@GoranM and @jarmstro, take your sniping to a private message please.

I’ve been a massive ActiveSky fan, but most of their work has been with weather depicted by 2D images.

We’ve moved a long way on from that with the weather in MSFS, which I think is fantastic.

The clouds are actually one of my favourite parts of the sim.

Do you guys have Weather Preset Pro? If you don’t, buy Weather Preset Pro.

I use it on most of my longer flights. I start with real weather, but when the real weather is boring I’ll change to a different preset until I find something that fits what I’m doing. Also great for setting up challenging landings in low viz when you’re in the mood.

WPP is definitely one of my favorite and most used apps.

 

 

Edited March 10, 20233 yr by OzWhitey

Just happening right now, leaving LICB in Sicily 😅

 

27 minutes ago, Dominique_K said:

Thanks ! Next question, is it the way the weather is modeled or is it the way the available gliders are. To say it it another way, when you activate these cute blue CFD waves do you see that they are wrong and where ?

A bit of both...

Gliders are poorly modelled aerodynamics-wise. They feel really far from reality in terms of handling and I expected it to feel a lot better, at least not worst than gliders in fsx / fs9, which unfortunately is not the case...

Then yes, the way they chose to model thermal activity is basically wrong, and if you enable the "thermal visualization" you'll be able to notice it even better.

Real world techniques used for thermaling can't simply be applied in MFS.

46 minutes ago, OzWhitey said:

The clouds are actually one of my favourite parts of the sim.

Do you guys have Weather Preset Pro? If you don’t, buy Weather Preset Pro.

If clouds are your favourite part of the sim, then take a look at the freeware add-on 'Floyds Epic Clouds':
https://flightsim.to/file/24251/floyd-s-epic-clouds

Fantastic preset weather sets.

2 hours ago, jarmstro said:

What is the reason why Asobo won't open up the weather to third parties? I'm guessing there  must be one but I have no idea what it could be? Maybe they just haven't got round to it because they have other priorities?

1 word: meteoblue. Asobo doesn't make the weather. That feature is already contracted out to someone else. Asobo just toys around with the data stream.

Given that it's the single most popular item on ya'll's wishlist that has gone entirely ignored (not merely nodded-to, but ignored), there's obviously a contract clause blocking any SDK. If there's an expiration date to the clause it's likely a long ways out. Otherwise it's for the perpetuity of the product.

Good to see you've already gotten over this status!

1 minute ago, blingthinger said:

1 word: meteoblue. Asobo doesn't make the weather. That feature is already contracted out to someone else. Asobo just toys around with the data stream.

Given that it's the single most popular item on ya'll's wishlist that has gone entirely ignored (not merely nodded-to, but ignored), there's obviously a contract clause blocking any SDK. If there's an expiration date to the clause it's likely a long ways out. Otherwise it's for the perpetuity of the product.

Good to see you've already gotten over this status!

Ah! Makes sense. Thanks.

7 minutes ago, blingthinger said:

1 word: meteoblue. Asobo doesn't make the weather. That feature is already contracted out to someone else. Asobo just toys around with the data stream.

Given that it's the single most popular item on ya'll's wishlist that has gone entirely ignored (not merely nodded-to, but ignored), there's obviously a contract clause blocking any SDK. If there's an expiration date to the clause it's likely a long ways out. Otherwise it's for the perpetuity of the product.

Good to see you've already gotten over this status!

I don’t see how this would prevent opening up weather injection from third parties.  They are not asking for access to Meteoblue’s proprietary information.  Rather, they want access to inject their own weather (wind, temp, humidity, pressure, etc).  Jorg should explain this much better than just saying “no, it’s not going to happen.”

6 minutes ago, Gilandred said:

I don’t see how this would prevent opening up weather injection from third parties.

If they do have a contract for exclusivity that would explain Asobo's decision to not enter into discussions about 3rd party involvement and why the weather API and SDK updates aren't being delivered. It's unlikely they'll reveal anything about an end date assuming there is one.

11 minutes ago, Gilandred said:

I don’t see how this would prevent opening up weather injection from third parties.

Like Ray explained, that's just how the contract was probably written. Meteoblue agrees to provide weather data in exchange for money and exclusivity. And maybe it isn't actually sealed in legal ink. Maybe it was a handshake agreement between executives. Who knows. But given the silence on the matter for the past ~3 yrs, probably don't hold your breath for a change in status.

Meteoblue is providing the weather data maybe, yes. But they are not drawing the weather in the sim. They are just an alternative to Jeppesen that was used back in the FSX/P3D days.

From the data they provide, the weather engine has to build the weather in the sim. That part could perfectly be open to 3rd parties. I don't see why Meteoblue would want anything to do with that part.

33 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

If they do have a contract for exclusivity that would explain Asobo's decision to not enter into discussions about 3rd party involvement and why the weather API and SDK updates aren't being delivered. It's unlikely they'll reveal anything about an end date assuming there is one.

What would Meteoblue (or Microsoft) have to gain via an exclusivity clause?  Even if Meteoblue was getting paid per user access to the sim, having a third party weather provider wouldn’t affect that arrangement at all.  I’m not a lawyer, nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

I suspect it’s much more a technical limitation than a legal one.  And if that’s the case, Jorg can explain better why and put an end to the insinuation that Microsoft is intentionally blocking third party access.

Edited March 10, 20233 yr by Gilandred

8 minutes ago, Gilandred said:

What would Meteoblue (or Microsoft) have to gain via an exclusivity clause?  Even if Meteoblue was getting paid per user access to the sim, having a third party weather provider wouldn’t affect that arrangement at all.  I’m not a lawyer, nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

Without seeing any contract it's impossible to say. I merely offered an explanation as to why Asobo / Microsoft won't assist third party developers into the sim. Why not ask on the official forum. Asobo rarely visit here if ever.

If it goes well, exclusivity is good advertising for the brand. Simple as that. I agree on the other end. I don't see what Asobo has to gain there other than not having to worry about building that element of the SDK. 

The extent of the agreement is obviously on speculation (wx data vs dx11/12 draw calls). But given the absolute middle finger to any possibility vs. the volume of the requests by the public, it really seems like there's something in the way. Asobo has acquiesced on every other major item except this one. Even to plagiarizing a scenery gateway! But not a peep here.

28 minutes ago, Gilandred said:

What would Meteoblue (or Microsoft) have to gain via an exclusivity clause?  Even if Meteoblue was getting paid per user access to the sim, having a third party weather provider wouldn’t affect that arrangement at all.  I’m not a lawyer, nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

I suspect it’s much more a technical limitation than a legal one.  And if that’s the case, Jorg can explain better why and put an end to the insinuation that Microsoft is intentionally blocking third party access.

Money, they gain money. The same way Porsche did when they had an exclusive license for one racing game, thankfully they came to their senses and when that contact ended they opened up to all racing games (yay for us users).

Licensing deals don't need to be ready to understand why they happen either, aside money they're could be a whole host of other reasons the beers users will never get to know about.