Live Weather Overview and Locator

Introduction

The Weather Overview/Locator feature is independent of both the simulator and the Live Weather Engine, hence, it can be used without the simulator running and before any weather is generated. The Live Weather Overview/Locator map can also be used with Opus World Weather Themes.

The Weather Overview/Locator can be used to either locate specific weather conditions on the map area that match user specified criteria, or obtain a Weather Overview of the general weather conditions. This is very useful for locating any weather you are interested in globally, or viewing a simple overview of the weather in a specific region of the world.

The weather criteria may be good or bad, based on some very simple user specified weather options. General weather conditions are depicted on the map using coloured dots to indicate good (green),  moderately good (green yellow), moderate (yellow), moderately poor (orange), and poor (red) surface conditions.

Using the Weather Locator

Click on the Wx Locator option within the Server dialog, a Live Weather Overview will be displayed. Click on the Update button to display the current weather conditions. 

The Live Weather Overview/Locator map can be displayed on a client system using the Wx Locator button on the FSICLIENT's main form. The client system must be connected to the FSI SERVER for this feature to function. All METAR downloads are performed on the server system.  

The Live Weather Overview/Locator map's caption displays the local time when the Met Station data was 'Last Updated'. The FSI SERVER program's main Spy window indicates the origin of all METAR updates.

Weather conditions are depicted on the map using coloured dots. GREEN dots represent good conditions, YELLOW-GREEN dots for moderately good conditions, YELLOW dots for moderate conditions, ORANGE dots for moderately poor conditions, and finally RED dots for poor surface conditions.

Hovering the mouse over a met station will display the station ICAO and station name. 

Click the mouse cursor over a met station (using either left or right button) to display the weather station data. After each manual or automated update the Weather Station dialog is updated or removed if the Met Station no longer has a valid weather report. 

Building Live Weather

The Weather option on the main server form will be disabled (grayed out) whenever the Live Weather Engine is building new weather. Dynamic Weather is  constructed slowly in the background to ensure there is no adverse effect on the simulator's performance (frame rates). It generally takes between 30 and 35 seconds to construct new dynamic weather.

You can force a weather update by either opening the Weather dialog and clicking on the Update button, or by selecting Update Dynamic Weather via the OpusFSI option in the simulator's Add-on menu.  Alternatively if you want to revert to a weather theme, select Enable World Weather Theme from the Add-on menu.

Live Weather updating can be temporarily enabled and disabled via the OpusFSI option in the simulator's Add-on menu.

Dynamic Weather Region

Dynamic Weather covers an area of 1280km by 1280km (800 x 800 miles, or 691 x 691 nm) centered on your aircraft's current location.

Weather Data Collection

The METAR data can be loaded via the Internet from either the NOAA (default), VATSIM or IVAO servers. You can even specify to fill in missing data from the VATSIM server. The latest METAR reports for all Met stations within your flying area (weather horizon) are downloaded at the start of the flight, and thereafter either at the user specified update period (default 60 mins) or after you have flown the user specified distance from your previous location.

METARs of course do change periodically, most airports will issue updated METARs half hourly at 20 past and 50 minutes past the hour. However, METARs are also issued at airports any time there is a significant change, that includes changing visibility and cloud layers, especially any changes to cloud coverage and visibility. Other METARs are mostly reported hourly.

Hence, these reports will often contain different cloud coverage data (very usual since the cloud coverage does change frequently). During a weather update, any change in METAR will be reflected in the generated weather. Broken clouds may turn into few clouds, few to broken, clouds may disappear or appear where there were none before etc.

The LWE treats all METARs as gospel and generates the weather and clouds accordingly, so unless you have smoothing enabled don't be too alarmed if after an update your cloud coverage thickens, diminishes, vanishes, or new cloud suddenly appears. So far all the METARS I have seen accurately reflect what is seen out of the window.

Also bear in mind the LWE interpolates the weather, radiating outward from every met station within the weather grid. If a met station reports broken cloud coverage, that coverage will radiate outward. If during a later update the met station is reporting just few clouds then the thick broken cloud will be replaced with few clouds.

If there are no Met stations found within the current weather horizon then the weather horizon is repeatedly expanded by 50% until one or more Met stations are located. In such cases, these stations are projected onto the outer rim of the weather grid and the localized weather within the grid is interpolated from this data.

If you do not like change then either disable weather updates via the simulator's Addon menu, or set the weather update frequency and distance to something like 60 minutes and 400km then YOU decide when you want the weather updated. For example, update the weather prior to takeoff and just before descending. It's up to you. Alternatively you can save the current weather as a World  Weather Theme, when you subsequently load that theme the weather will not change, this is useful for long flights completed over several days.

Weather Data Smoothing

Weather data smoothing prevents abrupt and sudden unrealistic changes in weather as you pass from one weather cell to another.

Mist and Fog Layers

Mist and fog is not depicted very well within the simulator, in fact these layers are not apparent at all from altitude. To improve the visual effect within the simulator, the Live Weather Engine automatically tops the mist and fog layers with a thin layer of stratus cloud with a coverage of 8 octas for mist and fog.  

In P3D simulator mode the Enable Volumetric Fog option is set automatically using the VolumetricFog setting within the Prepar3D.CFG file. If you change this setting during a P3D session then either change the Enable Volumetric Fog Effect in OpusFSI to match P3D or restart OpusFSI.  The Volumetric Fog option is ignored whenever the Microsoft FSX simulator type has been selected.

Low Overcast Effect

Low Overcast Effects come into force whenever the overcast cloud cover is less than about 6000 feet AGL. You must be IN the Low Overcast Effect to see it. Overcast by definition means 90% or more cloud coverage. Don't expect to see solid blanket type overcast when looking vertically downward ... you WILL see transparent holes just like you do in real life until you get IN an OpusFSI Low Overcast Effect (an overcast below 6000 feet).

Cloud Positions and Textures

It is not possible for any software to position the clouds. The simulator does this itself and will reposition the clouds each time the weather is updated irrespective of whether there has been any changes to the cloud layering. No software can stop the cloud repositioning or control it.

It is not possible for any software to select the individual cloud textures or bitmap images for rendering on the screen. This is all done by the simulator. You install the textures you prefer and the simulator selects and displays them to match the cloud layering. The cloud types used will be a mixture depending on a number of factors including weather and season.

Cloud Icing

The LWE will automatically set cloud icing within the cloud to none, low, medium, high, or severe depending on the ambient temperature within the cloud, the cloud type, and the cloud moisture level. Some icing is likely to occur when the ambient temperature is between -20C and 0C, with more noticeable effects when the ambient cloud temperature is between -12C and -8C. All calculated icing effects require valid GRIB forecast data.

Your aircraft has to be configured to handle icing. Many fuel injected aircraft in FSX have the 'carb heat bug', their real counterpart doesn't possess carb heat however FSX will still simulate carb icing and you'll see your engine power drop quite drastically within the first few minutes of flight in icing conditions. Simply pressing the H key will solve this problem. 

Cirrus Cloud Layers

Since high level cirrus cloud is not included within the standard METAR reports, the Live Weather Engine generates a single cirrus cloud layer if the Cirrus Clouds option in the Weather dialog has not been disabled. The cirrus cloud coverage is generated randomly between the configured lower and upper Cirrus Altitude Range. The valid range of altitude settings are from 18,000ft up to 50,000ft (default range is 34,000ft to 44,000ft).

The Auto Cirrus Clouds option will automatically display cirrus cloud whenever it determines the weather is quite changeable possibly due to a weather front. In fairly stable conditions the cirrus cloud will disabled. In flight, the cirrus is reassessed every 80 miles flown.

Winds and Temperatures Aloft

Winds and temperatures aloft may either be downloaded from the GRIB forecast or simulated by the OpusFSI LWE.

GRIB Forecast Winds and Temperatures Aloft

The GRIB forecast data is produced by NOAA and provides a global forecast of atmospheric conditions such as wind speeds, directions, and atmospheric temperatures at various altitudes along with the tropopause. It also provides a forecast of the tropopause height. The GRIB data covers the entire globe at 1 degree latitude and 1 degree longitude precision.

