Friendly reminder to ask about this during the next developer livestream. The more it’s asked the less it can be ignored.
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Done! Thanks.
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This really needs to be implemented. Current weather radars in pmdg, Fenix, FSLabs, etc. are not that useful at all. This is a glaring issue in MSFS.
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Why no word from developers about this topic ?
Huh? They talked about this several times. At least about a weather API.
Microsoft doesn’t own the weather data, MeteoBlue does. Creating an API for weather would basically mean access to the raw MeteoBlue data. Which Microsoft is not allowed to do. MeteoBlue sells access to their API and likely does not want a middleman making their data accessible in other ways
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Ok, and how X-Plane does ? 
From what I read X-Plane uses METAR and data from NOAA. Both of which are openly (and freely?) accessible so Laminar can just forward all the data and make it accessible. Microsoft chose an entirely different approach and relies mostly on the paid data from a commercial provider.
You’re right. In this case, I can see two ways :
A) Change the source of weather data.
B) Open the weather system API so external apps can set the weather details.
What do you think?
Cheers,
Mathis
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I assume they’re under a contract. They may not be able to do both.
A) likely never gonna happen.
B) not sure about that. Could be possible, maybe not. But that would also mean weather radar only works when several niche conditions are met
BTW it’s certainly possible some time in the future Asobo will improve the current weather radar. It’s working after all, just missing a couple of functions
The draw on that data would be tiny though given how small the xplane userbase is compared to msfs 2020/2024
Thing is, WXRs are becoming more advanced, and given that the A350 and A380 uses a more sophisticated system capable of spotting thunderstorms and hail, as well as having the ability to display returns on the vertical display, it’s no longer just about tilt and gain. And the need to also have customisable bitmaps to suit different types and styles of WXR also necessitates widened API access.
But the problem is that Asobo have dragged the issue on for far too long, and we’re already 3/4 SUs into the lifecycle of MSFS24. Given that the request is still at the top of the wishlist, the lack of any news on the WXR front is absolutely disconcerting, and the problem could have been avoided had they not blindly locked themselves into MB from the onset and used open weather sources like XP did. Not to mention that there’s still confusion and myths over the WXR saga, which needs to be addressed straight from Asobo themselves.
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They’ve literally been ignoring this issue for a long time… sometimes I even get the feeling they don’t understand what weather radar is all about… the answer “It already exists” shows that they don’t understand what we’re talking about: The ability to display radar data that is higher or lower than one’s own altitude does exist, but not combined in a horizontal view and adjustable via gain… if they could do that, it would be so much better than it is now… but they don’t understand: “It already exists” was the answer to that several times.
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@AurumUsagi @DaveDeMo6132 I wouldn’t say they are ignoring it. A long time ago in a dev stream they said at that moment it’s not happening but they will keep evaluating the situation and see what’s possible. Obviously that’s hasn’t changed by now.
Then there is always the comparison to X-Plane. From what I found online, outside of the US the data coverage is far far behind of what MSFS provides. But it has (only as of recently?) a good weather radar. Yeah but with live weather only working well in the US…
There is always a trade-off. Microsoft chose coverage over data accessibility and I guess for now they don’t consider the ROI sufficient.
IIRC, Jorg did say not so long ago that tilt is now possible within the engine, but that’s still yet to be implemented. I want to know where on earth they are right now on the issue and whether there’s any kind of timeframe on implementing it. We’ve been in the dark for too long and it’s about time the devs addressed the weather radar issue truthfully.
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Adjustable gain does already exist in the sim API (as does the ability to customize return colors by precip rate). An example that uses this would be the sim Longitude.
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At this point honestly I don’t even think a solution will be provided, ever. It’s honestly a disgrace for a trillion dollar company.
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That’s why we need to keep pushing them on the issue at every opportunity. If we persist, we’ll eventually get an answer. If we don’t, then we’re never going to get anywhere. We must not give up on this.
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Absolutely Agreed. It is like they just don’t care and are more focused on Console content.: (
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The top on the wishlist, and still not implemented…
i thought they just dont care and keeps playing with their PS5 version of this “game”.
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