Weather Radar

[TailDraggerPilot 17]

PMDG says that it's not possible to make a weather radar identical to the real 737, because of FSX's limitations. But to be honest, I think they shouldn't take "realism" too serious. Sometimes things just can't be entirely like in the real world. I would prefer a not entirely realistic weather radar over no weather radar at all.

+1

[FSX1234 0]

I would rather pmdg spend more time On development like the 777 than a weather radar.

[Epikk 62]

We need a sticky:THERE WILL NEVER BE A REALISTIC WEATHER RADAR FOR FSX

+1A STICKY please. :(

[XPX64man 130]

Just use Reality XP's weather radar. It's a real as is available for FSX.

[Guest]

Just use Reality XP's weather radar. It's a real as is available for FSX.

I have been told that software sucks a ton of FPS but I never tried it myself.Anyone of you has perhaps gave it a try ?

[Devinci 0]

One thing to hope from MS Flight is a better weather "engine".

[vololiberista 205]

Reality XP Radar "and" any other "weather radar" progamme does not produce an image of what it sees in front of the a/c. As has been said here and many times elsewhere it is simply "not" possible! The best that these programmes can do is to simmulate and they do this by projecting set piece bmps which approximate the clouds being rendered.here is just one example out of dozens of different bmps ranging from a just a few clouds to intense storms.As you can see it gives the impression of a bird's eye view of the weather interpreted area. It isn't and cannot be a true radar reflection. It isn't modelled nor can it be.Consequently the "radar" reflection in your cockpit panel will never show you what you can see nor will it accurately return precipitation levels.Look here for how the clouds "are" modelled by the simhttp://ofb.net/~niniane/clouds-jgt.pdfThis topic comes up time and again. The simple answer is with reference to "can "x" produce an accurate weather radar?" is It won't be done because it "can't be done!vololiberista

Edited January 2, 2012 by vololiberista

[nikita 241]

We need a sticky:THERE WILL NEVER BE A REALISTIC WEATHER RADAR FOR FSX

Admins, please lock this topic + pin it!!

[kevinh 409]

We need a sticky:THERE WILL NEVER BE A REALISTIC WEATHER RADAR FOR FSX

Jim,No one is disagreeing about that. What some of us are asking for is a representative WXR, perhaps an integration of a licenced third party WXR simulation and PMDG's panel. Other addon designers have provided similar integrations with no adverse effects (PSS, Capt Sim, Wilco/feelthere and Digital Aviation for example).Kevin Hall

[bpcw001 22]

Jim,No one is disagreeing about that. What some of us are asking for is a representative WXR, perhaps an integration of a licenced third party WXR simulation and PMDG's panel. Other addon designers have provided similar integrations with no adverse effects (PSS, Capt Sim, Wilco/feelthere and Digital Aviation for example).Kevin Hall

That integration might be hard to do for the NGX. It worked for the J41 because there the WXR display is a separate device and not integrated into the ND.Still, I think it should be done, despite the fact that it isn't all that realistic in FSX. Would greatly add to the immersion.

[Graubart 3]

Please no weather radar!!!PMDG should spend their rare resources on improving the NGX and modelling the next aircraft.Forget about this b.u.l.l.s.h.i.t eyecandy called "weather radar" :(

[japascoe 98]

To elaborate a bit for people who perhaps don't understand this discussion and why it is claimed that a realistic weather radar is impossible:In real life the radar sends out pulses of radio waves which are reflected by water droplets (mainly precipitation) in the atmosphere. The radar receives these reflections and processes that information into a picture that can be understood by the pilots, which in the NG is shown on the ND I believe. The pilots can thereby see what the weather conditions are tens of miles ahead of their current position and can e.g. plan to manoeuvre around a storm cell instead of flying through it.To create a realistic and use able weather radar you need to know where the precipitation is tens of miles ahead of the plane. Unfortunately the way FSX' weather engine works precipitation only exists within a small radius (tens, maybe hundreds of metres, but no more) of your plane. The only thing that exists further away is cloud. Precipitation is only generated and placed when you are just about to fly through it. Thus a weather radar can not tell you about the rain or the thunderstorm 20 miles ahead of your plane, because in the FS world, it does not exist yet. That makes an FS weather radar completely useless for it's main real world purpose: to prevent the penetration of storm cells.Some developers choose to have a weather radar which shows you the severity of precipitation or cloud cover in certain zones, but that's rather unrealistic and doesn't let you use the weather radar like in real life. This type of weather radar 'simulation' IMO (and more importantly in the opinion of PMDG) doesn't fit with the PMDG design philosophy.If we're talking added immersion I'd rather have an animated first officer in the right hand seat (and / or the ability to see 'my' body) than some random blotches of colour on the ND.John-Alan Pascoe

[Flamin_Squirrel 71]

There is a more fundamental reason why WX radar is pointless - FSX doesn't have a very good weather engine.There's no reason to have a WX radar for avoiding dangerous weather, because there's no such weather in FSX.

[utd4life10 0]

There is a more fundamental reason why WX radar is pointless - FSX doesn't have a very good weather engine.There's no reason to have a WX radar for avoiding dangerous weather, because there's no such weather in FSX.

In a flight yesterday I came into some bad weather - sotrmy weather with heavy rain, lightning, strong gusts of wind and heavy turbulence on real world weather - a weather radar that would flag that up allowing you to fly around it would be good.

[XPX64man 130]

I have been told that software sucks a ton of FPS but I never tried it myself.Anyone of you has perhaps gave it a try ?

I've never noticed any FPS hit with the weather radar. There are times when their Garmin GPS units will conflict badly with the ones that came with the aircraft sim. I never use the 430 or 530 with an aircraft that already has a complex navigation system or FMS. On most GA aircraft they work excellent. Far from "sucking" or "blowing" :(