This data is used by the weather engine to determine all the lower and upper atmospheric conditions. The LWE uses the forecasted data to create ambient wind and temperature targets for all different altitudes from FL040 up to FL450, and even a temperature forecast for FL540.

The LWE will use GRIB data to provide realistic real world atmospheric conditions for you within the simulator.

The surface and FL200 through to FL420 targets are displayed within the Upper Atmosphere weather report along with the Tropopause forecast data (height, temp, and wind). The GRIB forecast cycle date and Zulu time code is displayed in the Upper Atmosphere Weather Report window.

Each cycle forecast contains 360 hours (15 days) of forecast data and is typically made available about 9+ hours after the cycle time, on occasions the 0000Z is posted after about 6+ hours. The LWE always tries to load the most recent cycle, and requests the previous cycle if that is not available yet. The GRIB download will automatically revert to downloading the FULL GRIB data file if the selective download from the 'Query' server fails to download any cycle data for the previous 24 hour period. Please note, the world wide GRIB data forecasting cycles are updated less frequently than the North American specific (USA) forecasts. A future update may see us access a variety of GRIB forecast data depending on your current Lat/Lon coordinates, but for now the world wide data will be used as the sole source of GRIB forecasts.

You can follow the process of the GRIB data download in the Spy window and in the Opus Lower and Upper Atmosphere Report windows. If any OpusFSI Weather Report is on display the Live Weather Engine will no longer force or update the sim Lower or Upper Atmosphere reports, instead all GRIB download and progress messages are displayed in red on the second line of all displayed OpusFSI Weather Reports. The procedure will progress through the following stages,

Connecting To The GRIB Server
Downloading The GRIB Data
Extracting The GRIB Data
Decoding The GRIB Data
Reading The GRIB Data
Preparing The Weather Data

The last stage covers both preparing the GRIB data for use in the weather map and also downloading the weather map's METAR data. Whilst the download is in progress the Lower/Upper report windows will indicate how many bytes have been downloaded. The following errors can be reported in the Lower/Upper report windows,

GRIB Forecast Data Disabled At Present
Unable To Connect To The GRIB Server
No Data Available At Present

The first message indicates that the GRIB download is disabled or not required at present. The 'No Data' message is a general error message implying there is no valid data available to prepare the Lower/Upper reports with. If the LWE is 'Unable To Connect To The GRIB Server' then no further cycle downloads will be attempted, but the LWE will attempt to download the expected current cycle during each weather update.  

If the GRIB data hasn't been decoded check your \OpusFSI_v5\FSIDECODER.log file for errors.

The LWE will only download the GRIB data when it determines the current data is out of date (older than 12.5 hours) and a new more accurate forecast cycle is available. In addition the GRIB Data Validity Period allows you to specify the validity period for the downloaded GRIB cycle data between 3  and 240 hours in increments of 3 hours (default 12 hours). You can also specify whether you wish GRIB data to be downloaded and updated in flight or just whilst on the ground before a flight.

After downloading the relatively large GRIB data file the LWE will proceed to extract all the data and then decode the extracted data before downloading the current METAR weather reports for your current 992km x 992km area. Extracting and decoding the GRIB data is a lengthy process, taking about 10 seconds to extract the GRIB data and between 25 and 35 seconds to decode the extracted data.

OpusFSI Simulated Winds Aloft

Unless the upper winds are defined within an import file they are simulated using both the current surface conditions and the prevailing jet stream, trade winds, polar winds, equatorial winds etc. for the aircraft's current latitude. All winds generally increase in speed up to 60,000ft.

OpusFSI Simulated Temperatures Aloft

If you use the Spy facility you will notice we display the Ambient Temperature and Total Air Temperature (TAT) along with the Altitude in feet each time the air temperatures change. You will therefore be able to monitor what the outside air temp is within the sim while you fly. We have tested up to about 85,000 feet. The minimum air temperature within FSX/Prepar3D is always -50 C at about 37,500 feet.

Wind Shear

There are three levels of wind shear at low elevations (< 4000 feet AGL). Wind shear is only associated with reported thunderstorm (TS) or squall (SQ) conditions and requires reported surface winds of at least 20 knots.

Where appropriate a Slight, Moderate, or Severe Wind Shear warning is appended at the end of the QNH pressure line in the Opus Local, Destination, and Alternate Weather Reports, just before the reported surface wind conditions.

Moderate wind shear levels require surface wind speeds of 30 knots or more, severe wind shear levels require surface wind speeds of at least 40 knots and warm conditions (surface temperatures of at least 20C).  

METAR (and non METAR) Station List Corrections and Additions

Four template text files are provided which can be renamed and edited. These new files can be used to specify any corrections or additions to the LWE station list.

The template text files are,

OpusFSI_MetStation_Additions_Template.txt
OpusFSI_Station_Additions_Template.txt

OpusFSI_MetStation_Corrections_Template.txt

OpusFSI_Station_Corrections_Template.txt

Just edit the files and remove the '_Template' suffix from the filename and the LWE will read the content and update its station data each time the FSI SERVER program is started.

If the new station is a met station then add it to the OpusFSI_MetStation_Additions.txt file. Met stations must be known to either NOAA or VATSIM in order for us to extract the METAR. The NOAA station list can be found at  http://aviationweather.gov/static/adds/metars/stations.txt

If the new station is not a met station then enter it in the OpusFSI_Station_Additions.txt file.

For corrections to existing stations edit the OpusFSI_MetStation_Corrections.txt or OpusFSI_Station_Corrections.txt as appropriate.

Master copies of these files will eventually be kept in-house to amend and update the MetStation data file with common changes and additions to the listed NOAA station data.

OpusFSI MetStation Additions

Prior to use please rename your file to OpusFSI_MetStation_Additions.txt.

Enter a list of met station additions in the form,

ICAO  "station_name"  latitude  longitude  elevation

Where

·         the ICAO code always appears at the start of a new line

·         the elevation is specified in feet amsl

·         the lat/lon are entered in the following exact form <compass_direction>degrees minutes (mm.mm)

·         latitude  =  Ndd mm.mm or  Sdd mm.mm   (9 characters)

·         longutude  =  Eddd mm.mm or Wddd mm.mm  (10 characters)

For example,

EGKK  "London Gatwick"   N51 08.88  W000 11.42   196

EGLL  "London Heathrow"  N51 28.65  W000 27.68   80

These additions may also be used as corrections.

OpusFSI Station Additions

Prior to use please rename your file to OpusFSI_Station_Additions.txt

Enter a list of station additions in the form,

ICAO "station_name" latitude_longitude elevation "country" "runways"

 Where

·     the ICAO code always appears at the start of a new line,

·     the elevation is specified in feet amsl, the latitude_longitude is either specified in the free form used in flight plan entries or in the following exact form,

<compass_direction>degrees minutes (mm.mm).

latitude  :  Ndd mm.mm or  Sdd mm.mm   (9 characters)

longutude : Eddd mm.mm or Wddd mm.mm  (10 characters)

For example,

 EGNX "East Midlands" 52.831111N1.328056W 309 "United Kingdom" "9 27"

 EGLL "London Heathrow" N51 28.65 W000 27.68 80 "United Kingdom" "9L 27R 9R 27L"

Additions may also be used as corrections to the current data.

OpusFSI MetStation Corrections

Prior to use please rename your file to OpusFSI_MetStation_Corrections.txt.

Enter a list of met station corrections in the form,

ICAO  "station_name"

Where the ICAO code appears at the start of the line.

For example,

NZWB "Blenheim Woodbourne"

OpusFSI Station Corrections

Prior to use please rename your file to OpusFSI_Station_Corrections.txt

Enter a list of station corrections in the form,

ICAO  "station_name"

Where the ICAO code appears at the start of the line

For example,

NZWB "Blenheim Woodbourne"

Turbulence and Dynamic Head Movement (DHM)

General DHM Options can be found in the FSI SERVER's Configuration dialog. These options allow general DHM and associated 'Bump Aircraft' turbulence to be enabled for VC view modes, 2D view modes, and custom view modes without needing the Live Camera interface to set up camera views. General DHM settings are not used when Live Camera is enabled.

