VoxATC and dynamic weather (FSGRW, Opus, ASN)?

[Driver170 42]

My weather is different from the atis report compared to ASN? anyway around this?

Oh my, what have I done Let me try to give you the facts:

The following programs (to name a few) use NOAA as their weather source for weather for the whole world:

- ASN, AS2012, ASE, ...
- Opus
- REX
- FSGRW (FS Global Real Weather)

At least ActiveSky, REX and FSGRW load this data onto their own server for before making it available to you. Why? Good question! Here are a couple of reasons:

Reason #1: Historical weather. IIRC NOAA doesn't have a long history of METARs/winds aloft/TAFs. It's about 2 months or so (please correct me if I'm wrong). In order for weather engines to provide historic weather past this time period, they have to store the data on their own server.

Reason #2: Interpolation and FS friendly weather. The data from NOAA isn't FSX friendly. AFAIK (when airborne) FSX use triangulation to decide the current weather in your current position. To get the weather more FSX friendly the weather programs can enhance the NOAA data, by adding "fake" weather stations. This is called interpolation in ActiveSky. I don't remember what the other weather engines call this process.

The main idea is to "fill in" empty areas so that during triangulation, FSX doesn't get weather from two stations that are (for example) 20nm away and from one that is 500nm away. You can imagine how different the weather can be between these point if no "fake" stations are added to help the triangulation process.

Reason #3: Less traffic on NOAA site. When you have all the simmers around the world requesting the current weather every 5 minutes (or so). It's good that they do not cause traffic to NOAA's site. If traffic goes to high, NOAA might no longer provide the global weather info as a free service.

---

So for ASN, REX, FSGRW the process of weather fetching looks like this:

NOAA server -> Weather engine's own server -> Your computer's weather engine -> to a file on your computer's drive (this step is optional).

No sure, but I think that Opus get's the weather directly from NOAA to a file to your computer and then does all interpolation and weather smoothing on your machine (might be wrong though).

---
The following weather engines can provide weather uplink data for the PMDG 777:

- ASN
- FSGRW
- Opus
- (not sure if REX has this already implemented)

The main point, the PMDG 777 weather data isn't ASN exclusive feature. Even the 777 weather radar "works" with all weather engines (even the default one) in case you have installed ASN on your system at any given time. All is required is a DLL that only ASN supplies. After that, the 777 weather radar works with most weather engines.

Even I can create you a program for the PMDG's 777 data uplink from the NOAA data. FWIW the programs I have made, use NOAA as a weather source and the results match exactly with ASN, FSGRW, REX and Opus.

---

Last but not least. VoxATC reading weather data from NOAA/ASN/FSGRW/Opus/REX/name your product:

I received a reply from the VoxATC developer about this feature and it was something like this: "Might consider it in the future, but currently the isn't enough time available to work on this feature".

----

One last thing:
PFPX and EFB do load the weather in the background without letting you know. You can even force a weather update at any time you so desire.

Cheers,

Jarkko

 

 

I'm on the trial and no way i'm spending 89 quid on voices! VoxATC doesn't assign correct SID or STAR they infact assign you with routings for if the VOR is U/S and other problems.

 

vectoring is a shambles. descend to alt 3500, 3200, 2500, 2200 turn left 155 turn left 150 turn left 145 turn right 150..... right ok ATC man can you no just set me up for the CI lol

 

the descent alt to 2200 is way low the MSA was 3500 at EGCC 

 

Also the weather at the dest is out not in sync with ASN.

[wanabflyer 53]

My weather is different from the atis report compared to ASN? anyway around this?

 

 

 

I'm on the trial and no way i'm spending 89 quid on voices! VoxATC doesn't assign correct SID or STAR they infact assign you with routings for if the VOR is U/S and other problems.

 

vectoring is a shambles. descend to alt 3500, 3200, 2500, 2200 turn left 155 turn left 150 turn left 145 turn right 150..... right ok ATC man can you no just set me up for the CI lol

 

the descent alt to 2200 is way low the MSA was 3500 at EGCC 

 

Also the weather at the dest is out not in sync with ASN.

No idea why you seem to be having so many problems, but as far as your complaint about destination weather, did you not read the last few posts?

[spesimen 135]

 I can say that this issue has been fixed in the latest beta version. I have done numerous flights and VoxATC has the latest arrival weather, thus giving you the correct runway for the current winds, at the time of arrival. It has been working great with ASN. 

 

whoa!!! awesome!! looking forward to seeing that released

 

cheers

-andy crosby

[RotorWash 1]

My weather is different from the atis report compared to ASN? anyway around this?

 

 

 

I'm on the trial and no way i'm spending 89 quid on voices! VoxATC doesn't assign correct SID or STAR they infact assign you with routings for if the VOR is U/S and other problems.

 

vectoring is a shambles. descend to alt 3500, 3200, 2500, 2200 turn left 155 turn left 150 turn left 145 turn right 150..... right ok ATC man can you no just set me up for the CI lol

 

the descent alt to 2200 is way low the MSA was 3500 at EGCC 

 

Also the weather at the dest is out not in sync with ASN.

