Anybody using SA_WXR with FSX? - I have a problem

[Suggy]

I have finally made the switch to FSx from FS9.

Everything is working fine except SA_WXR.

When the radar is turned on it keeps in 'warm up' mode. I am assuming it's having difficulty reading FSX weather.

The software is running on a remote computer and is used by Project Magenta's ND to display the weather.

All other third party programmes are runing and connecting fine.

Is anybody using the software successfully in FSX?

Regards,
Darren

www.sugden.karoo.net

[a340-th]

Hi Darren

as far as I now I does not work with FSX.

I keep running it but it does not get further then the "warming up stage" and no weather is shown (nothing in PM netdir).

[Suggy]

Thanks for the reply, Erhard.

It looks as though I'll have to revert to PM's Getweather and Whazzup setup.

It's nice to see you are still in the hobby. Your website was the first I stumbled accross some years ago chronicling the build of a home cockpit. That's where my desire for a homecockpit started!!!

Regards,
Darren

[Peter Dowson]

as far as I now I does not work with FSX.
I keep running it but it does not get further then the "warming up stage" and no weather is shown (nothing in PM netdir).

Strange. I've used SA_WXR with FSX continuously now since FSX was first available, and there's no difference at all from its operation with FS9. In fact checking its interaction with FSUIPC it cannot tell the difference -- nothing it does tells it whether it is FS9 or FSX and it behaves identically.

Regards
Pete

[Suggy]

Thanks, Peter.

Your comments gave me hope in that there was something not quite right at my end. After a lot of testing I think I have found the problem - HiFi's Active Sky Evolution (ASE).

When I migrated to FSX I also upgraded from Active Sky 6 to ASE.

Here is what I found:

If I start ASE first and then SA_WXR then SA_WXR gets stuck at the 'Warm Up' phase. If I then shut down ASE, SA_WXR still gets stuck in the 'Warm Up' phase. If I go into FSX and clear the weather, then SA_WXR works and I can select WX and/or WX + TURB.

If I create live weather within FSX's weather menu, SA_WXR still works fine.

So obviously, it's something to do with ASE. BUT, if I start SA_WXR BEFORE starting ASE, then SA_WXR works fine. So that appears to be the solution, start SA_WXR and turn it on before starting ASE. However, in this test I did not test whether the weather image was sent to the ND of my Project Magenta display in this instance.

I have no idea why this is the case but that is what I am seeing!

Erhard, are you running ASE also?

I'll pop over to HiFi's forums and see whether a similar issue has been reported there.

Thanks Peter and Erhard for your comments.

Kind regards,
Darren

[Peter Dowson]

When I migrated to FSX I also upgraded from Active Sky 6 to ASE.

Yes, I went from ASV6.5 to ASX to ASA and now ASE ...

If I start ASE first and then SA_WXR then SA_WXR gets stuck at the 'Warm Up' phase. If I then shut down ASE, SA_WXR still gets stuck in the 'Warm Up' phase. If I go into FSX and clear the weather, then SA_WXR works and I can select WX and/or WX + TURB.

Hmm. Makes no sense to me. SA_WXR reads the weather. It shouldn't make any difference how the weather is set. The interface through FSUIPC4 is identical no matter what's happening regarding weather inputs or downloads.

My copy of ASE is actually running on the same PC as SA_WXR, but it is running before I start FSX, whilst SA_WXR is started by WideClient on a "RunReady" paramter, so it only starts when FSX is ready to fly. by that time ASX is already feeding in the weather which it had downloaded before FSX even started.

So obviously, it's something to do with ASE. BUT, if I start SA_WXR BEFORE starting ASE, then SA_WXR works fine. So that appears to be the solution, start SA_WXR and turn it on before starting ASE.

Odd that this is the exact opposite of what I'm doing.

You aren't using one of ASE's global weather modes, like Direct Wind control, are you? SA_WXR won't get any different weather to provide a radar if you use that.

Regards
Pete

[Suggy]

Hello, Peter.

My Direct Wind control was enabled and after disenabling it, it 'seems' to have done the trick.

I say 'seems' because there was the odd occasion that SA_WXR was still stuck on 'Warm Up'. However, that seemed to be the exception rather than the rule. So big progress here.

Just like your setup, ASE and SA_WXR run on the same computer and just like you, ASE is always the first programme I run. I also tried running SA_WXR on another client computer (as opposed to the FSX computer) and it worked fine.

The weather was transferred correctly onto the ND.

So a VERY BIG THANK YOU, Peter, to you. Hopefully the Direct Wind control was the problem. I obviously don't understand enough yet how the weather system works. I will have to do a thorough research into that this weekend. I'm finding ASE's interface 'too simple' - I'm still not sure what the big implications are 'behind the scences' of selecting or deselecting a particular variable. I have only had the programme a week or so.

The good news to come out of all this is that whilst I was focused on the weather radar, I finally managed to get the tilt working perfectly using a potentiometer and coded through SIOC (using Opencockpit cards). So now I have a fully functional radar panel in my A320 cockpit. I can turn the radar on, select WX or WX+TURB and adjust the tilt +/- 15 degrees using a pot. So, today hasn't been a total waste.

Hopefully, that's my migration to FSX completed now!!

Once again, Peter, many many thanks. I know you are always inundated with queries, requests etc so it is very much appreciated.

Best wishes,
Darren

[a340-th]

oooppss, seems I had given up too early on SA_WXR.

Thank you very much to both of you, Peter and Darren.

Of course I am running ASE (and Active Sky before), but it never crossed my mind that they would have an influence on SA_WXR even more so as the combination of Active Sky/FS9 and SA_WXR was working well before.

In my case ASE and SA_WXR run on different computers, but I really do not think that this should have an influence.

Something to try out when I get to start the sim on the weekend.

I'll let you know the outcome, in the meantime thanks again to both of you.

[Suggy]

Hello, Erhard.

I look forward to your findings.

Regards,
Darren

[Peter Dowson]

Of course I am running ASE (and Active Sky before), but it never crossed my mind that they would have an influence on SA_WXR even more so as the combination of Active Sky/FS9 and SA_WXR was working well before.
In my case ASE and SA_WXR run on different computers, but I really do not think that this should have an influence.

No, no influence at all.

I think the only problem is the use of those facilities in ASE or ASA which invoke FSX's "Global Weather" mode. The Direct Wind control (DWC) does this, as do some of the smoothing facilities (vis and pressure, i think). They do this because the bugs in the FS weather machine only arise from its faulty interpolation between different weather stations. In Global Weather mode (new to FSX) there are, in effect, no weather stations, only "GLOB" (which is the only "station" for Global weather).

SA_WXR is trying to read the weather for a number of positions or Wx stations around the aircraft, and it gets no response because there isn't any. Only GLOB, which it doesn't read.

Even if it did get a response, the weather it got would be the same everywhere because that's what GLOBAL means!

Regards
Pete