Separate options are provided to enable the general DHM and aircraft turbulence for VC view modes, 2D view modes, and custom view modes. Each view mode has its own configurable DHM and Bump Aircraft settings that can be adjusted by you to suit your system or personal taste. These General DHM Options employ real life captured 3D accelerometer data with options to reference either the light or heavy aircraft data sets. All turbulence effects are supervised by the Live Weather Engine (LWE) which considers numerous meteorological and ambient conditions. 

Refer to the Live Camera guide for a description of the DHM and aircraft turbulence settings.

OpusFSI Site Effects

The localised Site Effects are additional effects, additional to the normal real time non-localised turbulence, clear air turbulence and wind shear which are determined solely on the basis of local meteorological conditions. All sites covered by the standard Opus Site Effects can be found listed in the OpusFSI_Site_Effects_List.txt text file.

Site Effects relate to your point of departure and destination ICAO.

You can specify your own Site Effects, whether real or not. You can even override the standard OpusFSI site effects if you wish. A template file is provided in \OpusFSI_v5\OpusFSI_User_Effects_Template.txt, just copy this to OpusFSI_User_Effects.txt and add the new effects. 

Comments can be added to the file by starting the line with a ; character.  

N.B. If you make adjustments to this file you must restart OpusFSI for the changes to come into effect.

User Site Effects

Enter a site ICAO (e.g. Site = EGKK) followed by a list of one or more optional conditions.

You can enter multiple sets of conditions for a site, for example where you have obstacles on the approach to an airfield and also close to the runway.

e.g.

; EGKK Gatwick London

; Turbulence due to high ground to the S and SE, between 3 and 8 nm from the airport

; between 0 to 2000 feet AGL.

Site = EGKK

Direction = S SE

Distance = 3 8 nm

Elevation = 0 2000

Turbulence = 1

; EGKK Gatwick London

; Turbulence due to trees to the W of RW08 between 1 and 4 nm from the airport

Site = EGKK

Runway = 08          ;30 degrees either side of RW08

Distance = 1 4 nm

Turbulence = 1

Turbulence and Wind Shear

The Turbulence and Wind Shear factors are interpreted as follows,

 0 = No Increased Effect

 1 = Slight Increased Effect

 2 = Moderate Increased Effect

 3 = Severely Increased Effect  

e.g.

; EGKK Gatwick London

; Turbulence due to trees to the W of RW08 between 1 and 4 nm from the airport

Site = EGKK

Runway = 08          ;defaults to 30 degrees either side of RW08

Distance = 1 4 nm

Turbulence = 1

In the case of Wind Shear, the normal effects require thunderstorm or squalls to be reported at the location. All increased levels permit some wind shear when any TCU or rain bearing storm clouds are present. The higher the level the greater the effect. Wind shears are always relevant to the whole surrounding area. In other words, they are not restricted by the specified conditions with the possible exception of Distance.

All increased turbulence effects are graduated as you enter or leave a defined zone based on the Distance, Bearing, Elevation, Wind Speed and Temperature conditions. The graduation is based on 15% of the specified range.

For example, if you specify a temperature condition of 20 degrees C with a Severe increase in turbulence (level 3) then when the surface temperature reaches 20C there will be a slight increase, at 23C there will be a moderate increase, and at or above 26C there will be the full severe increase.

If you specify a Bearing from 0 to 90 with a Severe increase in turbulence then when your bearing gets within 0 or 90 degrees from the airport location there will be a slight increase, when you get within a bearing of 13.5 or 76.5 degrees there will be a moderate increase, and within the central bearing of between 27 and 63 degrees there will be the full severe increase.

Runway

If the effect is limited to a certain runway then enter this condition using the two digit runway designation. If you specify a Runway the software will calculate an appropriate bearing from and to the station based on the specified runway heading +- 30 degrees. 

Runway codes can be specified with an optional L (left) or R (right) suffix. In which case the resulting From and To Bearings will be biased toward the specified runway approach radial. For example, 'Runway = 16L' would be equivalent to setting 'Bearing = 150,190', and 'Runway = 16R' would be equivalent to setting 'Bearing = 130,170'.

If you specify a Runway then do not specify a Direction or Bearing.

e.g. Runway = 16  ; Bearing 130 to 190

e.g. Runway = 16L ; Bearing 150 to 190

e.g. Runway = 16R ; Bearing 130 to 170

Location of an obstacle or high ground, Distance, Direction/Bearing and Elevation

You can specify where an obstacle such as trees or high ground is by specifying a distance and either compass directions or bearings. You can also specify conditional elevations, the default range is 0 to 18,000 feet AGL.

If you specify a Direction from and to (from the station) the software will convert it to a bearing from and to. You can use compass points N,NNE,NE,ENE,E etc, for the Direction, the decoder will automatically extend the specified directions/bearings by 30 degrees either side to allow for graduation.

The distance (0 to 80) defaults to km and can also be specified in nm or sm by including the units after the distance.

e.g.

; EGKK Gatwick London

; Turbulence due to trees to the W of RW08 between 1 and 4 nm from the airport

Site = EGKK

Runway = 08          ;30 degrees either side of RW08

Distance = 1 4 nm

Turbulence = 1

or,

; EGKK Gatwick London

; Turbulence due to trees to the W of RW08 between 1 and 4 nm from the airport

Site = EGKK

Bearing = 40,120     ;40 degrees either side of RW08

Distance = 1 4 nm

Turbulence = 1

e.g.

; EGKK Gatwick London

; Turbulence due to high ground to the S and SE, between 3 and 8 nm from the airport

; between 0 to 2000 feet AGL.

Site = EGKK

Direction = S SE

Distance = 3 8 nm

Elevation = 0 2000

Turbulence = 1

Conditional Wind Direction and/or Wind Speed

If the effect is conditional on the prevailing wind direction and/or wind speed then specify that using the Wind Direction and Wind Speed conditions.

You can specify two compass points as general wind directions instead of specific directions.

e.g.  Wind Direction = SSW SW

The two directions, approx 202 to 235 degrees, would be converted to 172 to 265 degrees, allowing a 15% and 30% graduated effect within this specified range.

You could also enter a wind direction of SW, the decoder will convert this to a from/to a range of 205 and 265 (i.e. adding +- 30 degrees to the general direction).

The wind speed is in knots. The speed relates to light aircraft and is automatically increased by 10 knots if heavy aircraft is specified in the DHM parameters. The effect is graduated so you will get a slight increase at that speed limit, a moderate increase at the speed + 20%, and the full severe (if specified) increase at speed + 40%.

For example assuming a setting of 15 knots and a severe turbulence level 3 specified ...

For light aircraft we would get ...

Slight turbulence at 15 knots,

Moderate turbulence at 18 knots,

Severe turbulence at 21 knots and above.

For heavy aircraft we would get ...

Slight turbulence at 25 knots,

Moderate turbulence at 30 knots,

Severe turbulence at 35 knots and above.  

e.g.

; EGNX East Midlands

; Moderate turbulence and slight wind shear on RW09 in southerly winds above 15 kts

Site = EGNX

Runway = 09

Elevation = 0 3000

Wind Direction = S   ;30 degrees either side of S

Wind Speed = 15

Turbulence = 2

Wind Shear = 1

or,

; EGNX East Midlands

; Moderate turbulence and slight wind shear on RW09 in southerly winds above 15 kts

Site = EGNX

Runway = 09

Elevation = 0 3000

Wind Direction = 140 220   ;40 degrees either side of S

Wind Speed = 15

Turbulence = 2

Wind Shear = 1

Conditional Temperature

If the effect is conditional on the temperature then specify that using the Temperature condition specified in degrees C.

e.g.

; Turbulence in temperatures above 25 degrees C

Temperature = 25

Turbulence = 1

Example User Effects file <OpusFSI_v5>\OpusFSI_User_Effects.txt, 

;------------------------------------------------------------------------

;                          OpusFSI Site Effects

;

; Enter a list of enhanced site effects each effect must contain the Site

; description (with ICAO code) followed by any relevant conditions and

; increased effects levels,

;

; Site = ICAO code

;

; Conditions and effects ...