At least the controllers are keeping you busy lol. Perhaps AVSIM may be your best option, real life controllers make plenty of mistakes over there (pilots too), after all, they are human. You can tell them off in real time lol. I don't think Vox will ever be perfect, but you will be able to fly any route with reasonable realism.

[zmak 331]

whoa!!! awesome!! looking forward to seeing that released

 

cheers

-andy crosby

Excellent !

[BimmerCop 332]

AviatorBimmer,

With the new beta, have you noticed any difference with how AI traffic is handled? There have been some complaints that the latest version has little traffic movement at large airports.

I have not experienced any issues with AI movements. As a matter of fact, I usually set the AI slider within VoxATC settings to 10% because any higher, I get too much AI traffic movement. This is one feature of VoxATC that I simply admire, the ability for it to generate it's own AI traffic and thus being able to control it. Great for FPS as well, because it seems like you get AI traffic all around you out to about 20-30 miles. Somewhat like what Traffic Optimizer does. Great stuff!

 

BTW, I have used it with UT2, MTX and WOAI as well, with no issues.

[Driver170 42]

No idea why you seem to be having so many problems, but as far as your complaint about destination weather, did you not read the last few posts?

Yes reset VoxATC prior to TOD will be good if this got fixed. RC and PFE don't have problems!

 

I have done many trial runs to see what SID and STARS i get assigned. Always seems voxATC gives you terminal routes that are for props ONLY and for routes if your VOR is U/S :(

 

What does the uk expansion pack offer? Only voices?

[wanabflyer 53]

RC and PFE don't have problems!

I have done many trial runs to see what SID and STARS i get assigned.

RC doesn't assign SIDS & STARS period and If I remember correctly, PFE only assign's the S&S that you program in at flight planning stage. It doesn't dynamically assign them (PFE users can jump in and correct me here if I am wrong)

 

Please note that I am not bashing RC or PFE, they are both excellent programs in their own right.

[RotorWash 1]

I have not experienced any issues with AI movements. As a matter of fact, I usually set the AI slider within VoxATC settings to 10% because any higher, I get too much AI traffic movement. This is one feature of VoxATC that I simply admire, the ability for it to generate it's own AI traffic and thus being able to control it. Great for FPS as well, because it seems like you get AI traffic all around you out to about 20-30 miles. Somewhat like what Traffic Optimizer does. Great stuff!

BTW, I have used it with UT2, MTX and WOAI as well, with no issues.

Same, I have my traffic set at 25% (mytraffic 2010), I usually have to que at the threshold and hold for traffic on approach. Heaps of traffic inbound, outbound, and enroute. Occasionally get tcas warnings but no near misses as yet. I have military traffic disabled as it causes ctd, not Vox' fault, more like MT2010, something to do with special effects, I think. Good fps also.

[Driver170 42]

Right is it worth paying for the UK expansion pack? My trial is up in a few days...

 

I just don't know why voxATC assigns wrong SID routings (sometimes) also STARS!

[wanabflyer 53]

Right is it worth paying for the UK expansion pack? My trial is up in a few days...

I just don't know why voxATC assigns wrong SID routings (sometimes) also STARS!

As far as I am concerned it is the best non online ATC option out there and as far as procedural realism goes, it is excellent. If it is good enough as a RW training tool, it is good enough for me. As far as your problem with wrong SIDS & SARS, I can only reiterate what is already here on this thread to read.

 

Yes there is a problem with VOX ATC reading the destination weather but as pointed out in this thread, there is an update on the way that addresses this problem.

[vonmar 125]

I concur and I can say that this issue has been fixed in the latest beta version. I have done numerous flights and VoxATC has the latest arrival weather, thus giving you the correct runway for the current winds, at the time of arrival. It has been working great with ASN. No need to disable/enable to reset VoxATC. It will always have the correct weather.

 

PS. And it's working without having to read a weather file or setting a path to such file. Once you are close to your destination, the correct weather is being loaded into VoxATC.

 

That is really good news.

Thanks for sharing the results of your beta testing.

[RotorWash 1]

Right is it worth paying for the UK expansion pack? My trial is up in a few days...

I just don't know why voxATC assigns wrong SID routings (sometimes) also STARS!

Be sure your nav data is up to date and Vox knows where to find it, as per the manual. There is many options for SIDS and STARS in the configurator, check the manual.

[BimmerCop 332]

Right is it worth paying for the UK expansion pack? My trial is up in a few days...

 

I just don't know why voxATC assigns wrong SID routings (sometimes) also STARS!

 

Like RotorWash said, make sure you have the Level-D AIRAC installed and pointed to the correct folder via the VoxATC Advanced Settings screen.

 

Also, when creating your flight plan, it's good practice to set your final waypoint to be the transition fix for the area from which you will be approacing the airport. This way when you are arriving, VoxATC will know which STAR to assign, according to the transition waypoint in your flight plan.

 

BTW, the SID/STAR configurator is to be used ONLY if you do NOT use NavData. If you use NavData, then all SIDS/STARS are included. No need to use the configurator to add them manually into your flight plan.

[Driver170 42]

I agree nothing is perfect though! Great addon beats hitting keys only problem i have is VoxATC giving the wrong routings. I might start trying the manual way of entering it

Yep level-D AIRAC is installed into fsx and the path is setup correctly

All the waypoints in PFPX start and end with the transition fix