12 minutes ago, jrw4 said:

But I'm guessing that this is not the case for MSFS, which may well create a global weather scenario in the cloud, and it is this depiction which is downloaded to users depending on where they are above the Earth. If that's the case, it may be a very, very long wait for historic weather or a weather API for that matter.

This I believe too is exactly the challenge; the underlying architecture is very different than in P3D. It is a global weather model running in the background with some algorithms now to modify for local METAR reports. Not just a matter of configuring a few dozen parameters in the sim; it means manipulating that global weather model that is likely hundreds of GB of data at least. And how would this even be done without gaining access to MS servers where that weather simulation is running? I have never been clear about how this will work; I hope it can be opened up in some manner but I remain skeptical. 

As for historical weather, as Noel said it would be interesting to see how many people really consider this absolutely essential; not that it should be a popularity contest, but there is a question of what features need attention recognizing that you cannot please everyone, and as the original poster noted, you can get this feature right now in an actively developed simulator, P3D.  I have never used historical weather and never will because I only fly in real time as a rule; and yes, that means staying up pretty late or getting up pretty early some days!

39 minutes ago, jrw4 said:

It may be a very, very long wait for historic weather

That is a bit ironic anyway. Would be good to be implemented, but with cloud computing seemingly moving in somewhat wonder iff that could conflict a bit.

Im not a programmer so dont know, but just guessing. 

Pretty bold title there...

I've never used it in all the years of sim-ing. Either I take what's given or I change it.

FSIpanel is pretty good for finding some weather and flying it, for another option.

 

I think that "absolutely must" should be a full type of cloud formation and an RVR option.

Before traveling back in time I would enjoy correct cloud formations in real time.

https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=APwXEdcXVVHJXV4D0pFENSw87jE0i6Sz5A:1687306233178&q=cloud+types&tbm=isch&source=univ&fir=O8LUsDAYmrRE3M%2Cwe1J5gVD1ERYDM%2C_%3BRfVOv1AX_-mltM%2CaOmYrE1XrT0RLM%2C_%3BaWI6qUQT05LFSM%2CP2OWzfKtW5EBkM%2C_%3BTMwIQ_QG3QhsgM%2CCTMAYf5vcEmGdM%2C_%3B4r8twQqkQE-ElM%2CVYARXbs4sJxOeM%2C_%3BDPYEiCVTKDkEFM%2CyvDz7res_91wbM%2C_%3Bi_VI-x_3Y5G-aM%2CwzstouhBWIhfUM%2C_%3BLsOzgYpb6tz8xM%2C-CoxZjxRQYy1kM%2C_%3Bjv2OcXKSj2f8eM%2CblWJeD9yCtfTiM%2C_%3Bo5UIY5xyZOFSZM%2C3EKJAdD78Fx05M%2C_&usg=AI4_-kSTmEHY6XLp4OJVF9NAs5A4OTdyqw&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiokJ_FidP_AhUbGlkFHbMkDBkQ7Al6BAggEGw&biw=1198&bih=1275&dpr=2

Edited June 21, 20232 yr by LRBS

1 hour ago, KERNEL32 said:

The live weather accuracy isn't really bad right now, but the visuals and same old transparent puff "clouds" everywhere is driving me away from being interested in this game anymore.

I think all current sims suffer from this, which must be appreciated in context.  Meaning, these sims have to do a whole lot beyond cloud rendering, so the load budget has to be considered.  And from what I've seen w/ the other sims MSFS is really the best of the bunch, though they all suffer from the same basic problem: low voxel (volumetric pixel) resolution.  It is akin to this screenshot--you're never going to get sharp detail in this photo and the same applies to clouds. 

