gunnersman Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 A show stopper, yes I know. But the wind direction in the conditions button upsets my sensibilities as a professional helicopter pilot. In CMSF (and now CMBN) if I wanted to lay smoke down I would always look at dust clouds or a smoking AFV to get an idea of the wind direction. But there have been several occasions in the past when there were neither and I had to rely on the conditions briefing to plan on where to place my smoke. And it has bitten me in the butt when I did. The smoke would blow in the wrong direction because I was anticipating the smoke to blow from NW to SE based on the conditions saying the wind was medium NW. Well it turns out that NW means the wind is blowing FROM the SE to the NW. As a pilot, when I check the weather before I fly, one of the most important aspects of the weather I need to check is the wind speed and direction. The wind direction is always given in terms the direction the wind is COMING FROM. That way I know which way direction to take off into, land into, which way to point while hovering for a stable hover or in the case of an emergency, which way to point my nose to make an emergency landing. It is very important to have the wind at your face. I would imagine it would be just as important for a FOO who is calling in air support to know this which would allow him to speak the same language as the pilot in the air. Was it SOP to indicate wind direction back in the day as indicated in the game? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackcat Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 "Was it SOP to indicate wind direction back in the day as indicated in the game?" I doubt it. The convention of labelling he wind by the direction it is blowing from dates back hundreds of years - a sailing ship need to know where the wind is coming from for much the same reasons, safety and navigation, as a helicopter pilot. Old weather vanes are constructed so as to point into the wind, i.e. show the direction it is coming from. I thnk this is just a simple mistake on the part of some scenario designers who are not aware of the convention. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunnersman Posted May 15, 2011 Author Share Posted May 15, 2011 Sorry...almost forgot... Fix or do somefink! Blackcat, I always thought it was a coding thing and not specific to the scenario. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyD Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 Oh ho! I just checked. The scenario editor pull down menu is labeled 'Wind Source'. In other words where the wind is coming from. But if you check the condifions panel during a game is just has the word 'Wind'. So the wind is blowing from the direction the designer assigned it but the wording in the in-game weather conditions panel is imprecise. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SD Smack Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 1755 Zulu Automated Weather Wind 260 at 15 gust 19 Visibility unrestricted 2,600 broken, 3,500 overcast Temperature 25 Dewpoint 20 Altimeter 2999 ILS runway 23 left approach in use Landing runway 23 left Departing runway 23 right Notice to airmen, runway 18 closed Readback all runway assignments and hold short instructions Use caution for birds in the vicinity of the active runway Advise the controller on initial contact, you have India Is that better?????? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bergerbitz Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 Oh, and lick yer finger and hold it up. Thet thar cool side is where the wind is comin' from... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyD Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 Oh darn, my mistake. I had tested the wind direction north/south which it seems to do correctly. But the labels for east/west seem to be flopped. Gunnersman is correct there. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magpie_Oz Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 Well it turns out that NW means the wind is blowing FROM the SE to the NW. Now that explains a lot. For quite some time now I have been thinking I read the scenario wrong or something. I cannot imagine that saying where the wind is blowing to has been used as the standard. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyD Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 Back after more testing. This'll confuse you all! I was able to reproduce Gunnersman's problem... then I couldn't. My multiple wind direction tests all started showing the wind blowing from the proper direction. So everybody's right and everybody's wrong. It seems to be a transitory bug. That is really really strange. :confused: 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunnersman Posted May 15, 2011 Author Share Posted May 15, 2011 Now that IS wierd, MikeyD. 1755 Zulu Automated Weather Wind 260 at 15 gust 19 Visibility unrestricted 2,600 broken, 3,500 overcast Temperature 25 Dewpoint 20 Altimeter 2999 ILS runway 23 left approach in use Landing runway 23 left Departing runway 23 right Notice to airmen, runway 18 closed Readback all runway assignments and hold short instructions Use caution for birds in the vicinity of the active runway Advise the controller on initial contact, you have India Is that better?????? Damn Army Pilots. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergei Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 Oh ho! I just checked. The scenario editor pull down menu is labeled 'Wind Source'. In other words where the wind is coming from. But if you check the condifions panel during a game is just has the word 'Wind'. So the wind is blowing from the direction the designer assigned it but the wording in the in-game weather conditions panel is imprecise. No, it's not. It says eg. "Wind: Medium FROM W". Nothing imprecise there. I don't understand what the problem is here. I checked several scenarios and wind was blowing just as it was meant to in all of them. Gunnersman, can you specify the scenario where you have this problem? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunnersman Posted May 15, 2011 Author Share Posted May 15, 2011 No, it's not. It says eg. "Wind: Medium FROM W". Nothing imprecise there. I don't understand what the problem is here. I checked several scenarios and wind was blowing just as it was meant to in all of them. Gunnersman, can you specify the scenario where you have this problem? Well...****. I think I am going to enjoy some humble pie tonight. I got my compass directions confused. I installed MB's mods which changed the compass. I started "Closing the Gap" where I thought I noticed the problem. But it turns out I was reading the compass 180 degrees backwards this whole time. It didn't even occur to me. Looks I need a compass with a little airplane in it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baneman Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 MB's Compass mod is pretty sweet, I liked it the moment I started a new scenario and saw it up there - showing the view direction is inspired. No possibility of confusion. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveyJJ Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 Wind at your back, low's to your left (you can take the guy away from the ATC [my career many many years ago], but not the ATC away from the guy). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisl Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 Back after more testing. This'll confuse you all! I was able to reproduce Gunnersman's problem... then I couldn't. My multiple wind direction tests all started showing the wind blowing from the proper direction. So everybody's right and everybody's wrong. It seems to be a transitory bug. That is really really strange. :confused: Clearly there's vorticity on the map and the wind direction varies depending on where you are. The wind direction indicator should really indicate the direction as observed by the currently selected unit. It should probably be a thumb or an index finger colored blue on the windward side, and red on the leeward side. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peregrine Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 Lol. Delay the release. Showstopper. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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