BerndPodhradsky

I have added Belfast City (EGAC), Coventry (EGBE), Manchester (EGCC), Cardiff (EGFF) and Southampton (EGHI) a few before Build 12 was released . 777 Enroute Winds: I still have to check the format, but yes, it's definitely on the list and will probably be added as an export function of our flight planner. Bernd

Hi! Build 12 was just released this sunday and Build 14 contained some important bug fixes (Build 13 was skipped due for obvious reasons). I have already added 5 new local weather effects and I will add more of them every week. Howeve, don't expect all 100 of them to be released at once, but we plan to do 5 to 10 of them per week. Btw, there's a forum: fsgrw.freeforums.org Bernd

Autostart only works in dynamic weather mode, which is not available in the evaluation version. Bernd

Hi! Just a quick note about the autostart parameters: I have updated the documentation for the next build (build 12) which now explains how to actually configure the short cut to get the desired results. Also, the fact that autostart doesn't work in evaluation mode is now included. Thank you for pointing out that this might not be intuitive for some (many!?) users . Regarding whether it's terrible documentation or I can't really say more than that we used terms common in IT (command line parameters), but I admit, that not all users might know what that term means. But hey, why filling forum posts with that issue instead of dropping us an e-mail ([email protected])? We do change things, if users find things hard to understand. Bernd

Hi Cheryl! Sorry, I mixed up two situations I encountered; weather cells are 16 km wide and I had the problems in two of Paris' airports, not JFK and LGA. However, I meant that in the FSX weather menu you can see that the weather is different, not when querying Opus for the weather conditions at that stations. That's what caused ATC/AI Traffic problems on my flight. I was not guessing (I did a lot of research on FSXs weather system), I just didn't remember the cell size correctly, sorry for that! Bernd

Thanks, I'll do that . Bernd Actually NO cloud layer should suddenly appear or disappear with FSGRW, you will see the weather as you approach it (also Cirrus). We have real-world data sources that we use to determine where Cirrus layers are in reality (no 100 % "guess" of course, but we analyze atmospheric parameters and choose to place cirrus clouds where the atmospheric conditions indicate them to be). Bernd

I think you have to distinguish between two ways of "accuracy". First, let me explain what the real problem with dynamic weather in FSX is. Whenever you update the weather in FSX, you see cloud formations change instantly - there's no way to make a weather change by smoothly changing one cloud formation into a different one. FSX only allows weather to be set and displays it immediately. So yes, to see a smooth transition of weather is impossible with FSX. You can come close to this by choosing global mode, which doesn't use weather stations and sets the same weather everywhere (i.e. you don't see CBs in the distance etc). Global mode was never an option for us with FSGRW, because in our opinion it's absolutely necessary to see CBs and weather formations in the distance for a realistic flight. However, that doesn't mean that the weather can't be accurate. We have created a lot of additional weather stations (especially over the oceans and in other areas where FSXs default weather stations are too far away from each other to create a realistic result). Our weather servers do a very good job in creating an accurate snap-shot of real world weather at a given time. That's one part of accuracy. What's not possible with FSX is that you have dynamic, smooth weather changes at a specific weather station, as I've explained before. That's why FSGRW has a different approach: our weather servers create a realistic snap-shot of the real world weather at a given time. When you transfer weather to the simulator, all stations around the aircraft (the radius can be defined in the options) will get weather from the most current snap-shot available. As your flight progresses, every few nautical miles all stations that lie in the direction you fly to (that means: all additional stations that then lie within the radius) will be updated with the newest snap-shot available and so on. This leads to a very smooth experience (because you never see cloud formations suddenly change, if you set the radius high enough) and you will smoothly fly into the new weather which was fed with more recent weather than then one you took off from. In other words: if you see a weather front in the distance, you will have smooth changes when flying in that direction, because weather stations behind the front will be updated with more recent weather from our servers and therefore reflect real-world changes. However, as I said, these dynamic changes are not possible at a single weather station (because that would lead to sudden cloud formation changes, which we want to prevent because they're not realistic: if you fly through cumulus clouds and suddenly the clouds change to CBs, you'll be in big troubles if you're suddenly in the middle if a turbulent CB!). That's why these local weather changes can't be simulated in FSX. You can't position your aircraft at KSFO and have the weather to slowly change over time without having sudden weather changes. We're constantly improving our weather servers and our local effects engine would allow for a SFO-Bay like local weather effect, but as I said, this would only make it possible to simulate a current weather situation realistically, not a smooth dynamic change at a single station. Opus has a different approach: it uses weather themes to set the weather. They don't use weather stations to display cloud formations. However, weather themes have the disadvantage, that they only have 30 x 30 km tiles; so if you are in KJFK, then KLGA has the exact same weather (wind, visibility, clouds etc), because it's only ~17 km away from KJFK. So if you make a short trip from KJFK to KLGA, Opus will have to update the weather at your location will will result in sudden cloud changes (depending on how different the weather between JFK and LGA is - from my research there can be big differences between these two stations sometimes). You can check that by positioning your aircraft at JFK, injecting weather with Opus and then check the weather in the weather menu of FSX - you'll see that LGA has the same weather, even though METAR says something different! Regarding your "smooth" and "accurate" weather change question: weather themes won't help you either, because FSX can't smoothly change from one weather theme into another: you inject it, and it's there. Hope that helps, if you have additional questions, feel free to ask. Bernd

