Using FSrealWX Lite

[robertschiele9 1]

Since Microsoft's RW weather's apparently down (or not updating, at least) again, I downloaded and installed FSrealWX Lite. It looks like  nice program. Installation went fine. I also downloaded and installed the latest FSIUPC for FS2004 from Pete Dowson's site. When I run it, FSrealWX seems to download weather just fine. Trouble is, I can't seem to figure out how to get the weather into FS9. I tried by clicking the "Start" icon in FSrealWX. No problem, other than that nothing in FS9 changed. I then clicked on the "Set All Wx" icon in FSrealWX, which a tooltip informed me sends the weather to FS9. Still no change in FS9. I also imported my flightplan .pln file into FSrealWX. That seemed to work fine too, but still nothing changed in FS9, although according to data I saw displayed in FSrealWX, it should have.

 

I've been to the FSrealWX site and read the English language help page there. Nothing I saw there addressed this specific issue. I also tried the wiki on the FSrealWX site, but the wiki's apparently down. Does anyone else who's used this software have a clue what I could be doing wrong? I'm probably overlooking something blindingly simple, but for the life of me I can't figure out what it might be. Any advice would be appreciated.

[rainerk 1]

Check this: Options General: Meta Feed VATSIM ticked? Options General: Startup Download WX ticked? Options DWC and Interface: Interface FSUIPC shown? If all set (and WX restarted) you only need to fire up FS9. WX will know via FSUIPC when FS9 comes up (and where your plane is located) and tranfer according weatherdata to FS9 automatically without any action from the user.

[robertschiele9 1]

Check this: Options General: Meta Feed VATSIM ticked? Options General: Startup Download WX ticked? Options DWC and Interface: Interface FSUIPC shown? If all set (and WX restarted) you only need to fire up FS9. WX will know via FSUIPC when FS9 comes up (and where your plane is located) and tranfer according weatherdata to FS9 automatically without any action from the user.

 

My bad. I knew it had to be something simple, and it was. I'm running Windows 7 64-bit here. Once I changed the properties of FSrealWX.exe to "Run as administrator" it worked fine. I still have a bit of exploring to do with it, but even as is, it's working like a gem. Nice, nice program. And thank you for the prompt response.

[HaraldG 559]

I love FSRealWX, since the "flickering panel" problem was solved:

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/407963-screen-flicker-during-weather-update/

post #10

 

Harald

[HaraldG 559]

I have v. 1.06.1475, that means no beta/development version.

I think I downloaded 1.06.1469 which checked for updates automatically.

[robertschiele9 1]

I've got FSrealWX working perfectly on my rig now, and it works as advertised. Or at least I think it does. I was reading on their forums yesterday that the NOAA weather non-VATSIM flyers must select, like, Microsoft's Real World WX, hasn't actually been updated for months. I haven't flown with it enough to know if that's true for sure or not, and even if it is, IMHO FSrealWX does a much better job in some areas--depicting limited visibility at lower altitudes, for example--than Microsoft's implementation ever did. Still, could be a problem moving forward if true.

 

Another thing I've noticed while using FSrealWX is that opening the map or trying to load a new (or even to reload one's original) flight plan while in-flight and while FSrealWX is running will cause an unrecoverable FS9 CTD. I've had it happen twice now. I can work around it, obviously, and it's possible that the developer's supposedly upcoming version 2.x will deal with that and other issues. And, as I can't stress enough, it is freeware, so one really can't complain. But if it turns out that it's only capable of downloading "old weather" from days, weeks, or even months ago, even though that would be due to NOAA and not the developer, that'll make me think again.

 

I've looked hard at REX's weather implementation. Love their textures, but their weather implementation doesn't meet my needs. Weather updates are based on distance traveled, not on time, and there is no provision to automatically prevent updates while on, say, final approach such as FSrealWX provides. So I may end up going with ASE after all, particularly since I noted on their site yesterday that they are now selling it for 29.95 in euros. I don't know exactly what that'll translate to in terms of US $'s, but I'm guessing it's substantially lower than the $60 US they were originally charging.

[rainerk 1]

Quote: " I was reading on their forums yesterday that the NOAA weather non-VATSIM flyers must select ..."

 

Not true. I select VATSIM and it works just fine. No need to select NOAA. Same as FSMetar.

[robertschiele9 1]

Quote: " I was reading on their forums yesterday that the NOAA weather non-VATSIM flyers must select ..."

 

Not true. I select VATSIM and it works just fine. No need to select NOAA. Same as FSMetar.

 

Nice to know. I'll give it a try. Thanks for the tip.