Resolved Metar Correct - But Depiction completely wrong

[pdeswardt]

Hi

Just spawned into EGCC on the latest Beta 8906

This is what ASFS shows me ( Live Weather mode on ) . Apart from the blinding Sun glare which is also unrealistic - i see no rain, and no overcast.



This is MSFS ( passive mode ) - this looks a lot more like the reported current conditions :



Metar :

EGCC 221550Z AUTO 27010KT 8000 -RA BKN005/// OVC009/// //////CB 14/13 Q1004 TEMPO 5000 RA

Please can this be fixed ASAP, or if not, I'd be happy to accept a refund because this product does not work as advertised at the moment. It has moments of goodness, but more often than not it completely fails to impress.

Thanks

 

[mmcmah]

Thanks for adding the pictures and the log! I think I saw something some time ago that the app may currently have an issue with METARs that have a lot of remarks "///", etc. I have a feeling that could be the issue.

 

[Stromantys]

Hi

Just spawned into EGCC on the latest Beta 8906

This is what ASFS shows me ( Live Weather mode on ) . Apart from the blinding Sun glare which is also unrealistic - i see no rain, and no overcast.

View attachment 8187

This is MSFS ( passive mode ) - this looks a lot more like the reported current conditions :

View attachment 8188

Metar :

EGCC 221550Z AUTO 27010KT 8000 -RA BKN005/// OVC009/// //////CB 14/13 Q1004 TEMPO 5000 RA

Please can this be fixed ASAP, or if not, I'd be happy to accept a refund because this product does not work as advertised at the moment. It has moments of goodness, but more often than not it completely fails to impress.

Thanks

unfortunately this is how the metar with \\\ is not readable (maybe somehow a solution can be found like CAVOK/NSC/NCD)... @damian will reply.... don't give up, weeks of improvements await us.... the team will help us is working...we are here to help in a certain sense....a little patience we are all confident....

 

[pdeswardt]

Hello

Yes, I read that somewhere too, but before the first /// there is -RA so that should at least depict rain?

 

[damian]

The only thing I see missing here is the OVC shown in your "actual METAR" but we don't see the actual METAR ASFS has used because you didn't load the EGCC conditions or scroll the current interpolated conditions down in the METAR text where the original METAR is shown. We disregard /// or change to 000 as appropriate, but I'm not sure what happened in this case.

So BKN was rendered and you're not under a cloud, so no rain is expected in such a case. The issue is why the OVC is missing. I will investigate.

As to the sum bloom, the vis is 8000m so we use humidity to reduce vis as this is the only mechanism available to us (besides precip). We're looking into other potential methods. In any case, because you're not actively under the cloud, and not getting the -RA under cloud, the vis is not further reduced by such precip. Again, all potentially solved by having the OVC layer there.

If you have specific other incorrect depiction or issues on a BETA build, please continue reporting so we can address such issues. Thank you.

 

[mmcmah]

The only thing I see missing here is the OVC shown in your "actual METAR" but we don't see the actual METAR ASFS has used because you didn't load the EGCC conditions or scroll the current interpolated conditions down in the METAR text where the original METAR is shown. We disregard /// or change to 000 as appropriate, but I'm not sure what happened in this case.

So BKN was rendered and you're not under a cloud, so no rain is expected in such a case. The issue is why the OVC is missing. I will investigate.

As to the sum bloom, the vis is 8000m so we use humidity to reduce vis as this is the only mechanism available to us (besides precip). We're looking into other potential methods. In any case, because you're not actively under the cloud, and not getting the -RA under cloud, the vis is not further reduced by such precip. Again, all potentially solved by having the OVC layer there.

If you have specific other incorrect depiction or issues on a BETA build, please continue reporting so we can address such issues. Thank you.

Damian, since he said he spawned into EGCC and then posted the Conditions page that shows the METAR cloned from EGCC, is that the conditions that would be shown if he input EGCC into the station text box? The conditions METAR shown is quite different from the one in MSFS despite having the same timestamp. I guess cloning has something going on here?

