vATIS: Multiple issues with beta 9

Support Controller Software
1

I just updated to beta 9 (looks like the update is automatic now?) and while the new ways to customise both the ATIS voice and text are welcome, I’ve found several issues with it. I set up an ATIS with the following actual METARs:

ESNN 241850Z AUTO VRB03KT 9999 SG FEW017/// OVC053/// 00/M02 Q1009
ESNN 241820Z AUTO VRB02KT 9999 -SN FEW021/// BKN034/// 00/M02 Q1009
ESNN 241750Z AUTO 05003KT 360V090 9999 -SN ///028/// 01/M03 Q1009 REUP

Using [FULL_WX_STRING] (not sure if that’s relevant) I noticed the following:

  • The leading zero in the wind direction is left out (it says 50 degrees 3 knots, instead of 050 degrees)
  • “Minus two” is pronounced in a very odd way, like “minnus t-wou” (UK female voice, if that’s relevant)
  • It skips SG (snow grains), even though it is listed as a recognised weather type
  • It skips the whole cloud section if there are /// indicating that cloud type is unknown
  • It adds the “closing statement” by default
  • When making changes to presets I can’t see the text I edited until I click in another window; the edited text then appears (for example, if I edit a string in the window for text presets, I have to click in the window for voice presets before I can see the edited text).

I would have liked to try with various weather conditions, but I don’t think there is a way to check the output based on anything but the current METAR when connected to the network? It would be a welcome feature to be able to check the formatting and output offline with any METAR, current or simply free text to see how it reacts to different METAR strings.

Finally, is there an easy way to make the same changes for the ATIS for a set of airports? I have around ten airports to manage, and they all have more or less the same ATIS format. As it is now I have to edit the composite for each airport even if I want to make the same changes for all airports. Is there a better way to do it that I’m missing?

2

Hi Martin, thanks for your feedback.

The leading zero in the wind direction is left out (it says 50 degrees 3 knots, instead of 050 degrees)

This will be fixed in the next version

“Minus two” is pronounced in a very odd way, like “minnus t-wou” (UK female voice, if that’s relevant)

This will be fixed in the next version

It skips SG (snow grains), even though it is listed as a recognised weather type

This will be fixed in the next version

It skips the whole cloud section if there are /// indicating that cloud type is unknown

I’m not entirely sure how cloud layers with /// coding should be handled. In the example METARs you provided, what would you expect the voice ATIS to say when speaking these cloud layers?

It adds the “closing statement” by default

If you have the Automatically include closing statement at the end of the ATIS option checked, then it will automatically include the closing statement. Is this not happening for you?

When making changes to presets I can’t see the text I edited until I click in another window; the edited text then appears (for example, if I edit a string in the window for text presets, I have to click in the window for voice presets before I can see the edited text).

I’m not sure what you mean by this. Are you referring to the ATIS Template text area? What do you mean by “I can’t see the text I edited until I click in another window…”?

I would have liked to try with various weather conditions, but I don’t think there is a way to check the output based on anything but the current METAR when connected to the network? It would be a welcome feature to be able to check the formatting and output offline with any METAR, current or simply free text to see how it reacts to different METAR strings.

I want to eventually add a feature like this into vATIS, I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.

Finally, is there an easy way to make the same changes for the ATIS for a set of airports?

You can “copy” a composite. Right-click on the composite in the profile editor and choose the “copy” option. Or click the “Manage Composite” button with a composite selected.

1 Like
3

Hi Justin, thanks for getting back to me.

Great!

Officially it should probably be something like “cloud type not reported” or “not detected”, but in reality you wouldn’t hear this in an ATIS here, since the /// would only appear in automatic METARs that are only transmitted when the airport is closed and then no ATIS would be provided. On VATSIM, however, we might have the airport open and ATIS running even when IRL the airport is closed.

The easiest solution is probably to ignore any /// after the cloud height.

It does add the closing statement, but the problem (or minor inconvenience :slight_smile:) is that with the latest version this means that all our ATIS profiles now need to be adjusted in order to remove the default closing statement.

I will have to put this down to my almost 10 year old laptop not wanting to play along anymore. Tried it on a more recent PC and it works normally.

This works fine for the initial setup, but when you have multiple airports with multiple configurations the workload multiplies as well. It’s a lot of edits that need to be done with the latest version; for example I want to change the wind readout in both text and voice to align more with non-US phraseology, and naturally I want this to be the same for all airports. So I’m just wondering if there is an easier way to make edits across multiple composites.

