I wonder how FSX handles time zones.......

[michal 44]

However there are those who strive for realism..... using the correct time for the time of day would be important.  

And what exactly is this 'correct time'?? G1000 in my Cirrus SR22T (in real life) gives me UTC time by default however I can manually set a time zone offset (in system page) so it will display time in whatever time zone I wish. Is it realistic enough?  :wub: It comes from $80,000 worth of avionics.

[TheFamilyMan 279]

And what exactly is this 'correct time'?? G1000 in my Cirrus SR22T (in real life) gives me UTC time by default however I can manually set a time zone offset (in system page) so it will display time in whatever time zone I wish. Is it realistic enough?  :wub: It comes from $80,000 worth of avionics.

 

Our PCs all do this time zone setting as well.  In fact, that is all there really is to it: A timezone is selected (somehow) which does nothing except to provide a hours offset to the current UTC time.

 

All I know it's 5:00 somewhere and I'm ready for a margarita! :smile:

[DaveCT2003 1,820]

 

 

I still don't understand how setting the local time adds to realism.

 

Okay, let's go over it again in slightly more detail than my last post (sorry about that) and see if the light comes on. :wink:

 

1. System time (which is local) is set accurately.  That will be local time for one's time zone. Of course this is assuming one also enters their time zone.

 

2. Flight simulator will then correlate the time to UTC, based on system time.

 

That is all I was saying. 

 

As far as realism goes, I was referencing when the sun comes up and goes down, and where it is in the sky being at the correct time - UTC time.

 

 

Best wishes to all.

[KevinAu 441]

Okay, let's go over it again in slightly more detail than my last post (sorry about that) and see if the light comes on. :wink:

 

1. System time (which is local) is set accurately. That will be local time for one's time zone. Of course this is assuming one also enters their time zone.

 

2. Flight simulator will then correlate the time to UTC, based on system time.

 

That is all I was saying.

 

As far as realism goes, I was referencing when the sun comes up and goes down, and where it is in the sky being at the correct time - UTC time.

 

 

Best wishes to all.

Starting with local system time is a flaw in your process. That is because Msfs does not necessarily correlate your local time into the correct utc. Forget about local time if you want to avoid the possibility of realizing as you play the game that the sun position is off from what it should be. Always figure out what utc time you are in or want to be in, then check that it is the utc time set in msfs. Local time serves no purpose in this game nor in real aviation. Utc is the only time that matters.

[tf51d 284]

Timezone data is stored in a file called timezone.bgl in the scenery\base\scenery folder. The default one is kind of basic and often not accurate. One option is with ultimate traffic2. Which has a utility to update timezone.bgl ile to a specific date given. Note it's geared to the timetable currently installed, so if you have an old one it will only work for those dates. Usually not a problem unless you are setting a date close to one of the time changes.

[Slayer 190]

and I asked the same question on the LM site: Why can't the time and season go off of UTC instead of figuring backwards based on local time( HINT nobody calculates time this way)in some convoluted fashion that isn't at all accurate. Any damn computer that is connected to the internet has access to this and has for many many years.

 

Sorry but it annoys the heck out of me because every time I fire up the sim it's wrong and you have to jump  through hoops to make it load properly for the selected area. Not only that the seasons are completely wrong too. Summer in the US is winter in New Zealand etc....This has an effect on the proper texture sets being shown. So yes it is a completely broken system as far as I'm concerned,