[Release] WeatherGen - A BMS random weather generator
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Latest Release
v035 - 2017-Feb-11: http://firstfighterwing.com/weathergenSummary
WeatherGen is a web app that generates random, evolving weather patterns for Falcon BMS.Installation
There is nothing to install. Simply visit http://firstfighterwing.com/weathergen to get started. See FAQ below for notes on browser compatibility.Description
With WeatherGen, you can generate single or multiple FMAP and TWX files with varying and time-evolving wind speed and direction, pressure, temperature, and cloud cover. WeatherGen can create a zip file containing everything you need to add interesting weather to your TE or campaign.Anything with a dashed blue underline can be clicked to get help.
Tutorial Videos
A playlist including all the tutorials below is available here.
Intro to the BMS Weather Model. Skip this one if you already understand the BMS weather model.
Introduction to WeatherGen Basic Features.
Forecasts
Overriding Wind and Weather
Display Flight Paths and Steerpoint Lines
Changelog
Version 037 - 2017-Feb-25
Minor bugfix release- Fix problem where TWX and single FMAP files weren’t downloading
Version 035 - 2017-Feb-11
Minor bugfix release- Don’t draw line to tanker steerpoint after landing steerpoint.
Version 032 - 2017-Jan-18
- Added Random button to create random seeds.
- Major UI rework - sections are now in a scrolling vertical stack, and are collapsable.
- Current conditions are displayed as the mouse hovers over each square.
- Weather is computed on background threads - UI should be more responsive.
- Distribution of weather types is now by pressure rather than confusing “weight” system.
- Added “weather overrides”. Lets you set the weather to specific conditions at specific times and places, e.g. “inclement weather at home plate from 1000 to 1200”.
- Option to display pressure in millibars.
- Support for Kuriles theater.
- “Shareable forecasts” gives a link you can hand out to other pilots so they can see (but not change) the weather you have created.
- Improved feedback for invalid input in many places.
- Ability to animate weather, including “loop playback” in forecast page.
- Drag and drop repositioning and resizing for wind stability and weather override regions.
- Ability to overlay a flight path (from an INI) file on the map, including forecast page.
- Improved help.
- Ability to generate a TWX, which specifies visibility and cloud and contrail heights.
- Can now generate a “Weather Package” with one click. This is a zip file containing multiple FMAPS, a TWX, and the settings file. No more “click, save, click, save, click, save”!
- Improved browser compatibility (see below).
FAQ
Can I still use the old version?
Yes. It remains available at https://candera.github.io/weathergen for now.Can I use my old settings files with v032?
Yes. Generated weather will be the same as the old version, and you will be able to take advantage of all the new features as well.Q: Where should I ask questions, report bugs, and make suggestions?
A: Right here in this thread, the official support location for WeatherGen.
Q: What browsers are supported?
A: There are two ways to use WeatherGen: to create weather and to view the weather created by others. The latter is the “shareable forecast” feature. My intent is that shared forecasts should work in all browsers - I have tested in Chrome, Firefox, IE, and Safari. But weather creation has a lot of things going on it that I wasn’t able to make work in all the browsers. So currently, I recommend that weather creators use Chrome, although Firefox also appears to work fine.
Q: How is this different from Weather Commander and Grb2fmap?
A: Weather Commander and Grb2fmap are both totally awesome - you should keep using them. But while Weather Commander is fantastic for making detailed changes to existing FMAPs, it doesn’t have support for generating weather that evolves with time. With Grb2fmap you can bring evolving, real-world weather into Falcon, but I wanted the ability to rapidly pick through different weather patterns, and to be able to control things like prevailing wind direction, weather system movement. But really, I just got interested in the idea of generating weather, and decided to make a thing.
Q: Is it open source?
A: Yep. The project lives at https://github.com/candera/weathergen.
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Tried it in beta …. super easy to use.
Pick a ‘seed’, generate a couple of time-stepped FMAPs, and drop 'em in your weather folder.
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Seems to work in Seamonkey browser also - which is “Firefox-like”. At least, the page renders.
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Seems to work in Seamonkey browser also - which is “Firefox-like”. At least, the page renders.
Yeah, it’ll work in the sense of showing weather in lots of browsers. The problems you might run into are:
- Slow computation. Safari in particular seems to have a very slow Javascript engine, and WeatherGen does a lot of number-crunching.
