Issue with METARs

[Will]

Hi again Balt,

I found something else. Not really a bug maybe, but something to think about. When PSX starts up with the "Set flight zones by flight track..." unchecked, I believe it refers to the last weather saved in its system. If I understand it correctly, if that box stays unchecked, then no new downloads happen (because why would they?), and PSX refers to whatever the last downloaded weather was.

Tonight I'm flying out of Tampa, where the wind is gusting to 71 kts and there's a hurricane. The altimeter setting is 29.04.

My last downloaded weather in PSX is from 10/6, when the altimeter setting was 29.94. That means PSX's "smooth transit" feature is in effect, and it's taking 30 minutes or more for the in-game altimeter setting to change to the one being injected by RealTraffic.

The injection isn't a problem: RealTraffic sends the current METAR and it's visible within PSX. It's just that PSX takes half hour or more to change from the saved weather to the injected weather. Checking the "Set zones by..." box doesn't speed it up, because RealTraffic just immediately unchecks it again.

One solution is to always start PSX first, before starting RealTraffic, and make sure the "Set zones by..." box remains checked until a new cycle of METARs is downloaded. Then start RealTraffic. If you don't wait until that download is complete, you have to close RealTraffic and redo that step until PSX gets current METARs from the internet.

I think it's worth saying this, because it took me a while to figure out the reason that every source I had (PSX, RealTraffic, Navigraph) all had the same METAR but he altimeter setting in the PSX world was way off. Maybe this helps someone else.

[admin]

Interesting. I think there is a way to disable the gradual changes in PSX and force it to instantly set the weather parameters as injected. I'll need to look into how this could be integrated.

[Will]

Hi Balt,

I don't know if you've had a chance to look into this, but I wanted to mention that the issue is really only problematic when PSX and RealTraffic connect for the first time. Once they are connected, the "smooth transit" feature is working well--the gradual changes keep the altimeter from jumping around, and so on. It's only at the point of initial contact (between the two apps) that the slow transit can be too slow. Although I guess the problem would also happen if PSX used the reposition feature to instantly teleport from one airport to another with a drastic difference in the altimeter setting.

It's also okay by me if you never get around to doing anything about this, because the workaround I described has been fine, I've gotten used to it.

Thanks!

[admin]

So this is a bit of an odd one. RT disables gradual weather changes when it detects a position or time jump, and on first load. I just demonstrated that multiple times by going back and forth in time while stationary on the ground, switching between injected QNH 1009 and 1012 - the altimeter within a few seconds of receiving the injected weather reflects this correctly with a sudden jump.

I have internet weather disabled in my PSX, perhaps try disabling that in your PSX as well and see if that helps?

[Will]

I will give that a try. In any event, it also works to either to do what I described in my original post, or else click "to planet" on the PSX instructor page, then cycle the "Set zones by..." checkbox. RealTraffic then unchecks the box and the altimeter settings in RT and PSX soon match and stay matched from then on. So, this is not something that needs a fix.