Are cloud bases in new METAR system in AGL or MSL?

Bug Reporting Hub Resolved
42

Yeah clouds not only look unnatural due to their false lighting engine techniques, (they look fake and very grey like volcanic ash and we have a discussion for this issue here: https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/are-directly-illuminated-clouds-color-inverted-grey-dark-clouds , and here we can vote so Asobo sees it eventually https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/clouds-color-texture-needs-a-fix ) but after the most recent update the variety of cloud types in the sim is non-existent !

I found out during my flights , that in this update there are no stratus layers anywhere in the world. All I saw were some cirrus and a chaotic mixture of cumulus clouds with deformation noise that makes no sense (even oldie FSX was better in it’s chaotic “preset” nature). The only way to create an immersive realistic scene right now, is by making your own weather in the weather menu. Such a shame! Cloud formations in live weather simply don’t follow any rules of meteorology, or any well known type of cloud right now. It’s a complete destruction of even the slightest weather immersion, arguably one of the most important features in the sim.

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43

yes. Me too. Always very low clouds arriving to any airport. I suppose its a bug.
Please, could you re-work it?
thank you!

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44

Yeah, there goes flying on vatsim for this weekend and probably over the whole holidays till next year
 my optimism slowly fades away


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Above EDDM. METAR says OVC009, but the OVC layer is right at the surface (Airport elevation 1487).
Also the clouds around the airport therefore all stick to the ground.

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46

Oooh, now i just remembered i bought REX Weather Force a while ago, so i atleast have a backup for now. (even if i prefer the live weather, when it works):

Same METAR as in the post above, OVC009, this is the result with REX Weather Force:

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Microsoft Flight Simulator Screenshot 2021.11.20 - 22.44.34.12
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Overcast layer is correctly at 900
 a lifesaver for now. :slight_smile:

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47

Yes, same for me! Today is the first day I fired up REX in months. And tbh, I can’t stand the depiction compared to MSFS. But it’s a decent backup when the sim is bugged like right now.

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48

Yes, it is. It has its downsides, an i have not used it since month, as you. But it comes in handy for now, as i only fly on VATSIM.

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Curious that people are having good results with Weather Force since, according to REX, it’s currently incompatible with SU7 and shouldn’t be used.

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50

They’ve already patched it. It’s compatible with SU7 now.

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As @JrPainkiller606 said, there was an update already

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REX is the way to go right now

I guess devs just launched the game the best they could and now are slowly breaking everything in the sim (night lightning, Live Traffic, MP Traffic, performance, VR and now Live Weather) so we have to buy 3rd party softwares to correct all the bugs created each new update.

Comparison Default x REX
Airport 2900ft MSL

Default MSFS Weather and METAR ‘OVC008’

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The same METAR after REX Weather Injection

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54

Also relevant for this topic, have a look at this:

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I tried spawning at a few locations to test the ceiling height, but live weather is not working correctly for me right now. Here is Pittsburgh, PA, USA. The current METAR is:

KPIT 212251Z 20006KT 10SM OVC019 06/03 A2996 RMK AO2 RAE17 SLP162 P0001 T00560028

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Skies are completely clear in the sim with some mild haze. I adjusted the time of day so the sun would be shining, but I kept live weather active.

Here is Buffalo, NY, USA. The current METAR is:

KBUF 212254Z 20011KT 10SM -RA SCT017 OVC025 05/03 A2986 RMK AO2 SLP118 P0001 T00500028 $

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This time, I left the time of day at the current time and selected live weather. Again, clear skies without a single cloud and mild haze.

56

Maybe the clouds are below the ground because the developers don’t even know how to read a METAR.

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Could this also be why I’m not seeing rain and storms when the METARs show they should be there? Guess I’ll be dusting off REX for a while.

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This is not my experience. I use these excellent WX presets:

Try them. Before SU7 they were the prettiest WX you could find. They are still good, but it is like SU7 has limited the cloud variety.

Anyway, if you use his preset “Convective Day” and let it stay on AMSL, the clouds look squashed
flat on the bottom. Change to AGL and they look right.

They have screwed up something with the clouds for sure.

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59

Could the clouds be below ground level? What is the elevation of said aerodromes?

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Just a question. If we prefer live-weather why do we want METAR to be integrated in it? Now we have a weather system like REX that already exists. That type of engine we had since fsx.

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61

I suppose people want to be able to get a METAR for an airport and have that weather when they arrive, and the live weather isn’t going to be as good at that as going from the METAR itself. I think XPlane is trying the same approach.

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62

But then we had a free addon like unreal weather to use.