In case it’s of any use, I’ll include an example of what I want an ATIS to look and sound like:

METAR: ESGG 251320Z 27010KT 240V310 9999 BKN009 OVC013 06/03 Q1000
RWY surface condition: pasted as free text from the real ATIS (as ARPT_COND): Wx

ATIS text:

ESGG ATIS W 1320Z
ILS APCH RWY 21
SURFACE CONDITION CODE 5 5 5. ISSUED AT 0240. RWY 100 PCT WET.
TRL 65
MET REPORT
WIND 270/10KT VRB BTN 240/ AND 310/
VIS 10KM
CLD BKN 900FT
T06 DP03
QNH 1000 HPA

With this format the text is as close as possible to the real D-ATIS that can be obtained/printed via ACARS.

ATIS voice:

This is Landvetter ATIS Information Whiskey. Time one three two zero.
ILS approach runway two one in use.
Runway surface condition code five five five, issued at zero two four zero. Runway one hundred per cent wet.
Transition level six five.
Met report:
Wind two seven zero degrees one zero knots, variable between two four zero and three one zero degrees.
Visibility one zero kilometres.
Cloud broken niner hundred feet, overcast one thousand three hundred feet
Temperature six, dewpoint three.
QNH one zero zero zero hectopascal.
This was Landvetter ATIS Information Whiskey. Out.

It would be great to be able to use vATIS to make our ATIS broadcasts even more true to real life. :slight_smile:

4

Thanks, this should be fixed in the next version.

This is be design, so you’ll need to manually uncheck this option.

Not really, unless you’re comfortable with manipulating .json files in a text editor, in which case, you could create all the composites and then manually edit them in the AppConfig.json file.

Are you having trouble making vATIS match this format? If so, what elements in particular are you having trouble formatting to your liking?

5

Just updated to beta 10. For some reason, with the automatic updates I get an error message that I need to download and install .NET runtime. Doing this seems to have no effect and I keep getting the error message. If I download the new version manually instead I can install and run it with no errors. (I’ve experienced this since upgrading to beta 8 at least.)

I saw in the changelog for beta 10 that you mentioned GR as snow grains, just to make sure it’s SG that is snow grains (GR = hail - they are all correctly listed in the list of weather types however).

I ended up doing some copy/pasting in the .json which works OK. It’s just that it’s a lot of work if you have multiple airports that you want to use the same setup (same voice, phrases etc) and then there is one or more changes to that setup.

It would be helpful to have a central or global list of at least the contractions, so that you can add phrases without having to manually update every composite.

The voice part works well now (although it’s difficult to test various weather conditions since you can only check it with an active ATIS and actual METAR).

As for the text, it’s looking pretty good as well, just some minor issues:

  • ESGG ATIS - this is now “THIS IS LANDVETTER ATIS” to achieve the correct voice (not sure if there’s a better way, can I use ESGG ATIS as a contraction for THIS IS LANDVETTER ATIS perhaps?)
  • VIS 10KM is VIS 9999
  • Clouds use the METAR format, so BKN 900FT is BKN009 in the current text
6

I forgot to mention, TRL would be a nice contraction for transition level. Looks like there’s no way to customize this at the moment if I’m not mistaken.

7

Try installing the “full setup” version https://github.com/vatis-project/vatis/releases/download/v4.0.0-beta.10/vATIS-Setup-4.0.0-beta.10.exe

The auto-update only updates the changed files and doesn’t include the .NET 6 framework dependencies (to reduce the download size).

There was a breaking change in beta 4 with how it was compiled. So, if you had an old beta installed and then it updated, chances are it’ll nag you to install .NET 6 because it’s missing .NET 6 dependencies. Installing the full setup should fix that because it’ll install the missing files without requiring you to install .NET 6 framework; future auto updates should then work for you.

Just a typo in the release notes… fixed.

I’ll consider this for a future update.

I was able to accomplish this by changing the Preset ATIS Template to ESGG ATIS INFO... and creating a contraction ESGG ATIS with a spoken value of THIS IS LANDVETTER ATIS

I’ll add additional customization for this in the next version.

I’ll add additional customization for this in the next version.

I can add customization for this so you can customize the voice and text ATIS formatting.

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Thanks Justin, appreciate your work!

I’ll get right onto adjusting the “this is… ATIS” preset. :slight_smile: