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• Fs2004 Weather Radar Download
• Weather Radar Simulation
• Weather Radar Fs2004 Freeware
• Weather For Fsx
• Radar For Fsx Aircraft
• Fs2004 Weather Radar Gauge

Introduction

GetWeather is a server program for MicrosoftFlight Simulator. Supported are all FS versions from 2000 up to 2006 FS-X. The program communicates with the Flightsimulator using the build in 'Real-World-Weather' function.

The main feature is: storing downloaded weather scenarios on hard disk for later reuse.

To do so GetWeather gets into the connection between the Flightsimulator and the weather server at Jeppesen which provides the real weather data. Every time the 'Real-World-Weather' is used in the Flightsimulator it will communicate with GetWeather.

As a result it is not necessary to connect to the internet every time you would like to get a new weather. You may just get a already existing file from the GetWeather server which may run somewhere on your local network or on your own computer. And you are ready to fly a bumpy approach ...

You can also download the latest real weather from the internet and GetWeather will save the data for later reuse on your local computer. Furthermore you can download the weather files within GetWeather without starting even your flightsimulator. That's a great feature if you just noticed a severe weather alert and would like to have this situation for later fun.

Get Weather is able to serve as many Flight simulators as you wish. It is the perfect tool to provide the same weather for all computers in a multiplayer environment. Download it once and all other clients just have to connect via the local network.

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Download

• GetWeather 4.0 (for FS2000, FS2002, FS2004 and FS2006)
• An example weather file

Fs2004 Weather Radar Download

If you find GetWeather useful we ask you to donate a small amount of money to us. (e.g. 5 USD)
This helps us to keep the website running and to develop new programs. Please use Paypal to donate:

Thank you for your support.

NEWS Version 4.0

Support for Fligthsimulator X (FS2006) added.

Weather request are now restricted to the localhost per default.

Remote requests can be granted in the settings dialog.

News Version 3.0

Supports the Real World Weather feature of FS2004. The 15-minute update feature is not supportet completely. It should work, but can produce some short pauses when update the weather.

Sequential mode for sending subsequent files to the Flight Simulator.

Still full support for FS2000 and FS2002.

News Version 2.1

• Fixed incompatibility with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1. Flightsimulator was no longer able to load stored weather files if the SP was installed. This SP is also part of the Windows XP Service Pack 1

News Version 2.0 Update 1

• Fixed bug in setup program. The folder Weather was not created. On some computers GetWeather was unable to save the weather.

News Version 2.0

• Fixed problem in saving weatherfiles which caused sometimes download breakdown at 95% of progress.

• Logwindow will now add error class icons to the meassage text.

• Added manual selection of FS directory to settings dialog. Used if automatic detection fails because of incorrect installation of FS.

• Added new items to the FAQ section in this document
  

• This version will not expire.

News Version 2.0 beta 2

• Full support for FS2002.
• The new FS2002 'Download winds aloft' option is now fully supported.
• Settings are now automatically saved if the settings dialog is closed. In former versions settings were only saved if the program was exited.

News Version 2.0 beta 1

• Basic support for brand new FS2002.
• The new FS2002 'Download winds aloft' option is not fully supported yet.

News Version 1.4

• Fixed problems caused by recent changes on Jeppesen Weather Server. Get Weather was unable to download the weather.
• Fixed problem with html online help on systems using Netscape 6 as default browser.

News Final 1.3

• Fixed minor bug in weather file list box which selected in some cases a wrong default entry at the end of the month.

News Final 1.2

• Support for Microsoft's new server structure added

News Final 1.1

• Fixed problem when canceling Get Current Weather: Further weather downloads were not possible
• Incomplete downloaded files are no longer archived

News Beta 3

• Fixed problem with FS2000 directory detection which caused the following error message:
  Unable to locate FS2000 please reinstall FS2000

News Beta 2

• Easier proxy setup, it is no longer necessary to make changes in the windows control panel
• automatic scheduled weather download.

Installation

The installation of GetWeather is rather easy. Execute the file you have downloaded from the web server this program will install GetWeather on your system. The installation program will create a shortcut in your start menu.
On most computer GetWeather is now read to work together with the flight simulator. If your computer needs a proxy to access the internet you should check the proxy settings within getWeather.

Get detailed information about the proxy configuration in the configuration paragraph.

Configuration

All settings can be done using the Settings dialog (located in the menu bar of the main window of GetWeather).

General settings:

If you want GetWeather to be started every time you start windows you may check the corresponding check box. GetWeather will then be started minimized a tray icon will remind you that GetWeather is active.

It's also possible to specify a port for GetWeather. You need this only if the default port 80 is already in use by another program. (e.g. HTTP Server, WebWasher) You have to restart GetWeather to set the new settings for the server port.

When 'Check for new version' is active and you're connected to the Internet, GetWeather will inform you about newer versions of the program.

Flightsimulator Path:

GetWeather tries to determine the path in which the flightsimulator is installed. If the installation of FS is not correct this automatic detection may fail. GetWeather will report such a problem during startup in the log window.