;

; Runway = 00 to 36

; Direction = from to

; Bearing = from to

; Distance = from to km/nm/sm

; Elevation = from to

; Wind Direction = from to

; Wind Speed = from

; Temperature = from

; Turbulence = 0 to 3

; Wind Shear = 0 to 3

;

; Defaults ...

;

; Runway = XX

; Direction = 0 360

; Bearing = 0 360

; Distance = 0 8 (Default km)

; Elevation = 0 18000

; Wind Direction = 0 360

; Wind Speed = 0

; Temperature = -99

; Turbulence = 0

; Wind Shear = 0

;

; Where,

;

; Runways are specified using their two digit designation.

; Directions from the Site are in degrees true (0,360 = all directions)

; Bearings to the Site are in degrees true (0,360 = all directions)

; Distances (in units of km, nm, or sm) can range from 0 to 128km.

; Elevations are in feet AGL (0,18000 = covers all lower levels)

; Wind Directions are in degrees true (0,360 = all wind directions)

; Wind Speeds are in knots

; Temperatures are in degrees C

;

; Directions, Bearings, and Wind Directions can also be specified using

; cardinal directions (i.e. compass points N,NNE,NE,ENE,E,etc.). In such

; cases the 'To' compass point is optional.

;

; The Turbulence and Wind Shear factors are interpreted as follows,

;

; 0 = No Increased Effect

; 1 = Slight Increased Effect

; 2 = Moderate Increased Effect

; 3 = Severely Increased Effect

;

; In the case of Wind Shear, the normal effects require thunderstorm or

; squalls to be reported at the location. All increased levels permit some

; wind shear when any TCU or rain bearing storm clouds are present. The

; higher the level the greater the effect. Wind shears are always relevant

; to the whole surrounding area. In other words, they are not restricted

; by the specified conditions with the possible exception of Distance.

;

; All increased turbulence effects are graduated as you enter or leave a

; defined zone based on the Distance, Bearing, Elevation, Wind Speed and

; Temperature conditions.

;------------------------------------------------------------------------

;

; Guidelines,

;

; General Turbulence ... 4 nm, 2000 ft

; General Wind Shear ... 4 nm, 3000 ft

; Buildings & Trees .... 2 nm, 1500 ft

; Final Approach ....... 3 km, 1500 ft

; EGKK Gatwick London

; Turbulence and wind shear on RW26 in strong S and SW winds

Site = EGKK

Runway = 26

Distance = 0 4 nm

Elevation = 0 1000

Wind Direction = S SW

Wind Speed = 15

Turbulence = 2

Wind Shear = 1

; EGKK Gatwick London

; Turbulence due to trees to the W of RW08

Site = EGKK

Runway = 08

Distance = 1 4 nm

Elevation = 0 1000

Wind Speed = 15

Turbulence = 1

; EGKK Gatwick London

; Turbulence due to high ground to the S and SE

Site = EGKK

Distance = 3 8 nm

Direction = S SE

Elevation = 0 2000

Wind Speed = 12

Turbulence = 1

; EGNX East Midlands

; Turbulence and wind shear on RW09 in strong southerly winds

Site = EGNX

Runway = 09

Elevation = 0 3000

Wind Direction = S

Wind Speed = 15

Turbulence = 2

Wind Shear = 1

Testing Site Effects

You can test any of your specified effects using a GLOB imported METAR to specify the weather, using Slew mode to raise the aircraft off the ground and position it on the approach, or simulate an approach. It is helpful to temporarily disable DHM when using slew mode. You must of course specify the Destination in the Weather dialog and Update the weather. It is best with FSX in windowed mode so you can have the Spy window open at the time. The number of Opus and User Site Effects is displayed in the Spy window immediately after the current device list. The Total number of effects takes into account any Opus effects that have been replaced by your definitions. The LWE displays the results of all site related turbulence changes in the window, identifying which site effect factored in the most.

For example, Site Effect 4: Turbulence Increase 2

You can keep refreshing the Destination Weather Report to see what the calculated bearing and distance is to the site, that will also give you some idea how far the end of the runway is from the site's defined latitude and longitude position.

Flight Planning Assistant Reports

Reports may be selected from the sim Add-ons menu. The reports include,

·         Sim Weather Reports using the simulator's own text menu window,

·         Opus Weather Reports using OpusFSI Weather Report windows,

·         OpusWeather (METARs),

·         OpusWeatherReport (GRIB Data),

·         OpusFlightReport (Flight Plan),

·         OpusSidStarReport (SIDs and STARs)  

The weather, maps and reports can be generated before the flight has been loaded provided a flight plan has been specified, identifying the point of departure. The weather generation will be a slow process whenever the simulator is not running (due to SimConnect delays), fastest when the simulator is running and the flight has not been loaded (i.e. with the start up screen displayed or minimised).

Sim Weather Reports

The Sim Weather Report is a transparent menu displayed within the sim's own text menu window,

The Shortcut Controls in the Server dialog enable you to configure key/button assignments to display and cycle through Weather Reports. Refer to the User Guide for further details.  

The report selection window provides links to the Local Area Weather Report, Lower Atmosphere Weather Report, Upper Atmosphere Weather Report, the Flight Plan En Route Report, the Destination report and four Alternate met station reports.

The weather report windows indicate 'No Weather Available At Present' if the LWE hasn't generated or updated the weather at the time.  

The distance to the destination and alternates is displayed in both km and nautical miles. You must be within 640km (400 miles) of the station to view the report.

If you reconfigure any of the ICAO codes in the Weather dialog during flight then you must re-display the weather report window.

The report selection window can be manually undocked and re-positioned on multi-screened PCs.

Either click on an option or enter the relevant number to display the required report or exit the menu.

The Local Area Weather Report, Destination report and four Alternate met station reports provide an overview of the target meteorological conditions for your chosen location and, if there is room, show the targets for the upper (above FL200) ambient temperature (SAT), ambient wind direction and speed, also the current ambient air temperature and TAT inside the simulator. The idea being, you can use these report windows to monitor the temperatures and above FL200 compare the target temperatures and winds with the actual.

These reports can be used in place of ATIS and are accurate out to the edge of the weather map 640km (about 400 miles or 345nm). You can use this feature to check the weather and wind direction at non-ATIS airstrips.

All weather reports have a Live (dynamic weather update), Imported (METAR File Import), Historic or Disabled (LWE currently disabled) indication in the title line. The ICAO codes and where appropriate the station names are listed within each of the weather report windows together with the distance to the station. The distances, displayed in both km and nautical miles, will update when you cross into a new weather cell. The (m) displayed before the ICAO code signifies a METAR is available for the location, (r) signifies Relocated Weather mode has been enabled. If zero METARs are reported then it means there are no met stations in your current weather cell, that is within 5 to 10 miles of you.

Where appropriate the METAR time code (DDHHMMZ) is displayed in the first line, containing the reported QNH pressure. The METAR time code is only displayed within a weather report if there is a single METAR for the location. Stabilised pressures are depicted using the phrase 'Static' whenever they are applicable indicating that pressure stabilization has been configured in the Weather Smoothing dialog. In those circumstances the pressures are stabilised (static) between weather updates to prevent FSX wind shift problems.

Where appropriate a Slight, Moderate, or Severe Wind Shear warning is appended at the end of the QNH pressure line in the Opus Local, Destination, and Alternate Weather Reports, just before the reported surface wind conditions.

The Destination Weather Report will have an Actual label appended after the QNH whenever the Destination weather has been checked and verified 'inside' the simulator. Hence, the label confirms that the Destination weather inside the simulator matches the Opus on-screen Destination Weather Report. This will generally occur once you are airborne and within 200km of your Destination.

Surface winds are depicted as 'Wind XXX at XX knots' within the weather reports. You will see Variable and Gusting XX messages after the Wind statement indicating variable wind directions and gusty surface conditions, the XX giving the max gust wind speed in knots.

If (pseudo effect) is displayed after a cloud layer it's just to remind you that that cloud layer is a fake layer that has been added by the LWE to produce the fog or mist effect which tops the fog/mist layer with a thin stratus cloud so that you can see it from above, otherwise the sim is unable to depict the poor vis surface layer. So don't expect to see it in the corresponding METAR statement. Visibility is displayed in both metres and statute miles.

