It seems like they are contractually linked to Meteoblue in MSFS.  I wonder specifically if MSFS 2024 would constitute a new program and then they would be free to work with a different provider?  I'm sure they already know the answer.  But from anything to cloud coverage, weather radar, snow coverage etc, I would love to see MSFS go a different direction.  

I'm almost certain it was mentioned last year that they're still using Meteoblue

 

38 minutes ago, Tuskin38 said:

I'm almost certain it was mentioned last year that they're still using Meteoblue

Yes, I also believe they said that Metroblue will continue to be the weather provider and here I think they are just being direct that there will not be a weather API that provides third-parties with access to the raw underlying data as Asobo does not own that data and does not have the rights to open it up. Metroblue will also have its reasons to keep this data confidential.

To be honest, overall I am generally happy with live weather. It is not perfect and I can appreciate that someone who is knowledgeable and interested in weather will see heaps of issues, for someone like me it is adequate. I am also sure that a real-life 737 captain sees all kinds of missing aspects and issues with the PMDG and has to look past these to enjoy the simulator for what it is.

2 hours ago, Cognita said:

Yes, I also believe they said that Metroblue will continue to be the weather provider and here I think they are just being direct that there will not be a weather API that provides third-parties with access to the raw underlying data as Asobo does not own that data and does not have the rights to open it up. Metroblue will also have its reasons to keep this data confidential.

So maybe instead of asking for an API, we should ask Asobo if they can make different types of radars for third parties to use.

Expand the current features of their RADAR

Edited March 14, 20242 yr by Tuskin38

On 3/13/2024 at 11:37 PM, Bond said:

It's just amazing how they think the VR shutdown bug is not important and hardly noticeable. Wow.

Indeed. It's very noticeable. But also as someone who flies a lot in VR, I think there are more important bugs to fix. Like the Windows not being persistant if you switch from VR to 2D and back.

THAT should be prioritized.

12 hours ago, Cognita said:

It is not perfect and I can appreciate that someone who is knowledgeable and interested in weather will see heaps of issues, for someone like me it is adequate.

Your point is valid, however it may warrant a deeper look:

From my point of view, there are three main challenges in real aviation: knowledge of the flying environment (laws and regulations, airmanship, ATC, SOP's...), the safe control of the aircraft and the safe execution of the flight taking the weather into account.

Thank God we have little to do with laws and regulations, ATC can be added via IVAO, Vatsim or PilotEdge as desired and there are tons of videos for SOPs (standard operational procedures) and for the technical mastery of aircraft and avionics Manuals to download. Anyone who flies online also gets to know a little about the do's and don'ts that make up virtual airmanship and has an idea of how complex things can sometimes be in a real environment.

The virtual aircraft are constantly improving, and thanks to the employment of the former mod developers from WorkingTitle, even the avionics of the standard aircraft are now quite impressive. Regular world and city updates ensure constant improvement of the sightseeing factor. And considering what the sim now offers, the performance improvement measures taken “under the hood” with the SIM updates also deserve recognition. After all, all of this runs on consoles and affordable hardware.

However, there has been no progress with regards to the most important element in aviation, the weather.

The weather simulation in the release version, based on the implementation of forecast models from the provider Meteoblue, offered a consistent and plausible weather representation with different cloud types. According to my observations, this even went so far that the formation of cumulus clouds over the land masses of islands was plausible. But prediction models have inaccuracies, and due to user requests, a modified simulation was introduced with Sim Update 7, with an emphasis of synthesis of METAR data. This was a less than successful experiment, especially at the beginning. Now, after more than two years, the agreement with METAR data is relatively good, and the placement of clouds matches the respective satellite image with amazing accuracy. At least that is true here in the European region.

Unfortunately though, the weather display remains relatively uniform; convincing stratus layers, for example, are virtually non-existent. As before with the METAR synthesis addons such as ActiveSky, REX or similar, cumulus clouds predominate, regardless of the atmospheric conditions. Convincing CB's are missing, and the associated effects are inadequate or not simulated. Cloud turbulence is completely missing in live weather. In addition, the simulation currently used does not provide access to the data necessary for the realistic implementation of a weather radar. The shortcomings of Live Weather fill numerous threads in the MS forum, and quite a few even have a "bug logged" tag, which means that they have been reproduced and confirmed by the developers. Regardless, there have only been selective fixes since SU7 and no consistent improvement like in all other areas of simulation.

