Last week I introduced "partial" weather randomization.
This week, we have a "full" randomization of the weather, by full I mean "weather_zone", "cloud" and "wind" layers. The plugin won't randomize "sea" though. If anyone think that we should randomize sea attributes too, please let me know.
Grab the latest build: v2.1.29.8
So how we randomize all ?
In a nutshell we can add "<random>" element under "<weather>" and then we should define part or all the random attributes that we would like to generate randomly.
Example:
<random rnd_min_max_zones="1|4" rnd_min_max_bound_nm="5|20" rnd_min_max_visual_mt="10000|20000" rnd_min_max_rain_pct="" rnd_min_max_thunder_pct="" rnd_min_max_cloud_layers="1|3" rnd_cloud_types="clear,few cumulus,scattered cumulus,broken cumulus,stratus" rnd_min_max_cloud_layer_base_top_ft="2500|30000" rnd_wind_min_max_speed_kt="0|5" />
</weather>
The attributes that we won't include, the plugin will just us some default values, that may be acceptable or not, it is up to you to decide.
It is important to understand that:
- Please read designer documentation (weather part).
- Randomizing take precedence. If you defined "random" element the plugin won't read "weather_zone" elements in the same "weather" area. If you just defined one randomize attribute in "cloud" the original attribute will be overridden with the randomized value.
- The "weather generation" code, is fully randomized it is based on Datarefs (not producing METAR like values), and thus can be unpredictable. It is up to you, the designer, to define acceptable values and understand the outcome.
- There are almost no plugin rules how weather should behave between 1 zone and another. If your inner zone has wind 10kt, the outer zone might have wind as fast as 20kt even if it should have been slower (further from center of weather zone).
- X-Plane has some rules in it, so it governs and fixes the data, but it might not produce what you expect.
- The plugin uses the vertical line "|" to distinguish between low and high values.
- Weather randomization is currently not supported in the Editor. You should prepare your mission and then hack the mission "data" file with any editor and add the relevant elements/attributes.
- The randomization option is not a full blown weather system generator. It is based on Dataref parameters.
- I think that you should take good care randomizing "turbulance" and "shear" winds, they might make you mission unplayable.
Soon, I'll publish one of the missions with the randomness features as an example.
If you have any suggestions how to make this feature even better, please let me know. You can leave a comment below or even better, send me an e-mail.
Enjoy
Saar