If Magnetic Variation is enabled (Weather's User Preferences dialog) then there will be a difference between the reported wind directions METAR and GRIB forecast data which always report directions with respect to True North and the current wind directions within the simulator and reported by ATIS which are always Magnetic directions. To assist the pilot, the LWE will show the current Magnetic Variation in the local weather report windows, displayed in the form 'MagVar XX.X' at the end of the surface wind information. You must ADD this value to all wind directions to convert them to Magnetic directions at the current location. Please note, OpusFSI cannot show the Magnetic Variation at the Destination or Alternate sites, only at your current location in the simulated world.

If you have specified a Cruise Altitude then the report will include the target cruise altitude wind direction, speed and ambient temperature displayed in the form 'Cruise ddd/ss tempC'. Unknown temperature and dew points are shown as ??.  

Reports will append an (S) label to all cloud descriptions to inform you that Cloud Smoothing is in force at that location and the listed cloud layers may therefore differ from what is displayed in the simulator.

The Local Area Weather Report conditions are the target meteorological conditions for your current 16km square weather cell. Even though the targets are assigned to weather cells, they are in fact assigned to single points within the simulator. In flight, the defined point for the weather cell can be over 10 miles away from your aircraft's current position. Furthermore the target weather will naturally spill over into adjacent cells, hence the weather you see out of the cockpit may match more closely with the weather assigned to an adjacent cell and not the reported cell. Please keep this point in mind when using the Local Area Weather Report whilst airborne.

The Upper and Lower Atmosphere Weather Reports are valid if you have enabled the option to Enable GRIB Forecast in the Weather dialog's Download Weather Options. If it is not enabled you will see the message "GRIB Forecast Data Disabled At Present".

The Lower Atmosphere Weather Report displays the surface and FL040 through to FL180 targets along with the current temperature and wind target. Click anywhere to return to the main report selection window.  

The Upper Atmosphere Weather Report displays the GRIB forecast cycle date and Zulu time code as the first item on the list together with the Tropopause forecast data (height, temp, and wind), surface and FL200 through to FL420 targets along with the current temperature and wind target. Click anywhere to return to the main report selection window.

Please note, the world wide GRIB data forecasting cycles are updated at approximately the same time as  the North American specific (USA) forecasts and it can take between 6 and 9 hours for them to update a cycle.

The raw GRIB data is shown in the Upper Weather Report window whenever either of the Sim Friendly GRIB options are ticked (Wind or Temperature).

The Flight Plan En Route Weather Reports lists all identified met stations extracted from the flight plan, alternatively if you don't have a flight plan then any specified Destination and Alternate met stations are listed. Select the required station from the list to display the current reported weather at that site. The report displays the navigation points associated with each listed Met station, these are appended to each line as [navpnt]. At present only the first associated navigation point is shown even though the same Met station may be common to a multiple, normally consecutive, group of navigation points.

If you change the flight plan the weather report may list Met stations as (Not Updated) indicating that a weather update is needed in order to request and download the new METARs.

The Local, Destination and Alternate Weather Reports include the available runways and elevation in both feet and metres. The information is displayed immediately following the surface wind data. The runways are listed in the preferred order of use based on the current surface wind.

The runway data is obtained from the Navigraph SIDSTARS NAVDATA. If you don't have a subscription to Navigraph then you can use the PMDG NAVDATA (the SIDSTARS Navigraph text files). The location of your NAVDATA folder must be identified in the Flight Plan Options dialog using the appropriate (FSX or P3D) Browse button (e.g. F:\FSX\PMDG\NAVDATA\).

Opus Weather Reports  

As an alternative to the Sim Weather Reports if you wish to display weather report information inside or outside the sim you can use the Opus Weather Reports. Each time you select the Opus Weather Reports option it will open an additional Weather Report window,

The FSI SERVER allows up to nine Weather Report windows to be opened and sized/positioned anywhere on a single or multi-screen system. You can change the font, font style and font size to suit your own screen resolution. The OpusFSI Weather Reports can be displayed either using the Wx Report button on the FSI SERVER form or using the 'Opus Weather Reports' option via the simulator's Add-ons Menu. If any OpusFSI Weather Report is on display the Live Weather Engine will no longer force or update the sim Lower or Upper Atmosphere reports. Instead all GRIB download and progress messages are displayed in red on the second line of all displayed OpusFSI Weather Reports. Provision has been made to display other useful information and messages on the second line of the OpusFSI Wx Reports. The destination weather report includes the available runways and radio and navigation frequencies.

On program startup the first four OpusFSI Weather Reports are primed to display the Local Weather, Lower Atmosphere, Upper Atmosphere, and Destination Weather respectively. The remaining reports are primed to open with the Weather Report Main Menu on display. 

The Options button can be used to specify the following OpusFSI Weather Report options,

Top Most - Displays an OpusFSI Weather Report form top most on the screen.
Opacity - Specifies the opacity for an OpusFSI Weather Report form.
Font - Specifies the display font for an OpusFSI Weather Report form.

Set Defaults - Restores all OpusFSI size, font, topmost, and opacity defaults for the current report form. By default the font is set to "Courier New, 9 point", topmost is set to true, and opacity set to 100%. The form size is adjusted to give the minimal footprint for all report formats.

After specifying the above you may choose to 'Modify' the current report form, or click on 'Modify All' to change all OpusFSI Weather Report forms. The 'Resize' checkbox can be used to resize all forms the current form's size.

Specifying both Top Most and an Opacity less than 100% will allow the OpusFSI Weather Report form to be sized, positioned, and displayed over the simulator's main display. This will be found helpful when operating the simulator in Maximised or Full Screen mode.

Text Reports  

The other sim Add-ons menu options are text reports displayed within the default text editor program. To change the default text editor program just right click on any .txt file and select the Open with option then select the Choose default program.. option and select Notepad or the default program you want to be used to view the .txt files.

OpusWeather (METARs)

A detailed METAR report (including TAFs if you have enabled them in the Weather Download dialog) for the weather map (800 x 800 miles) is generated each time the weather is updated. Your local Met station is displayed together with your  current distance from the station. Any specified Destination and Alternate sites are appended to the OpusWeather.txt report file. The report is saved in the text file <OpusFSI_v5>\Weather\OpusWeather.txt where <OpusFSI_v5> identifies your OpusFSI_v5 installation folder.

Example OpusWeather.txt,

OpusFSI Downloaded METARs, Software Version 5.00.0  Beta

Downloaded 29 January 2017, 16:13 Hrs - Live

Simulator 29 January 2017, 15:12 Zulu

Local MetStn : EHAM, AMSTERDAM/SCHIPH, Distance 2.4 km

EHAM 210825Z 12006KT CAVOK M01/M03 Q1012 NOSIG
EBAW 210820Z 11007KT CAVOK M01/M04 Q1011 NOSIG
EBBE 210822Z 10007KT 7000 SCT100 BKN150 M01/M04 Q1010 WHT WHT BECMG BLU
...
LSZH 210820Z 05006KT 020V100 6000 FEW010 OVC012 01/M01 Q1008 NOSIG
LSZR 210820Z 09003KT 4500 BR FEW010 M02/M02 Q1009 NOSIG RMK D

506 MetStns, 290 Metars Available

Flight Plan METARs ...