If this happens you have to select the path yourself. First of all you have to enable the versions of FS you have installed on your system by using the check boxes. Then you use the browse buttons to find the location of the FS installation.

After you have selected the right path please restart GetWeather.

Proxy settings:

If you need a proxy server for the internet connection, you can specify it here. You will get the information's on the necessary proxy setting from your internet service provider or your system administrator.

You could also use the automatic detection for a very easy setup. GetWeather will get the necessary data form the windows control panel.

If you have used a former version of GetWeather before it is possible that the automatic setup fails. This could happen if you have changed the http proxy settings to 127.0.0.1 port 80. GetWeather will not be able to use this settings because it will end up in a circular recursion. If this happens to your computer you should change the proxy settings in the windows control panel to the original values as they were set before installing GetWeather 1.0 beta1.

The button 'Internet Settings' will get you right into the windows internet settings dialog and could be used for manual changes.

Using GetWeather

Most of the operations are done in the main window.

When running, GetWeather waits for Real-World-Weather requests coming from the Flightsimulator. It does not matter if Flightsimulator is installed locally or if connects to GetWeather over a network or even the Internet. You only have to ensure the proxy settings are configured properly on the workstation the Flightsimulator runs on. See Windows proxy settings .

The User Interface:

The User Interface consists of four parts:

• Source chooses one of three operating modes .
• The Information section shows the number of weather files in the chosen directory, the number of requests to GetWeather and the volume of data transferred.
• The list shows the available weather files, it contains the following columns.
• Date & Time: Date the file was downloaded from the internet
• Type: Type of weather file.
• Normal: Small version about 130 - 160 KB big. Used by FS2000, FS2002 and FS2004. Doesn't contain winds aloft information.
• Winds Aloft: Larger version about 450 KB big. Used by FS2002 only if winds aloft is activated in real weather dialog.
• Comment: A optional comment given by the user to recognize the weather scenario
  

The files are generated while downloading the weather from the Internet . This can be done either in the Internet Mode (if 'Archive Downloads' is selected and the Flightsimulator sends a request), or using 'Get Current Weather'. The weather files have the extension .fsw or .fsa for winds aloft data.

• The message window logs errors and activities of GetWeather, 'Clear Log' deletes all messages. The log window will report the following message classes:



Error: A severe problem happened which need your attention. GetWeather will not work at all.

Warning: A problem happened. Some parts or a operation of GetWeather may not work.

Information: Information message. No further action required.

If the OK button is pressed, GetWeather runs in background mode and just displays a tray icon. In this mode the main window hides but GetWeather is still answering all requests of the Flightsimulator. A mouse click on the tray icon restores the main window.

'Exit' closes GetWeather.

The four operation modes of GetWeather:

In the 'Source' section the input type of data for the requests of the Flightsimulator is specified.

• Internet: The Real-World-Weather will be downloaded from the Jeppesen Server and forwarded to the Flightsimulator. If 'Archive Downloads' is enabled the data are also stored locally for later reuse. The type of weather file depends on the setting in the real weather dialog of the Flightsimulator.
• Stored File: If enabled, you choose one of the weather files in the local directory. This file is sent to the Flightsimulator if it requests 'Real-World-Weather'. If the type of the requested weather file doesn't fit the selected in FS a warning will be printed out. Anyway until now we noticed no problems even if FS2000 will receive winds aloft data.
• Random: Sends a random selected file to the Flightsimulator.
• Sequential File: GetWeather sends the selected file to the Flightsimulator. At the next request, the next file in the list will be sent. This enables you to send subequent files to the flight simulator.

The Comment Editor:

The Comment Editor is started using the button 'Info' in the main window or by double clicking to one of the list entries. The editor is used to add a short description and additional comments to a weather file. The short description will be shown in the main window's file list.

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Getting weather files from the Internet

The current weather can be retrieved in two different ways:

Using the Flightsimulator 2000:

Using the Flightsimulator 2002:

In FS2002 the check box which is marked with the red cross decides which type of weather will be downloaded. For users which have a low bandwidth internet connection we recommend to disable the check box because downloading winds aloft data will take a lot of time.

Using the Flightsimulator 2004 and 2006:

In FS2004, GetWeather fully supports the 'static' method of getting the weather. The 15-minute update mode is supported rudimentarily. It will work in internet-mode of GetWeather, but the 15-minute update files will not be stored when 'Archive Downloads' is selected. In the other modes short pauses during flight can happen.

In the Flightsimulator you have to activate the item 'Weather' in the 'World' menu. The button 'Real-World-Weather' connects to GetWeather.

Using GetWeather:

Weather Radar Simulation

To get the weather data from the Internet for later usage, just press the 'Get Current Weather' button. The data is downloaded from Jeppesen and stored locally.
If the check box 'Download Windsaloft' is activated GetWeather will download the larger version of the weather file from the server. This option is only required for FS2002 users.
The selection will only control the type of weather downloaded by the scheduled download.

