Does RWC require an update?

[diamonddriller]

As  NOAA dropped non-HTTPS access to weather data the other day, does this affect the "Always" option in RWC?   

In your reply, could you reference this problem (if it is one!) to X-Plane 10 as well as X-Plane 11?   Thanks.

Edited February 10, 2019 by diamonddriller

[Ben Russell]

Gizmo handles the data download function for RWC.

Gizmo does not currently support HTTPS.

This will affect XP10 and XP11.

An update of some kind will be required.

[diamonddriller]

Thanks, Ben.  No doubt, we'll hear something very soon!

Edited February 10, 2019 by diamonddriller

[kentwerickson]

On 2/10/2019 at 8:15 AM, Ben Russell said:

Gizmo handles the data download function for RWC.

Gizmo does not currently support HTTPS.

This will affect XP10 and XP11.

An update of some kind will be required.

Ben, is there any kind of status update on this? I am among the people who are currently pretty much screwed with respect to XP10. Until recently, I had been using SMP+RWC+NOAA Weather with no issues. Everything still seems to be working fine except RWC/Gizmo -- i.e., it seems that my future ability to generate and render real NOAA-based weather in XP10 crucially relies on this update to Gizmo to support HTTPS.

Thanks in advance for any sort of update.

[diamonddriller]

At the moment, I'm using the NOAA weather plugin (XPGFS) instead.   It's pretty good!   I can use it with Laminar's clouds or SMP - and I de-activate RWC.

I had asked Laminar whether they would be updating XP10 to get real world weather again (I now know that doesn't affect RWC....), as I could then use real weather with default clouds or whatever.  However,  they don't appear to have done anything yet, even though they had told me that they would!

I'm not certain that my XP11.32 has things quite right either, but it's not really upsetting me

[kentwerickson]

24 minutes ago, diamonddriller said:

At the moment, I'm using the NOAA weather plugin (XPGFS) instead.   It's pretty good!   I can use it with Laminar's clouds or SMP - and I de-activate RWC.

I had asked Laminar whether they would be updating XP10 to get real world weather again (I now know that doesn't affect RWC....), as I could then use real weather with default clouds or whatever.  However,  they don't appear to have done anything yet, even though they had told me that they would!

I'm not certain that my XP11.32 has things quite right either, but it's not really upsetting me

Interesting; I've heard otherwise -- that LR will not be fixing this problem in XP10 (though I believe they have some obligation to do so). There are of course other weather injectors out there besides the free NOAA weather plugin, but most are literally too expensive for my meager pocketbook. And this does upset me for a couple of reasons. First, I don't especially mind missing out on certain innovations in XP11; it's much easier to accept not having what one has never had (plus there are some new "features" of XP11 that I positively dislike). However it really stinks to lose features/functionality to which one has grown accustomed. Secondly, the visual and audible immersion factor in XP is just as important to me as, say, having 100% correct flight dynamics -- without good looking clouds, accurate winds, etc., XP (in general) loses much of its appeal, again in my view.

Edited March 2, 2019 by kentwerickson

[Cameron]

We will absolutely be working to fix this, but it's not so trivial. HTTPS will take some work that's a bit more than just updating a link.

I don't know when we'll finally have it done, but it certainly won't be abandoned.

[diamonddriller]

Hi Cameron.

Thanks for your reassurance.  After re-reading the RWC manual, and concentrating on how the settings work, I can better understand the problem.  Because it was all so easy in "Automatic", I had mentally skipped the nuances of quite how RWC worked in its different modes, and particularly how it interacted with add-on plugins.

Nothing in life is simple..........

[kentwerickson]

On 3/2/2019 at 10:08 PM, Cameron said:

... but it certainly won't be abandoned.

If this goes for XP10 as well, then bless you! (I have no idea whether Gizmo is tailored to specific XP versions, but I very much hope not).

Edited March 4, 2019 by kentwerickson

[mjrhealth]

Another one just noticed the MAXX-METAR is 0KB, I guess ill be waiting too,

[Schmutzfink18]

Any Updates or News about this?

[Cameron]

When we have some we'll definitely be posting about it.

[kentwerickson]

Progress report? With all due respect, it's been several months since the NOAA METAR format change took effect, and the continued silence is becoming deafening. Someone in the X-Aviation camp (I don't recall now who) claimed that the fix for this problem is non-trivial. But please understand that from the perspective of end-users it's hard to imagine how difficult this could be, especially given that so many other developers were able to respond to it nearly immediately. But as important are just periodic updates for purposes of reassuring hopeful customers that the issue is still being actively addressed, or perhaps not for whatever reason. For instance, if it turns out that the programmer responsible for this particular section of code has run off to Borneo on a two-year sabbatical, this would also be helpful to know (e.g., so that I don't bother to continually check this thread for updates).

Thanks in advance.

[Cameron]

You don't have to bother checking this thread for updates because you'll get an email anyhow.

I don't know of any plugin that works in native X-Plane that required an update for this. NOAA doesn't even count. You're way back in the realm of X-Plane 10, and Laminar didn't even update it for you. Be thankful we're willing to do it instead.