KVBG 210755Z AUTO 03003KT 10SM CLR 12/06 A3000 RMK AO2 SLP149 T01220056 401830100 TSNO
KLPC 210815Z AUTO 00000KT 3SM BKN002 06/03 A2999 RMK AO1
KSMX 210751Z AUTO 28004KT 10SM CLR 12/05 A3000 RMK AO2 SLP163 T01170050 402060089 TSNO

3 Metars Downloaded

4 MetStns, 3 Metars Available

OpusFSI Flight Plan Weather Report, Software Version 5.00.0 Beta

Generated 29 January 2017, 16:09 Hrs - Live

Simulator 29 January 2017, 15:09 Zulu

Plan:

EGKK MID KENET DOBEM RETSI MONTY KEGUN EGGP

Route:

EGKK LONDON/GATWICK A Lat 51.148056 Lon -0.190278 Met Stn United Kingdom
MID MIDHURST Lat 51.053889 Lon -0.625000 Nav Aid Freq 114.000
KENET KENET Lat 51.520556 Lon -1.455000 Way Pnt 
DOBEM DOBEM Lat 51.869445 Lon -2.929167 Way Pnt 
RETSI RETSI Lat 52.511667 Lon -2.875834 Way Pnt 
MONTY MONTY Lat 52.892778 Lon -3.173889 Way Pnt 
KEGUN KEGUN Lat 53.192500 Lon -3.150278 Way Pnt 
EGGP LIVERPOOL AIRPOR Lat 53.334179 Lon -2.847404 Met Stn United Kingdom
EGNX EAST MIDLANDS Lat 52.831111 Lon -1.328056 Met Stn Alternate

Averages:

FL040 Wind 276/14 Temp -1C
FL050 Wind 281/14 Temp -2C
FL060 Wind 287/15 Temp -4C
FL070 Wind 295/17 Temp -6C
FL080 Wind 303/19 Temp -7C Cruise Altitude
FL090 Wind 310/23 Temp -7C
...

FL430 Wind 338/88 Temp -68C
FL440 Wind 339/85 Temp -68C

Weather:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
EGKK LONDON/GATWICK A 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
FL040 325/10 -2C FL050 324/11 -3C FL060 323/12 -5C
FL070 324/14 -7C FL080 328/16 -9C FL090 333/18 -10C
FL100 340/21 -11C FL110 342/27 -12C FL120 344/33 -12C
FL130 344/38 -13C FL140 343/43 -14C FL150 342/47 -15C
FL160 342/51 -16C FL170 342/53 -18C FL180 342/55 -20C
FL190 343/57 -22C FL200 344/63 -23C FL210 345/65 -24C
FL220 346/68 -26C FL230 348/71 -28C FL240 349/74 -30C
FL250 349/77 -32C FL260 349/81 -34C FL270 349/84 -36C
FL280 348/88 -37C FL290 348/92 -39C FL300 347/96 -41C
FL310 347/100 -43C FL320 348/103 -45C FL330 349/106 -47C
FL340 349/109 -50C FL350 350/111 -52C FL360 350/112 -55C
FL370 350/112 -57C FL380 350/113 -60C FL390 350/113 -62C
FL400 350/109 -64C FL410 350/105 -66C FL420 351/100 -67C
FL430 351/91 -67C FL440 352/86 -66C

EGKK, LONDON/GATWICK A, At Location, 090850Z
Wind 180/2 Temp 0/-1 Vis 32000m (19.9 miles) QNH 1029mb (30.39in)

EGKB, BIGGIN HILL, 26km (14nm), NE 037, 090850Z
Wind 190/4 Temp 1/-1 Vis 32000m (19.9 miles) QNH 1029mb (30.39in)

EGKA, SHOREHAM-BY-SEA, 36km (19nm), SSW 192, 090850Z
Wind 000/0 Temp -2/-3 Vis 32000m (19.9 miles) QNH 1030mb (30.42in)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
MID MIDHURST 32km (17nm), WSW 251, Total 32km (17nm)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
FL040 325/10 -2C FL050 324/11 -3C FL060 323/12 -5C
FL070 324/14 -7C FL080 328/16 -9C FL090 333/18 -10C
FL100 340/21 -11C FL110 342/27 -12C FL120 344/33 -12C
FL130 344/38 -13C FL140 343/43 -14C FL150 342/47 -15C
FL160 342/51 -16C FL170 342/53 -18C FL180 342/55 -20C
FL190 343/57 -22C FL200 344/63 -23C FL210 345/65 -24C
FL220 346/68 -26C FL230 348/71 -28C FL240 349/74 -30C
FL250 349/77 -32C FL260 349/81 -34C FL270 349/84 -36C
FL280 348/88 -37C FL290 348/92 -39C FL300 347/96 -41C
FL310 347/100 -43C FL320 348/103 -45C FL330 349/106 -47C
FL340 349/109 -50C FL350 350/111 -52C FL360 350/112 -55C
FL370 350/112 -57C FL380 350/113 -60C FL390 350/113 -62C
FL400 350/109 -64C FL410 350/105 -66C FL420 351/100 -67C
FL430 351/91 -67C FL440 352/86 -66C

EGLF, FARNBOROUGH, 27km (14nm), NNW 336, 090850Z
Wind 150/2 Temp -2/-2 Vis 32000m (19.9 miles) QNH 1029mb (30.39in)

EGVO, ODIHAM RAF, 30km (16nm), NW 312, 090850Z
Wind 200/5 Temp 0/-1 Vis 32000m (19.9 miles) QNH 1028mb (30.36in)

EGKK, LONDON/GATWICK A, 32km (17nm), ENE 070, 090850Z
Wind 180/2 Temp 0/-1 Vis 32000m (19.9 miles) QNH 1029mb (30.39in)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
KENET KENET 78km (42nm), NW 312, Total 110km (59nm)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
FL040 306/10 -2C FL050 304/11 -3C FL060 305/12 -5C
FL070 308/13 -6C FL080 315/14 -8C FL090 322/17 -9C
FL100 330/22 -10C FL110 333/28 -11C FL120 337/34 -11C
FL130 337/40 -12C FL140 338/46 -13C FL150 338/50 -14C
FL160 338/53 -15C FL170 338/55 -17C FL180 338/56 -19C
FL190 339/58 -21C FL200 341/60 -22C FL210 343/62 -24C
FL220 344/64 -26C FL230 345/67 -28C FL240 346/69 -29C
FL250 346/72 -31C FL260 346/75 -33C FL270 345/79 -34C
FL280 344/83 -36C FL290 344/87 -38C FL300 343/91 -40C
FL310 343/94 -43C FL320 344/96 -45C FL330 345/99 -47C
FL340 346/101 -49C FL350 346/103 -52C FL360 346/105 -55C
FL370 346/107 -57C FL380 346/109 -60C FL390 346/111 -62C
FL400 346/107 -64C FL410 347/103 -66C FL420 347/99 -67C
FL430 348/92 -68C FL440 349/88 -67C

EGVN, BRIZE NORTON RAF, 27km (15nm), NNW 340, 090850Z
Wind 000/0 Temp -1/-1 Vis 32000m (19.9 miles) QNH 1027mb (30.33in)

EGUB, BENSON RAF, 27km (15nm), ENE 066, 090850Z
Wind 170/6 Temp 0/0 Vis 32000m (19.9 miles) QNH 1028mb (30.36in)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
DOBEM DOBEM 109km (59nm), WNW 291, Total 218km (118nm)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
FL040 265/16 -1C FL050 272/15 -2C FL060 284/16 -3C
FL070 295/19 -5C FL080 305/23 -6C FL090 312/27 -6C
FL100 318/31 -6C FL110 322/35 -7C FL120 326/40 -8C
FL130 326/46 -10C FL140 326/51 -11C FL150 326/56 -13C
FL160 326/61 -15C FL170 326/63 -17C FL180 326/64 -19C
FL190 327/65 -21C FL200 329/55 -22C FL210 326/53 -24C
FL220 325/57 -25C FL230 324/60 -27C FL240 324/64 -28C
FL250 326/69 -30C FL260 328/73 -31C FL270 329/77 -32C
FL280 329/81 -35C FL290 328/84 -37C FL300 328/88 -39C
FL310 328/89 -41C FL320 330/90 -44C FL330 331/90 -46C
FL340 333/91 -48C FL350 334/92 -51C FL360 334/94 -54C
FL370 335/96 -56C FL380 335/98 -59C FL390 335/100 -62C
FL400 336/97 -64C FL410 336/93 -66C FL420 336/90 -68C
FL430 336/87 -70C FL440 337/84 -70C

EGBJ, STAVERTON (PRIVA, 52km (28nm), E 086, 090850Z
Wind 000/0 Temp 2/1 Vis 32000m (19.9 miles) QNH 1027mb (30.33in)
Few at 4000 feet

