F4Wx – Real Weather Converter
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I thought in the past about taking the theater data from the BMS install itself but I ruled it out for various reasons, the main one being that some theaters may feature different coordinates in BMS than in real life (IIRC POH has been transposed 10+ degrees east due to problems implementing E/W coordinates for example)… but also because the current way allows for better controlled testing (the last release was still BETA). Maybe in a future update I can revisit this decision, but for now it will have to stay as it is. (EDIT: also timezone data is not available in BMS theater files AFAIK, and automatically matching timezones is one of the main features of F4Wx, so it needs its own database anyway)
Regarding the release date, and following the long lasting tradition, I’ll say 3-4 weeks . I’m going on a small trip the next week so I wont be able to put the finishing touches until I come back. But it should happen soon. In any case don’t expect any drastic changes to the existing version, just a few features such as saving the preview images. Most of the new work is behind the scenes.
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New Version (Build 40) Released!
* Added confirmation question when loading data from different geographical areas than the selected theater * Changed style of error/info messages * QNH/Wind/Etc text updates during animation play if mouse on preview area * Preview image can now be saved (right click over preview area) * Custom image can now be loaded as preview background for custom theater preset (right click over preview area) * Recoded worker/UI thread synchronization * Upgraded from ECMWF GRIB API library to customized ECMWF ecCodes 2.5.0 library * Changed GFS download list contents to a more user-friendly format * Fractional timezones now possible (for theaters in half-hour timezones). Range increased to -12h to +14h * Added option to batch-save all preview options when generating a FMAP sequence. For now: - The preview images are saved in the 'preview' subdirectory of the folder chosen to save the FMAPs - The images are fixed size of 350x350 (same than in the program) - The fields currently selected in the UI (temperature, winds...) are drawn in the preview images * Added auto-updater. Notifies about new program versions and can also download data updates (theater presets/GRIB definitions) on user approval * Memory usage greately reduced (internal fmaps are now generated 'on demand') * Added crash handler to generate minidump file for crash reports
As stated in previous posts, towards the end-user the only visible changes are the possibility of saving previews and loading custom backgrounds (this for the “custom” preset only). However I fixed and tweaked several other things here and there that some may notice.
Data and program updates will be delivered through the included auto-updater (every update requires explicit user approval).
There is a lot of code changes in the background, and this time the limited internal testing was only carried out by me, so I may have left some bug behind. In case of any crash please include instructions to reproduce and the minidump file generated by the program on crash.
From now on Build 39 is considered deprecated/unsupported, so please report bugs only when using the current version (Build 40).
Download links on first post as usual.
Enjoy!
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Million thanks for your time effort and dedication.
Στάλθηκε από το MI 5 μου χρησιμοποιώντας Tapatalk
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Thanks a lot Ahmed. Love this program
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Thanks a lot Ahmed,
We use you program regulary and it is great! -
[Optional] Nordic theater preset added today via built-in updater. Let me know if you have any problems updating.
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Ahmed, thanks for the update, it was just what we were looking for. We now are able to display the current weather in BMS on our website which auto updates with the FMAP being used. Keep up the good work. Located in the top right corner of the website below auto updating every hour based upon the last time the weather forecast was downloaded.
Now we just need to a way to make real weather converter automatically run every “x” hours
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Good job on that!
Now we just need to a way to make real weather converter automatically run every “x” hours
That’s actually a good feature request… maybe I can add command-line arguments to trigger the different options from a external script. I note it and I’ll take a look on future updates.
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Oh yeah, one other thing, in this “future updates” would it be possible to specify the directory the images are saved rather than it always putting them in the previews folder where the FMAPs are saved?
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Ahmed, thanks for the update, it was just what we were looking for. We now are able to display the current weather in BMS on our website which auto updates with the FMAP being used. Keep up the good work. Located in the top right corner of the website below auto updating every hour based upon the last time the weather forecast was downloaded.
Now we just need to a way to make real weather converter automatically run every “x” hours
And if you have it run every hour then you have current real world weather but 1 hour behind.
Not sure if Metars could be updated every hour to get accurate weather in the terminal area.
Be nice to see the BMS team incorporate an ATIS in the future (Tune in the ATIS using comms) so you can plan for your recovery and actually know the weather before you get there. -
After placing the .fmap files in the folder and loading it in Falcon BMS do you select “maps auto update” to have BMS continue to use the generated weather from F4Wx?
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Yes
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This thread clearly deserve a sticky!
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Ahmed
First a big thanks again for your excellent work
When I created the new weather model my final intention was exactly what you have done
And don’t worry , fmap format will remain unchanged
The only thing I could think of is putting clouds altitude and visibility inside the fmap in each cell but I don’t know how I can ensure a continuity in game then .
That would be weird to see different stratus textures elevation between cells , we would “see through the interval”
The only way would be real 3D stratus but not for this decade
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Thanks a lot guys! It would of course never have been possible without your superb work with Falcon BMS!
The only way would be real 3D stratus but not for this decade
Maybe for that decade we will also get winds aloft?
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Really invaluable tool !
Now, it’s unimaginable to make without it, especially with a certain Cloud Pack 7.4 from Nuño Santos !
Big thanks -
Thanks a lot guys! It would of course never have been possible without your superb work with Falcon BMS!
Maybe for that decade we will also get winds aloft?
winds aloft means what ? wether bulletin ?
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Winds aloft as in different winds at different altitudes. I remember that F4UT tried to emulate something like that in some SuperPak version but the hacky way they did it had adverse effects in the AI and AI bombing, didn’t it?
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… already exist in F4 … but when activated, problems occurs with AI not able to hit the TGT with dumb bombs.
but the hacky way they did it had adverse effects in the AI and AI bombing, didn’t it?
Correct. Would need some computation to “more or less” take it in account in aiming routing for AI. Or a hack for AIs
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If different wind/temperature layers ever get implemented into BMS, the NOAA GFS data provides real winds/temperatures at different geopotential heights that could be used to populate them.
Flying with <10KT winds at 30kft always triggers my “something is wrong” spider-sense, but I also reckon that in a combat flightsim they wouldn’t have much of an effect, aside from making dumb bombs more inaccurate, messing up your bingo planning, and…
… inadvertently de-cluttering your HUD