Ring of clear skies along horizon when flying under an overcast.

wxperson · 02-02-2002, 12:55 AM

I love the program but being a meteorologist my biggest gripe is the inability of FS2002 to correctly simulate an overcast sky when flying (or sitting on the ground) UNDER it. Unless the visibilities are very low, there is always a blue (or clear) area that sits about 5-15 degres above the horizon on all sides. This is particularly annoying at dawn and dusk when the sun always shines under the overcast sky.

I read a few posts on this about a month ago and apparently it is being experienced by many folks... and suspect it is a MS BUG.

I sure hope it gets fixed at some point.

George

PS. Flying over an overcast is OK.. Under is the problem. I have played with every setting I could to try to "fix" this but to no avail.

**cat** · 02-02-2002, 02:56 AM

Not possible yet, wx.
Best I can get is full overcast against a high
close mountain range to close the gap.
Peter Sydney Australia

**Kurt_M** · 02-02-2002, 08:01 AM

You might try using a layer of cirrus from ground level to the altitude you want to simulate haze.

these pics had the visibilty at 40 miles under World/weather with (cirrus at 7/8,alt. 421 to 2000, deviation 121/cumulus at 5/8, altitude 2500-4500, deviation 500) Visibilty under Options/settings/display/scenery at 70 miles.
http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...d765a1826f.jpg

http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...ad650782d9.jpg

Play with the settings and you may get something close to what you are looking for.

Kurt

Simon Evans · 02-02-2002, 08:40 AM

Just drop the graduated visibility level to a point that is 500-750 feet ABOVE the cloud layer, instead of the default 100,000 feet.

Simon Evans

wxperson · 02-02-2002, 11:19 AM

HI..

I could not get your suggestion to work.

I set a cumulus cloud layer at 4000' and then set the "graduated vis" to 4500'.

NO change (from the blue horizon).. When I went back into advanced weather.. the Graduated vis was 100,000 again. I did this repeatedly but it would not stick.. Is there a min that this setting has to be at?

Thx,

George

wxperson · 02-02-2002, 11:21 AM

Kurt,

Your suggestion at setting a cirrus layer.. near the ground worked perfectly.. Kinda weird to have to do this (put a cirrus deck near the surface) to make the program work properly but it does give the correct affect. Thanks.

Now if I can only get the FSMETEO to automatically do this kind of fix, I would be in great shape. I like to fly with "real weather".

Thx,

George

Simon Evans · 02-02-2002, 12:32 PM

Sorry, could have been clearer: I use FSUIPC to adjust the visibility settings. You can have a `surface layer` visibility setting in there (gives the same effect as a cirrus layer) and then have the graduated visibility slider take over from a nominal height ASL to a chosen altitude.

Simon Evans

wxperson · 02-02-2002, 03:20 PM

>Sorry, could have been clearer: I
>use FSUIPC to adjust the
>visibility settings. You can have
>a `surface layer` visibility setting
>in there (gives the same
>effect as a cirrus layer)
>and then have the graduated
>visibility slider take over from
>a nominal height ASL to
>a chosen altitude.
>
>Simon Evans

Simon,

I am a little dense on this...

My fsuipc config settings are as follows...

Where is the surface layer visibility setting?

I see the graduatedvisibility option in here but am not sure if this is where I change it?

Finally, do I have to come in here everytime I want to affect the weather settings.. I.E> when I want a high overcast vs. a low one.. do I need to come in here to change settings?

Thanks for your patience.

George

[General]
GenerateRain=No
GenerateCirrus=No
WindShearSharp=Yes
AutoTaxiWind=No
UpperWindGusts=Yes
StormsAutomatic=No
GustsRelative=Yes
GraduatedVisibility=Yes
LowerVisAltitude=6000
UpperVisAltitude=25000
ExtendMetarMaxVis=Yes
PatchWeatherToADV=Yes
PlanLoadNoPosition=No
PatchSimApAlt=Yes
AutoClearWeather=Yes
ApplyVisFix=Yes
WindTransitions=Yes
ExtendTopWind=Yes
WindSmoothness=5
CopyDewPtToDayNightVar=Yes
SmoothPressure=No
PressureSmoothness=5
MaxSurfaceWind=0
WindVarFactor=7
WindLimitLevel=200
WindDiscardLevel=400
WindSetVariance=No
MagWindsToFST=No
WindAjustAltitude=No
WindAjustAltitudeBy=2000
MinimumVisibility=0
MaximumVisibility=2000
MaximumVisibilityFewClouds=6000
UpperVisibility=6000
OneCloudLayer=No
ThinClouds=No
StormProbability=4
StormMinTemp=10
StormParameters=1030530
CloudThinness=1000
CloudTurbulence=No
CloudIcing=No
CloudForJetTrails=No
WindTurbulence=No
SuppressAllGusts=No
ExternalOptionControl=Yes
AutoTuneADF=No
MagicBattery=No
MagicBatteryForced=No
AxisCalibration=No
TCASid=Flight
SendWeatherAlways=No
SendWeatherInterval=60
FixWindows=No
MainMenu=&Modules
SubMenu=&FSUIPC ...