EGGD, BRISTOL/LULSGATE, 56km (30nm), SSE 164, 090850Z
Wind 200/7, Variable 165/235 Temp 3/1 Vis 32000m (19.9 miles) QNH 1028mb (30.36in)
Scattered at 2900 feet

EGFF, CARDIFF-WALES AR, 60km (32nm), SSW 208, 090850Z
Wind 220/10 Temp 7/4 Vis 32000m (19.9 miles) QNH 1027mb (30.33in)
Scattered at 3400 feet

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
RETSI RETSI 72km (39nm), N 002, Total 290km (157nm)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
FL040 255/18 -1C FL050 264/16 -2C FL060 275/17 -3C
FL070 285/20 -5C FL080 294/23 -6C FL090 301/27 -6C
FL100 308/30 -6C FL110 313/34 -7C FL120 318/39 -8C
FL130 318/44 -10C FL140 319/50 -12C FL150 319/55 -14C
FL160 319/60 -15C FL170 320/61 -17C FL180 320/62 -19C
FL190 321/63 -21C FL200 323/53 -22C FL210 320/51 -24C
FL220 319/54 -26C FL230 317/58 -28C FL240 316/61 -29C
FL250 318/66 -31C FL260 321/71 -32C FL270 322/76 -33C
FL280 322/80 -35C FL290 321/84 -37C FL300 321/88 -39C
FL310 321/90 -42C FL320 323/91 -44C FL330 324/92 -46C
FL340 325/94 -48C FL350 326/95 -51C FL360 326/97 -54C
FL370 327/98 -57C FL380 327/100 -59C FL390 328/101 -62C
FL400 328/97 -64C FL410 329/94 -66C FL420 329/90 -67C
FL430 330/86 -69C FL440 331/83 -69C

EGOS, SHAWBURY RAF, 35km (19nm), NNE 023, 090850Z
Wind 170/11 Temp 4/1 Vis 32000m (19.9 miles) QNH 1023mb (30.21in)

EGWC, COSFORD RAF, 41km (22nm), ENE 069, 090850Z
Wind 170/5 Temp 1/-1 Vis 32000m (19.9 miles) QNH 1026mb (30.30in)
Few at 2000 feet

EGNR, HAWARDEN (AUT), 74km (40nm), N 354, 090850Z
Wind 160/10 Temp 4/2 Vis 32000m (19.9 miles) QNH 1023mb (30.21in)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
MONTY MONTY 47km (25nm), NNW 334, Total 337km (182nm)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
FL040 255/18 -1C FL050 264/16 -2C FL060 275/17 -3C
FL070 285/20 -5C FL080 294/23 -6C FL090 301/27 -6C
FL100 308/30 -6C FL110 313/34 -7C FL120 318/39 -8C
FL130 318/44 -10C FL140 319/50 -12C FL150 319/55 -14C
FL160 319/60 -15C FL170 320/61 -17C FL180 320/62 -19C
FL190 321/63 -21C FL200 323/53 -22C FL210 320/51 -24C
FL220 319/54 -26C FL230 317/58 -28C FL240 316/61 -29C
FL250 318/66 -31C FL260 321/71 -32C FL270 322/76 -33C
FL280 322/80 -35C FL290 321/84 -37C FL300 321/88 -39C
FL310 321/90 -42C FL320 323/91 -44C FL330 324/92 -46C
FL340 325/94 -48C FL350 326/95 -51C FL360 326/97 -54C
FL370 327/98 -57C FL380 327/100 -59C FL390 328/101 -62C
FL400 328/97 -64C FL410 329/94 -66C FL420 329/90 -67C
FL430 330/86 -69C FL440 331/83 -69C

EGNR, HAWARDEN (AUT), 34km (19nm), NNE 022, 090850Z
Wind 160/10 Temp 4/2 Vis 32000m (19.9 miles) QNH 1023mb (30.21in)

EGOS, SHAWBURY RAF, 36km (19nm), ESE 107, 090850Z
Wind 170/11 Temp 4/1 Vis 32000m (19.9 miles) QNH 1023mb (30.21in)

EGGP, LIVERPOOL AIRPOR, 54km (29nm), NNE 023, 090850Z
Wind 170/9, Variable 120/220 Temp 4/2 Vis 32000m (19.9 miles) QNH 1022mb (30.18in)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
KEGUN KEGUN 33km (18nm), N 002, Total 370km (200nm)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
FL040 255/18 -1C FL050 264/16 -2C FL060 275/17 -3C
FL070 285/20 -5C FL080 294/23 -6C FL090 301/27 -6C
FL100 308/30 -6C FL110 313/34 -7C FL120 318/39 -8C
FL130 318/44 -10C FL140 319/50 -12C FL150 319/55 -14C
FL160 319/60 -15C FL170 320/61 -17C FL180 320/62 -19C
FL190 321/63 -21C FL200 323/53 -22C FL210 320/51 -24C
FL220 319/54 -26C FL230 317/58 -28C FL240 316/61 -29C
FL250 318/66 -31C FL260 321/71 -32C FL270 322/76 -33C
FL280 322/80 -35C FL290 321/84 -37C FL300 321/88 -39C
FL310 321/90 -42C FL320 323/91 -44C FL330 324/92 -46C
FL340 325/94 -48C FL350 326/95 -51C FL360 326/97 -54C
FL370 327/98 -57C FL380 327/100 -59C FL390 328/101 -62C
FL400 328/97 -64C FL410 329/94 -66C FL420 329/90 -67C
FL430 330/86 -69C FL440 331/83 -69C

EGNR, HAWARDEN (AUT), 11.6km (6.3nm), E 097, 090850Z
Wind 160/10 Temp 4/2 Vis 32000m (19.9 miles) QNH 1023mb (30.21in)

EGGP, LIVERPOOL AIRPOR, 26km (14nm), NE 051, 090850Z
Wind 170/9, Variable 120/220 Temp 4/2 Vis 32000m (19.9 miles) QNH 1022mb (30.18in)

EGOW, WOODVALE RAF, 44km (24nm), N 008, 090750Z
Wind 150/11 Temp 4/2 Vis 32000m (19.9 miles) QNH 1022mb (30.18in)

EGOS, SHAWBURY RAF, 54km (29nm), SE 143, 090850Z
Wind 170/11 Temp 4/1 Vis 32000m (19.9 miles) QNH 1023mb (30.21in)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
EGGP LIVERPOOL AIRPOR 26km (14nm), NE 051, Total 396km (214nm)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
FL040 255/18 -1C FL050 264/16 -2C FL060 275/17 -3C
FL070 285/20 -5C FL080 294/23 -6C FL090 301/27 -6C
FL100 308/30 -6C FL110 313/34 -7C FL120 318/39 -8C
FL130 318/44 -10C FL140 319/50 -12C FL150 319/55 -14C
FL160 319/60 -15C FL170 320/61 -17C FL180 320/62 -19C
FL190 321/63 -21C FL200 323/53 -22C FL210 320/51 -24C
FL220 319/54 -26C FL230 317/58 -28C FL240 316/61 -29C
FL250 318/66 -31C FL260 321/71 -32C FL270 322/76 -33C
FL280 322/80 -35C FL290 321/84 -37C FL300 321/88 -39C
FL310 321/90 -42C FL320 323/91 -44C FL330 324/92 -46C
FL340 325/94 -48C FL350 326/95 -51C FL360 326/97 -54C
FL370 327/98 -57C FL380 327/100 -59C FL390 328/101 -62C
FL400 328/97 -64C FL410 329/94 -66C FL420 329/90 -67C
FL430 330/86 -69C FL440 331/83 -69C

EGGP, LIVERPOOL AIRPOR, At Location, 090850Z
Wind 170/9, Variable 120/220 Temp 4/2 Vis 32000m (19.9 miles) QNH 1022mb (30.18in)

EGNR, HAWARDEN (AUT), 19km (10nm), SSW 206, 090850Z
Wind 160/10 Temp 4/2 Vis 32000m (19.9 miles) QNH 1023mb (30.21in)

EGOW, WOODVALE RAF, 31km (17nm), NNW 333, 090750Z
Wind 150/11 Temp 4/2 Vis 32000m (19.9 miles) QNH 1022mb (30.18in)

