Can PMDG work with HiFi to bring us a working weather radar?

[kevinh 409]

I have to say I'm slightly concerned with this trend for several products to be bundled together.  

 

I see the new Service Pack for the Aerosoft Airbus Extended will be bundled with Multi Crew Environment.  I don't want Multi Crew Environment as I already have FS2Crew for the Airbus.

 

Similarly, I have Opus FSX having switched away from Active Sky.  I don't want to be in a position next time a PMDG aircraft comes out that I have to buy a new version of ActiveSky to make all its features work.

 

I appreciate that ActiveSky may be about to offer a game changer and I wish them well with that.  I'm not sure whether PMDG will want to open up the possibility of weather radar, given their well publicised position on it.  If they do, all well and good.  

 

If not, let's be honest, PMDG is the dominant force in flight simming.  It offers an SDK via which other developers (notably FS2Crew) can add features.  Let's leave it at that.

The only way this could work would be if PMDG, having changed their policy, bundled in the WXR as other developers have done previously.  They couldn't expect customers to buy specific addons. I can't imagine PMDG bundling in the whole of ASN.  However if a specialist WXR developer took the same approach of creating local weather for the radar to detect then it could well be bundled in. As you say, if PMDG choose to ignore this development then that will be that.

 

As for FS2Crew, I thought the AXE already had an F/O reading checklists integrated with the sim (from what I've seen of froogles videos anyway).  If Aerosoft are extending this further then that's up to them.  If multi-crew environment is bundled with an update then it's at no cost to you, and you can probably disable it.

[scandinavian13 5,192]

As I always say when people promise me a whole bunch of stuff that's going to affect how I work:

 

SHOW ME THE DATA!!!

 

I really hope it's possible and it works out nicely, but unless it's true 3D data, I'm not particularly interested.  I have my doubts, but if it is, then I'd say this is truly revolutionary.

[Richard McDonald Woods 168]

Me too!

[Flexman 30]

You've not tried Opus then?

 

I have As2012 and it's not really THAT different. Potato potahto.

[SierraHotel 982]

I have As2012 and it's not really THAT different. Potato potahto.

 

Oh yes it is, it has built in DHM which gives you all of the movement you were yearning for as you descend through clouds etc, plus it now has built in site effects like windshear etc that is peculiar to whichever airport you are landing at. Oh and I forgot, it also has weather maps (see attached pic)

[ailchim 206]

 

 

As for FS2Crew, I thought the AXE already had an F/O reading checklists integrated with the sim

 

There's no comparison between reading checklists and what FS2Crew does, in that the FS2Crew co-pilot carries out his own flows in the correct context via the PMDG SDK.  I don't have MCE but as it's a general purpose tool rather than being developed specifically for a particular aircraft, it's hard to see how it could have the same capability as FS2Crew.

 

 

 

If multi-crew environment is bundled with an update then it's at no cost to you, and you can probably disable it.

 

That's my worry -  it's probably the case I can probably disable it!  

 

 

 

They couldn't expect customers to buy specific addons. I can't imagine PMDG bundling in the whole of ASN. 

 

But as I understand it, ActiveSky and Opus are mutually exclusive: run the two together and you'll have problems.  With due respect to all the developers involved, I don't want the vendor of FS aircraft telling me which weather, ATC or co-pilot add-ons I use.

 

I appreciate I'm exaggerating the present situation but Aerosoft have already bundled FS2Crew's RAAS with the Airbus, next apparently MCE and here we have calls for PMDG to bundle Active Sky.  Where's it going to end?

[fsxops 0]

Hifi announced their next project called Active Sky Next.

They are promising very big things that have never been done before.

If it's all true all I can say is I'm amazed.

This was one of the statements that stood out to me.

 

 

I hope this is something PMDG can consider doing.

I know they do not like to offer features that require other purchases from other developers but myself and I'm sure other Active Sky users would be willing to pay for the integration.

Can this be done though the SDK?

Thanks,

Chuck

 

Here's the link to the announcement.

http://www.hifitechinc.com/forums/showthread.php?1147-The-next-version-of-Active-Sky&p=5407&viewfull=1#post5407

 

+1 It will be amazing!!!!

[SierraHotel 982]

 

 

But as I understand it, ActiveSky and Opus are mutually exclusive: run the two together and you'll have problems.

 

Doesn't quite work that way, Opus is a pure weather/DHM (Cams) engine, You can use AS graphics with Opus, just turn off the weather. Same as you would with REX.

