Clear Skies on Approach!

[HiFly 16]

Hi Damian! Just upgraded from B572 to B647 today and gave a test flight with disappointing results. I am sure it is some option I have not set correctly so I need your help. First off I fly with historic wx OFFLINE and I always choose a destination with the worst IMC wx I can find as I did in this test case. First off I insured that I had Admin Rights then over-wrote options.cfg with default cfg. I unchecked suppression items and set range to "0". I then selected DWC with dynamic = 0. I left Force Hi Priority checked but everything else unchecked on that page. I left all the other wx settings at default except visibility Fog-Disable Haze-Enable Vis Grad all checked. My test flight from Phnom Penh to Singapore in an NGX 73H at FL370. From config window I set both destination and departure wx to 80nm radius. Departure wx displayed perfectly but as I was climbing out it would not change. Winds and Temp remained the same. I refreshed ASE but still would not give me correct aloft wx. I rebooted ASE and this time it asked me for license info. So I registered it and this time it began displaying changing wx as I continued climb BUT the temp and pressure in FSX was not even close to what ASE said it should be. Each time I went out of FSX back to ASE then back to FSX it would change to values closer to ASE but still off. When I reached cruise I was getting -47C and 30.00 in pres but should have been -53C and 29.83! I rebooted ASE and went back to FSX and this time it was in sync but as I approached the destination weather was not IMC but light clouds. I paused FSX but before I could switch screens, it suddenly added the IMC wx correctly while I was still paused! Everything seemed to be working again but as soon as I intercepted final course, all clouds disappeared and I had clear skies and unlimited visibility!!!!! ASE was showing correct wx but FSX was not displaying it. In the fSX wx menu page I went into customize and found the settings to be matching ASE so I accepted all screen levels back to the FSX wx screen and pressed Enter and I got the correct Wx back but this time it kept giving me a vis of 10sm when ASE was 6sm and I confirmed that FSX was showing 5sm in the custom menu! Finally on touchdown, it gave me the 5sm visibitlity but cleared all clouds!!!!. Now temp/pressure/wind were all correct throughout approach but clouds and visibility were the problems at that phase. Now, Damian, if I select wind-lock will that help my situation or is that strictly for the wind direction? Unfortunately I restarted ASE as I was writing this and that over-wrote my log files but when I had examined them it showed no simconnect errors nor any wx.log abnormalities. It showed constant entries of WSSS weather every few seconds toward the end of the log and the wx it was sending was correct including clouds and visibility but FSX must have a "clear sky" default setting because it is one of the issues that annoyed me in B572. I often had to set the wx manually on descent. I have Simconnect SP2 installed. Any suggestions?

[Damian Clark 1,149]

Hi Craig, The license issue is strange, and because of that event, I would suggest a re-install just to make sure everything is proper here (something may be corrupt?). Our full install is latest SP3 without any dependence on earlier versions, which you can obtain from our support center at http://support.hifitechinc.com Other issues which may cause this kind of behavior include simconnect connectivity issues (disconnects/reconnects/packet errors) which may be caused by firewall software not allowing ASE (after you updated it, as the files changed). Occasionally we have noted a potential "theme lock" issue where FSX incorrectly prevents weather updates from simconnect, which can be fixed by loading the clear skies fsx weather theme, then saving your flight, restarting FSX and loading that theme to fix. If you continue having trouble please use our support center and include all your logs as there may be some clues there. Thanks!

[HiFly 16]

Hi Damian! I perhaps stated the license issue incorrectly. The prompt did not ask me to type in my license number. It only told me that my copy was not registered and asked if I wanted to register it. I clicked on the box to register it and the prompt disappeared in a couple of seconds. The upgrade I did was the SP3 which I downloaded from your site. I did not know it was stand-alone. I just activated the .exe and it installed it over the top of my original which was Build 572. It now says Build 647. As stated in my OP, there were no errors or problems documented in the simconnect log or in the ASE log. The question is: should I still leave dynamic change slider set to "0" or another value? And what about "force destination wx" or "windlock" options? Next flght I will upload the logs to your support site. Thanks for your response.

[Damian Clark 1,149]

Hi again, Even if you don't note any errors in the logs they may still help is identify something. The activation popup is normal if the product has been used on another computer, it will reactivate up to 5 times to a new system before disabling. Dynamic rate should be at zero in most cases. Force destination helps get predictable approach weather on arrival by setting all stations to your arrival conditions. Windlock helps keep winds locked and at a minimum value designed for use with Radar Contact and FSUIPC to get more predictable AI aircraft runway assignments. You can disable these to help isolate this. Also you should experiment with the weather depiction modes, DWC would be recommended.

[HiFly 16]

Hi Damian! I tried a second flight with the settings you just suggested and DWC mode. This time like the very first time I tried this build, the departure airport wx was perfect and stable but when I climbed out, the temp and all wx stayed the same as at the surface. Little tough to climb when SAT at FL300 is over +20C! The log only showed ASE repeating the surface wx for my departure airport every few seconds but no other airports nor any winds/temps aloft were showing as being communicated. The wx showing in the FSX wx menu window was also quite different from what it should be according to what was being depicted within ASE on gui. As you recommended I sent in a trouble ticket to your support site along with a copy of the logs. I later switched to "standard" and FSX immediately responded with the correct weather and as I am continuing the flight it still seems to be right in sync. Little worried as I get to approach that I will be encountering serious frame rate stutters in this mode but at least the wx is spot on! BTW, when I was in DWC mode, I never saw any any wx update text msgs and I have that option turned on. Of course I am seeing them all the time in "standard" mode. Thank you again for your timely responses.

[Damian Clark 1,149]

Hello,Since you've transferred this to our support center I will address things that way to avoid duplicating effort (it's also extremely hard to identify which users we are talking with when using different login names, etc.). Thanks!