New user - GRIB Import error

[jsavage]

I am very keen to try out VRTool for weather routing but have quickly come across a problem. I have quickly searched this forum and not found an answer so hope someone may be able to help.

I want to import Grib Wx data through Winds/ Import GRIB. The data file has been obtained from http://www.grib.us/GribData.aspx. Immediately after selecting the GRIB file I get an error from VR Tool. I have also tried importing other Uncompressed GRIB Files with same error.

The error is reported as:
Cannot open file "c:\DOCUME~1\admin\local\LOCALS~1\Temp\results.prb" The system cannot find the file specified.

Folder C:\Documents and Settings\admin\Local Settings\Temp was hidden but does exist. However, I have searched the whole file system for results.prb - nothing found.

I suspect this might be a config issue with XP. Possibly relating to system paths but am not sure where to start.

Incidently, I installed VRTool in a folder on my D drive. This should not matter but may be relevant to the issue.

Thanks all for making the software available in the first place. Happy to provide screen shots etc to nail this issue.

James

[mclean]

James, I have exactly the same problem, also on an XP system, Did you manage to find a solution?

[mclean]

Further to my last message, I can see now its spaces in the path. In XP the %username% variable always has at least 2 spaces, so you can't import a grib from any user's directory. If the grib is downloaded to a folder like c:\gribs and then imported it manually it works fine. (And that's what the instructions say, duh!)

Incidentally in Win 7 the %username% variable usually has no spaces, so manually importing from a user's directory works fine.

However I can't get the "Download from NOAA" to work in either OS. Presumably it can't work in XP because of the %username% problem. But in Win 7 there is also something that stops the results.prb file from being written. Maybe a similar thing?

[Billbo]

Using Grib Files Is Hard Work You require a program called Grib2xml ....But the easy is to use Ricoo see viewtopic.php?f=2&t=79

[omar]

Vrtool grib import module uses a NOAA program named DEGRIB.
degrib.exe is called to decode the grb file and generate file
result.prb in more readable text format.

If degrib.exe is not working, if may be because:
- degrib.exe is not present in the vrtool program directory.
- the user has no permission to write to the directory.

Is a probe.pnt file present in that same directory?

[mclean]

....If degrib.exe is not working, if may be because:
- degrib.exe is not present in the vrtool program directory.
- the user has no permission to write to the directory.

Thanks Omar. I checked the permissions, all OK.

After a lot of testing I have found that the download works only when the local date is the same as the latest forecast date. For New Zealand that is between 0400 and 1159 GMT. Outside of these hours the local date is ahead of the forecast date, and it looks for a file that doesn't exist yet. The download stops at tmp00.grb, which contains an html fragment confirming that the date is wrong.

With my system time zone set back to UTC to synchronise the dates it work great, but that confuses some of my other apps.

Apart from that my ISP's DNS had completely lost NOAA! Fixed now.

[drschumi]

I am getting the same error than described above, no more grib import possible.
All the possible solutions (time zone etc.) did not help, still no import possible. It interupts after the "tmp00.grb" file with the message "The system cannot find the file specified".
Any ideas how to fix this? Tried to empty all cache, reinstall the program etc.
All the required files are there, the directory settings are correct.
Internet connection is fine, no firewall, no anti virus..

Help is welcome!

Thanks!

[omar]

Hum. Some problems persist in the "NOAA Import module"
The download fails in some situations and at specific times.
Also the option to download "Game winds" rounds wind speeds
to the nearest km/h integer (VR style). Not true for VORG 11

[Micke]

Omar, as you write, the game windspeeds rounds the windspeeds "wrong" for VORG11. I've tired everything but I can't get the game winds to VRTool. If I import raw grib I have to download a grib file with a 6 hour intervals and that will cause winds to change 4 times a day. And if I chose to only keep the 12h forecasts I will get the forecasts for 00 and 12 instead of 06 and 18 as I would like. Is there some nifty work around to get the right winds to VRTool?

[omar]

The easiest way to get winds is Vrtoutoulz.
Set regatta server field to www.vrtoutoulz.fr/winds,
point area with the mouse and click F2.

These are rounded to an integer speed in km/h
( a bit smaller then VORG winds ).
And publication times are not the same.