NOTE: 29 Apr, 2020. I've updated Wind.class to a third version (made wind speed zero at the surface). It is more sophisticated, having more variation. The readme contents have been updated below. The same, unchanged Sun.class is still presentNote the specular lighting hue on the wingtip...
Clouds are a now golden hue at sunset/sunrise; no more garish pinkish red.
Not much else visual to highlight.
Get it here (third version, replaces the first two):
https://www.mediafire.com/file/c9k6jub00e4dztb/00_WxTech_Wind-and-Sun_classes_4.12.7z/fileFrom the included Readme (second version):
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WxTech's tweaks to 4.12 Wind and Sun class.
Update, Apr 29, 2020 (make surface wind speed zero)
Wind.class
96F4C2FA0F2B0FD0
Sun.class
2CF41F504EF36240
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The Wind.class changes:
* Removes the hateful and instantaneous transition in lift when crossing shorelines (incl. rivers--gaaagh!).
* No more gusts. These were annoying and useless, occurring at clockwork precision. Only the randomized turbulence remains.
* Reduces the amplitude of turbulence to 1/4 the stock value, making all conditions flyable.
* Adds the same turbulence to all AI.
* Increased the near-surface transition zone depth from 10m to 30m. From 30m down to the surface, wind speed smoothly goes to zero. This is to avoid the weathercocking of the aircraft. More below
* Now there are two components of turbulence, instead of just one:
# Mechanical, due to wind friction with surface. Strongest at 200m AGL, drops smoothly to 1/2 intensity at surface, and smoothly to zero at 600m AGL. It varies sinusoidally by time of day; full strength in early afternoon, 1/2 strength shortly after midnight. Over water, the strength of this turbulence is 2/3 that over land.
# Cloud. This component is zero at the surface, increasing therefrom with altitude, measured from sea level. The maximum intensity occurs at 1/2 the height of the top of the 'cloud zone'. From there to the top intensity smoothly decreases to zero.
At this time I've elected to not impart a time-of-day variance to cloud turbulence; that may change.
The depth of this 'cloud zone' scales as the cloud type, getting higher with worsening weather. From Good weather to Thunder, the 'cloud zone' tops out at between 600m and 6000m above whatever the cloud height (base) is set at. For thunder weather and a higher cloud base, turbulence can extend up to the cirrus layer. For Good weather and a lowest cloud base (300m), cloud turbulence would cease at 900m ASL. If you're in the cumulus cloud regime, you'll have turbulence (unless you set wind to zero, or 'none', of course.)
The base intensity of turbulence in the 'cloud zone' scales as the cloud/weather type. From Good weather to Thunder, a factor of 0.3 to 1.4 is applied. That is, in Good weather the maximum cloud turbulence is 30% as strong as the mechanical value at 200m AGL. And for Thunder, the maximum cloud turbulence is 1.4X stronger than the mechanical value at 200m AGL. The other values of scaling factor between these limits scale accordingly.
* Both these components (mechanical and cloud turbulence) always operate simultaneously if the conditions for both are met, meaning if you're within the overlap. And so they do add together, but not as a simple addition. The randomness results in a statistical summation that scales as the square root of the sum of the squares. If, say, both components are averaging same value of '1', they do not add to make an average of 2, but instead average at 1.414 (very occasionally doubling, very occasionally nulling out.)
Further notes:
As noted, this mod completely cancels the gusts variable. Whatever you might set Gust to in a *.mis file, or the QMB or the FMB, it is ignored. You can forget about it; set any (permissible) value, but it will make no difference. The way gusts were implemented was horrible. They always seemed to impart the same, predictable yaw swing, at the same amplitude, with clockwork regularity. An annoyance more than a nod to the actual phenomenon.
When you set turbulence, consider how much you want to endure at its maximum intensity 200m above the surface. For mission design, operate on the general principle that mechanical turbulence typically worsens with increasing wind speed. You can consider weather/cloud type as well, of course. Particularly for the worst weather, if you want more of a challenge.
Decreasing wind speed to zero at the surface is necessary because of the lack of differential braking by which to counter the strong weathercocking effect in even a not strong breeze. This too easily gets one effectively stuck pointed into the wind, making taxying a real chore, if not impossible with a single engine. To make the transition from full wind speed to zero less abrupt, the former 10m deep zone within which this wind decrease occurs has been increased to 30m. An additional benefit accrues for larger/taller planes whose high tail sticks farther up from the surface; this now 30m deep zone means that the wind speed at the tail will not have had a chance to increase as much as it would in a shallower, 10m deep transition zone.
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The Sun.class changes:
- Makes the sunset/sunrise cloud and specular lighting component less cartoonishly red. Now a more pleasing golden glow.
- Reduces the magnitude of cumulus cloud brightness change based on the altitude from which seen, increasingly so for the poorer weather setings.
- Puts the Moon at the correct declination. Formerly, it was always placed at the same declination as the Sun; WRONG! That could result in a declination error as large as 45 degrees! Now if you have a full Moon, it will always be properly opposite the Sun on the sky.
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I include the Java for these classes. Readable with any text editor, best with Notepad++.
This work may be used or abused by anyone for any purpose, without restriction.
WxTech
Apr 29, 2020
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I hope to receive some feedback, because my preferences are likely to differ from those of most folk. If anything like some consensus is arrived at, I'll be happy to cook up a further tweak.
Author
Topic: WxTech's 4.12 Sun and Wind classfiles (Read 8508 times)
