investigating Regardless of weather presets, scripting call 'weather.clouds.thickness' always reports the same thickness of 200m or 656ft!?

[TEMPEST.114]

I'm using the following in my ATIS script

  local weather       = env.mission.weather

  local cloudCover    = api.TUC.GetCloudCoverAsString(false)

  local cloudBase     = api.TUC.MetresToFeet(weather.clouds.base)

  local thickness     = api.TUC.MetresToFeet(weather.clouds.thickness)

  local visibility    = weather.visibility.distance

  local fogThickness  = api.TUC.MetresToFeet(weather.fog.thickness)

  local fogVisibility = weather.fog.visibility

  local dustDensity   = api.TUC.MetresToFeet(weather.dust_density)

Everything looks okay except that the THICKNESS which I'm led to believe from the documentation on hoggitworld is for the lowest cloudbase, ALWAYS reports the same amount of 656ft, regardless of the weather preset used and how thick the cloudbase is to fly through.

Am I using this correctly or is this a bug?

Cross posted in the Weather System bug list just in case it's not a scripting error.

Edited March 7 by Elphaba

[TEMPEST.114]

@BIGNEWY May I ask for some feedback on this please? It's a blocker on my ATIS scripts. 

[TEMPEST.114]

@Exorcet Is this in your niche? Can you advise please?

[Exorcet]

5 hours ago, Elphaba said:

@Exorcet Is this in your niche? Can you advise please?

I'm not actually very deep into DCS Lua scripting, from what I've seen you're generally using more complex scripts than I am more often and across a wider range of applications. I haven't looked into weather at all unfortunately. All I can think of besides the value or its reporting being bugged is that the thickness is somehow a depreciated parameter because of updates to the weather system. Is the value present in the miz file and does it change as expected?

The hoggitwiki weather page was last updated 2 years before the volumetric clouds and weather update to DCS.

[TEMPEST.114]

12 minutes ago, Exorcet said:

I'm not actually very deep into DCS Lua scripting, from what I've seen you're generally using more complex scripts than I am more often and across a wider range of applications. I haven't looked into weather at all unfortunately. All I can think of besides the value or its reporting being bugged is that the thickness is somehow a depreciated parameter because of updates to the weather system. Is the value present in the miz file and does it change as expected?

The hoggitwiki weather page was last updated 2 years before the volumetric clouds and weather update to DCS.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

I have looked into the mission file inside the miz, and the only mention of thickness is 200m which is what the scripting is reporting - so it's getting the right number, but the number in the mission file is wrong; when you fly, it's a lot thicker (in height) that just 200m.

So are you saying that it's broken since the new wx system was implemented? Is this likely to be fixed? Do you know to whom I should try and escalate this so it's at least reported and logged?

[Exorcet]

I'm not 100% sure that it's broken, but it might have only applied to the old cloud settings. I can't check right now, but does the current weather tab have a thickness setting for clouds? If it doesn't then the thickness parameter probably doesn't apply to weather at the moment.

As far as reporting the bug, there isn't much you can do beyond creating a thread and waiting for one of the moderators to read it. It can take some time.

[Exorcet]

I got a chance to look at the ME and there is no thickness setting for clouds, so I'm going to assume that the parameter is a hold over from the old cloud system:

[QuiGon]

14 hours ago, Elphaba said:

So are you saying that it's broken since the new wx system was implemented? Is this likely to be fixed? Do you know to whom I should try and escalate this so it's at least reported and logged?

The new weather system is still WIP, so it's quite possible that this function isn't working properly yet with the new weather. Have you checked if it works properly when using the old weather system (weather preset "NONE")?

[TEMPEST.114]

2 hours ago, QuiGon said:

The new weather system is still WIP, so it's quite possible that this function isn't working properly yet with the new weather. Have you checked if it works properly when using the old weather system (weather preset "NONE")?

I didn't even know the 'old' wx system was still implemented; I would have thought that the new system completely replaced it. So you're saying the new wx system is only implemented if we use presets? Was this ever communicated? 

I'm trying with NO Preset now.. I'll report back. 

 

[TEMPEST.114]

Yes, thickness works in the 'old' wx system, the cloud thicknesses are reporting correctly if the Preset is none.

Can we please get this logged so the new wx system can accurately show it's cloud thicknesses? 

[BIGNEWY]

I will ask the team about this, but you will need to be patient. 

thank you 

[TEMPEST.114]

4 minutes ago, BIGNEWY said:

I will ask the team about this, but you will need to be patient. 

thank you 

I can be very patient, when I at least know it's recorded and on the list; it's when bugs are reported or questions are asked and they get no official response - that's when it gets frustrating.

 

[BIGNEWY]

3 minutes ago, Elphaba said:

I can be very patient, when I at least know it's recorded and on the list; it's when bugs are reported or questions are asked and they get no official response - that's when it gets frustrating.

 

we are answering many questions on forums, steam, social media and discord it is not always possible to get to every post or ping but we do try. 

