I have been monitoring this forum since it began. I have been using AS2012 and before that ASE. I have FSUIPC registered version and are not experiencing any sudden wind shifts at altitude. I am enjoying correct winds and temps aloft at all levels as well as METAR correct surface conditions at airports beneath my aircraft.. ATC has been correctly announcing runways for my UT2 AI traffic at airports as I fly over them. I fly high altitudes and DO NOT EVER use the DWC smoothing option since it is totally unrealistic. I use the realistic STANDARD option. If I am flyiing with 150K winds in a jet stream I do not think it is realistic to have aircraft landing below me to be having the same winds! My climbs and descents reflect the correct wind and temperature changes with altitude ( I down load the NOAA upper level fax charts for all altitudes above FL100 )

 

I have set my exclusion distance to 200nm and my exclusion altitude to 11000 ft msl to avoid scenery loads during approach and climbout when frame rates tend to be more critical. Very seldom am I experiencing cloud-popping and when they pop they instantly return to the EXACT same position as before the weather load. Yes, it does slow my frame rates for about 15-20 seconds on weather loads but hardly noticeable when at altitude.

 

My weather aloft is not AVERAGED, but correct for the area I am flying over and I can see cloud changes in the distance along with frontal systems.

 

It seems the majority of entrants in this forum must be using DWC option and therefore not enjoying the same weather depiction as I. I guess that is fine if you only want the scenery but not the actual weather conditions. I am seeking the total immersion experience both on the ground and aloft. And by enabling the extra stations option I am able to fly above FL500 in the ConcordeX and have a reasonable facsimile of the true weather aloft (temps and winds are usually very close to the charts) . How would such a flight even be possible with OPUS seeing as there is no METAR coverage over the Atlantic Ocean?

 

The only advantage to me for OPUS that I can see so far would be the ability to correctly portray low overcasts. As to visibility in AS2012, it has always been spot on for me at departure and destination airports. The frustration that I share with the rest on this forum is the scenario of climbing through what appears to be an overcast on the ground but turns into scattered or few when I climb up through it. It seems that OPUS has miraculously handled that issue and that peaks my interest.

 

But I enjoy the ability of tweaking my destination (or departure) METAR before my flight ( I use STATIC WX Download) so that it will present the challenge I desire at takeoff and landing. Seems OPUS will not have that capability.

 

In short then, correct me if I am wrong, but in order to get the correct cloud rendering with OPUS I would have to sacrifice much of the realism I am already enjoying with AS2012, flawed as it is. If this is NOT true then I am definitely onboard.

 

Am I correct in my analysis or would OPUS allow me to enjoy the same realism I have now? BTW, the "view" functions that have composed much of the discussion in this thread are not concern to me since I fly 2D panel except for NGX and it already has view settings for all panels.

We interpolate METARs to provide weather over desolate areas.

 

You can tweak your METAR by importing a METAR text file at any time, then switching to real weather.

 

We simulate winds aloft currently and will soon implement true winds aloft.

 

Our weather depiction is realistic, try the demo and see for yourself, in the demo the weather update is limited but you will get an idea of what it does.

 

Regards

Cheryl

Really it's hard to explain just how good OPUS weather is. Try it. You won't be disappointed.

 

Lee

We interpolate METARs to provide weather over desolate areas.

 

You can tweak your METAR by importing a METAR text file at any time, then switching to real weather.

 

We simulate winds aloft currently and will soon implement true winds aloft.

 

Our weather depiction is realistic, try the demo and see for yourself, in the demo the weather update is limited but you will get an idea of what it does.

 

Thanks for reply, Cheryl. I understand what you are saying, but I not only want real world winds and temperatures (not blended) as I climb and descend but interpolation between levels as provided by NOAA (e.g., 10K, 18K, 24K, 30K, etc.). I understand that you will have the ability to provide the RW winds and temps at my cruise level but will the airports I fly over still have the correct surface conditions? I want ATC to be announcing the landing and departing aircraft using the runways based on the RW correct wind/temp conditions as I fly over. If I dial in the local ATIS as depicted in the charts, will that airport I am flying over report the correct surface conditions or instead be reporting the wind and temperature I am experiencing at cruise level? The AS2012 DWC option makes all winds/temps GLOBAL at all levels so AI traffic on the ground is experiencing the same conditions as aircraft is flying through at altitude. If that is the trade-off required in OPUS in order to have correct wind/temps at high altitude, then your program would not be suitable for the realism I desire.

 

As to the alteration of a METAR. I do not want to set a GLOBAL weather condition. I only want to be able to tweak the surface conditions (clouds, wind, temp, precipitation) at my departure and my destination airports ONLY. I want those changes to be present when I am in the vicinity of those airports. All other areas I want to use the unaltered RW conditions present at the time of the METAR. I also prefer not to have real time updates. I usually pick a point in time and download that METAR and then use it STATIC for the entire FSX world. In other words, I want to experience weather changes by location only and not by progression of time during my flight.

 

I would try your demo, but my understanding is that it only exhibits your weather depiction while on the ground but not allow me to tweak a distant METAR station nor to try it in flight at high altitude, both of which are my major concerns.

Where do I start. The demo generates weather on the ground only then you go and fly !

 

True wind forecast using GRIB data will not affect the surface wind conditions, they will be RW as they are now unless your system can't take it and you have to enable surface wind smoothing. But don't worry, the engine will attempt to recover the true surface winds as you descend. The latest beta does this automatically and much better, when we release the weather smoothing upgrade it will be perfect.

