Weather radar

[Philippe TORNE]

Hello,

I seriously consider purchasing the 737 Classic, obviously for its overall top quality and fidelity, but mostly because it seems to have what an immense majority of X-Plane aircrafts don't have : a fully functional weather radar.

I may have misinterpreted, but from what I've seen on several YouTube videos, the product is shipped with a true 3D weather radar, reacting like a real unit (tilt, gain, etc... implemented and having effect on the depicted ND overlay). This is a true "game changer" to me, because it totally breaks the immersion when you are flying "blind" through a big cell at night and encounter unanticipated severe turbulence, icing, etc...

I mostly saw reviews under XP11, hence my question to the developers : could you confirm that 1- The weather radar is fully functional and 2- Does it works the same way in XP11 and XP12 ?

Thanks in advance and congratulations for this great product

Best regards,

Philippe TORNE

[Litjan]

The weather radar on the current version (for XP12) works the same as the weather radar on the XP11 version.

It is not a full physics implementation of a weather radar, but it does simulate ground returns, including being able to spot lakes and rivers (less reflective), it simulates "overscanning" (by reducing returns in cold air where frozen particles provide less reflectivity) and it simulates real scanning and display speed.

It has a tilt knob for that and will display the actual X-Plane precipitation.

It is - however - only active on the left (CM1) side for technical reason, neither the EGPWS ground symbology NOR the weather radar picture can be displayed on the FO´s (CM2) side. This is a technical limitation and not planned to be solved anytime soon, so if that is of big importance to you, I would hold off on the purchase.

Cheers, Jan

 

[Philippe TORNE]

Thanks Jan for the quick answer. It looks very impressive, congratulations. I wanted to be sure because some developers invoque the lack of an X-Plane API to justify their non functional 3D weather radar. I would be very interested to know how you can get around this limitation, if it doesn't infringes any industrial secret  (only a "big picture" explanation will satisfy my curiosity). 

Best regards,

Philippe TORNE

[Litjan]

1 hour ago, Philippe TORNE said:

if it doesn't infringes any industrial secret

it would

But Laminar is working on a native implementation of a better weather radar and who knows, maybe this will be something we can employ for our aircraft (and bring functionality to both CMs that way).

[Philippe TORNE]

I fully understand and appreciate all your explanations. Thank you very much !

[tkyler]

3 hours ago, Philippe TORNE said:

some developers invoque the lack of an X-Plane API to justify their non functional 3D weather radar

TBH, we can't fully blame them (I'm one of them with the MU2) ....we've been 'crossing our fingers' for a while that XP12 doesn't break our radar display....and the spectre of such still exists.  Its like two people walking towards each other and that awkard moment where neither is sure which way the other one will move and you kind of stutter-step....a lot of devs and Laminar are doing that right now IMO.  We've gotten lucky in a way that we haven't had to do a darn thing to 'get around' the new weather system..we happen to select a method that has held up thus far..but it is based on the previous weather system pardigm....and as such, we are always 'looking over our shoulder' at it so to say, in case is sneaks up on us one day 

All that said...I do think the time is coming where it needs to be addressed.   There is a XPlane developer conference in February and I suspect this will get discussed.

-tk

Edited November 29, 2023 by tkyler

[Bulva]

10 hours ago, Philippe TORNE said:

... seriously consider purchasing the 737 Classic...

...there is no reason not to buy it. 
I will personally refund your money if you feel betrayed/disappointed