Weather issues

[Jan Naslund]

Hello everyone,

 

When i fly on Vatsim i often have different weather in my xplan 11 than what the METAR says. I am using Xplane 11.11, Xsquawkbox 1.3.3 and i also have XPUIPC Version 2.0.0.0 64 bit installed.

 

I am a bit confused over where the weather data is downloaded from. I want it to be from Vatsim only.

 

I have set xplane11 to "Match real world conditions" and the refresh rate is 15 minutes. This is the shortest available refresh rate.

 

Xsquawkbox is set to "Check weather every" 15 "mins".

 

I am guessing but maybe this can cause things like just now when i was landing at ESSA. The metar said snow, scattered 2400ft, broken at 3200ft but it was a sunny clear day on approach and landing. After i taxied to the stand and was shutting down, the snow and clouds came

 

So, which weather am i receiving into the xplane 11? From Zsquawkbox or xplane 11?

 

What can i do to use Vatsim weather?

 

I know that the weather in Vatsim is a little bit delayed compared to the real world weather but i rather fly using Vatsim delayed weather than not.

 

Best Regards / Jan

[Christopher Collins]

Hello everyone,

 

When i fly on Vatsim i often have different weather in my xplan 11 than what the METAR says. I am using Xplane 11.11, Xsquawkbox 1.3.3 and i also have XPUIPC Version 2.0.0.0 64 bit installed.

 

I am a bit confused over where the weather data is downloaded from. I want it to be from Vatsim only.

 

I have set xplane11 to "Match real world conditions" and the refresh rate is 15 minutes. This is the shortest available refresh rate.

 

Xsquawkbox is set to "Check weather every" 15 "mins".

 

This uses VATSIM weather as XSB turns off the simulator's weather system when it connects if it's own updates are enabled.

 

I do strongly suggest you don't use the XSB weather system at this time unless you have poor coverage of your local weather stations in X-Plane - XSB still uses the global weather settings which results in jarring transitions, whereas the integrated weather system does do blending of conditions based on multiple METARs.

[Alistair Brown 1286679]

I do strongly suggest you don't use the XSB weather system at this time unless you have poor coverage of your local weather stations in X-Plane - XSB still uses the global weather settings which results in jarring transitions, whereas the integrated weather system does do blending of conditions based on multiple METARs.

 

I agree entirely, but I have repeatedly found X-Plane failing to read its METAR.rwx file properly. I worked out that if the feed contains unexpected characters then it breaks off at that point and uses default values for that airport (e.g. standard baro pressure). UK airports seem to have stuff like " ///// " which means the altimeter settings and temperature are always wrong. I filed a bug with Laminar back in XP10 but the problem was still there in early versions of XP11 so I've kept on using the NOAA plugin. I don't know if a recent update to X-Plane has fixed the problem.

 

An example from my flight this afternoon (typical dreech Glasgow weather): -

EGPF 101720Z AUTO 07014KT 2700 RA OVC005/// //////CB 05/04 Q0990 REDZ

 

This would have caused a QNH of 1013 rather than 990 - and with a cloudbase of 500ft that's not good...

[Christopher Collins]

I agree entirely, but I have repeatedly found X-Plane failing to read its METAR.rwx file properly. I worked out that if the feed contains unexpected characters then it breaks off at that point and uses default values for that airport (e.g. standard baro pressure). UK airports seem to have stuff like " ///// " which means the altimeter settings and temperature are always wrong. I filed a bug with Laminar back in XP10 but the problem was still there in early versions of XP11 so I've kept on using the NOAA plugin. I don't know if a recent update to X-Plane has fixed the problem.

 

An example from my flight this afternoon (typical dreech Glasgow weather): -

EGPF 101720Z AUTO 07014KT 2700 RA OVC005/// //////CB 05/04 Q0990 REDZ

 

This would have caused a QNH of 1013 rather than 990 - and with a cloudbase of 500ft that's not good...

