Weather, wind direction and track north angle

[ZiggyM]

Fixing sloppy and lazy programming was how I used to make a living oh so long ago...

And it looks like some of those sloppy and lazy people worked at Papyrus...

Stock tracks -
Daytona
[ track ]
track_north_angle = 220
[ weather ]
track_wind_direction = 360 ; compass heading in degrees from which wind is most likely (in this case from Northwest)

daytona_Night
[ track ]
track_north_angle = 220
[ weather ]
track_wind_direction = 110 ; compass heading in degrees from which wind is most likely (in this case from Northwest)


According to the note in those two stock tracks, NW is both 360 and 110 degress… :-(

So, my question is pretty simple. Which direction is NE at Daytona?

 

[ZiggyM]

Since there's been such an overwhelming response helping with this issue... :-/

I put the wind direction as 0, 45, 90, 135, 180, 225, 270, 315 and 360 in testing and each and every time I went to the track the wind was blowing from the South.

In addition, the wind speed is 7.5 with a variable of 0.5 (because the wind speed was from 7 to 8 MPH) and when I go to the track the wind is blowing up to 20 MPH from the south.

Nobodies got anything for this, eh?

 

[Highbank]

Override it in the Player ini maybe> I'm just throwing this out,,,

 

[ZiggyM]

I got annoyed enough to just set the weather fixed. Sure is curious why it'll only blow S no matter what direction I put in. I tried 1 - 8 to see if it's was using the direction like the player.ini does (1 = NW, 8 and 0 = N) and that didn't work. I spent most of the day just changing numbers, loading up the track and trying again and it sure was frustrating seeing "S" every time I'd go to the track. LOL

All fixed, literally, now. At least for Daytona.

 

[Highbank]

Everything like this takes way more time than most "sane" folks understand...

 

[ZiggyM]

I'm glad I found this thread instead of posting a new one.

Winds seems to always blow from the S and W no matter the direction in the "track_wind_direction =" line. I'm trying to get NE wind and I sat here watching the weather as the AI raced and it would be mostly S and W with an occasional N, SE, SW but just refused to hit NE for more than a second. I tried using a negative #, because it sucks but it was still mostly from the SW. ;-)
I'm thinking it's hard coded or there is a trick I don't know about.

Anybody got anything on this?

 

[ZiggyM]

As you know, the front stretch at Riverside points NNE (26 degrees) so wind from the West would go from grandstands to pit road. Get out there, do a burnout, watch the smoke (and flags).

I set the wind to "270" (West) and "30" (MPH) in the track.ini, checked the 'realistic weather' box, did a burnout and the wind blew the smoke to the grandstands as the flags waved to the West.

I set the wind to "W" and "30" with fixed weather, did a burn out, watched the flags wave to the East as the wind carried the smoke to the pits.

I then did the same with "N" and "S" and they are correct.

It appears the compass is mirrored when using 'realistic' weather and while the display will say "SW", the wind is actually SE. When it says "NE", it's really NW.

When using 'fixed' weather, it's all good but there is a 'glitch' with 'realistic weather".

So, if you want realistic wind direction when using 'realistic weather' swap E for W and W for E and ignore the display, watch the flags/smoke (instead of NE at 45 degrees, subtract 45 from 360. For SW, subtract 45 from 180, etc).

Some may not realize that wind direction is the direction the wind is coming from, i.e. lick your finger and put it to the wind to find it's direction.

Yet another thrilling chapter from, "How I spent my Christmas vacation".