Will real-world weather deliver the same exact cloud(s) to all ?

[NetNinja 14]

What the subject asked . . .  in the same location

Edited November 25, 2019 by NetNinja
clarity

[MatthewS 761]

Yes... I would think so.

[Quasimodo 505]

That's an interesting question. So same day/time/location will real world weather generate the exact same clouds on every machine when flying on and at the same day/time/location.

I can see one scenario where its definitely important. Glider pilots racing a task on line.

[Sartanius 399]

I guess it depends on whether Azure determines the cloud locations and formations and then sends the computed data to the client for display.  Or, maybe the client receives the METAR data and generates the appropriate cloud types and locations locally.  Seems unlikely to me folks in a multiplayer session would all see the exact thing.  But too much we don't know at this stage.  Interesting question, though.

[188AHC 2,138]

Seriously? 

If several are downloading the same location at the same time they will certainly get the same weather. Other parts of the globe, then, no. Think about it. 

[Noodle 626]

 

16 hours ago, 188AHC said:

 

The question is more nuanced than that. It's one thing to say that all users in a given geographic area will see a scattered cumulus layer at 6,000 ft, but another to say that two users flying formation in a multiplayer session will both fly into the same exact cloud at the same time.

That's a current limitation in DCS, where you think you're hiding from an opponent by flying into a cloud, but the other client doesn't see a cloud there at all.

[Mucker 93]

Same weather type but same clouds seems unlikely since they will probably be formed from some algorithm that introduces random noise to create an almost infinite amount of cloud size and shape.

We know that the clouds work in real time once loaded in according to weather type as well but I expect how they form and disperse will have a random element.  

 

EDIT

I should add that for the purposes of multiplayer and it was required clouds were the exact same that would be an easy fix.

You would simply run the algorithm and start conditions for one player and then send that to the other clients (complete with random elements resolved) though if there is a random element in how they behave in live time they would not stay exactly the same.

Edited November 25, 2019 by Mucker

[HarryVoyager 21]

There are some flight sims that, while they generate the same type of cloud cover for player sin the same region, do not have the clouds fully synchronized, such that, when in close formation you may be in a cloud bank, while your lead is in open air and wondering why you are inching way to close to him... 

I gather that dev team is working on it, but the synchronization of clouds apparently is apparently, does require a certain amount of planning and intent on the dev team. 

[NetNinja 14]

Most people understand that clouds are different arround the world, and some just don't get it.

[Quasimodo 505]

I am sure that the Soaring simulator Condor and by extension Condor2 depicts the exact same clouds to all player in an online session. Real cumulus clouds cycle. i.e.they appear out of the blue and disappear into the blue. I often had great fun with friend on nice sunny days saying to them, "do you see that cloud", they would reply yes, and i'd say  "keep looking at it. It will be gone in about 90 seconds." And when they saw it disappear into the blue, they'd laugh with disbelief and call me a wizard. Then I'd say look at that empty spot there in the sky, There will be a cloud there in 90 seconds and their chin would be on the floor when there was. It literally does that in Condor. If it didn't it could not simulate real competition soaring. I hope MSFS does the same otherwise online soaring sessions won't be realistic.

Edited November 25, 2019 by Avidean

[irrics 1,517]

This is a pretty interesting point that I'd really never thought of...But it really does have some important implications actually.

Hopefully Asobo can address this either way.  I presume they've thought of it, but... who knows, right?

[HarryVoyager 21]

I also find myself wondering if the clouds will be randomized, or seeded. I.e. if I start a new game session, at exactly the same game time, location and atmospheric settings, with the specific cloud formations be identical, or simply of the same type, and if they are the same type, can they be expected to progress the ways? 

I've had a long-standing interest in the ability to halt and restart game sessions mid-flight. I generally can't get more than about an hour of continuous game time, while a number of very interesting flights take considerably longer than that. While one can simply put together flights that have only the specific part of interest, via air-starts, time skips, and other things, I've always wanted the ability to simply capture the game-state in the middle of the mission, shut things down for a while, and then bring it back up where I left off later. While I'm looking at potentially doing that with a memory map grabbing tool, if the semi-random events, such as weather, are sufficiently deterministic, it may be possible to do that by capturing the relevant session parameters, and starting the new session using enough of the prior parameters to replicate the ending state of the prior session.

[Victoroos 205]

When looking at the weather video, it implies that the system looks at actual satellite images to create the clouds, but who knows

[Pastaiolo 1,688]

I don't think they exact clouds will show up in the exact spots, even with real weather and the two players in the same exact location. It would overcomplicate things and not add anything to the simulation itself. Don't get me wrong, i am sure the sim will know what the clouds are like in the area you are in and will pick all the right parameters, but i don't think that, if two were to fly together, they would see the same cloud shape in the same spot.

 

Talking about simulators, which one has it? I can only thing of War Thunder at this point

Edited November 25, 2019 by france89

[Superdelphinus 718]

I think if the clouds are generated by the user there are lots of things that would generate the look of the clouds (first of which would be the rendering settings presumably), so I don’t think they could guarantee that they would look the same.