 

Interesting - definitely poke them again about that - that's a pretty serious bug as nil-data fields are part of the METAR standard and should be handled correctly. I haven't gone digging deeply enough to spot anything like that, but that's pretty much situation normal here too. (it's rare that our stations have data in all 3 optional sections).

[Duncan White]

Hi Jan,

 

If not using a weather engine then use weather = 1 rather than weather = 15.

 

This means XSquawkBox will set the weather to the nearest available vatsim station metar every minute.

 

It also leasons the likelyhood of a sudden weather update when on short final approach.

ie with 15 the previous weather update could have been 14 minutes ago when you were no where near the arrival airport.

 

Its all explained in the xsb manual under docomeentation.

 

You can also issue the command.

 

.debug weather = 1

 

which will show you the metar being used ever x minutes where x = what you have set the weather config to.

 

.debug weather = 0

 

to turn off.

 

Duncan

 

p.s. This is what the manual says

 

Weather appears wrong.

First let me clarify a few things:

• If you have enabled weather updates in XSquawkBox, XSquawkBox does not use X-Plane's real

weather system.

• You will see the local weather reflected in your weather configuration screen.

• XSquawkBox's weather is very much limited by the network; it can only get weather from a

station that is reported on the network, and part of the METAR analysis is done by the servers. If

the servers analyse the weather incorrectly, XSquawkBox will often show the wrong thing.

• You can fly using the X-Plane weather system by setting the Weather Update interval to 0 in the

Preferences. Make sure you inform the controllers you are not using VATSIM weather if it differs

substantially from network weather.

If enabled, XSquawkBox will load the nearest weather station it can find (based on X-Plane's list of

airports) every few minutes; this time can be set in the preferences. If you have filed a flight plan,

your departure and arrival airports are preferred to the nearest one so you do not pick up the

weather of a satellite airport you fly over on final approach. If X-Plane cannot find weather for an

airport, it picks the next one and keeps trying.

You can view this process by using the .debug command to enable weather viewing:

.debug weather=1

You will see weather messages show up on the screen as XSquawkBox loads new weather.

If XSquawkBox ever says it loads a METAR but the weather does not reflect this (e.g. the METAR

says rain but it is sunny out), email me the METAR and I will investigate. There is a known bug

right now. If a METAR is in the form:

EGNS 170620Z 09007KT 060V120 CAVOK 16/13 Q1015

You may see an outside air temperature of zero degrees Celsius.

If XSquawkBox does not find the weather for your favourite airport, but rather a nearby one, this is

due to the network's set of reported weather, not an XSquawkBox issue. You can ask your

favourite network administrator to try to find weather for this airport, but this is not an easy task and

they may not be able to help you immediately. Some smaller airports do not have weather

available online for networks to use.

In summary: What XSquawkBox says it loads in red is what you should see; if

what it says it is loading is wrong, this is a network problem; if the loading

doesn't match what it says it will load, this is either an XSquawkBox or

network bug, but either way report it to me. You will see the latest weather in

the weather setup dialog box, but no METAR.rwx will be created.

[Jan Naslund]

Hi,

 

Thanks for all the quite good answers. I would prefer to use Vatsim weather. I.e the same as ATC sees.

I have tried to use xplane weather by setting the xsquawkbox weather update interval to 0 and i have also used the .debug weather=1 to see what is downloaded.

That part seems to work ok. When i fly along i can see that xsquawkbox downloads weather from the nearest weather reporting airport.

 

My biggest problem is actually this.

An example: The metar can report overcast at 500ft and 1500meters visibility.

I am on approach and the entire approach from high up i can see the airport clearly. As gih as 10000ft above the airport when i am descending towards the airport. On final approach descending towards the airport i have CAVOK conditions. I see the airport clearly. Suddenly at 700ft abouve the ground i am in the soup and as at 500ft i break out.

 

Another weird thing is that the metar has reported overcast and on approach i can see clouds below me but they are so thin that i can see the ground through them.