[TEMPEST.114]

Just to help anyone else. Here are the wx from the OLD system (NONE preset)   and then the new wx system (PRESET 24)

--[[



OLD WX STRUCTURE



["weather"] =

{

  ["atmosphere_type"] = 0,

  ["wind"] =

  {

    ["at8000"] =

    {

        ["speed"] = 20.616,

        ["dir"] = 90,

    }, -- end of ["at8000"]

    ["atGround"] =

    {

        ["speed"] = 6.1848,

        ["dir"] = 100.99998900091,

    }, -- end of ["atGround"]

    ["at2000"] =

    {

        ["speed"] = 13.4004,

        ["dir"] = 100,

    }, -- end of ["at2000"]

  }, -- end of ["wind"]

  ["enable_fog"] = false,

  ["groundTurbulence"] = 29.2608,

  ["halo"] =

  {

    ["preset"] = "off",

  }, -- end of ["halo"]

  ["visibility"] =

  {

    ["distance"] = 80000,

  }, -- end of ["visibility"]

  ["season"] =

  {

    ["temperature"] = 15,

  }, -- end of ["season"]

  ["type_weather"] = 1,

  ["modifiedTime"] = false,

  ["cyclones"] =

  {

    [1] =

    {

        ["pressure_spread"] = 1115151.3437232,

        ["centerZ"] = -62250.420860703,

        ["ellipticity"] = 9.9176892609982,

        ["rotation"] = -11.75631063386,

        ["pressure_excess"] = 1192,

        ["centerX"] = 159199.61333431,

    }, -- end of [1]

  }, -- end of ["cyclones"]

  ["name"] = "Winter, clean sky",

  ["fog"] =

  {

    ["thickness"] = 0,

    ["visibility"] = 0,

  }, -- end of ["fog"]

  ["qnh"] = 750.316,

  ["dust_density"] = 0,

  ["enable_dust"] = false,

  ["clouds"] =

  {

    ["thickness"] = 1830,

    ["density"] = 6,

    ["base"] = 600,

    ["iprecptns"] = 1,

  }, -- end of ["clouds"]

}, -- end of ["weather"]



]]




--[[



NEW WX STRUCTURE



["weather"] =

{

  ["atmosphere_type"] = 0,

  ["wind"] =

  {

    ["at8000"] =

    {

      ["speed"] = 20.616,

      ["dir"] = 90,

    }, -- end of ["at8000"]

    ["at2000"] =

    {

      ["speed"] = 13.4004,

      ["dir"] = 100,

    }, -- end of ["at2000"]

    ["atGround"] =

    {

      ["speed"] = 6.1848,

      ["dir"] = 100.99998900091,

    }, -- end of ["atGround"]

  }, -- end of ["wind"]

  ["enable_fog"] = false,

  ["groundTurbulence"] = 29.2608,

  ["halo"] =

  {

    ["preset"] = "off",

  }, -- end of ["halo"]

  ["enable_dust"] = false,

  ["season"] =

  {

    ["temperature"] = 15,

  }, -- end of ["season"]

  ["type_weather"] = 1,

  ["modifiedTime"] = false,

  ["cyclones"] =

  {

    [1] =

    {

      ["pressure_spread"] = 1115151.3437232,

      ["centerZ"] = -62250.420860703,

      ["ellipticity"] = 9.9176892609982,

      ["rotation"] = -11.75631063386,

      ["pressure_excess"] = 1192,

      ["centerX"] = 159199.61333431,

    }, -- end of [1]

  }, -- end of ["cyclones"]

  ["name"] = "Winter, clean sky",

  ["fog"] =

  {

    ["thickness"] = 0,

    ["visibility"] = 0,

  }, -- end of ["fog"]

  ["dust_density"] = 0,

  ["qnh"] = 750.316,

  ["visibility"] =

  {

    ["distance"] = 80000,

  }, -- end of ["visibility"]

  ["clouds"] =

  {

    ["thickness"] = 200,

    ["density"] = 0,

    ["preset"] = "Preset24",

    ["base"] = 1700,

    ["iprecptns"] = 0,

  }, -- end of ["clouds"]

}, -- end of ["weather"]



]]

 

Note that in the OLD wx I set the cloudbase thickness to 6004 ft - which is the correct thickness of 1830m, but unless I'm going blind, the only real change to any of it is the addition of '["preset"] = "Preset24", to the structure. 

[QuiGon]

2 hours ago, Elphaba said:

I didn't even know the 'old' wx system was still implemented; I would have thought that the new system completely replaced it. So you're saying the new wx system is only implemented if we use presets? Was this ever communicated?

Yeah, the new weather system is only in effect when using presets as of now. That was explained when the new weather system was released. This is partly to not break old missions and partly because there are things that are not yet supported by the new weather system, like dynamic weather which still only works with the old weather system as of now and is waiting to become available with the new weather system.
 

1 hour ago, Elphaba said:

Yes, thickness works in the 'old' wx system, the cloud thicknesses are reporting correctly if the Preset is none.

Good to know, thanks!

Edited March 18 by QuiGon