[Luis_KMIA 242]

I'm sure prominent developers are always talking to each other.  Don't be suprised if the new version of Active Sky opens up new possibilities.  With this version, we now risk our aircraft falling out of they sky if it flies though thunderstorms.  A radar would come in very handy, to go along with a detailed enroute forecast that you can get from Active Sky or PFPX. 

 

Exciting times!

[ailchim 206]

 

 

Doesn't quite work that way, Opus is a pure weather/DHM (Cams) engine, You can use AS graphics with Opus, just turn off the weather

 

I do still use my the ActiveSky textures and indeed use it to calculate a weighted average wind speed for my flightplan.  But I then shut it down before starting FSX or Opus  

 

The point is that you cannot have ActiveSky sending precipitation data to weather radar AND have Opus generating the weather you see and providing virtual cockpit camera views.  So the two are for all meaningful purposes mutually exclusive.  I don't want that choice made for me.

[McLaren 42]

I do still use my the ActiveSky textures and indeed use it to calculate a weighted average wind speed for my flightplan.  But I then shut it down before starting FSX or Opus  

 

The point is that you cannot have ActiveSky sending precipitation data to weather radar AND have Opus generating the weather you see and providing virtual cockpit camera views.  So the two are for all meaningful purposes mutually exclusive.  I don't want that choice made for me.

 

From what I understand the choice is not being made for you, but rather the options to integrate the two (ASN and Addon aircraft) if you wish to use them.

 

RAAS came with the T7 and Aerosoft Airbus, but if you don't want to use RAAS (like myself) you can disable the feature and be done with it. AFAIK an etra few clicks of the mouse to enable/disable an added (non-mandatory) feature never killed anyone. 

[ailchim 206]

RAAS is a separate issue as as far as I'm aware there isn't anything else like it,  so it's not interfering with anything else you may have.

 

Once we get to add-ons for weather, co-pilot integration and potentially ATC (and thereby potentially AI) the situation's different, as most of us have probably already made our choices on those.

 

As I said, I probably appear to be exaggerating the issue based on where we are today.  However, as far as I can recollect, RAAS with AXE was the first time products have been bundled that way and after only a couple of months, Aerosoft seem to be intending to go further with MCE with AXE.  If that trend catches on, I don't know where we'll end up...... in a muddle probably.

[igneousrocklad 24]

As I always say when people promise me a whole bunch of stuff that's going to affect how I work:

 

SHOW ME THE DATA!!!

 

I really hope it's possible and it works out nicely, but unless it's true 3D data, I'm not particularly interested.  I have my doubts, but if it is, then I'd say this is truly revolutionary.

 

^Ditto!

This new weather engine "sounds" interesting and "game changing" but I don't think I will be putting all my eggs in that basket until I actually see it. You can always talk something up but at the end of the day it still has to perform based on what was talked about it. Same thing with the PMDG 777, I didn't even want it until I actually saw the plane in action...

[Tino 81]

 

 

I wish ezca would finally evolve into a less cluttered application that just replicates real life head movement with no more than 2 or 3 adjustment sliders.

 

 I un-installed EZCA for that exact reason. I don't want to tinker with settings for every single aircraft I fly. I really don't have the time for it.

 

Cheers,

[HighTowers 1,434]

Here is a good description of what 'radar' actually does in ASN terms. Its from post #25 in the forum on the next version of activesky among other feature descriptions like a robust turbulence effect. Nice!

 

 

 

But what about the radar? We already knew what needed to be done to be able to achieve this. We needed to know the exact cloud sprite positions, but that was not enough. We needed something even more important. We needed to control ambient precipitation. This was tough, believe me! However, it's done now. So what does this mean? Lets' say above your airport you have scattered clouds giving precipitation, when you are below them. It's normal in RL to have rain here and in a couple of meters to have no rain. This was not the case with fsx. It was either on or off for the whole area an fsx "weather cell" occupies (it's different based on latitiude, but it's about 19x19 kms in middle lats). This was the main reason we got the rain out of nowhere issue. Now, what happens with ASN? In the above given example you may get an airport with the ATIS giving you scattered clouds and light rain. And you're lined up and wait in the middle of a wet runway, yet no rain! You look up and no clouds are directly above you. You then take off and rain starts and stops depending on where exactly is the cloud placed. So how much more realistic can this be done?

So given this flexibility, we adjusted our radar to actually give the precipitation information needed, thus we accomplished for the first time an accurate Doppler like weather radar. Just a note here: This is not simulating an on board radar at the moment. It is more like a NexRad radar giving base (ground) reflectivity, supposedly sent to our gauge through satellite connection. But the technology is now here. We can always provide an on board like radar (with tilt function covering specific altitude range etc), or provide means to aircraft/ND developers to take advantage of this.