 

Also , if i fly at night and overcast is reported and i am on final above the clouds i can see the runway clearly from far away through the super thin clouds.

 

I am guessing but it seems that xplane11's weather rendering software can not judge the thickness of the clouds when reading a vatsim metar so it depicts super thin clouds. Perhaps that can be adjusted in some setting somewhere but i don't know how.

 

Best Regards / Jan

[Duncan White]

Hi Jan,

 

For what you want ie "vatsim weather"

 

Set "Check Weather every" to "1" in XSquawkBox preferences.

 

Then monitor using

 

.debug weather = 1

 

I created a plugin called XWeather.

 

https://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/files/file/35891-xweather/

 

It just displays the current X-Plane weather datarefs.

 

It also lets you see the current metars from METAR.rwx, NOAA, VATSIM, IVAO.

 

METAR.rwx gets refreshed by the likes of X-Plane Real Weather, FSGRW, the NOAA weather plugin.

 

So it will be out of date if you are not using one of the above.

 

What you will notice is 99% of the time they are all the same no matter the source.

 

In reality most weather engine metars are sourced from NOAA weather. (and most vatsim metars)

 

Regardless my plugin will report exactly what X-Plane is doing with the weather regardless of what is generating it.

 

So you can watch what XSquawkBox is loading into the X-Plane weather datarefs in real time.

 

Regards,

 

Duncan

 

p.s. I would advise in the XWeather plugin selecting menu "Manual", then "CAVOK", before connecting to XSquawkBox.

That will set X-Plane weather to manual & cavok before XSquawkBox takes over with the vatsim weather.

 

 

[Richard Asberg]

There is a known bug

right now. If a METAR is in the form:

EGNS 170620Z 09007KT 060V120 CAVOK 16/13 Q1015

You may see an outside air temperature of zero degrees Celsius.

 

Is there and fix or workaround for this?

 

I just experienced this for the first time today where the METAR for EKBI says...

 

EKBI 041450Z AUTO 26007KT 190V300 9999NDV NCD 14/04 Q1025

 

...while in XP I get an OAT of 0 degrees C just as explained.

[Christopher Collins]

There is a known bug

right now. If a METAR is in the form:

EGNS 170620Z 09007KT 060V120 CAVOK 16/13 Q1015

You may see an outside air temperature of zero degrees Celsius.

 

Is there and fix or workaround for this?

 

I just experienced this for the first time today where the METAR for EKBI says...

 

EKBI 041450Z AUTO 26007KT 190V300 9999NDV NCD 14/04 Q1025

 

...while in XP I get an OAT of 0 degrees C just as explained.

 

I need XSB's weather debug information (see the manual under "Weather appears wrong" for how to enable it). The information required should be logged into Log.txt

 

Superficially, I suspect this is a server bug - so it'll be a while before we can do anything about it unfortunately.

[Richard Asberg]

There is a known bug

right now. If a METAR is in the form:

EGNS 170620Z 09007KT 060V120 CAVOK 16/13 Q1015

You may see an outside air temperature of zero degrees Celsius.

 

Is there and fix or workaround for this?

 

I just experienced this for the first time today where the METAR for EKBI says...

 

EKBI 041450Z AUTO 26007KT 190V300 9999NDV NCD 14/04 Q1025

 

...while in XP I get an OAT of 0 degrees C just as explained.

 

I need XSB's weather debug information (see the manual under "Weather appears wrong" for how to enable it). The information required should be logged into Log.txt

 

Superficially, I suspect this is a server bug - so it'll be a while before we can do anything about it unfortunately.

 

Thanks.

 

I'm currently testing xEnviro out but will keep this in mind and get back here if I decide to not stay with xEnviro.

[Andreas Fuchs]

I'm using FSGRW and have turned off all weather updates of XP11 and XSB. Works beautifully.

[Richard Asberg]

Might be wrong but IIRC I had issues with FSGRW last time I tried it where the METAR information from time to time wasn't up to date.

 

Might give it another try though.