We actually have these voxel-based clouds, and also have thin diffuse aerosols or fog or what have you, thin clouds.  The thin diffuse can be absolutely brutal on your GPU no matter what GPU you have, whereas the voxel-based volumetric "clouds" are very easy on the GPU by contrast.  We now have hardware that could manage much more voxel density than is being used now.  So what we hope for is Asobo to expand the range of resolution, to add a couple more slider stops like Ultra+ and Super Ultra+ or whatever.  That will help but very hard to say by how much at this point.  It would be killer if they offered this for 2024.  I think a precursor for distinct cloud types is getting the resolution up well above where it is now.

So if you're after clouds that look like what you see in this photo below, and who isn't, best not hold your breath or think another sim is truly fundamentally better.

I’m all in favour of historical weather, as long as it doesn’t prevent me from flying a 747 under Sydney harbour bridge inverted.

Basically Asobo would have  to store entire earth eco system  data minute but minute. Wind  aloft/temperature at each flight level, signets airmets, pressure systems, metars  and etc . I can’t imagine amount of data it would take .

I believe all that historical weather from other apps and sims are purely based on metars. Which is puny fraction of terminal weather within 5 miles of reporting status. 

I'd certainly enjoy historic weather for a couple different reasons, but mandatory?  Certainly not.  Too much is made on this forum of "time of day weather not matching.". The reality is, while any region has weather that is certainly more likely at one time of day than another, there is basically nowhere in the world where any type of weather can't or doesn't occur at any time of day.

Thunderstorms in Florida are certainly common in the afternoon, but certainly can and do happen at 2am as well.  Same in Australia and anywhere else.

Fog can certainly be common at night, but can and certainly does happen in the afternoon as well.  I've done cat IIIs into Seattle at 3pm. 

Etc.  It's never categorically false to see any weather at any time of day, in any location.  The obsession with it is a bit overboard.

I've never used historical.  I mostly use real world or occasionally custom for screenshots haha

I Use real time weather every flight!

As an airline pilot, one develops an intuition if you will, based on weather patterns, time of day, time of year and local conditions, particularly time of day.

So if you're flying out of sync with the Time/WX, then the environment you're flying in makes absolutely no sense, so if you take your sim experience seriously, want to challenge yourself or want to practice competencies as a budding pilot or private pilot or any crewmember for that matter, your TAFS, METARS go out the window. planning an alternate, what approach to expect based on weather trends, if the time is out of sync with actual conditions, or will change to, based on time of day. Even competent bush pilots don't just tear off into the wild blue yonder without some forethought into the weather ahead and time of day, to do otherwise, is both careless and dangerous.

My best personal example of weather/ time related phenomenon would be a thunderstorm that, during the summer months in northern Australia (Bathurst Island Northern Territory) that is very time related, in fact you can just about set your watch by it and Forms into it's mature stage at about 3PM local time everyday for about 6 months solid, it's so predictable that meteorologists and scientists come from all over the world to study it, look it up, it even has a name - "Hector".  That's just one example, There are many many more that are known time related weather phenomena.  

 

Having said all this, I did use historical weather quite a bit for planning purpose with worked quite well in P3D, if there was a particular area of the world I would like to fly in, Remember when it's daylight in Europe and the US, it's night time here in Australia and most of Asia, So we like to explore the world too 🙂 

Edited June 21, 20232 yr by toucanair

From my point of view, we don't need years back of real weather worldwide. Basically, one day would suffice, to give those flying at night realistic weather for daytime flying in their country.

PSXTRaffic/RT(Pro) already gives me that option for AI, thus I don't have to visit empty airports when I fly at night, but weather doesn't yet.

I have a little weather station logging and displaying weather on my PC, thus I see the temperature/wind curve every day.

Kind regards, Michael 

Big fan of historic weather.  If I want to fly a winter route from last year or 2000 I can't.

I hope someone creates one. 

Certainly desirable, not really a must for me.

It would be interesting though to fly flights from WWII with realistic weather from that day. They should be able to get daily weather data going back a hundred years or so.

Neither "absolutely a must", nor "a must"

It's, at best, a "nice to have" (as are, by and large, the hundreds of other features that folks want).