This is what i mean…
I think it is at which time you play the sim.
live adverb
Definition of live
: at the actual time of occurrence : during, from, or at a live production
I don’t think anyone expects a 1:1 reproduction of real world conditions, but 12 hour old data that is completely incorrect and implemented terribly by the weather engine is not exactly “live” or “real-time” weather.
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For me…i think the weather simulation in sim is the best looking thing we have in these times in flight simulation.
And if we now could get simulated atis information from the sim/weathersimulation to programm our fmc then i be good.
What cares the weather outside right now.
I fly the sim in my room and not outside.
Ok again, another person arguing it is working but then saying they don’t care if its realistic.
good looking weather ≠ realistic weather
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VATSIM is supposed to be an official MSFS Partner and to fly on VATSIM you need real weather, since wind direction impacts runway assignment.
For the purposes of flying on VATSIM the visually beautiful weather is worse than the system used in prior sims.
Since Microsoft chose to advertise ‘live’ weather and made VATSIM a partner and part of the launch advertising, I do think they need to do better here.
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Its only a simulation…
If you want to get wet in rain…you have to go outside.
But i know what you mean. You want it that accurate as possible. Like suggest “live weather”
Yes, we want what was promised and sold to us.
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The difference is not just “real” versus “visibly beautiful”, it is also “behaves like weather” or “does not behave like weather”.
Take the airmass thunderstorm case again: Every time I have been flying in Florida in thunderstorm weather with a METAR based weather addon (in Prepar3d or FSX) it has been a mess. Thunderstorms fade into and out of existence to match the local METAR in a very unrealistic way.
I plot a path through the storms using NEXRAD weather or the weather radar, and at the next weather update within 15 minutes the storms I was avoiding fade away and new storms fade into existence right around me. Or the airport I am headed to that is in the clear suddenly has a fully developed storm form right on top of it, while the other airport I diverted from is suddenly in the clear. 15 minutes later, rinse and repeat. Meanwhile I am flying in rain since the nearest airport claims it is raining, even though the closest storm is 5 miles away and the sky is clear where I am at.
A big part of the immersion factor goes away, a big part of the aeronautical decision making goes away. But on comparing depicted weather with METAR at any given time, sure enough it matches. It is ‘real’, but it is not ‘weather’.
Which is better is not a straightforward tradeoff to make. On the balance I prefer the new approach. But I 100% get the VATSIM issue as well.
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How does anyone really know what the weather is like at FL350?
When it’s stormy I find it very immersive, especially lightening. I find myself changing heading or altitude so the passengers don’t spill their coffee.
To sense the thunder clouds move away or below you is quite powerful.
I fly from KJFK a lot, when it rains its grim and dark. Almost as bad as British weather ha ha.
Okay… That is not my case. I dont use VATSIM because i am stuttering.
For you guys then it makes sense. SORRY
In theory the weather simulation should get this information from real airplanes that send the weather information in high altitudes to weather stations, i think.
But i know the weather simulation is not perfekt.
I have also lighting strikes in few clouds vissible or only white clouds.
For example last flight to Antalya LTAI.
Few dark Clouds, a bit Wind, no Rain! And lightning strikes like i fly into Hell 
Also i had the bug that it was a whole week sunshine and no weather vissible.
Half-hourly snapshots of current real world conditions is not the same thing as a realistic weather simulation.
As of now MSFS seems to have the superior weather simulation with a few glitches here and there, with the current price of not always matching what’s going on outside right now.
If I had to chose between accurate weather and a realistic weather simulation I would gadly take the latter. So yeah the idea for the in-game Metar and ATIS to match the msfs weather rather than the real world weather seems like a good solution.
I don’t want this METAR-spoonfeeding anymore potentially conflicting with how a weather simulation should work, just for the sake of matching current real world conditions to the minute.
Obviously there has to be some solution for networks with multiple platforms. Or have one server just for MSFS users.
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I’m fine with a realistic weather simulation that reflects the weather of the real world, not 100% but close, that is what we were told to expect. We currently don’t have realistic weather simulation or close to reality. Once in a while, it might be close, but not close enough to be considered “live” or “real-time” as Asobo stated themselves.
And to say that METAR’s aren’t important, METAR’s report the weather at the AIRPORT, the AIRPORT is where I am taking off and landing at. The weather there needs to be first and foremost the closest to reality. I’m not looking for METAR data to be injected unsmoothly every 15 minutes, but I’m looking for accurate weather that is close to the real world METAR put together with weather models from Meteoblue. I mean Asobo has already stated they used METAR data.
In the same breath, people are saying that they don’t want data that is only updated every half hour to an hour but are perfectly happy with a presumed weather model that is updated twice a day. And for me and many others, it doesn’t in any way reflect reality. It’s not Meteoblue’s data that is the problem here, its the weather engine. And considering they said they have started working on solving the problem of incorrect weather in-game on the latest feedback snapshot, it leads to me believe that there is a problem currently.
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Glad this is good enough for some of you because it sure isn’t acceptable to me. About how far off should we all be happy with?
KETB 230035Z AUTO 06006KT 1 1/2SM -DZ OVC002 08/08 A2988 RMK AO2 LIFR conditions for the last 6 hours, IFR and LIFR for the last 12 hours.
Unlimited visibility
To solve this problem the developers should, at the next update, just get rid of live weather and implement a random weather generator that takes into account your departure and destination, flight plan, location, terrain and time of year to generate weather. They could even sync it for multi-player. Problem solved.
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I believe what’s happening for me is the sim is showing past weather. Like 6-8 or more hours past. Like it’s showing UTC as Standard time. It thinks it’s midnight on the weather but it’s actually 9am in the morning. It’s been that way since the beginning with no change for me. And ATIS has always been wrong so who knows
I never said METARs aren’t important. I am just saying a weather engine relying on METAR reports is not necessarily a realistic weather simulation. I rather go with a weather engine that has realistic dynamics than a weather engine just reading off real world Metar reports, which may cause sudden unrealistic weather pattern changes. If we can have both at some point than yay for that.
But if I had to choose I rather the simulation take a snapshot of the real world weather at any given time and let the sim do its things with its weather engine and let the atmospheric simulation (than have metar and atis reports based on the current sim weather) , than having force-fed weather conditions with half-hourly METAR reports that disrupts the natural flow of things, just for the sake of the Sim weather conditions being in-sync with the real world weather conditions.
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I often like to boil it down to what we all can agree on:
- MSFS has the best visual representation in a sim, period.
- The predictive model used often causes unacceptable differences between sim weather and “real weather”, especially for those using online ATC and those that engage in realistic flight planning.
Unfortunately, these two things may be mutually exclusive. However, there are mods based on METAR reports that should keep #2 happy, at the expense of some eye candy.
I agree with the previous poster (HalberQuacky) that a hybrid system may be the best compromise.
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thanks for the info
Well here in the South of the UK between Bognor (EGKC) & Shoreham (EGKA) in the real world, it has been blowing a bit of a gale for the last couple of days, with bands of quite heavy rain and mostly overcast in between, and South Westerly winds of about 16kmh at ground level. Temp about 12degrees C. Alt pressure at 997.3mb
In the sim it is zero winds, clear blue skies, and a temp of 19 degrees C. with pressure at 1013mb.
So the theory that it maybe just delayed can’t be true - at least here.
Oddly, the otherwise detail poor world map does clearly show large fronts rotating around a cyclone in the north west, so I popped up to Donegal (EIDL) nearer the centre. Exactly the same conditions.