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 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"
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.
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
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 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!
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!
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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