ActiveSky 6.5 for FS9 - adding airports for METAR Reps?

[BAW9DV 2]

Hi,

 

Been a while since I dropped in here and I apologise for that. Some questions you might be able to help with.

 

I'm currently using ActiveSky 6.5, build 552 which as far as I am aware, is the last build of this version of AS before the newer versions for FSX came out.

 

I have heard a whisper that version 6.5 of AS now has issues when getting the weather downloads from HiFiSim's servers. To be honest, I don't seem to have that much trouble downloading and subsequently displaying weather, but in certain areas of the world where I fly, the high level temps do appear "warmer" than perhaps they should be. The other issue I have is getting weather for places not supported by AS, such as many airports in mainland China. On doing a recent proving test flight from Hong Kong (VHHH) to Lhasa in Tibet (ZULS) with Linzhi Chn MILIN (ZUNZ) as my alternate, I could find no weather option for these last two airports. VATSIM does not have the weather for them either (using the SB DOT command " .metar ZULS" reports a not available message). I can however, find many sites on the internet that will report the current weather for these locations - but of course AS 6.5 cannot display that weather.

 

As far as I am aware, there ARE aviation reporting stations for these locations and others. My first question therefore is this: is there a way to "edit" AS 6.5 to add the ICAO codes so that AS will attempt to locate weather for these regions? If there is, how do I do this?

 

Secondly, if this is not possible - and there ARE indeed issues with correct weather showing in AS 6.5 downloaded from the servers as referred to above, would an upgrade to a newer version of AS be in order? And if so, which version, above 6.5 build 553, would it be best to obtain for an FS2004 (FS9.1) user such as myself?

 

Thanks for your kind comments if any,

 

Regards,

 

 

Lee James

British Airways Virtual

&

Kowloon International Virtual Airlines

[BAW9DV 2]

No takers?

 

Pity.... I purchased ActiveSky 2004 way back from Simmarket, then bought the upgrade to version 5 and then the 6.5 version. I have the order numbers and confirmation of sale for versions 2004 and 5 but cannot find my details for the 6.5 version. I did email one of the staff some time back when I had my machine rebuilt and unified by FS-GS, so that I could obtain a full download of the install file which I had mislaid. I gave the staff member the email address associated with that purchase and he was able to confirm my purchase and that I was therefore an bona fide customer and send me the file.

 

Now, with the new ticketing system, I cannot even contact one of the staff via email - and without my details I cannot register. The staff member I contacted last time no longer work for HiFiSim so i'm looking for an answer here.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

 

 

Lee James

[BAW9DV 2]

A bit more on this...

 

I have now seen the file COMPLETE_AIRPORTS_LIST.txt in the ASv6 folder below MODULES and looked at it.

 

I took the data for the Chinese airport ZULS and added it (I added it in alphabetical order - although the AIRPORTS.DAT file lists it by LAT/LONG decimal co-ordinates) and then ran FS9 and positioned the Cessna at ZULS. I then ran ASv6.5 and it found the weather for ZULS!

 

However, now when I use the FETCH WEATHER function it does not work any more and comes up with the message, "cannot fetch - system is busy re-setting data" or similar......

 

Looks like I might just have to go with ASE if I cannot solve this - although ASe does not have many of the these airports, nor the facility to add them it would seem.

 

 

Lee

[ubersu 78]

With regard to your first question, you can try adding (in alphabetical order) ZUNZ to the list of stations in wx_station_list.txt in your (FS)\Modules\ASv6\ subdirectory. Note that ZULS is already on the list and if you aren't getting weather for that station, then it probably has no data on the server. I note that ZULS does exist in ASE but reports via interpolation rather than direct data feed.

 

For your second question, your only alternative for upgrade is ASE since AS2012 is FSX only. I quite like ASE and it is an excellent followup to ASv6. The bad news is that although it provides data for ZULS, there is still no data for ZUNZ except interpolated data - apparently there is no direct reporting from that station.

 

As far as your second post goes - if you got ASv6 from Simmarket, your data will be there in your account; otherwise, I really don't know what to suggest.

 

DJ

[BAW9DV 2]

DJ,

 

Thanks for your kind reply! I was obviously looking at the wrong file! I added ZULS to the Complete_Airports_List text file because it was not there, thinking that was the problem. I actually flew out to ZULS yesterday from VHHH but could get no weather for ZULS when I asked AS6.5 to fetch ti for me.

 

I clearly missed the wx_station_list.txt file which must be the file I need to edit. I just tested again after removing the ZULS entires from the Complete_Airports_List text file and found that ZULS did report weather and the Fetch function began working again (asked it for ZUUU which was there). Can't understand why I did not get it the first time. Thanks for your help.

 

I bought AS 2004 and AS ver 5 from Simmarket and I have the records for that - but I believe I got the 6.5 upgrade from HiFiSim because I cannot find any record of the purchase in Simmarket. I did send my purchase email address to one of the HiFiSim staff when I enquired via email about re-installing ASv6.5 (I lost the install file) and they sent me the install file, presumably after verifying the email address against a purchase.

 

Now with the new ticket system, I cannot email them anymore.....

 

Thanks very much for your kind reply.

 

 

Lee

[ubersu 78]

If you got 6.5 from the HiFi shop and remember your login there (seperate from support) http://www.hifisim.com/shop/home.php?xid=912afcd2c7f7297d084e2bc626b6c8f0 you might try logging in there and checking "my orders"...

 

Daveo, the unofficial forum mod, might have contact info if he sees this or you might PM him and see if he can help.

 

DJ