54 minutes ago, Alvega said:

Wow, getting amazing thunderstorms now with live weather, with lots of lightning. Try KCRG now. Finally!

Still needs some work. KSFB is reporting thunderstorms, but nothing in the sim. But I tried CYWL, OPPS, KGAO, they all had thunderstorms as they should.

KMCO does

Edited May 29, 20251 yr by Tuskin38

Got one, but it's very difficult to take the screenshot at the right time. Sometimes it's 3 of them at the same time, it's impressive.

22 minutes ago, Tuskin38 said:

Still needs some work. KSFB is reporting thunderstorms, but nothing in the sim. But I tried CYWL, OPPS, KGAO, they all had thunderstorms as they should.

KMCO does

I see lightning at KSFB, not over the airport but 5 or so miles away.

Edit: Getting lots of turbulence inside the thunderstorm clouds too, this is awesome.

Edited May 29, 20251 yr by Alvega

45 minutes ago, Alvega said:

Got one, but it's very difficult to take the screenshot at the right time. Sometimes it's 3 of them at the same time, it's impressive.

Nice

 

Have anything showing the storm from further away? 

2 hours ago, Tuskin38 said:

“Improved thunderstorm prediction”

I hope this means we’ll actually see thunderstorms where they should be

EFB. Mirror of Galadriel. Weather Forecast.

I swear they tuned the regular clouds in SU3, I don't remember them being this solid?

 

Edited May 30, 20251 yr by Georgleboui

32 minutes ago, Georgleboui said:

I swear they tuned the regular clouds in SU3, I don't remember them being this solid?

If so, I'm thinking it's more the case of better live weather data processing rather than improvements to the clouds rendering engine itself? The engine is definitely capable of stellar clouds as can be seen with manual weather config.

 

Edited May 30, 20251 yr by lwt1971

13 minutes ago, lwt1971 said:

If so, I'm thinking it's more the case of better live weather data processing rather than improvements to the clouds rendering engine itself? 

Lately I've noticed the effect of changing 'live weather' back say, 5 or 6 hours, is now instant rather than the several minutes it could take previously. 

13 hours ago, Tuskin38 said:

“Improved thunderstorm prediction”

I hope this means we’ll actually see thunderstorms where they should be

I hope it doesn’t go overboard in the opposite direction. For a time in MSFS 2020, back a couple of years ago  there was lightning everywhere, even from small fair weather cumulus clouds. There were so many complaints about it that they scaled lightning way back so it was almost non-existent.

It appeared they were using the model parameter CAPE (Convective Available Potential Energy) to “predict” lightning. Although a high CAPE value can indicate an increased potential for thunderstorms to form, it does not by itself indicate that thunderstorms exist. CAPE will be high when there is high surface temperature combined with high humidity, but you can have high CAPE with perfectly clear skies.

Well, for me this last version is unplayable - still the same xBox login error I believe I had never experienced before, although I read lot's of threads about it and know about the various tricks that can be used.

When I start FS 2024 it doesn't even start the update because it fails to sync with the xBox servers, yet, the App starts normaly, and I can even try to start the game from there...

Well... it's always good to have other flightsims to play when this stuff happens with MSFS, more often that it would be acceptable, although, I must confess, I myself can't complain...

16 minutes ago, JRBarrett said:

I hope it doesn’t go overboard in the opposite direction. For a time in MSFS 2020, back a couple of years ago  there was lightning everywhere, even from small fair weather cumulus clouds. There were so many complaints about it that they scaled lightning way back so it was almost non-existent.

It appeared they were using the model parameter CAPE (Convective Available Potential Energy) to “predict” lightning. Although a high CAPE value can indicate an increased potential for thunderstorms to form, it does not by itself indicate that thunderstorms exist. CAPE will be high when there is high surface temperature combined with high humidity, but you can have high CAPE with perfectly clear skies.

With access to so many data sources, I believe Meteoblue too unless they stopped using it (?), they could simply access Real Time Lightning Maps for the whole World... (i.e.: https://www.lightningmaps.org/ , and others...)

Edited May 30, 20251 yr by jcomm

1 hour ago, JRBarrett said:

14 hours ago, Tuskin38 said:

 

I hope it doesn’t go overboard in the opposite direction.

Based on the testing I did last night, no, that doesn't seem to be the case. I was only able to find lightening by using a real world lightening tracker then going to an airport nearby. People might complain that the storms themselves are too intense lol. I was seeing many strikes per minute. Probably normal for Florida so I'm not sure. I did like the fact that you also see strikes near the horizon. In 2020 it seemed to only happen very close to your position.

3 hours ago, lwt1971 said:

If so, I'm thinking it's more the case of better live weather data processing rather than improvements to the clouds rendering engine itself? The engine is definitely capable of stellar clouds as can be seen with manual weather config.

 

I hope so.  Live weather clouds have been waaaay too transparent.  It's really my biggest annoyance with their cloud generation.  Even in real life, sometimes the thinnest cloud layer is totally opaque.  In MSFS they model as the thinner the layer, the more transparent it is.  Gah!

I actually was on su3 beta but had to revert to su2 - I had constant CTDs (and yes I added my event viewer info at their forums).

1 hour ago, jcomm said:

With access to so many data sources, I believe Meteoblue too unless they stopped using it (?), they could simply access Real Time Lightning Maps for the whole World... (i.e.: https://www.lightningmaps.org/ , and others...)

Lighningmaps.org is powered by the Blitzortung network, which is a crowdsourced free network of privately hosted detectors operated by weather hobbyists. I myself hosted a Blitzortung detector at my home for several years. Those who participate bear the costs of the required hardware and internet connection out of pocket. Access to the network is free, but it not intended for commercial use.

For that reason, I doubt that Microsoft or Meteoblue could or would use Blitzortung data in a commercial software application like MSFS. 

The two leading providers of commercial lightning detection services are Vaisala, who operate the NLDN network that covers the continental US, and EarthNetworks which has worldwide coverage. I have no doubt that MeteoBlue has access to both systems. The problem is that r/t lightning data is extremely expensive. The price MB would pay for access would depend on the number of clients they resell the data to. Whether MB included r/t lightning data in LiveWeather or Asobo contracted directly with Vaisala or EarthNetworks, the cost would be enormous because of the size of the MSFS user base.

MeteoBlue would have to recover that cost by greatly increasing whatever fee they currently charge MS/Asobo for LiveWeather.

If there was a MSFS weather API that allowed external developers to inject lightning data into the sim, then they could easily leverage Blitzortung data for that purpose, but unfortunately, no such API exists.

1 hour ago, Krakin said:

Based on the testing I did last night, no, that doesn't seem to be the case. I was only able to find lightening by using a real world lightening tracker then going to an airport nearby. People might complain that the storms themselves are too intense lol. I was seeing many strikes per minute. Probably normal for Florida so I'm not sure. I did like the fact that you also see strikes near the horizon. In 2020 it seemed to only happen very close to your position.

That’s good to know. Perhaps they are only creating lightning if area METARS definitely indicate thunderstorms exist. 

As I detailed in a post right above, the ideal solution would be to use one of the commercial lightning detection services to put r/t lightning into the sim where it is actually occurring. I don’t think there is a cost effective way that Asobo could do that, but perhaps they have worked something out with MeteoBlue. The real test would be if there is accurately-placed lightning out over the ocean far from land and any METAR reporting stations.,

Edited May 30, 20251 yr by JRBarrett