 

[damian]

Please refer to user's guide on conditions screen for details here. When no code is entered, it's current interpolated conditions, the METAR is "redesigned" after all our interpolation, synthesis, cloning and other processes. The Actual METAR is shown when you enter an ICAO code, OR, if you use the blank code, you can scroll down the decoded METAR text window to see the original METAR.

The Dep/dest cloning applies the synthesized conditions AT the station to all stations/areas in the vicinity of that station. It's not really relevant here in this case.

The only issue I see is that the OVC layer was not included. That is not correct and is unexpected.

 

[pdeswardt]

OK so after trying the passive mode earlier with MSFS it switched to Manual mode and i didn't realize it - that is a gotcha - i suggest if one comes out passive it should automatically go back to live. Manual can be a manual choice by the user.

Now when i changed it to "Live", the weather updated and it looks a little better apart from the sun bloom, but it is still not really "overcast" and there is no rain still...

EDIT: I see the OVC has now disappeared from the METAR - but there is still no rain

EDIT2 " ( lol ) a few drops on the windshield, but hardly noticeable . . .

 

[mmcmah]

OK so after trying the passive mode earlier with MSFS it switched to Manual mode and i didn't realize it - that is a gotcha - i suggest if one comes out passive it should automatically go back to live. Manual can be a manual choice by the user.

Now when i changed it to "Live", the weather updated and it looks a little better apart from the sun bloom, but it is still not really "overcast" and there is no rain still...

I think it makes the most sense to return to the state you were in prior to going to passive, otherwise you would spend time re-tweaking the time/date/manual weather if you were simply trying to see how MSFS depicts the weather at a certain time.

 

[pdeswardt]

Yeah, I was in live mode as far as I know before trying passive, so would make sense to go back to that... yet it went into manual. Not sure if that was my fault or not, but I just switched to passive and back to see what msfs weather was like.

 

[damian]

In your new example, there is no OVC specified in the METAR so this is proper. It's broken, and you're in a clear(er) area there, so no rain is expected. MSFS depicts the rain here, always under cloud only. Only would OVC conditions be expected to be raining "everywhere".

As to mode switching, it's not normal that it goes to Custom weather after returning from Passive. It should go to live weather. That's what happens on my end and per code. There is something else here. Can you provide repro steps?

 

[pdeswardt]

For the custom thing - All i did was switch from Live to Passive and back when i saw that the weather didnt look right when i spawned at EGCC - I then never noticed that "weather mode" changed to "custom" after i selected "active sky preset control" again . When i looked by chance - I noticed it and had to switch back to "live" for everything to download and catch up again. The metar was about 2hrs old before i switched back to Live - i dont know how that happened.

So fast forward . . . .

I just landed at EGSS, and this was my view as i was taxying to the parking :

Then as soon as I parked and switched off the plane and went outside to look at that UPS Cargo plane - the sky instantly changed to this :



I quickly checked the debug screen - and i saw the theme regenerated right that minute. However during the flight i saw no instant transitions when this event fired multiple times during the flight .... did this happen because i parked and switched off the plane?



This is the Metar at EGSS:




Clone Dep/Arr is OFF
Download on Appr/Depart = OFF
Download interval = 25min
Smoothing = 1
Theme reload = 5 min

 

[damian]

Then as soon as I parked and switched off the plane and went outside to look at that UPS Cargo plane - the sky instantly changed to this :

Are you sure it was not transitioning to clear near the end of the transition before you noticed it changed? There is a known issue with //////TCU type elements, we are not interpreting that (in your current build, I am working on this). So it was going clear. There should be no instant shifts, but it can "appear" quick if you're not noticing it for several minutes i.e. busy with cockpit tasks, then look up and see the different sky. I witnessed this in several stream videos of ASFS, where it was claimed things instantly switched when they just weren't noticing the transition that was occurring over several minutes (that was I obviously watching) and then when they noticed it they claimed an instant switch. Not saying that's what happened, but worth confirming/ruling out. The instant shift issue that some have mentioned in this and other threads has always been related to a location change event being triggered per MSFS sim event, which is looking to be caused by other add-ons. We're still working on confirming that.

