How to use Opus when flying with no particular plan in mind?

[hangar 661]

...sometimes I prefer to just take off and fly around locally for a bit, then head over to another air strip about 80nm away from where I began the flight. In such cases I have not been entering the airport code into Opus, but when I eventually land 80nm away I still have the same weather and surface winds I had as when I first took off.

 

Is there someway to just takeoff and land wherever and still get the proper metars reported for the stations I end up landing at?

[ajpongress 467]

Doesn't opus update on its own to the closest metar or other available info?

Sounds like your auto refresh isn't working.

[hangar 661]

auto refresh?...is there a setting for that I can check?

[LeeL 272]

Nope

 

OPUS updates all the weather in a 200nm area I believe.

 

Maybe try clicking enable dynamic weather or enable weather updates in the drop down menu.

 

Or maybe the weather didn't change if it was a short flight?

 

Best

Ler

[russianspd 10]

How often is OPUS set to update? Every 30 minutes is default. Depending on speed of aircraft and time of departure you may not get an update within your flight. I would suggest maybe every 15 minutes to make sure if something changes you get it.  Also, if you have wind smoothing set it may stay static the whole time you fly without specifying a destination airport. And keep in mind that if you want GRIB winds aloft you need to cruise (or set) a cruise altitude greater than 6000ft.

[Opus Software 84]

If you cruise below FL200 then just enable Adjust Options Automatically. The Max Cruise Altitude and Destination are not mandatory but do ensure the most accurate METAR at your destination. If you want GRIB data you must specify your cruise altitude.

The default Live Weather Update settings are 30 minutes and/or 60km travelled since the METARs don't change too frequently. The minimum Live Weather Update frequency and distance is 5 minutes and 16km respectively. You can also update the weather manually from the FSX addon menu or using our Shortcut Controls.

 

The Dynamic Weather Theme has two size options, default and maximum. The default theme size covers an area 512km x 512km (320 x 320 miles, or 276 x 276 nm), and the maximum theme size covers an area of 1024km x 1024km (640 x 640 miles, or 553 x 553 nm).

 

Cheryl

[hangar 661]

The last few flights in which I used Opus, I had the cruise altitiude set to 8,000 and I landed 80-90nm away from where flight started and had same surface conditions at both locations (wind direction should have changed by about 40 degrees and a few kts.

 

I've had weather updates set very high (300 minutes) so that I would NOT receive any updates at all (since these were very short flights of about 30 minutes in length so no point in getting weather updates). I'm assuming this means that in 30 minutes after my flight starts, and if I fly 80nm away that I will have the same Opus weather set as when I first started the flight, no?....and if so, shouldnt OPus bveing showing the exact metar conditions for 80nm away from where flight started?

 

That's what confuses me...I guess I don't understand how Opus loads and uses weather at flight start. In other words, if I start with Opus and there are 2 metar station within 100nm of each other, doesnt Opus load BOTH metars at flight start? and...if I take off at 1 of those stations and then fly to the other, wont i get the correct metar showing at the 2nd station?

[Opus Software 84]

The initial weather update would set all METARs within the current 500km radius around your aircraft so I don't know why your weather is static. I assume you have dynamic weather enabled, have not got the METAR File Import ticked, and are not using any other weather source.

 

If you open the spy window are you getting the initial METAR updates downloaded? Is the GRIB data downloading? You can perform a manual weather update and ee what happens in the spy window. What are your weather reports saying?

 

Cheryl

[hangar 661]

...where do I enable "dynamic weather"?

[Opus Software 84]

The Live Weather Engine is enabled via the OpusFSX server program's Configuration dialog, accessed via the Configure button on the FSXSERVER's main form and then you just configure the options in the Weather dialog such as the update time which you have already done.

[hangar 661]

oh ok...yea enable live weather engine is checked (on local computer). I'm not running FS over a network.

 

ah well....never had this problem when I was using Opus around Holiday time 2012...been away for a few months from flying so now im back i installed Opus 3.0 and have this issue.

 

I'll have to fool around with it I guess.

[russianspd 10]

Possibly posting pictures of your settings would help identify a problem. Also posting images of your departure airports local weather report and arrival airports weather report to see if you can recreate it  and show us.

[Opus Software 84]

Check your settings in the Weather dialog. There are some new ones. You possibly have the Disable Weather Update on Startup ticked, so you have to force a weather update manually by clicking on the Update Weather button. There's a lot of new stuff added since your last version. Tick the Adjust Settings Automatically and Adjust Sim Friendly GRIB options, specify your Destination and Cruise Altitude and hit the Update Weather button.

 

Stephen

[hangar 661]

Firstly - in the "download weather options" - after some testing I've found that after I put the "live weather updates" back to its default of 30 minutes/48km that I DID get the correct metar data loading for my approach, although the weather didnt actually update until about 10-11 miles out so that meant ATIS was useless for setting up an approach in advance of arriving into the area...but at least I did the get correct weather just before starting my downwind. I guess if i specify the destination then I would get the weather locked in sooner and the ATIS would work farther out from arrival, ok I can deal with that I guess. It would be nice if Opus had the ability to search online and show me metar data for any airport codes i specify...I know I can do it online myself but it would just be nice not to have to pull up my browser.

 

Now, next...Stephen mentions a tick box called "disable weather updates on startup". I am running v3.0 and do NOT have this option...it was my understanding this was removed recently and is only found in older versions, no?....either that or there is a serious problem with my Opus install, lol.

 

EDIT** - just downloaded and installed the new beta (uninstalled previous first)...my menus are correct now :-)

[Opus Software 84]

You should have had an update at the start of your flight and then 30 minutes/48km later. If you specify your destination the updates are more frequent as you approach your destination. You can perform a manual weather update at any time but FSX ATIS is only accurate within about 30 miles from your destination. If you do specify a destination then you can display the OpusFSX weather reports for your destination weather at any time during the flight.

We will take note of your suggestion for a METAR search facility but if you specify your destination and alternates then these METARs can be displayed in the OpusFSX weather reports.

 

Cheryl