always. I would say the 'only' glitch (when using DWC mode) is this! so, may I kindly ask that you take this to the developer to see if this is something that can be taken care of? I'll be more than happy to BETA test any patch and help with testing if needed. Thank you very much Jim for what you can do.Cheers,

[brucek 38]

Dumb question I know- but what is "DWC Mode"?Thanks, Bruce.

[phmcr 95]

Dumb question I know- but what is "DWC Mode"?Thanks, Bruce.

If you check your options you will see Direct Weather Control.

[soerennielsen 35]

Hi Jim,I've been able to do some more extensive tests during the week. Like I said before and based on your advice I tested BOTH the Standard and the Smooth Cloud depection modes and they DO work perfectly fine, 100% of the time when using the Force Destination WX zone.I've also confirmed that the Force Destination WX zone when used in DWC mode does NOT work at all (in fact ASE keeps updating the weather all the way to final instead of supressing any changes). What I do see in a very consistent manner is that the WX update for my destination aiport occurs 'exactly' 10 miles from the runway threshold during final. So I'm not sure if this is triggered by altitude, distance or the last waypoint on the flight plan that is loaded, but the fact is that Force Destination WX zone is completely being ignored in DWC mode.I've had a very positive experience when using ASE, always. I would say the 'only' glitch (when using DWC mode) is this! so, may I kindly ask that you take this to the developer to see if this is something that can be taken care of? I'll be more than happy to BETA test any patch and help with testing if needed. Thank you very much Jim for what you can do.Cheers,

+1 You are absolutely right *******.I hope your words have more weight than the words from the rest of us, who have not your insight and name in the FSX community,for the benefits of all of us.Waiting impatiently for response from Jim/developer.BestSoeren

[bojote 23]

I hope your words have more weight than the words from the rest of us, who have not your insight and name in the FSX community,

I did not see this reported before so the 'who' shouldn't matter, besides I'm not even sure if this is ASE specific. As I said, all the other depiction methods work fine, it just happens in DWC mode. I could try disabling FSUIPC and test but then I'll have to re-assign all my controllers axes and that will take forever.

[jordanal 70]

You know, I bet this had something to do with why Pete and I were seeing different 'forced arrival' weather while fixing the DWC with RC issue. At 40nm out, thw weather should've been set by then and we were still seeing changes with a couple of nm's out, which was throwing-off RC's ability to see the AI from a specific direction, especially in light to variable winds.RC DWC mode fix disussion: http://forum.avsim.net/topic/323481-rc-slows-with-ase-dwc-mode-probable-fix/

[Guest jahman]

...I could try disabling FSUIPC and test but then I'll have to re-assign all my controllers axes and that will take forever.

You could set-up your flight at 20 NM with APP enabled mode on the AP and save, then reload without FSUIPC and see what happens at the 10 NM mark.Cheers,- jahman.

[phmcr 95]

Hi Jim,I've been able to do some more extensive tests during the week. Like I said before and based on your advice I tested BOTH the Standard and the Smooth Cloud depection modes and they DO work perfectly fine, 100% of the time when using the Force Destination WX zone.I've also confirmed that the Force Destination WX zone when used in DWC mode does NOT work at all (in fact ASE keeps updating the weather all the way to final instead of supressing any changes). What I do see in a very consistent manner is that the WX update for my destination aiport occurs 'exactly' 10 miles from the runway threshold during final. So I'm not sure if this is triggered by altitude, distance or the last waypoint on the flight plan that is loaded, but the fact is that Force Destination WX zone is completely being ignored in DWC mode.I've had a very positive experience when using ASE, always. I would say the 'only' glitch (when using DWC mode) is this! so, may I kindly ask that you take this to the developer to see if this is something that can be taken care of? I'll be more than happy to BETA test any patch and help with testing if needed. Thank you very much Jim for what you can do.Cheers,

*******, in a different way you address what many have already reported; winds not correct at destination in DWC mode. Thank you for your detailed reporting.Menno