FS ATMOSPHERE now supports MSFS 98, 2000 and 2002.

 FS ATMOSPHERE is designed for Windows 98/ME/2K/XP.

 FS ATMOSPHERE allows to browse weather reports for specific airport and search airport weather for specific phenomena such as fog, mist, rain, snow and thunderstorm to experience, for example, awesome approach.

FS ATMOSPHERE sets the following atmospheric parameters:

•  up to two cloud layers (real elevations of reporting stations are used to calculate cloud bases) + thunderstorm layer;
• visibility;
• surface layer temperature and dew point;
• surface layer presure;
•  surface layer wind speed and direction as well as gustiness;
•  rain and snow intensity.

• Start MSFS;
  
  
• Make sure that FSUIPC is properly installed - check the MSFS main menu item "Modules", FSUIPC must be there.
  
  
• Start FS ATMOSPHERE (just execute exe-file). Small icon will appear in the system tray (near the clock). At this point the add-on is not active yet.
  
  NOTICE! You may start FS ATMOSPHERE before MSFS. In this case greyed icon will appear indicating that FS ATMOSPHERE is not connected to MSFS. Being in this state you can use FS ATMOSPHERE to browse weather reports (see below).
  
  
• Click the right mouse button on FS ATMOSPHERE icon in the tray. Popup menu will appear on the screen. Select "Select File ..." item from the menu. In standard "Open file" dialog choose METAR report file (that has been downloaded by you previously).
  
  
• Switch to MSFS window and in a few seconds (up to 10 sec) FS ATMOSPHERE will set the weather and show an information about reporting station and weather parameters. If there is no reporting meteorological station within reasonable distance the message "No reporting station within reasonable distance" will appear.
  
  NOTICE! In MSFS 2000 you must go to Options/Settings/General... and select "Text display Continuous" to see FS ATMOSPHERE messages.
  
  
• FS ATMOSPHERE will automatically track your flight or switches between airports and set the weather.
  
  NOTICE! FS ATMOSPHERE updates weather only when MSFS is not paused.
  
  Check these screen shots to see FS ATMOSPHERE working.
  
  
• You may choose another METAR file as described above. Or you may select METAR cycle directory and thus switch FS ATMOSPHERE to the cycle mode by clicking the right mouse button on FS ATMOSPHERE icon in the tray and selecting "Select Cycle ..." item from the menu. You will be asked to select the directory that contains METAR cycle, i.e. a set of 24 files: 00Z.TXT, 01Z.TXT, ..., 23Z.TXT. In this mode FS ATMOSPHERE will automatically change METAR report file every hour. If some of METAR files are absent, FS ATMOSPHERE will use preceding one.
  
  
• If both single report file name and METAR cycle directory have been selected, user may check/uncheck the item "Cycle" in the menu to switch to "cycle"/"single report" mode.
  
  
• IMPORTANT! FS ATMOSPHERE does not contain built-in download manager. Instead, use your favorite download manager to update METAR cycle directory every hour or download new reports occasionally.
  
  
• FS ATMOSPHERE allows user to browse detailed information on weather conditions at various airports. First, choose METAR file or cycle (as it was explained above). Second, select "Search ..." item of popup menu. The following dialog will appear:
  
  Information is displayed in 11 columns: Apt CODE, Phenomena, Date, Time, Lower (Cloud) Layer, Upper Layer, Temperature, Dew Point, Presure, Visibility, Wind.
  
  You may search for weather reports for specific airport: enter 4-letter airport international code (e.g. KCGX for Merril C Meigs) and press Enter key or left click on "Go" button. To search for specific phenomena such as mist, fog, rain, snow, thunderstorm select it from drop-down list and press Enter key or left click on "Go" button. It could be very useful to left click on the header of the first column (Apt CODE) to sort records by airport code.
  
  
• If you choose "Options ..." menu item, the following dialog box will appear:
  
  Here you can set two parameters of FS ATMOSPHERE: 1) whether an information line will be displayed each time new reporting station is detected and 2) maximum station range, i.e. a radius of area around reporting station where weather could be reasonably treated the same as reported by the station.
  
  
• There are 3 hot keys in FS ATMOSPHERE:
  Ctrl+Shift+F1 - Enables/disables FS ATMOSPHERE information line;
  Ctrl+Shift+F2 - Shows information about current reporting station;
  Ctrl+Shift+F3 - Exits FS ATMOSPHERE.
  
  
• To finish FS ATMOSPHERE select "Exit" from the popup menu.