WeatherStar 4000 Simulator For Windows (Part 1)

 

It's time to get the weather forecast, 90's style.

A couple of months ago, I reviewed the WeatherStar 4000+ simulator for web-browsers. This simulator, created by Mike Battaglia, is a open-source, on-line simulator of the WeatherStar 4000 hardware used by The Weather Channel during the 1990's. This simulator ran without issue on both Firefox and Chrome on Windows 7 (Home PC) and Firefox on Windows 10 (Dell Optiplex).  It also runs great under Chrome on my Android devices as well. I use the online simulator when I'm on the road. 

Now, I'm going to look into the WeatherStar 4000 simulator for Windows offered by Taiganet. This simulator offers a lot of features and can be customized in various ways. When I'm home, I use this program most of the time. Now, there is one notable hardware requirement. First, to run the Windows (and Mac OSX/Linux ports as well) simulator, you will need a computer that supports OpenGL 3.3. My home computer has this provided by a Nvidia GTX 950 GPU. This is where the screenshots come from. I do believe that Windows 10 has support for OpenGL 3.3 in software. However, I had various issues with the program using the software approach, hence the online simulator.

With that said, let's get started. I decided to start my own weather locale from scratch. The user interface can be a intimidating at first and there is a learning curve. Despite that though, there is a lot of customization provided that is welcomed. A effort that I feel is well worth it.

The load screen
The initial program

The Local Section is highlighted in yellow. This basically means that there is missing information. This would make since as this locale is being created from scratch. Lets fill in some info!

This information is necessary as the program pulls it's data from NWS (National Weather Service) streams and uses those streams for the Weather display. This is why the program needs to be updated occasionally. The NWS changes there data streams from time to time and the program needs to be updated to remain compatible with those data streams. Also, the NEXRAD radar data is pulled from these streams as well.

Before I continue, there are many configuration files pre-made for various locations already, which can be found at the Taiganet.com forums (and linked below). However, I can already be sure that one didn't come here just to be told that you can download pre-made configuration files! You want to make you own. In that case, keep reading.

This configuration file that I'm making is for the Oklahoma City Metroplex. Oklahoma City is the "Home City" for this configuration file. To set the location as such, click on the "Find Long/Lat by City, St..." box and filled in the appropriate information in the dialog box. Since this is for Oklahoma City, I typed "Oklahoma City: in City, and "OK" in state. This will bring up many radar locations to choose from. Double-click the location to add it and close the box. The "Home City" is set now.

Scroll Down To "Current Conditions Cities"

The configuration of the Primary and Backup City.

This section allows for current conditions to be displayed for the primary city, and a backup city as well. To get the data for the primary city, click the "..." next to ASOS ID. It will bring up a dialog box for various weather observation locations. Usually, the location at the top is the closest one to the preferred location. Select it and click "Done" at the bottom. Repeat the routine with the backup city as well.

Afterwards, we will need observation cities as well. The method is mostly the same. You will click on the "..." button next to the ASOS ID, click the appropriate observation location, and click done. Repeat this with the other locations as well until the "<Not Configured>" for all observation cities are configured.
Time to configure those Observation Cities.

It's Music Time!
I want to do a test run. In order to do this, one will need music, as the simulator won't run until the playlist exist. In order to create a simple playlist, scroll down to the "Seasonal Playlist" section and click it. The section will drop down with various options. Since this is Spring, select "Spring" from the seasonal tab. To just build a quick playlist, click the "Drag + Drop..." button. A message will appear wanting a song to be "dropped" there. Just drag any random song from a open Windows folder and "drop" it over the message box. The song will appear in the playlist. A "Assigned flavor" needs to be added to the song. Just click the drop-down box next to "Assigned flavor, and click "D (1991)". The volume might need to be configured, depending on the sound adapter. Because my sound adapter is capable of very loud volume, I need to lower it. I usually set it to "0.03" in "Volume". After configuring the playlist, you can proceed with the test run to see how the segments appear.

Test Run
Latest Observations
Current Conditions
The Regional Observations for Oklahoma are empty.

In order to population the regional segment with locations, we need to exit the running simulation and return to the sections for configuration. Scroll down to "Regional Cities" under the "Regional" section under "Local". Click the "+" to add a regional city. The "Find City" dialog box will come up. Just enter the city name and state in. Double-click one of the locations to close the box .

The city should be listed now. To further configure the regional location, click the "..." button next to "ASOS ID" and the dialog box for the "Nearby observing stations" should be listed. Click the closest/appropriate one and click "Done". Repeat the process with the other regional locations as well.

At this point, it's important to see if the segments appear right. Click on the "Flavors" section. The "D (1991)" section should be selected by default. We will use this flavor for convenience. Click on the "Add a segment" section and the various segments should be shown, along with the previews. Select the "Regional Forecast 9/92" segment, and the preview is shown.

As shown in the screenshot below, some information of the observation cities are overlapping each other. This is not a good thing. The locations needs to be spaced out so that the displayed information isn't overlapping. This means going back to "Regional" under "Local" and re-configuring those locations. This requires some trial-and-error until things are configured correctly. Luckily, the preview, which is auto-updated, is very useful in this process without going through another simulation run.

As shown in the "Regional Forecast 9/92" segment, the regional cities are overlapping each other. This is not a good thing. Back to the drawing board!
The updated locations.
Order has been restored in the Universe!

This article is exploding in size. As a result, it will be split into two parts. Part two will cover flavors and segment customization within those flavors. The configuration of custom graphics will be covered as well. So far, I admit that the configuration of this simulator has taken a significant amount of effort. At the same time, there is a lot of customization within this software, and for things like weather fetching, I can understand why some much configuration is necessary.

While the user interface can be intimating at first, once the program features are figured out, the customization aspects really does work in the programs favor. This is why I feel that the effort devoted is well worth it though, despite the somewhat steep learning curve. 90's Weather Channel nostalgia comes alive with this program!

WS4000 Simulator - http://www.taiganet.com/
WS4000 simulator support/ THe WS4000 simulator project/ Downloads/ Configuration File Repository - http://www.taiganet.com/forum/index.php/board,13.0.html

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