That's simply impossible with FSX. Actually, the real world weather source data that our (FSGRW's) weather servers have access to will have the information required to simulate the effect you mentioned - but FSX is simply not capable of doing it, because weather stations in FSX can either have clouds or they don't - there's nothing in between. The only way to get around this problem is by having more weather stations (a more detailed grid of weather stations). However, FSX limits the number of weather stations, so that's no a solution either. If Version 2 of Prepar3d has a better weather engine, I'm sure we'll be able to get the real data to be better simulated! Bernd Actually all of them are from Jeppesen Charts, because we want users of FSGRW to be able to consider the weather effects when planning their approach (and for this to happen they simply have to know that they exist). Btw, there's a lot of local weather effects in development right now (our internal list is at ~ 100 airports) and we will start to release them once Build 12 (the next update) is out. Bernd FSGRW doesn't create the weather on the client, our weather servers do that (because the process of doing that is very complex, takes ~1 GB of source weather data per weather file and requires a lot of resources). That's why the options on the client are limited. Bernd

Thanks . You can expect plenty of local weather effects in the near future, I have them all on my list and some already finished, however, I'm quite busy with the next update, so they have to wait until Build 4 has been released . Bernd

That should've worked. However, you can also send me a PM on this forum including your order number, full name and the reason why you want a refund. Thanks, Bernd

I haven't received any refund e-mail - where did you send it to? Time-limited the demo is a good idea, I'll consider this for the next update . Bernd

Hi! What UTC time and which location was it? I can check this on our weather servers . Bernd

Hi Richard! If you need more evaluation time with FSGRW, please contact support at [email protected] and we will give you another evaluation period . The issue with the night textures seems very strange to me, since FSGRW can't change cloud and / or sky textures in any way. However, you can send your log file (log.xml within the log-subfolder of FSGRW) to [email protected] and I'll have a look. Bernd

You're absolutely right, I mixed two things up here; FSGRW's GUI doesn't allow a refresh (yet). However, the weather change when turning final is something that really shouldn't be the case; are you sure that the weather at the airport changed and that it was not just the change of direction that caused this effect (because in FSGRW you will see the weather in the distance just the way it is at the location you're looking at, so when you change direction you'll see different weather in the distance). What kind of weather change happened (visibility? wind? clouds?). Bernd

Other weather engines definitely do not have that feature. Just try it out in Madeira: approach runway 05 and compare FS Global Real Weather with the other ones. However, these local weather effects will only be active when the weather conditions at the airport would also lead to these effects in reality. Bernd

That's not true; the weather of the destination airport will not change when you're on final. Also, there is an option in the FSX Add-On-Menu (Add-Ons > FS Global Real Weather > Refresh Weather) to refresh the weather completely (may take a few seconds until it's initiated). Regarding the depiction: difficult for me to support this one, because you can't tell the real world conditions by just looking at a weather radar. The question is: how did the weather really look like in that area. FSGRW depicts a stratus layer; if you telll me exactly WHERE this is and what time I can explain how this weather as created and what real data sources reported. Bernd

We don't have more data than real pilots have. We just don't stick to METARs alone, since they don't tell you the whole truth (or do you really think 9999 is the exact visibility for 90 % of weather stations out there?) . In addition to that, METARs don't provide cloud types and will (sometimes) only report cloud layers up to MSA or 5.000 feet, whichever is higher. Most of the data sources we consume are the ones actually used by real world airlines or flight planning solution providers. What makes FSGRW unique is the fact that we compose the weather in a cloud-based system, so our weather server collects the data (lower and upper air, METARs, other weather reports, cloud types, icing, turbulence data, SIGMETs etc), feeds an atmospheric model with it and creates a weather file that will be downloaded by the client application. None of the other tools uses that amount of data. With METARs alone you won't get the most realistic experience in the sim, especially over oceans . Another unique feature are "local weather effects" where we simulate real-world weather effects at certain locations; watch the following video for one of these effects in action at Madeira: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=W08vvkI1caA Bernd

Hi everyone! As I am developer of the tool, let me just add a few things: .) Clouds moving with the wind will be back in Build #003, it was accidentally "deleted" in one of the last updates. .) Icing is included and is calculated from real weather data sources (as is Clear Air Turbulence, Cloud Turbulence etc). .) Many local weather effects will be added - if you have suggestions, please drop a note to [email protected] .) Visibility smoothing for FS9 will be introduced in either Build #003 or the update thereafter; in fact I'm working on it in this very moment . I have just created a support forum (in English as well as for german speaking users) at http://fsgrw.freeforums.org. Thank you for all the feedback and if you experience some issues or have other questions or suggestions feel free to contact me ([email protected] or the support forum) . Bernd