Weather always nice?

[jscharpf]

Not sure if it's something in my settings, but I have "enable Ideal Weather" checked and it seems that every flight has clear weather and barometric pressure of 29.92.

If, after starting my flight, I go and set FSX to use dynamic weather, then it suddenly changes it and adds clouds, etc..

Jeff

[Steve Waite]

Hi Jeff,
If you want to set FSX or other weather, you must uncheck "enable IF weather".
With IF Weather, it is the same at the same time on the same day, so to "change" the weather, you must change your date/time/location.
Steve

[Steve Waite]

Just thought; there are two drop downs at the top of the IF weather page. Make sure they are set to Automatic.
Steve

[jscharpf]

Hi Steve,

Can you elaborate, as I'm somewhat confused. If I check "enable IF weather" what does this do? Does this allow IF to change the weather in FSX? Where does the weather come from?

If I uncheck "enable IF weather", will I just leave FSX as auto update ?

What are the advantages/disadvantages to either?

I just want the weather to reflect what it actually is. I'm not too concerned about lots of details, but I would hope if it's snowing out at my local town airport that it would be doing the same thing in FSX lol

[Steve Waite]

Hi Jeff,

IF weather is not real world weather as you see out of your window, it is instead a simulation of what you might expect for the location, at that time of year, and time of day.

The problem I found running FSX or REX weather is that they download aerodrome reports and present you with that, and generally the weather is boring or more or less the same for months on end. Instead IF generates a simulation of global weather that is enhanced for extra immersion and fun.

The route I just did ended with a dramatic thunderstorm, otherwise it would have been rather uneventful.

Also since IF creates its own weather you can get accurate ETA and fuel calculations in the briefing. You won't see differences in flight times in the briefing if you use FSX or REX weather.

Setting 'enable IF weather' makes IF send weather instructions to FSX, so you don't want to have other weather engines running sending other instructions.

So at your local airport, you will get weather similar to what you would expect, but it won't be showing you what you see out the window.

Regards;
Steve

[jscharpf]

Thanks Steve, now I understand!

[Steve Waite]

Thanks Jeff,
A couple of other points of interest regarding IF weather: The weather is not random, you get the same weather on the same day, at the same time. The atmospheric conditions are computed according to basic weather theory, so you get freezing point, temperature, dew point, air density, and cloudbases computed.
Steve