Unreal Weather - Live METAR Mod

Just tested with latest MSFS update and I still get abrupt cloud morphing when injecting the clouds. This morning the winds started going crazy so I had to go back to default live weather and deal with the sound of thunderstorms even with just a few clouds. I like this mod. I hope it can be improved. Smooth transitions without abrupt wind shifts would be great. Thanks.

this is a good mod but the cloud pop in and redraw is a major setback


Yes, I’ve noticed this too. Please correct me if I’m wrong but I think it’s due to the way it pulls METAR reports from new stations.

Maybe if it could pull reports internally from all stations in a certain radius, it could then “predict” the weather and morph the visuals more smoothly? Just spitballing here, I have no idea if that’s possible.

The clouds are not currently optimized. That’s something I plan to address soon.

I stretch my weather transition out to 9 mins at 5 sec intervals, I find it less jarring that way.

I have noticed that AVWX doesn’t always have the latest METAR information, some have been up to two days old. I have the Active Sky app - is there any way the Ultra Weather script can be pointed to the METAR file generated by Active Sky, as this seems to generally be more up-to-date?

Active Sky: Do they provide a free API?

Thanks!

Thanks duesen. You are doing an excellent job with this mod. I will test at every opportunity.

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I don’t know, but I still have the app from my X-Plane flying days and it creates a METAR text file which it updates at a set interval.

I just had a flight in Japan and one of the AVWX METARs was from the 9th!

I second that 100%! Excellent job! The best useful mod in MFS2020 that really makes a change, he should get paid by Asobo!

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Yeah
 time to check this out. Just flew in Eau Claire, WI
 “Live weather” said it was 289 at 33k


Actual METAR

KEAU 140356Z AUTO 24003KT 10SM CLR 06/00 A2994 RMK AO2 SLP141 T00610000

Conditions at: KEAU (EAU CLAIRE , WI, US) observed 0356 UTC 14 October 2020
Temperature: 6.1°C (43°F)
Dewpoint: 0.0°C (32°F) [RH = 65%]
Pressure (altimeter): 29.94 inches Hg (1014.0 mb)
[Sea-level pressure: 1014.1 mb]
Winds: from the WSW (240 degrees) at 3 MPH (3 knots; 1.5 m/s)
Visibility: 10 or more miles (16+ km)
Ceiling: at least 12,000 feet AGL
Clouds: sky clear below 12,000 feet AGL
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Yeah, live weather is a joke here in Wisconsin, live weather in West Bend gives me a 33kt wind out of the southwest, in reality, it’s a 3kt wind out of the west. The wind it gives me is for 2000m aloft.

Regarding Unreal Weather, it is not working for me after the patch, and I have updated it to 1.5. I have the preset available, but the weather screen doesn’t show the METAR data anymore on the bottom and I just get clear weather, no winds, etc.

Duesen,

I’d love to test some figures that would help with the transition smoothness when the ap injects a new metar.

For my 1st test I kept polling and span at default and changed step_seconds to 0.1

No problems with performance with clouds at ultra.

Instead of polling at 5 & span at 180, what numbers do you suggest that I try?

I’m hoping for invisible transitions or that they occur so far in advance that the user doesn’t see them.

Thanks.
Jose

I had that happen for West Bend as well, clear sky’s whereas Live weather showed more promise, then i switched to other airports and Unreal Weather was more accurate with the depiction of the actual metar
 Dont know what’s going on in West Bend,WI, but i’m thinking it might have something to do with the metardata program not picking up the closest metar-info over the last 24 hrs. I had it work before, and had a confirmation by a buddy who lives there that it was correct
 might just be a glitch in the matrix.

Btw, confirmed that 1.5 works in the new update


I tried it earlier and was thoroughly impressed with the accuracy and ease of use. The only thing I would love to see improved is the transition from one METAR to the next. The default values show the cloud layers visibly changing frame by frame.

Nonetheless, a great tool, especially as an alternative to live weather. It doesn’t need to be fully default or this one either. Switching from default live weather to Unreal weather is as easy as it sounds: going to the weather panel and switching preset modes.

Atm I use it for airports with large discrepancy with the published latest METAR, then switch back to default live weather once I’m airborne for the smoother transitions.

Looking forward to the updates on this one. Amazing work. Thank you!

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Thanks for the work on this. Trying it out now. Sick and tired of brutally inaccurate weather in the sim. Thunder and Lightning everywhere
 no thanks. Will report back how I find this mod!

Does this really work? I only get one layer of clouds and i am not quite sure whether this is real.

the mod will only inject the cloud layers reported by the metar. If it’s overcast, the metar often won’t report any other cloud layers, so the mod won’t display anything else

@duesen The zip file says it’s version 1.5 but the manisfest.json says it’s 1.3.0. Is this correct or did you zip the wrong version by mistake?

Aw, I totally forgot about that manifest. No worries, though, as it won’t affect the mod. Thanks for pointing that out!

It is a matter of personal preference, @CFIJOSE. Not values are going be ideal in all situations.

I am planning to rework the cloud layers in the next release. One major limitation is that we only have exactly 3 layers in MSFS, so I am not at liberty to make the transitions flawless. But there is some room for improvement. The other one is scattering, I believe: slightest variations cause the clouds to change their look rapidly.

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