Vrtool, Vendée and TIMEZONES = version 2.11

[par2005]

I would like to thank Omar for such a great tool. It really helps enjoy virtual sailing a lot.

I have difficulties understanding the settings of timezones in VRTOOL.


My timezone is 0/GMT
Game timezone is 1/GMT+1.

Game has wind changes at 08:00 and 20:00 (GMT+1), 07:00 and 19:00 (GMT)

Currently it's 18:18 GMT when I am writing this post, but if I download the weather in VRTOOL now, I will get TIMESTAMP="2012-12-02 18:00:00" as "current" wind.

In game, however, it's still "12:00:00" wind being shown. It will change to "18:00 gmt" weather at 19:00 GMT.

This means I get incorrect weather for weather routing. WR_Track also shows 12h/24h/36h/ marks at 18:00GMT and 06:00GMT. When routing, it assumes that weather will change at 18:00GMT, while actually it happens at 19:00GMT..

I hope this confusion makes sense to you, and someone will be able to advise me how to configure vrtool to replicate game behaviour.

Thank you,
Par

[omar]

..makes sense to you ?

Yes, it does. Game winds used to change at 6/18 GMT.
As you pointed, for this Vendée they are changing at 7/19 GMT.
Vrtool NOAA game winds are changing one hour earlier than Vendée game
The problem affects WR and track design. Thanks for the report.

[GrandSteph]

Hi,
I live on the eastern timezone. When clicking the "timezone" button in the wind tab, VRTOOL picks 5. I noticed that if I change it to 4, I get appropriate timestamps and weather when doing routing. Works like a charm. You might want to try and substract one to your current timezone to account for the new game winds update that shifted an hour.

Great program by the way Omar.

[omar]

..when clicking the "timezone" button in the wind tab, VRTOOL picks 5. I noticed that if I change it to 4, I get appropriate timestamps

This has the same effect of using [x]time since last wind change and set the local time of the wind shift ( i.e. you get the same wind forecast Age )
Trouble is WR and track designer will wind shift one hour too early ( 6/18 instead of 7/19 GMT ).

[Tim]

Sorry, I need to understand : Which is the best method to have both the right age and the right timestamps ?
ie when you say 'This has the same effect of using [x]time since last wind change and set the local time of the wind shift', is this the right method or do both have a shift issue ? NB I use real VR Vendée winds downloaded from their server.

[omar]

Which is the best method to have both the right age and the right timestamps ?

The best way is to download version 2.11, now available.

I changed the way track times are set, to allow for Vendée 7-17 UTC wind changes.
Wind change times now can be independent of wind grid time stamp - so to speak.

For tracks, to simplify the work flow, I adopted local time.
Designed tracks and WR tracks points now have a local time stamp.
I hope this change doesn't disrupt anybody's routine.
Exception to the rule are the Boat Tracks, which still have the times
in game time ( to keep original data ) .

The scheduler is usable now.

The correct setting for Vendée is:
* make sure you have version 2.11
* set Wind forecast age setting to [x]time since last wind update
* set the LOCAL TIME for the first update (corresponding to 7 UTC)

downloads page

[Berg]

Hi Omar,
just tryed to install V2.11....

Any time I try to open my .NAV file it crashes VRTool.
A "ghost" of 60Ko still visible in task Mngr.
File explorer seems to be down too.
I'm working with XP...

Any Idea ?

[omar]

Any time I try to open my .NAV file it crashes VRTool. Any Idea ?

No I tried to load old NAVs here, but got no problem.
Can you may send me the offending NAV file ?

[Berg]

Thanks for your answer Omar, but after more trials I'm sure it's not related to the file. in fact it "crashes" whatever I can do after 5-10 sec.
Old version still working perfectly.

[Tim]

Thank you Omar, my 2.11 version works fine (french computer). Muito obrigado !