 

So when you descend you will once again be faced with RW true surface winds. Of course if your system like most does not need surface wind smoothing then the surface winds will be exact all the time, no matter how high you are flying. I do that now, I listen to the ATIS of stations around me as I fly by. ATIS is exact! Our geodesic mapping is also exact, perfectly mapped to FSX, to well beyond 450km away.

 

The METAR import facility is not really intended for the purpose you want. Our aim is to bring you reality and not allow you to mess with the destinations weather. We are all about reality and matching RW conditions whatever they are. But there are plenty of bad weather destinations to choose from, we have a large number of users that just storm chase.

 

We do not have trade offs like other engines which IMO are just one big trade off, unless of course your system can't cope with the varied weather conditions. Our weather is real and varied from horizon to horizon, we do not do global unless you force stabilised winds (and that only affects surface winds and not the weather), but then we recover them again for you, or very soon will do. There really is NO comparison, our LWE is the first engine to give you instant reality, and that will get better and better. True (forecasted) winds aloft, because that is really what GRIB is, is just one upgrade, a historic weather option is another, they are only a few weeks away. The big upgrade will be Weather Smoothing and everything that goes with it. I am not going to say any more because people are already trying to copy everything we do.

 

Regards

Stephen

 

 

 

Whoops, forgot to mention if you try the demo you can always upgrade to the latest beta 2.29.2 which will soon become the release as we prepare to start another cycle of upgrades (historic weather download and Vatsim server option), then the next upgrade cycle (GRIB data and true wind forecast for various altitudes), then the next more interesting upgrade cycle (Weather Smoothing, which does a lot more than the title suggests but we will keep that to ourselves).

 

Whatever you decide, happy flying.

 

Regards

Stephen

More coding and less talking please Stephen :lol:

Would love to, don't worry I am starting the next cycle after this week end and will be chatting a lot less.

 

Regards

Stephen :-)

 

Can't select different smiley faces on my iPad.

Thanks guys, really informative thread. I have bought Opus and I am ready to install so after my chores tomorrow I'll give it a go.

Don't forget to download the latest beta 2.29.2 zip file and read our Announcements Flight1 topic. The beta is a zip file so after installing the Purchase/Release software you only need to extract the files into your c:\OpusFSX installation folder.

 

2.29 will soon become the release (tomorrow) and we will start 2.30 beta testing for historic data and Vatsim option very soon after.

 

Regards

Stephen

Great, thnx!

I am enjoying correct winds and temps aloft at all levels as well as METAR correct surface conditions at airports beneath my aircraft... I fly high altitudes and DO NOT EVER use the DWC smoothing option since it is totally unrealistic. I use the realistic STANDARD option. If I am flyiing with 150K winds in a jet stream I do not think it is realistic to have aircraft landing below me to be having the same winds! My climbs and descents reflect the correct wind and temperature changes with altitude ( I down load the NOAA upper level fax charts for all altitudes above FL100 )

 

Craig, with the Standard mode, although I get a more realistic cloud coverage, I don't get real winds in the upper levels. Maybe the intensity is ok, but the direction is the same as the winds on the ground, while all the charts and AS 2012 itself report a direction which is correct only if I use DWC. How can you get the correct wind direction in the upper levels?

Thank you.

I don't get real winds in the upper levels. Maybe the intensity is ok, but the direction is the same as the winds on the ground, while all the charts and AS 2012 itself report a direction which is correct only if I use DWC. How can you get the correct wind direction in the upper levels?

 

Hi James!

In the main graphic interface of AS2012 wind level strengths direction and temps are posted for discreet levels up thru FL490. Also if you put in a flight plan you can access a chart for each waypoint with corresponding wind/temp data for each level. With DWC the wind direction at the surface will mirror the smoothed weather you are flying through. With STANDARD mode, quite the contrary. You will find not only will the winds/temps aloft match with what is shown in the interface (AS2012 winds aloft download) but it will be correctly interpolated between stations as well as between altitudes during climbs/descents. The surface conditions will be independent. Accessing an ATIS at a nearby airport as you fly over will yield the current correct SURFACE winds/temps and clouds as portrayed on the corresponding AS2012 interface window for that airport.

 

Sounds as if you are confusing DWC with STANDARD. It is DWC that has the same wind direction simultaneously at all levels including the surface! STANDARD is RW weather at all levels including surface. The only drawback to always using STANDARD is that it has to periodically reload the weather and that often can cause frame rate stuttering for several seconds. That is a minor issue for me and an acceptable tradeoff for the privilege of having RW weather rather than some "smoothed" artificial average. Plus as I mentioned in my OP, I want AI to be using correct runways and experiencing correct surface conditions as I fly over.

I have used about all of the weather engines. Opus is, by far, the best and in a category of its own.

We haven't implemented winds aloft yet but our weather aheres strictly to the appropriate METARs as you will see from the ATIS reports.

 

Cheryl

Sounds as if you are confusing DWC with STANDARD. It is DWC that has the same wind direction simultaneously at all levels including the surface!

 

Sorry for disagreeing, Craig, but I tested one more time and it is with the STANDARD mode that I have the same wind direction at all levels, while with DWC mode the direction slightly changes as I climb and the directions perfectly match those reported in the AS 2012 main graphic interface for the discrete levels.