Flight Simulator 2002: How to troubleshoot issues with the Real-World Weather feature and the News feature in Flight Simulator

SUPPORT SOLUTION:
The Real-World Weather feature and the News feature require a connection to the Internet to retrieve the data. Additionally, the data may not be available. You have to consider each of the following possible issues:You may have to connect to the Internet before you start
Microsoft Flight Simulator.Flight Simulator may be blocked from retrieving the data by
a software firewall or by a hardware firewall.Your Internet service provider (ISP) may be caching the old
data.Your computer is not overwriting the old data with the new
data.The Real-World Weather feature may not have any data, or
may not have hourly data for your location..This article describes how to troubleshoot common issues
with the Real-World Weather feature in Flight Simulator, and the News feature
in Microsoft Flight Simulator.The News feature in Flight
Simulator is a Web page in the game. If you are connected to the Internet
while you are looking at the page, you see current Flight Simulator news from
the following Microsoft Web site: http://www.microsoft.com/games/combatfs2/
(http://www.microsoft.com/games/combatfs2/)
If you cannot connect to the Internet, or if you are not
connected to the Internet, you see a static page.Both the Real-World
Weather feature and the News feature use Port 80 on your computer to access the
data..Important These steps may increase your security risk. These steps may also
make your computer or your network more vulnerable to attack by malicious users
or by malicious software such as viruses. We recommend the process that this
article describes to enable programs to operate as they are designed to, or to
implement specific program capabilities. Before you make these changes, we
recommend that you evaluate the risks that are associated with implementing
this process in your particular environment. If you choose to implement this
process, take any appropriate additional steps to help protect your system. We
recommend that you use this process only if you really require this
process.Warning This workaround may make your computer or your network more
vulnerable to attack by malicious users or by malicious software such as
viruses. We do not recommend this workaround but are providing this information
so that you can implement this workaround at your own discretion. Use this
workaround at your own risk.Note A firewall is designed to help protect your computer from attack
by malicious users or by malicious software such as viruses that use
unsolicited incoming network traffic to attack your computer. Before you
disable your firewall, you must disconnect your computer from all networks
including the Internet..General troubleshooting information