[JoystickCalibration]
FlapsSetControl=0

Simon Evans · 02-02-2002, 03:50 PM

George,

The settings you need can all be accessed from the Modules - FSUIPC-Visibility, no need to faff around in the .ini file:

You first need to adjust `Apply surface visibility limits`, the `clear` and `cloudy` settings on the left hand side - I suggest winding them WAY down from FSUIPC's default 60 and 20 miles repsectively - try 15 and 12 miles for a start and tweak from there.

Leave the `stop visibility going below` at ZERO.

Now move over to the right hand side and in the `set graduated visibility boxes try something like:
2000
8000
and
6000

respectively. That's it...

So what have you achieved?

You have now defined a low-lying visibility layer of between 12 and 15 miles (subject to general cloud cover) from ground level up to 2000 feet (so masking the horizon effect you've noticed).

At that (new, lower) altitude the graduated visibility takes over and slowly increases the available visibility (cloud cover permitting)to 60 miles by 8,000 feet.

In practice, the only bit that needs altering is the `up to this altitude` setting which can be set as I previously said, to a figure a few hundred feet either side of a cloud layer, usually above. It takes a second to do it and because it WILL `stick`, unlike the vis setting in the Weather menu of FS, which seems to have a problem recognising low values, it can be done even after you've got Real Weather - simply identify the lowest cloud layer, then map the upper visibility option to that cloud top (as I said, I add a few hundred feet for prettiness' sake).

As a side result it also gives clear blue skies above the aircraft when the visibility reaches maximum. I don't think the Cirrus mod can do that, without adjusting the visibility independently anyway.

By the way, FSUIPC has just been upgraded to version 2.82...

I've highlighted the .ini mods below in case you want to adjust them from there.

Simon Evans

>
>[General]
>GenerateRain=No
>GenerateCirrus=No
>WindShearSharp=Yes
>AutoTaxiWind=No
>UpperWindGusts=Yes
>StormsAutomatic=No
>GustsRelative=Yes
>GraduatedVisibility=Yes
........LowerVisAltitude=2000
........UpperVisAltitude=8000
>ExtendMetarMaxVis=Yes
>PatchWeatherToADV=Yes
>PlanLoadNoPosition=No
>PatchSimApAlt=Yes
>AutoClearWeather=Yes
>ApplyVisFix=Yes
>WindTransitions=Yes
>ExtendTopWind=Yes
>WindSmoothness=5
>CopyDewPtToDayNightVar=Yes
>SmoothPressure=No
>PressureSmoothness=5
>MaxSurfaceWind=0
>WindVarFactor=7
>WindLimitLevel=200
>WindDiscardLevel=400
>WindSetVariance=No
>MagWindsToFST=No
>WindAjustAltitude=No
>WindAjustAltitudeBy=2000
>MinimumVisibility=0
...........MaximumVisibility=1200
...........MaximumVisibilityFewClouds=1500
>UpperVisibility=6000
>OneCloudLayer=No
>ThinClouds=No
>StormProbability=4
>StormMinTemp=10
>StormParameters=1030530
>CloudThinness=1000
>CloudTurbulence=No
>CloudIcing=No
>CloudForJetTrails=No
>WindTurbulence=No
>SuppressAllGusts=No
>ExternalOptionControl=Yes
>AutoTuneADF=No
>MagicBattery=No
>MagicBatteryForced=No
>AxisCalibration=No
>TCASid=Flight
>SendWeatherAlways=No
>SendWeatherInterval=60
>FixWindows=No
>MainMenu=&Modules
>SubMenu=&FSUIPC ...
>
>[JoystickCalibration]
>FlapsSetControl=0