I'm not going to argue this out. It's being actively worked on. If you were using X-Plane 11 this wouldn't even be a concern since X-Plane fixed it there.

[kentwerickson]

40 minutes ago, Cameron said:

You don't have to bother checking this thread for updates because you'll get an email anyhow.

I don't know of any plugin that works in native X-Plane that required an update for this. NOAA doesn't even count. You're way back in the realm of X-Plane 10, and Laminar didn't even update it for you. Be thankful we're willing to do it instead.

I'm not going to argue this out. It's being actively worked on. If you were using X-Plane 11 this wouldn't even be a concern since X-Plane fixed it there.

Thanks. Reassurance is at least partly what I am seeking, and in my view not unreasonably so. But just to be clear, are you saying that if I simply upgrade to XP11 this will immediately solve my issue with respect to RWC (i.e., without having to invest in a new weather injector such as FSGRW)? For as I understand, the issue with RWC (via Gizmo) is not XP version-specific. Ben Russell writes above:

Gizmo handles the data download function for RWC.
Gizmo does not currently support HTTPS.
This will affect XP10 and XP11.

[Cameron]

Yes, I am saying exactly that. X-Plane 11 gets its data from the same source as default X-Plane. Simply placing Real Weather Connector to the "automatic" setting with X-Plane 11 real weather turned on will produce the same result as if our data were working.

[kentwerickson]

3 hours ago, Cameron said:

Yes, I am saying exactly that. X-Plane 11 gets its data from the same source as default X-Plane. Simply placing Real Weather Connector to the "automatic" setting with X-Plane 11 real weather turned on will produce the same result as if our data were working.

Not sure I follow your distinction here between "X-Plane 11" and "default X-Plane." But as things stand, I can still run RWC in "Automatic" mode in XP10 together with XPGFS (Joan's NOAA weather plugin) as my surrogate weather engine; i.e., XPGFS still injects accurate real-world weather data in XP10, and SMP still draws clouds that are relatively consistent with this data. However it seems that RWC in this configuration (in "Automatic" mode) is not really doing anything other than not causing problems (i.e., not causing XP to crash). For I get the same results with RWC disabled; i.e., when running only XPGFS + SMP.

Rather the problem arises when I have RWC enabled and set to "Always," as I did prior to the NOAA server issue. In this configuration SMP stops drawing clouds. In other words, it seems that while the weather data interface between XP10, XPGFS, and SMP all still work fine, the interface somewhere between XP10, XPGFS, and RWC does not. Perhaps I am missing something. But otherwise, I don't understand how RWC/Gizmo, in its current form, can interpret the native real-world weather data generated by XP11?

[diamonddriller]

@kentwerickson  Yes, as you know, XPGFS changes the weather from a METAR at the nearest airfield you are flying by, so the changes can be a bit abrupt.  Sadly, I'm often finding that SMP is often slowing my frame rate down into single figures in XP10.  Immediately I disable it and RWC, I'm back into the 50s or 60s fps......   Fast i7, 8GB graphics card..... shouldn't happen, but it does!  I can often re-enable SMP later, and things are OK.  Strange.  I must have a go without RWC completely to see how that works.   I'm also using XPGFS in XP11, but I may have another shot at things with the default weather.  I originally thought that RWC was there to smooth transitions from one area to another as we fly, and didn't appreciate that it was injecting weather itself.   It's all a bit irritating, but I'm pleased to read (from Cameron) that work is being done for those of us who still use XP10 as well as 11.  

[Cameron]

10 hours ago, kentwerickson said:

Not sure I follow your distinction here between "X-Plane 11" and "default X-Plane."

That was supposed to say "X-Plane 11 gets its data from the same source as Real Weather Connector."

If you're utilizing XPGFS  then yes, that's different. The 'Always' mode in RWC grabs cloud information from the same source as default X-Plane did. Therefore, if you used X-Plan's default real weather download method then simply updating to X-Plane 11 would solve the issue assuming you were okay not using XPGFS.

If that's not something you can live without then you'll definitely need to wait for the update.

 

 

[Cameron]

With the release of SkyMaxx Pro v4.8 this issue has now been resolved.

[diamonddriller]

Am installing 4.8 later.  I noted RWC is still at 1.1.  The earlier posts seemed to infer that it might be RWC that needed the update, or was it the Gizmo bit that does the "work"? 

[Cameron]

Am installing 4.8 later.  I noted RWC is still at 1.1.  The earlier posts seemed to infer that it might be RWC that needed the update, or was it the Gizmo bit that does the "work"? 

The portion of code that will facilitate RWC for this was done in SkyMaxx Pro 4.8. No update to RWC is required.

[diamonddriller]

Brilliant!  Thanks, Cameron, for that quick reply!  Regards.

[ArielB]

4 hours ago, Cameron said:

 

The portion of code that will facilitate RWC for this was done in SkyMaxx Pro 4.8. No update to RWC is required.

 

Tried to update RWC also... 

This is what I get:

 

[Cameron]

Why did you try to update RWC? There was no updates to it.

We are looking into that error, but I'm curious why you went down that route?