An opportunity for any add-on developer to be first

[WebMaximus 372]

One of the things that really annoys me and has been for many years is how the seasons in the simulator don't match reality. At least that is the case here in Sweden. I guess the same thing is true in many other locations as well around the world.

I've discussed this in the past with the Orbx guys since I first thought it was an Orbx issue after doing some testing where I found out the below:

Winter looking at FTX Global textures starts 1/11
Winter in P3D starts 22/12

Spring looking at FTX Global textures starts 1/3
Spring in P3D starts 21/3

Summer looking at FTX Global textures starts 1/5
Summer in P3D starts 21/6

Fall looking at FTX Global textures starts 1/9
Fall in P3D starts 22/9

Holger Sandmann over at Orbx told me the problem lies within the default seasons control file (seasons.bgl, in \Scenery\Base\scenery) and he also told me how Orbx fixed this in FTX Norway by making their own custom seasons file for this area. Apparently that control file also covers parts of Sweden to avoid a hard border between these two countries.

Even when I'm sure FTX Norway is great I don't want another local scenery product. What I would like is a product that will make sure I get the correct season in the simulator.

I'm thinking when Orbx was able to include such a custom seasons file in FTX Norway it must be possible to do the same thing elsewhere and release this as a separate product. Either as a global product or like several local products covering different areas of the world just like with many other products such as mesh, textures, landclass, night lighting etc etc.

As the topic hints, to my knowledge any developer who would come up with this kind of "product line" would be first and I would certainly be willing to pay for getting the correct seasons in the same way I pay to get other things as close to real life as possible in the simulator.

[Lawy 28]

Depends on which definition is used to define the "correct" season start and end dates:

P3D seasons are based on the astronomical definition, whereas FTX are using the meteorological definition. 

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/learning/seasons/spring/when-does-spring-start

[AnkH 2,264]

Is it so important for you to fly on the present day? If not, now that you now so precisely at which dates P3D does the season switch, simply fly on a matching day. I also use "system time and date" inside my P3D setup, but basically just because, I actually do not really care if my sim has the same date as the real world at the moment I want to fly around...

[fluffyflops 1,858]

or the timezones.

[Egbert Drenth 250]

43 minutes ago, WebMaximus said:

As the topic hints, to my knowledge any developer who would come up with this kind of "product line" would be first and I would certainly be willing to pay for getting the correct seasons in the same way I pay to get other things as close to real life as possible in the simulator.

Should that also include the climate changes due to global warming? 

[WebMaximus 372]

OK, so some mixed input.

Of course I don't have to use the correct date and can cheat in that way getting the result (season) I want.

However, I would prefer to have a correct representation of the seasons in the same way I like having a correct representation of the actual weather for instance without having to manually build a weather theme to match current weather conditions. Sure, picking another date is much easier than setting up correct weather but I'm sure you understand what I mean.

As for including climate changes due to global warming. Having that modeled would be impressive but for starters I would be happy with just seeing something in the simulator that roughly matches what I see looking out my window when it comes to seasons. Rather than having a winter wonderland in P3D today for example when IRL it's a rainy day here in Stockholm with +8C outside and still lots of leaves on the trees in all different kinds of colors.

Luckily you rarely see a winter wonderland when you look out of the window in early November in Stockholm although Sweden is symbolic for ice bears walking down the streets 365 days/year for some less educated people around the world 

[WebMaximus 372]

49 minutes ago, Lawy said:

Depends on which definition is used to define the "correct" season start and end dates:

P3D seasons are based on the astronomical definition, whereas FTX are using the meteorological definition. 

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/learning/seasons/spring/when-does-spring-start

That's very interesting, thanks for sharing!

Clearly looking at that information the astronomical way looking at seasons is what matches real life best at my location.

[WebMaximus 372]

42 minutes ago, tooting said:

or the timezones.

True.

Find it strange how such simple things as getting the time zones correct still is an issue in 2017 but what do I know...maybe it's actually harder to fix than you might think.

[AnkH 2,264]

Or it was so low on the priority list of LM that it was never addressed properly...

[Amon1973 1,421]

1 hour ago, Egbert Drenth said:

Should that also include the climate changes due to global warming? 

It's not global warming anymore, it's now the politically correct term climate change.

[n4gix 4,947]

2 hours ago, WebMaximus said:

Luckily you rarely see a winter wonderland when you look out of the window in early November in Stockholm although Sweden is symbolic for ice bears walking down the streets 365 days/year for some less educated people around the world 

No! That only happens in Finland!

Nota Bene: it also happens in northern Alaska and Canada as well.

[Bob Scott 7,720]

2 hours ago, Egbert Drenth said:

Should that also include the climate changes due to global warming? 

Since the base data is from 2006, perhaps we should include the climate changes that were predicted in 2006, basically that the earth would be a smoking cinder devoid of life by now...  :-O

We could call it HysteriX Global.

Bwaaaaahahaha

 

[fluffyflops 1,858]

2 hours ago, WebMaximus said:

True.

Find it strange how such simple things as getting the time zones correct still is an issue in 2017 but what do I know...maybe it's actually harder to fix than you might think

their biggest customer is the miltary,  who dont care about time zones, they just want a product with VR to train cadets the basics of effects on controls and ground school etc etc and if you can sell a ton of licenses to uncle Sam then you're laughing all the way to the bank.   Simple as that.  Don't be under any other illusion

[WebMaximus 372]

Yep, I guess that is true for many things people in here wish for that still haven't made it into the sim.

[netshadoe 144]

SimElite Solutions fixes the timezones with "Time Zone Fixer" and is current. 

It is still being updated regularly, unlike FSRealTime which uses old .bgl files done by Dennis Thompson (I think that is his name) which are over a decade old now.

As for the seasons...well, every part of the world would have to be redone with updated bgl files.  I'm not sure if you can just "layer" a bgl for just the seasons on top of another scenery bgl.  The whole bgl tile would have to be redone from the ground up.  Just speculating.