Although the weather potential in MSFS is much better than any other current civilian flight simulator offerings, after 770+ hours in the sim I’m not convinced the weather is matching real world conditions close enough, and the atmosphere/clouds need work.
I think most of us can agree to this right?
Lightning in places where it shouldn’t be, or maybe it’s the other way around, towering cumulonimbus clouds aren’t showing where the lighting is appearing most of the time? I think it’s a blend of both, depending on where you are and when.
I was always SO IMPRESSED how accurate HiFi Simulations Active Sky represented the weather in P3D (note: Accuracy). However, they could only do so much since the weather engine graphics/clouds were in 2D.
Now, let’s take a look at the POTENTIAL MSFS has.
Let’s take a BLEND of HiFi Simulations expertise to WEATHER in the simulation market.
Then, instead of opening the code to any developer (which has already been addressed by Asobo as “NOT GOING TO HAPPEN”), and let’s ask would Asobo consider partnering with HiFi Simulations (https://hifisimtech.com/) so they can get under the hood of this thing and take the weather up another 50,000 feet and make this real?
Asobo partnered with Working Title, Aerosoft, FlyByWire, even Paramount pictures for crying out loud! All bringing their “expertise” to the simulator in one way or another… why not HiFi? Surely they would be willing to work with Asobo and Meteoblue to bridge this gap?
Sorry, maybe I’m putting HiFi on the spot here and they would have no interest in that.. then maybe there is another partner that WOULD be able to “bridge the gap”?
I recommend going back to the May and June Dev Q&As and review Martial’s (and to a certain extent, Seb’s) comments on why the weather system is so integrated into the sim that it would not be possible to open it up.
Working Title had both talent/elbow grease and to a lesser extent, circumstance, in their corner. They proved they could literally reverse-engineer some the aspects of the Garmins and Rockwell Collins (as proven by the enormous improvement in the CJ4 Mod) to correct the more egregious gaps in the stock NavUnits. That’s the talent and hard work part. The circumstance was that they could override the stock code in the simulator without having to build an intrusive design - i.e., they could deliver this all via a Community mod. And they did it without having direct access to the underlying sim code. In short, their CJ4 Mod was their “audition” to becoming a 1st Party. Now, that’s undoubtedly not the whole story, but from the average observer’s chair where I sit, that all makes sense.
They could fix the NavUnits without touching the base code and do it via standard interface (Community Mod). To do this for weather - someone would have to essentially follow this script to success. Is there a developer out there who could do it for Weather? Maybe. But the key parts to consider are: Asobo is likely not going to be receptive to someone tinkering with their base code for any of the key features - i.e., ATC, WX, etc. Hence WT got the nod because they’re going AROUND the base sim code, not THROUGH it. That’s a big ask. NavUnits aren’t trivial, but neither is Weather.
Proof is in the pudding. I suspect Asobo keeps an eye on many potential 1st Party Partners, but they gotta show the goods. That’s the trend I’m seeing.
Personally, I hope they don’t use HIFI. Nothing against HIFI simulations, they are the best weather add on developer for P3D and possibly Xplane at the moment, but I think the current weather system in flight simulator just needs a little bit more attention from the guys at Asobo to nail it. Proper implementation of visibility, fix the high level clouds, and a few other touches here and there and I think it would be great.