To verify that the weather servers are up and are running, visit
the following Microsoft Web site: http://fs2k.zone.com
(http://fs2k.zone.com)
If you can connect to the Web site and view the Web site content,
the weather servers are operational.To verify that the News servers
are up and are running, visit the following Microsoft Web site: http://www.microsoft.com/games/combatfs2/
(http://www.microsoft.com/games/combatfs2/)
If you can connect to the Web site and you can view the Web site
content, the News servers are operational. How to connect to the Real-World Weather feature Web site and the News feature Web site
3,
When you try to download the Real-World Weather feature, you may
receive an error message that is similar to one of the following:
Server name or address could not be
resolved.A connection with the server could not
be established.When you try to view the News page in Flight Simulator, you may receive the following message: Welcome to
Flight Simulator News. You are not currently connected to the
Internet.This issue may occur if one of the following conditions is
true:
You are not already connected to the Internet.You are using a software firewall such as Zone Alarm,
MacAfee Personal Firewall, Norton Internet Security, or Black Ice Defender that
permits or that blocks access to the Internet on a per-program
basis.You are behind a hardware firewall that you might find at a
place of business or in a router.To resolve this behavior, follow these steps:
Verify that you are connected to the Internet.Try
to log on to your ISP before you try to access the Real-World Weather feature.
With some ISPs, you must log on before you open a browser session. When you log
on to an ISP, TCP/IP is loaded and provides connectivity to the Internet. To
connect to the Real-World Weather feature, you must have an existing TCP/IP
session.To determine if you are using a software firewall, look in
the notification area at the far right of the taskbar or on the desktop for an
icon that represents a firewall or a filtering program. Pause on each
icon in the notification area and read the tool tip to determine if the icon
represents firewall or filtering software. Verify that your software firewall
is configured to permit TCP/IP connections with port 80. Verify that your
software firewall is configured to permit your version of Flight Simulator to
communicate with the Internet. For information about contacting your software
firewall vendor, see the “Contact information” section later in this
article.If you have a software firewall, you can temporarily
disable it for troubleshooting purposes. Right-click the icon, and
then click Disable. If Disable is not
available, click Exit. If you can connect after you disable
your firewall, Microsoft recommends that you contact the manufacturer of that
firewall about permitting Flight Simulator to access the Internet.Contact the administrator of your network to make sure that
port 80 is open, and that any requests to port 80 are not being redirected to
another port.How to troubleshoot issues with the Real-World Weather feature or the News feature
3,
The Real-World Weather feature my seem “stale” or does not match
the current conditions. This behavior may occur if one of the following
conditions is true:
Your Temporary Internet Files folder contains old copies of
the weather data files, and the files are not replaced with new
information.Your ISP is caching or storing a copy of the Real-World
Weather files on their servers to speed up your download process. If these
files are not renewed each day, you are downloading the same data each
day.The Real-World Weather service is not updating the data
correctly.There are also areas of the world where data may not be
available to the Real-World Weather servers or where that data is not being
updated correctly.To resolve this behavior, try the following methods in the order
that they appear.Method 1: Empty your Temporary
Internet Files
folder before you turn on the
Real-World Weather
feature
4,
Windows VistaTo resolve this issue, follow the steps in the appropriate section. The computer is connected to the Internet
3,
View the “Delete temporary Internet files” topic on the following Windows Online Help and Support Web site: http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/1d862c06-aeb3-403a-8b58-2a76c8c676911033.mspx
(http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/1d862c06-aeb3-403a-8b58-2a76c8c676911033.mspx)
The computer is not connected to the Internet
3,
View the “Delete temporary Internet files” topic in Windows Help and Support on the computer’s hard disk by following these steps: Click Start, and then click Help and Support. In the Search Help box or in the Search online Help box, type Delete temporary Internet files, and then click Search Help. In the list of topics, click Delete temporary Internet files. Click the link that best describes the problem that you are experiencing. Follow the suggestions to troubleshoot the problem that you are experiencing. Microsoft Windows XP To do this, follow these steps:
Quit Flight Simulator.Start Microsoft Internet Explorer.On the Tools menu, click Internet
Options.On the General tab, click Delete
Files under Temporary Internet files, and then click
OK.Start Flight Simulator, and then open the flight that you
want to fly.On the World menu, click
Weather.Click to select the Local Weather check
box, and then click Real-world weather. Click OK.Method 2: Verify that your ISP is not caching data
4,
Contact your ISP to make sure that they are not caching
the data from http://fs2k.zone.com. For information about how to contact your
ISP, see the “Contact information” section later in this article.Method 3: Configure local weather conditions manually
4,
In the real world, weather information is gathered by
all kinds of measuring devices at weather stations. In Flight Simulator, the
locations of the Real-World weather stations are duplicated and Real-World
Weather tries to make sure that the weather in the simulation is as accurate as
possible. In areas where there are no weather reporting stations available,
Flight Simulator extrapolates the possible conditions that might exist.
Unfortunately, some weather reporting stations only update the main database
one or two times daily. This difference between reported data and actual
conditions is reflected in the simulation. You can set you weather
conditions yourself. You can find more information about how to do this in the
Help Files of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000 and in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002.
Similar information is also available in the Learning Center of Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2004 - A Century of Flight. Note Sometimes the Real-World Weather servers may not be updating
correctly. Microsoft has a system that monitors these events and every attempt
is made to make sure that such issues are resolved quickly. Contacting
Microsoft Product Support Services will not speed up or change this process. How to access the Real-World Weather feature or the News feature from Flight Simulator
3,
This behavior occurs if you are using some popup-blocking
software. To work around this behavior, disable the popup-blocking software
before you try to use these features. Currently, the only known program with
this issue is Antiy Labs’ Ghostbusters. For more information about this
behavior, visit the following Antiy Labs Web site: http://www.antiy.net
(http://www.antiy.net)
Microsoft
provides third-party contact information to help you find technical support.
This contact information may change without notice. Microsoft does not
guarantee the accuracy of this third-party contact information.
How to contact the manufacturer of your hardware or software
3,
For information about your hardware manufacturer, visit the following Web site:http://support.microsoft.com/gp/vendors/en-us
(http://support.microsoft.com/gp/vendors/en-us)
The third-party products that this
article discusses are manufactured by companies that are independent of
Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the
performance or reliability of these products.
.Note This is a “FAST PUBLISH” article created directly from within the Microsoft support organization. The information contained herein is provided as-is in response to emerging issues. As a result of the speed in making it available, the materials may include typographical errors and may be revised at any time without notice. See Terms of Use
(http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=151500)
for other considerations..

For File Repair and Data Recovery, visit File Repair / Data Recovery