Weather Engine

[tyke1 30]

I bought rex when i noticed that sometimes msfs live weather didn't match real life. Rex doesn't do this as often. However the weather transition if not set to instant (which in itself is not nice) its an fps killer. If weather transition is set to gradual (to be more realistic) the sim grinds to a halt during this. Tbh i dont touch rex now, it was a waste of money (for me, imo), i would not recommend it. Ive not used the free unreal weather mod

[cianpars 1,158]

I must be in the minority then, because I am very happy with the weather in msfs and dont feel the need for anything else (I did use REX in FSX though).

The addition of cirrus clouds will be nice.

[Dominique_K 10,133]

1 hour ago, cianpars said:

I must be in the minority t 

Nope, In spite of its shortcomings, the MFS weather engine is the best I've seen so far in a flight simulator, its dynamics far superior to the METAR to METAR model we have had in its predecessors.

It is frustrating that they have delayed (for we--know-what...) the needed  fixes  : the exaggeration of stormy conditions, the absence of historical weather which forces to fly during daylight with the night weather if you are in a faraway time  zone, the absence of clouds sometimes where there should be some. A good weather briefing (departure, enroute, arrival) would be extremely welcome too.

I do not care a fig if it is not exactly the weather of the exact time I fly so far as it is convincing for the latitude/longitude, season and time of the day. 

Edited September 4, 2021 by Dominique_K

[omarsmak30 4,061]

2 hours ago, Dominique_K said:

Nope, In spite of its shortcomings, the MFS weather engine is the best I've seen so far in a flight simulator, its dynamics far superior to the METAR to METAR model we have had so far in its predecessors.

The weather engine in MSFS is really superior to what we had before and I don't see myself getting back to the METAR based weather engine as personally I think MSFS default engine is really immersive. However, I just hope they fix its shortcomings soon although they mentioned in the Q&A that they have big plans for the weather, lets see 😄 

Edited September 4, 2021 by omarsmak30

[fppilot 4,335]

3 hours ago, Cyrex1984 said:

As for now i highly recomend to use default weather. Rex have maybe better metars but terrible weather transitions.

Where are you flying?  The only time I see significant weather transitions is if/when I switch in flight from default MSFS to REX WF or back to MSFS default.  When I stay in REX WF and do not switch I am not seeing such transitions.  I fly primarily the eastern half of the USA, with most flights in the mid Atlantic to Great Lakes to Midwest states.

I trust that most are not relying on what they hear from ATIS reports along their flight path.  MSFS ATIS reports are perhaps the the most deficient aspect of MSFS.  Temperature (but not dew point) and Altimeter are often realistic.  The rest of the specific of MSFS ATIS reports are total trash.

Edited September 4, 2021 by fppilot

[Bobsk8 12,489]

I used Active Sky for weather in P3D for years. I am satisfied with the default weather in MSFS. 

[jelder 14]

1 hour ago, fppilot said:

I trust that most are not relying on what they hear from ATIS reports along their flight path.  MSFS ATIS reports are perhaps the the most deficient aspect of MSFS

This statement nails it.  I love MSFS, the graphics, and even the weather and clouds are game changing, but until they fix the weather system so that ATIS matches the actual local conditions, it is a game and not a simulator.  I am not saying they need to match real world weather, only that ATIS needs to report what the wind, cloud and visibility conditions are in the sim.  ATIS is a big part of real world flying.  I cannot believe this is not a higher priority to fix.

[Noel 4,483]

3 hours ago, Dominique_K said:

I do not care a fig if it is not exactly the weather of the exact time I fly so far as it is convincing for the latitude/longitude, season and time of the day. 

Absolutely, positively.  What I do give a fig about is being able to see what Live Weather is about 80m out from my destination airport, that's all.  I hope they eventually offer a simple popup like this to elegantly solve this problem, which currently is only solvable by trying to bring up the ATIS, and of course you never know exactly when the ATIS can be brought up, so it's messy.  Something like this would be uber easy to code for, borrowed from ActiveSky.  I posted this on the wishlist and as usual rather than a simple vote in the affirmative to support this golden idea you get all sorts of work around suggestions.

[Dominique_K 10,133]

3 hours ago, omarsmak30 said:

 I think MSFS default engine is really immersive. However, I just hope they fix its shortcomings soon although they mentioned in the Q&A that they have big plans for the weather, lets see 😄 

Asobo has big plans for the weather for 2022 when we need  little fixes now in 2021 😁.

[MrBitstFlyer 3,812]

On 9/4/2021 at 1:14 AM, johnbow72 said:

REX has preformed flawless for me with MSFS .

I have been impressed with Rex Airport Textures so I looked at reviews/posts here about REX Weather so I purchased it - completely underwhelmed with it.