EGCC, MANCHESTER INTL, 38km (21nm), E 086, 090850Z
Wind 180/13, Variable 150/210 Temp 3/2 Vis 32000m (19.9 miles) QNH 1023mb (30.21in)

Alternates:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
EGNX EAST MIDLANDS 116km (63nm), ESE 118, Total 512km (276nm)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
FL040 258/11 -2C FL050 260/12 -3C FL060 266/13 -5C
FL070 274/15 -7C FL080 283/16 -8C FL090 295/18 -8C
FL100 307/21 -9C FL110 314/27 -10C FL120 320/33 -11C
FL130 323/37 -12C FL140 325/41 -13C FL150 326/43 -15C
FL160 327/45 -16C FL170 327/47 -18C FL180 327/48 -20C
FL190 328/50 -22C FL200 328/55 -22C FL210 329/57 -24C
FL220 329/60 -26C FL230 330/62 -28C FL240 331/65 -30C
FL250 332/69 -31C FL260 333/72 -33C FL270 333/76 -35C
FL280 333/79 -37C FL290 332/83 -39C FL300 332/86 -41C
FL310 332/90 -43C FL320 333/93 -45C FL330 334/96 -47C
FL340 334/99 -50C FL350 334/101 -52C FL360 334/102 -55C
FL370 334/104 -57C FL380 334/105 -60C FL390 334/105 -62C
FL400 335/101 -64C FL410 336/97 -65C FL420 337/93 -67C
FL430 338/88 -68C FL440 338/85 -68C

EGNX, EAST MIDLANDS, At Location, 090850Z
Wind 190/9 Temp 2/1 Vis 32000m (19.9 miles) QNH 1025mb (30.27in)

EGBB, BIRMINGHAM AIRPO, 51km (27nm), SW 214, 090850Z
Wind 180/6, Variable 150/210 Temp 2/0 Vis 32000m (19.9 miles) QNH 1026mb (30.30in)

N.B. The OpusFlightReport.rep text file is a simplified text report intended to supply weather and upper wind and temperature data for external flight planning packages.

OpusSidStarReport (SIDs and STARs)

The Opus SID (Standard Instrument Departure) and STAR (Standard Terminal Arrival Route) Reports are generated for your departure and specified destination stations. The SIDs are only included if you are on the ground at an airport. Both SIDs and STARs are listed in normal order to match the GPS and FMC listings. The SIDs show the headings you would be departing to, the STARs show the directions you would be arriving from. 

A report is generated when you click on the Reload or Process the Flight Plan buttons in the Flight Plan dialog, or the aircraft is relocated, or a different destination is specified. You can force a new report to be generated using the Show SIDSTAR Report option in the Addon Menu. The point of departure is always assumed to be the local airport, where your aircraft is located.

The report is saved in the text file <OpusFSI_v5>\Weather\OpusSidStarReport.txt where <OpusFSI_v5> identifies your OpusFSI_v5 installation folder.

Example OpusSidStarReport.txt,  

FSX/P3D Limitations  

There are some limitations in P3D, Selective Update mode no longer works in Prepar3D due to problems in the P3D METAR interpolation and handling.

Also you must close a text report window before exiting FSX/P3D otherwise the sim crashes or causes OpusFSI to crash.  

Spy Messages

Spy messages can be seen by clicking on the top right-hand Spy button on the server's main form.

The Live Weather Engine will report its nearest weather station along with all METAR downloaded reports.

The Spy window automatically clears after ten minutes.  

Live Weather Assistant

The Live Weather Assistant (LWA) provides useful weather information for the current Opus 800 x 800 mile weather map displayed graphically as a mosaic of 6400 weather cells in either a large or small footprint map.

To display the larger LWA map select the LWA Map button from the server form (or the Live Weather Assistant Map button from the client main form). You can display the smaller map using the Wx Maps button on the server (or the Weather Maps button on the client). Up to six Weather Maps can be opened and positioned on the screen, just click on the Wx Maps (or Weather Maps) button to open each new map.  

The weather maps can be generated before the flight has been loaded provided a flight plan has been specified, identifying the point of departure. The weather generation will be a slow process whenever the simulator is not running (due to SimConnect delays), fastest when the simulator is running and the flight has not been loaded (i.e. with the start up screen displayed or minimised).

The Live Weather Assistant option displays a large dialog containing a graphic weather map in which various types of weather data can be displayed using radio buttons to toggle between Surface Visibility, Surface Precipitation Levels, Surface QNH, Surface Temperature, Cruise Level Temperature, Upper Level Temperature, Surface Wind, Cruise Level Wind, Upper Level Wind, Cruise Level Turbulence, Upper Level Turbulence, Low Cloud Cover and Medium Level Cloud Cover.

The caption shows the date and time of the last weather update. 

The LWA Map shows your current aircraft's location using the custom Aircraft symbol in the OpusFSI_v5/Aircraft.bmp bitmap file which you create yourself. If Aircraft.bmp does not exist then the default Aircraft_Light.bmp is used. An AircraftHeavy.bmp and AircraftRotor.bmp are also provided. If you create your own custom aircraft symbol then use roughly the same square sized bitmap image (43x43 pixels) and use the same magenta colour for the background.  

The location of your departure point (if known) is marked using a small green balloon and the destination using a small red balloon, your alternate sites using small yellow balloons and en-route flight plan navigation and waypoints points as small magenta balloons. SID fixes are green balloons and STAR fixes red balloons. The route is indicated using a dark magenta line. If the relevant options are enabled Met Station locations are shown as blue balloons and Aerodromes are shown as white balloons.  

If SIDSTARS data for the aerodrome exists then the available runways are displayed, listed in preferred order based on the current surface wind at the station. All associated NAV and COM frequencies are also displayed below the runway information, i.e. all relevant ILS, APP (Approach), TWR (Tower), GND (Ground), COM (Unicom or Multicom), and ATIS frequencies.

Moving the mouse cursor about the screen displays the weather at that point in the dialog's information box, if the location identifies a Met station then the ICAO, station name, and elevation in feet AMSL are also displayed in the information box.

Hovering the mouse over a balloon will display the station's ICAO and name. Hovering the mouse over a wind arrow will display the wind speed and direction.  

      The dialog can be resized with your mouse by dragging the edges or corners of the dialog. The LWA weather map's size and screen position are preserved and restored next time the LWA weather map is displayed. 

You can drag the map with your right mouse button held down.

      You can zoom in and out on the map using the plus and minus symbols on the dialog or using the scroll button on your mouse. The zoom level ranges from 16 (fully zoomed in) to 2 (fully zoomed out). N.B. you cannot zoom whilst hovering the mouse over a marker on the map. Navigation aids are visible at zoom level 8 and above on the LWA and Wx Maps. The more numerous Waypoints are visibile at zoom levels 9 and above.

Auto Zoom

When Auto Zoom is enabled (LWA Map or Options button) the level will automatically zoom in or out to fit both your aircraft and the departure/destination marker within the map. In Auto Zoom mode, once the aircraft descends below 100 feet AGL the aircraft is automatically centered on the map and the zoom level  changed to either 14, 15, or 16 depending on distance to the airfield marker, this is intended to aid taxiing.

Lock LWA Info Box

Left click the mouse within the map to LOCK the displayed information to the identified station. Once locked, all information within the LWA Info box will be displayed in RED.  Left click the mouse anywhere within the map display to UNLOCK the mouse and revert back to normal mouse roaming. The current state is indicated in a status text box just below the data box. The status box will also indicate when the LWE is Updating (Yellow), Disabled (Red), or operating in normal Enabled mode.

Aerodrome or Met Station Weather Monitor

Right click with the mouse over any aerodrome or met station on the LWA Map to display a small LWA Weather Monitor dialog. The dialog displays all known information about the identified station including its lat/lon coordinates, current distance and bearing to the station, all runways (in preferred order of use), all Nav and Com frequencies, and its current weather. 

The SIDs and STARs button options use the selected station's ICAO code. The button options are greyed out if no departure or arrival data is available for the selected station. Refer to the SIDs and STARs section below for further details.