 

[damian]

The ///CB, //////CB, ///TCU and //////TCU handling has been added to prevent no clouds/rain when only this is provided in the METAR, which more and more stations are seemingly doing now without any other detailed cloud info. In this case, we now make a SCT layer at between 1000 and 3000AGL, as CB or TCU type as indicated, when this occurs.

https://forums.hifisimtech.com/threads/new-open-beta-b8908.15068/

 

[pdeswardt]

Are you sure it was not transitioning to clear near the end of the transition before you noticed it changed? There is a known issue with //////TCU type elements, we are not interpreting that (in your current build, I am working on this). So it was going clear. There should be no instant shifts, but it can "appear" quick if you're not noticing it for several minutes i.e. busy with cockpit tasks, then look up and see the different sky. I witnessed this in several stream videos of ASFS, where it was claimed things instantly switched when they just weren't noticing the transition that was occurring over several minutes (that was I obviously watching) and then when they noticed it they claimed an instant switch. Not saying that's what happened, but worth confirming/ruling out. The instant shift issue that some have mentioned in this and other threads has always been related to a location change event being triggered per MSFS sim event, which is looking to be caused by other add-ons. We're still working on confirming that.

Hi Damien..

Nope, the sky literally changed instantly... what was in the sky 20sec before I parked was what I showed in screenshot of the UPS plane taxying...it did NOT transition smoothly to that second screenshot when I parked ..

 

[Bond]

I've also encountered a few times this sudden transition after switching off. Yesterday happened at KDAL. It was late and I didn't get the chance to record the sonditions. Will try next time.

 

[pdeswardt]

For the custom thing - All i did was switch from Live to Passive and back when i saw that the weather didnt look right when i spawned at EGCC - I then never noticed that "weather mode" changed to "custom" after i selected "active sky preset control" again . When i looked by chance - I noticed it and had to switch back to "live" for everything to download and catch up again. The metar was about 2hrs old before i switched back to Live - i dont know how that happened.

So fast forward . . . .

I just landed at EGSS, and this was my view as i was taxying to the parking :View attachment 8196

Then as soon as I parked and switched off the plane and went outside to look at that UPS Cargo plane - the sky instantly changed to this :

View attachment 8197

I quickly checked the debug screen - and i saw the theme regenerated right that minute. However during the flight i saw no instant transitions when this event fired multiple times during the flight .... did this happen because i parked and switched off the plane?

View attachment 8198

This is the Metar at EGSS:

View attachment 8199


Clone Dep/Arr is OFF
Download on Appr/Depart = OFF
Download interval = 25min
Smoothing = 1
Theme reload = 5 min

Just did the exact same route now and the exact same thing happened again. As soon as i switched off the plane and went to external view the sky changed immediately to a different look. This time from almost clear to clouds.

I did not record it though. But i will for sure do it next time.

There is definitely something up with switching off the plane and going to external view. In the DEBUG window nothing updated when i went to the external view - i specifically checked for this....

 

[damian]

Please provide a full log export and provide the approximate time this occurred for these reports to help in investigation. Thank you.

 

[pdeswardt]

Please provide a full log export and provide the approximate time this occurred for these reports to help in investigation. Thank you.

I'm going to fly the route again, will record it and provide the logs once done.

Thanks

 

[pdeswardt]

Here is a recording i took of the full recording I made of the flight between EGCC and EGSS, but for brevity's sake - i just recorded the last minute where I arrived and parked to show you what i mean by the sky changing when i switch off the plane.... Log is also attached. The sudden change this time was not AS jarring as the previous two flights, but it gives you an idea of what im talking about. The abrupt change is about 40 seconds in...