Dynamic Weather – Now Available in Flight Sim World

[torium 207]

Interesting info from Steve Hood, Dovetail:

Quote

Here at DTG towers, we are getting pretty excited about Dynamic Weather v1 coming to Flight Sim World on February 1st.

As it is now, you have a choice of static weather themes, and your flights are conducted in that theme for the entirety of your session - the wind, cloud type, cloud heights, visibility remains constant.

With dynamic weather, this is not the case. Once you enable DW, the engine reads from thousands of weather stations dotted around the world map and determines the conditions from METAR strings that we have created.

In order to ensure the conditions are not always the same, we have created multiple environments - through the inclusion of seasonal strings. Over time we will expand this data set to provide an incredibly rich and varied flight environment. It wouldn't make sense for the South East of the UK to continually shower the player with rain - there is a week of moderately warm weather to break it up. (For avoidance of doubt, this is a joke - there are actually two weeks of moderately warm weather in the UK – each year!)

With Dynamic Weather enabled, your flight from departure to destination will 'read in' the weather strings from nearby weather stations and determine the conditions. So if you were to travel, for example, from Coventry airport to Heathrow, you could take off in overcast conditions with light rain and arrive at Heathrow in sunny conditions with very few clouds.

En route, the engine will pickup other nearby weather stations and will, after a period of time, try to transition to the visible weather to those settings it has been fed. There is a cycle which waits before reading new conditions (so as not to be constantly transitioning as you fly within reach of lots of stations) and a transition time whenever a change is initiated. The conditions slowly unfold and do not 'jump' from one to another.

As this is version 1.0 of dynamic weather, the conditions develop around you and do not become visible off in the distance. You can see the weather developing, but it will be the same in every direction you look - essentially there are no weather fronts. This step is has been about preparing the FSW engine, and in particular our Advanced Weather engine powered by trueSKY, for Live Weather.

The aim is to eventually be able to visualize multiple weather types in the same session so we can have foreboding weather fronts for you to try and avoid! This, in what is arguably the most advanced visualization of weather in a flight simulation, is where we’re heading.

https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/what-is-dynamic-weather-anyway.3257/

[JSilva 42]

If I'm interpreting this right, the Dynamic Weather reads data from the METAR that DTG sets for the climate of the area, with maybe different sets of METAR depending on time of day (say temperatures generally being low at night compared to the day) and season of the year (for example, sunny weather being more common on summer, while snowy weather being more common at winter). Finally, when the flight crosses an area with a different METAR, the weather slowly transitions within a window of a certain amount of time (a minute or so? maybe less or more?). Correct me if I'm wrong with this.

Either way, this sounds great.

EDIT: When Steve Hood mentioned METAR, there was a link explaining METAR. http://www.hko.gov.hk/aviat/wxobs_decode_e.htm

Edited January 31, 2018 by JSilva
Adding the link.

[scotchegg 4,158]

21 minutes ago, torium said:

This, in what is arguably the most advanced visualization of weather in a flight simulation, is where we’re heading.

I have to say, Stephen Hood's attention to the visuals is really welcome. How far the look of an ESP-based sim could be advanced from FSX was a big worry when I heard DTG had bought that code and not MS Flight's.

[Murmur 3,940]

Great!

If they manage to implement weather fronts (as stated) in this advanced 3D weather engine, then FSW will leave all the others sims behind in one of the most important aspects of aviation.

[SimSlim 5]

4 hours ago, Murmur said:

Great!

If they manage to implement weather fronts (as stated) in this advanced 3D weather engine, then FSW will leave all the others sims behind in one of the most important aspects of aviation.

I think he meant that there are no hard edges to the different weather areas encountered, they are "feathered-in" somewhat imperceptibly as you fly.   Not to say they won't have weather fronts, that's just not was he was saying when you quoted him..

[Murmur 3,940]

4 hours ago, SimSlim said:

I think he meant that there are no hard edges to the different weather areas encountered, they are "feathered-in" somewhat imperceptibly as you fly.   Not to say they won't have weather fronts, that's just not was he was saying when you quoted him..

This is true for the first release, but their long-term target, as stated, is: "The aim is to eventually be able to visualize multiple weather types in the same session so we can have foreboding weather fronts for you to try and avoid!". So he stated that they're planning to add weather fronts in the future.

 

[vadriver 247]

are we discussing live (out of synch diurnal) or historic (in synch diurnal) ........

[Wizard-Bob 9]

As a casual, yet avid, simmer, I am truly enjoying the direction and progress of FSW.  Thanks, DTG!

[ca_metal 2,015]

2 hours ago, vadriver said:

are we discussing live (out of synch diurnal) or historic (in synch diurnal) ........

Dynamic weather, it will change procedurally based on DTG's data, and their data is based on the historic weather. Live Weather is something for the future, but they are already looking into it.

[n4gix 4,947]

I support this step in the development of weather rendition in FSW. Whenever they have perfected this controlled evolution of dynamic weather presentation, then the next logical step will be to add real-time weather presentation based on real-world METARs.

[G-RFRY 1,705]

Down loading now weather update.

[AndyUK 26]

I've got the update but I can't find a way of getting a report showing, or hearing, the weather at the start or finish airports set by the dynamic weather system.  Is there a way?  After all it is rather important to know what you're getting into before you take to the air!

[DTG_Cryss 244]

Today marks the release of a feature we’re excited to see in Flight Sim World. Dynamic Weather v1 is a new weather setting that reads data from weather stations across the world and determines the conditions from METAR strings. If you want a more detailed break down in how it works then check out Stephen Hood’s post about Dynamic Weather here.

How do I enable Dynamic Weather?
Go into the Free Flight menu, you will find Dynamic Weather under the weather settings tab.

Is Dynamic Weather finished?
No, with version 1.0 of Dynamic Weather, the conditions develop around you and are not visible from a distance. You can see the weather developing, but there are no weather fronts. V1 has been about preparing the FSW engine and our Advanced Weather engine powers by trueSKY for the implementation of Live Weather. Our goal is to visualize multiple weather types in the same session, so w can have foreboding weather fronts for you to try to avoid.

Let us know what you think about the implementation of Dynamic Weather.

[torium 207]

Great. Many thanks to the FSW team. 

[G-RFRY 1,705]

Read Dynamic weather as changing weather as you fly, Flew into Phoenix with clouds overhead landed the weather cleared clear blue sky before I departed.