An example weather file can be downloaded from the Bearsoft web site.

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Scheduled Downloads

The menu entry 'Schedule' leads to the settings dialog for the automatic scheduled download. This function gives the possibility for automatic downloads of weather data at fixed time schedule.

The time of the download events can be specified in two ways:

• every day at a fixed time
• periodical

The 'Add'-button adds the selected event to the schedule list. In the example above the weather data will be downloaded every day at 20:15. Additionally it will be downloaded every 120 minutes. The downloaded files appear in the list in the main window automatically.

The automatic download function is only active when 'Enable Scheduled Downloads' is activated. After you have done the settings here, you can close the 'Download Schedule' dialog and return to the main window.

The functionality of GetWeather is not affected when scheduled downloads are enabled.

Note: The type of weather data downloaded could be specified in the main window of GetWeather.

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Suddenly GetWeather doesn't work anymore. Flight simulator just prints out the error message 'Cannot find file specified' if the download button is hit. Whats wrong ?

This error happens if the menue item 'Offlinemode' in the 'File' menue of Internet Explorer is activated. Deactivate the item to solve the problem.

On long distance flights the weather changes very suddenly there are even areas without any weather. Is this Get Weathers fault ?

Get Weather just path the weather without any modification through. The weather model of FS2000 and FS2002 is not perfect. The transition between the different weather cells is not very smooth. It could happen that you fly in one moment in a total overcastted sky up to the horizon and suddenly there is a clear sky. It could also happen that there are areas without any weather activity. GetWeather has no influence on this behavior.

Is the weather loaded only for the current location ?

No, the flightsimulator loads the weather for the whole virtual earth. Also GetWeather will always download the weather for the whole globe. If you switch between Airports it is not required to load once again the weather. On long distance flight it makes sense to update the weather sometimes because the weather will change over time. GetWeather is able to download the weather periodical from the internet. At the moment there is no way to update the weather in flightsimulator automatically.

I don't have internet on my flightsimulator computer. But I have access to the internet somewhere else. Can I use GetWeather ?

Yes you can. Install GetWeather on both computers. You just can ignore the error message that FS can't be located on your internet computer. Download the weather using the 'Get Current Weather' Buttons from the internet. GetWeather will store the weather files in the directory which is displayed in the 'Files in' text field. Copy the .fsw and .fsa files to a disk and transfer them to your Flightsimulator computer.
On this computer copy the files to the directory which is displayed in the 'Files in' text field. Restart GetWeather.
Please notice that TCP/IP has to be installed on your flightsimulator computer. GetWeather will report otherwise a error that it can't work. If you don't have a network card or modem installed on that computer please install the Remote Access Network just as a dummy.

GetWeather reports that it can't find FS2000 nor FS2002. But I can start FS without any problems. What's wrong ?

Sometimes the registry entries for FS are missing or incomplete. This could happen if Windows was reinstalled without running the FS installation program. The problem may also come up if you run different versions of Windows on your computer and you haven't run the FS installation on all versions.
In this case you can manually select the path in the GetWeather settings dialog. After restarting GetWeather everything should be fine.

GetWeather reports at startup 'Port 80 already in use'. What's wrong ?

By default GetWeather uses the TCP/IP Port 80. On some computers this port is already in use by other programs (e.g. Microsoft Internet Information Server, Apache Web server) If this happens you should assign a different Port e.g. 81 in the GetWeather settings dialog. After restarting GetWeather this error message will disappear and the program should work properly.

How does GetWeather gets in touch with FS2000 and FS2002?

Whenever GetWeather is started it will alter some weather server entries in the FS200X configuration file fs200x.cfg. The following values are changed:

WeatherServerAddress=fs2k.zone.com -> 127.0.0.1
WeatherServerPort=80 -> Port used by GetWeather

If the program ends all changes are restored to the original values. If GetWeather could not be quitted probably (e.g. crash of system) GetWeather will detect the problem and will restore the values at the next start of GetWeather.

Known problems

15-minute update mode of FS2004 and FS2006 implemented quite rudimentarily. In Internet mode, update files will not be stored. In the other modes of GetWeather short breaks during flight could happen. Feedback welcome!

Please report any problems to the Bearsoft support team .

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License

The current version of GetWeather is freeware. The program is provided as is without any warranty. Use the program at your own risk. We are not liable for any damage which is caused directly or indirectly by this software.

Flightsimulator 2000, 2002, 2004 and FS-X are registered trademarks of Microsoft.

The weather data is provided by Jeppesen

Weather Radar Fs2004 Freeware

If anybody thinks that we violate any rights of others, please contact us immediately by e-mail at support@bearsoft.de . We don't intend to violate any trademarks or copyrights with GetWeather.

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Contact

Weather For Fsx

We appreciate questions, critics or any other hint of any kind.

Radar For Fsx Aircraft

Home page: www.bearsoft.de
Support: support@bearsoft.de

Rosenheim, 07th of August, 2003

Fs2004 Weather Radar Gauge