Hi Stephen, 

 

So I heard you are planning to implement your weather data into a format so it can be used with the PMDG 777? 

 

Is there anyway the Jeehell avionics suite (http://fmgs.co.nr/) would also be able to use this data for a built in radar on the ND? 

 

Thank you.

 

Ben

Hi Ben

 

We are currently testing and also liasing with PMDG, after thorough testing when we are satisfied that the data is accurate and dependable we will be happy to share the format with other developers.

 

Cheryl

Happy to hear. Thank you.

Hi Ben

 

We are currently testing and also liasing with PMDG, after thorough testing when we are satisfied that the data is accurate and dependable we will be happy to share the format with other developers.

 

Cheryl

 

Is it only the 777 PMDG plane? What about 737NGX?

They will be doing the NGX aswell later on

I believe you can already get a weather radar for that and any other FSX aircraft really. See the Reality XP WX500 weather radar Addon.

 

Stephen

I believe you can already get a weather radar for that and any other FSX aircraft really. See the Reality XP WX500 weather radar Addon.

 

Stephen

 

Hi Stephen, yes, but I don't believe they Reality XP weather radar integrates with the ND of the aircraft; instead it is a separate 'module stack'.

Do you plan on incorporating it with Ifly also? Thave have external weather working with FSX and IIRC their P3D model.

The RealityXP weather radar does not depict where actual precipitation will be in the sim.  Like every other weather radar to date, it just feeds back what it gets from simconnect.  Will Opus be providing an implementation like ASN, that actually hooks FSX to read and write precip?  I think that's what PMDG must require, otherwise they would have already implemented a RXP type radar.

 

Bryn.

I believe Reality XP WX500 have always derived its WX500 radar data from 'within' the sim and not through SimConnect.

 

I believe the cloud data is obtained from 'inside' the sim and then the simulated weather radar (precipitation) map is prepared using this as a guide. This has nothing to do with PMDG using the data. No one can use this Reality XP WX500 data unless Reality themselves make the data available for use through some sort of API or export file etc., which I believe up to now they have not. Should Reality make this data available then I see no reason why PMDG (or anyone else for that matter) would not make use of it.

 

Stephen :smile:

P.S.

 

In short. PMDG could not have implemented it because the Reality XP WX500 data has never been made available.

The RealityXP weather radar does not depict where actual precipitation will be in the sim.  Like every other weather radar to date, it just feeds back what it gets from simconnect.  Will Opus be providing an implementation like ASN, that actually hooks FSX to read and write precip?  I think that's what PMDG must require, otherwise they would have already implemented a RXP type radar.

 

Bryn.

 

That's like I have got the impression of. Realistic weather radar has not been possible before. But with Active Sky Next this has changed.

So I wonder if this functionality will also be implemented in Opus?

All weather radars obviously assume precipitation resides inside the clouds and base the levels on the precipitation levels and cloud types, no different to what Reality XP have always done. We will continue to investigate but Reality XP has always provided a reasonable solution with their WX500. If many FSX users have wanted weather radar I'm surprised they haven't already purchased the WX500 which has very good reviews indeed and is priced less than $30. I know many NGX flyers have been using it for a while and are very happy with the results. However, if we can provide this data in a cost effective manner then we will.

 

Stephen :-)

Do you plan on incorporating it with Ifly also?

RealityXP reads only the cloud coverage at a station in FSX, not the actual cloud texture locations. ASN hooks FSX to read cloud locations and then also writes precipitation and turbulence to be consistent with the location of the cloud textures. This is far more realistic than just an approximation based on cloud coverage at a station.

 

PMDG could have implemented that type of RXP station reading radar already but I'm guessing they were dissatisfied with the realism (the RXP radar often shows a return where there are no clouds, for instance). PSS had a radar implementation in their FS9 777 and 757 which did the same thing... Majestic I have it with their Dash 8-400. It is pretty unrealistic.

 

I reckon PMDG will require radar data that shows actual cloud location in the sim (at least) and actual precip intensity and location (at most). That requires an ASN style hook... Will Opus be doing that?

The cloud coverage can be read at a location not just a station and I believe Reality have always hooked into the actual code. They do not need to inject precipitation because that is done by the weather engine, so they use whatever precipitation is defined at the location. Precipitation can only be defined for actual cloud layers so its a simple case of reading this and relating it to the actual cloud and then adjusting perhaps for the cloud coverage and type. So Reality does not need to inject precipitation, it makes no difference at all who or what engine injects this as all you need do is read the cloud descriptions. I do agree that there are certain precipitation parameters that can only be known to the weather engine. We have this additional data in our weather map also. But that still means the Reality XP WX500 is a perfectly good and viable option.

 

PMDG did not use it simply because the data has NEVER been made available through an API. It still isn't.

 

Stephen

 

P.S.

 

Even Pete Dowson believes Reality XP obtained its cloud data at the FSX code level and not through SimConnect. That might explain why there is no P3D version as yet.

 

Stephen :-)