My first test flight was chosen between two airports with a warm front between them.  With MSFS live weather I took off under blue skies.  Turning towards the destination I had a fantastic depiction of the warm front.  High level cloud with lowering cloud off into the distance.  half way to the destination I could see stormy conditions on the horizon with several layers of cloud.  The ground and sky lighting was superb.

I then repositioned to the first airfield and turned on Rex weather. I took off, turned towards the destination and all I could see was blue sky to the horizon.  Half way to the destination all I had was blue sky.  It wasn't until I was close to the destination that any change was observed.  I guess if I remained in the pattern, Rex Weather may give me more accurate weather on the occasions MSFS live weather was a bit behind.  However this weather would still be observed out to the horizon. With MSFS live weather it may be clear over the airfield with approaching showers seen in the distance.

I personally feel the benefit of weather being always accurate in no way makes up for the complete loss of distant weather observation.  Rex weather to me completely ruins the immersion MSFS live weather has given us.

[MrBitstFlyer 3,812]

On 9/4/2021 at 1:38 PM, fppilot said:

Where are you flying?  The only time I see significant weather transitions is if/when I switch in flight from default MSFS to REX WF or back to MSFS default.  When I stay in REX WF and do not switch I am not seeing such transitions.  I fly primarily the eastern half of the USA, with most flights in the mid Atlantic to Great Lakes to Midwest states.

I trust that most are not relying on what they hear from ATIS reports along their flight path.  MSFS ATIS reports are perhaps the the most deficient aspect of MSFS.  Temperature (but not dew point) and Altimeter are often realistic.  The rest of the specific of MSFS ATIS reports are total trash.

You don't see such weather transitions in Rex weather?  My first flight with REX was almost laughable.  Took off under blue skies and that is all I could see to the horizon even though there was a warm front ahead. MSFS Live weather showed that warm front with worsening conditions seen on the horizon as I got closer to the destination.  REX showed me nothing on the horizon at all (because it is metar based), just  a change from blue sky to stormy a few miles short of the destination.

Great if it works for your purpose, but I personally was shocked how bad it was.

[fppilot 4,335]

9 minutes ago, MrBitstFlyer said:

You don't see such weather transitions in Rex weather?  My first flight with REX was almost laughable.  Took off under blue skies and that is all I could see to the horizon even though there was a warm front ahead. MSFS Live weather showed that warm front with worsening conditions seen on the horizon as I got closer to the destination.  REX showed me nothing on the horizon at all (because it is metar based), just  a change from blue sky to stormy a few miles short of the destination.

Great if it works for your purpose, but I personally was shocked how bad it was.

I have used MSFS default, REX WF, and recently Unreal Weather.  I am not at this time happy with any of them.  I got sudden clouds today from Unreal weather like what you describe in your message, and winds aloft were a close match in strength, but over 90° off in direction.  Reported cloud layers were better than default and recent REX WF except UW threw me an overcast for a while (30 minutes) that was nowhere to be found metars near that part of my route and also not depicted on weather satellite images.

Asobo badly needs to open weather up to SDK based developers.  That and more of the avionics.  

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

13 minutes ago, fppilot said:

  I am not at this time happy with any of them. 

You're not alone. The weather and atmospherics are beautiful, but the conditions often don't match RL weather. 

[KERNEL32 492]

IMO variation of clouds is too low, there are two types, cumulus type, and some kind of fluffy / transparent "clouds" or "puffs" like FS4, not sure when these started to appear but they've been around since update 3 or so.

Also in the latest update WU6, the accuracy seems to have fallen back again. I was seeing pretty accurate precipitation in SU5, although those rain clouds were way way too "thin" not representing a "stand alone" thunderstorm very well at all. Now with SU6 I'm not seeing the precipitation match Real World radar at all..

 

It's like whack-a-mole lately where they fix one thing getting a step forward, and at the same time break another thing going back two steps... shame.

Edited September 11, 2021 by KERNEL32

[RandallR 444]

I've always used the default live weather and the transitions have been, at times, wonderful.  Maybe I've just been extremely lucky, but the Live Weather system has actually matched, for the most part, the actual conditions on my last dozen flights (minus the lightning and thunder, that is).

One thing I can say about ATIS is that it's really messed up.  In most of my most recent flights the sim weather has been either spot-on, or so close as to be negligible, BUT the ATIS announcer has been out of their mind!  For instance, on my last flight the winds were within 3 degrees of actual and within 2 knots of actual - cloud cover was pretty much spot-on.  But the ATIS announcer was about 160 degrees off and about 10 kts off.  In other words, ATIS doesn't even match what's happening in the sim.  I've found a metar report combined with the winds indicated by the nav system to be my best resource.