There is still too little information about the atmospheric simulation for MSFS 2024 to be able to have a serious discussion. Hopefully many aspects will actually be improved - beyond the tornado depiction. Because at the moment the simulator falls short of the demands expressed by Joerg Neumann: "Weather is one of those things. It's where planes live, it's got to be awesome."

3 hours ago, Tom_L said:

Cloud turbulence is completely missing in live weather.

Objection your Honour!

Seb addressed this in their last Twitch session (0:16:18) and demonstrated turbulence in clouds and activated visualisation of wind stream vectors to illustrate this (via the Developer/Weather menu). "I flew through a storm in Africa yesterday. flying through the cloud the strongest bump I got was over 5 G. So it is definitely working". they plan to improve the effect within the next 2 weeks:

 

I just made a cloud turbulence test near SUSO Nueva Hesperides airport in the default C172 with thunderstorms in the vicinity. debug weather showed vertical winds of 1.775 fpm at 7.000 AGL. A C172 pilot would be happy to see a climb rate of only half of that. 😄

Edited March 15, 20242 yr by turbomax

32 minutes ago, Tom_L said:

Cloud turbulence is completely missing in live weather.

Not according to the Dev Q&A to which this very thread is dedicated.

Edited March 15, 20242 yr by Farlis

Turbulence does exist in the sim, there's just currently an issue with how the live weather clouds are rendered which is preventing proper turbulence, if I understood correctly.

 

Edited March 15, 20242 yr by Tuskin38

So everything's fine?

Obviously, the numbers are there in the debug tool, but unsifficient cloud density in Live Weather prevents them from being interpreted correctly. Unsufficient cloud density in Live weather has been brought up by the community immediately after SU7, the same goes for missing cloud turbulence. Unsufficient cloud density has been adressed in one of the Q&A's before, and yet all Seb was able to say now is "we put it in our backlog". And to put their focus on Live weather into perspective: despite all those "bug logged" threads and promises, Seb only managed to check for it in the sim the day before the Q&A because thankfully community members brought it up again. Reminds me of his testing for SU7 accuracy back then: "there was fog in Arcachon, I spawned into the sim and there was fog, so it's working". The rest is history.

So while you all are right insofar as cloud turbulence seems - technically - to be there, my main point that the simulation of the atmosphere is neglected is not refuted.

3 hours ago, Tuskin38 said:

Turbulence does exist in the sim, there's just currently an issue with how the live weather clouds are rendered which is preventing proper turbulence, if I understood correctly.

 

Rarely if ever see turbulence, however wind shear seems to work fairly well.

1 hour ago, Tom_L said:

So everything's fine?

Obviously, the numbers are there in the debug tool, but unsifficient cloud density in Live Weather prevents them from being interpreted correctly. Unsufficient cloud density in Live weather has been brought up by the community immediately after SU7, the same goes for missing cloud turbulence. Unsufficient cloud density has been adressed in one of the Q&A's before, and yet all Seb was able to say now is "we put it in our backlog". And to put their focus on Live weather into perspective: despite all those "bug logged" threads and promises, Seb only managed to check for it in the sim the day before the Q&A because thankfully community members brought it up again. Reminds me of his testing for SU7 accuracy back then: "there was fog in Arcachon, I spawned into the sim and there was fog, so it's working". The rest is history.

So while you all are right insofar as cloud turbulence seems - technically - to be there, my main point that the simulation of the atmosphere is neglected is not refuted.

Yes it's been said it will be fixed.

6 minutes ago, Tuskin38 said:

Yes it's been said it will be fixed.

I assume they are currently knee deep in MSFS2024 development and the last thing I would like to see is any delays just because of not enough turbulence in clouds etc.

1 hour ago, turbomax said:

I assume they are currently knee deep in MSFS2024 development and the last thing I would like to see is any delays just because of not enough turbulence in clouds etc.

Well he said a couple weeks, so it sounds like it isn't a big issue to fix.

Then again, Jorg said a couple weeks for the Caribbean water masks, and that took a month lmao

54 minutes ago, Tuskin38 said:

Jorg said a couple weeks for the Caribbean water masks, and that took a month

a.k.a. software development, especially when you have to rely on other external sources, incl. Bing. And isn't a month a couple of weeks?

p.s. all that is not the end of the FS world for me. 🤣

Edited March 15, 20242 yr by turbomax