- Save/load features won’t work. I’m doing something a little funky here, the technical details of which I will avoid going into, which is actually the main reason IE doesn’t work at present.
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This is pretty cool. I’ll most certainly play around with it. You mentioned no bulk conversions, which is a slight letdown. but It’s most certainly not a deal breaker for me. Just means I get to exercise my trigger finger a bit!
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i can’t get a drop down save menu. i am using firefox. any ideas
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This is pretty cool. I’ll most certainly play around with it. You mentioned no bulk conversions, which is a slight letdown. but It’s most certainly not a deal breaker for me. Just means I get to exercise my trigger finger a bit!
Yeah, I tried to pull this off, but making it a browser app imposes a lot of limitations. I could ship a separate tool for bulk generation: save your settings, run the tool with the settings file as input, and spit out all the files you want. I’d prefer to have it in the browser, though, for obvious reasons. I have a few other ideas as well - it’s definitely a feature I’d like to see implemented.
I will say, I was sort of surprised by how not-annoying I found individual downloads to be. Your mileage may vary, of course, but even with click-per-file, because the time advances automatically, I thought it was good enough to ship an initial version with.
Thanks for the feedback!
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i can’t get a drop down save menu. i am using firefox. any ideas
If you’re trying to save an FMAP via the File menu in the title bar of the page, that’s not the correct way. The video I posted illustrates the correct way if you want to see it show in greater detail, but briefly you’re looking for a button on the page (you might have to scroll down) that says, “Save Current As Single FMAP”.
Hope that helps.
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Yeah, it’ll work in the sense of showing weather in lots of browsers. The problems you might run into are:
- Slow computation. Safari in particular seems to have a very slow Javascript engine, and WeatherGen does a lot of number-crunching.
- Save/load features won’t work. I’m doing something a little funky here, the technical details of which I will avoid going into, which is actually the main reason IE doesn’t work at present.
Technical enough, thanks! I primarily use a combination of Seamonkey and Chrome, so you have me covered. I find Seamonkey works better than Chrome for doing things like forum posting/text interaction than Chrome does…so I keep both handy. Really nice addition for BMS you’ve got going.
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I have pushed the button on the page that says save current but i don’t get a drop down menu to save to, the time does advance 1 hr each time the save button is pressed
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I have pushed the button on the page that says save current but i don’t get a drop down menu to save to, the time does advance 1 hr each time the save button is pressed
OK, yep, I’m seeing the same thing in Firefox now. Sorry about that! Looking into it now. It appears to be working in Chrome if that’s a workaround for you.
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Awesome work Tyrant! This will make it so much easier to create challenging weather for all our flights. You’re going to regret publishing this.
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A good application of this tool is to create weather maps for sequential missions. It also can be used to create zones of calm for use with refueling tankers and carriers which benefit from controlled winds.
Good job Ty.
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I have pushed the button on the page that says save current but i don’t get a drop down menu to save to, the time does advance 1 hr each time the save button is pressed
This is fixed now. Just refresh the page to pick up the new version. Thanks for reporting it! Please let me know if you have any more trouble.
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Great tool. Thanks Tyrant!
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Could you share which ‘language’ or development tool(s) you use to create this browser app?
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Sure. The language is Clojurescript, and the UI library is something called Hoplon. The code is all available at https://github.com/candera/weathergen.
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
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Been Playing around with this a bit more. Really do love all the variations this can create. So. I decided to pump up the Incliment, mess with some temps… And This storm rolled in.
Preeety Sure Weather Gen just created a Tornado… :eek:
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Been Playing around with this a bit more. Really do love all the variations this can create. So. I decided to pump up the Incliment, mess with some temps… And This storm rolled in.
Preeety Sure Weather Gen just created a Tornado… :eek:
Haha. Yes, that’s the “random” in “random weather”.
The fun part is how Falcon will suddenly jump from one weather pattern to the next when the scheduled time hits, so depending on how you have it set, you could find that little swirl sort of teleporting itself over the runway while you’re on final. I’m still in the fairly early stages of using this myself, and I’ve started to tend towards higher zoom values and lower step intervals, to make for smoother changes when Falcon changes the interval. Still, if there are going to be cells with the wind spiraling around them, it means when one goes overhead you’re going to get wind direction reversals.
Glad you’re enjoying using it. I’m enjoying making it.
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What a good job !
Easy to use, very good tutorial and very useful.
I’ll try it asap and give you my feedback. I feel it good !
Thanks for all what you do, Tyrant.