Weather Routing v1.15.45.9 bug - route lines no longer have wind arrows

[PierrePureur]

Describe the bug
Using Weather Routing v1.15.45.9, the route lines generated by WR no longer show wind arrows along the route (see attachment). Those wind arrows along the route line were useful, as they helped illustrate the route conditions. This issue seems to have been introduced by version 1.15.45.9 of the WR plugin.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Go to the WR main screen
2. Compute a route
3. Look at the route display (see second screenshot)

Expected behavior
Show the wind arrows along the route (see first screen shot)

Screenshots
See attached screenshots, showing a route with an earlier version of the plugin and a route with the current plugin version

Desktop (please complete the following information):

• OS: [e.g. iOS] Windows 11 Pro version 25H2 OS Build 26200.8246
• Browser [e.g. chrome, safari] Chrome
• Version [e.g. 22]

Smartphone (please complete the following information):

• Device: [e.g. iPhone6]
• OS: [e.g. iOS8.1]
• Browser [e.g. stock browser, safari]
• Version [e.g. 22] Version 147.0.7727.138 (Official Build) (64-bit)

Additional context
This issue has been reported by multiple OpenCPN users,. Some are even choosing to use an earlier version of the WR plugin with known bugs to get the wind arrows back!

[quinton-hoole]

Thanks @PierrePureur .
Yes, I plan to fix this.
I assume it was collateral damage when I rolled back some other buggy code to get the plugin working again.

[PierrePureur]

Thank you @quinton-hoole. Hopefully reversing the collateral damage will be a relatively easy fix (famous last words...). I didn't appreciate how much people were attached to these wind arrows along the WR route until I started getting some nasty comments!

[quinton-hoole]

Thank you @quinton-hoole. Hopefully reversing the collateral damage will be a relatively easy fix (famous last words...). I didn't appreciate how much people were attached to these wind arrows along the WR route until I started getting some nasty comments!

Thanks @PierrePureur . Yes, I don't think it will be difficult to resolve, I just need to make time to do it. Where have you been receiving nasty comments? Please provide links here if possible.

[PierrePureur]

Thanks Quinton. I am part of the Navigation Committee at the US Power Squadrons. We are currently doing a major upgrade to our Offshore Navigation course, essentially replacing Digital Wave's VPP2 software with WR (the course was already based on OpenCPN, so this makes a lot of sense). Some of the committee members are a bit uneasy about the few glitches we have been experiencing over the last few months. Nothing serious, just noise, but getting the wind arrows back would close the issue.

[quinton-hoole]

Thanks Quinton. I am part of the Navigation Committee at the US Power Squadrons. We are currently doing a major upgrade to our Offshore Navigation course, essentially replacing Digital Wave's VPP2 software with WR (the course was already based on OpenCPN, so this makes a lot of sense). Some of the committee members are a bit uneasy about the few glitches we have been experiencing over the last few months. Nothing serious, just noise, but getting the wind arrows back would close the issue.

Gotcha. Good to hear that weather routing is being used for serious applications, and thanks for the feedback. That gives us even more motivation to make it work well.

[PierrePureur]

Hi Quinton, Any update on the missing arrows? The problem with features that used to be there and are now gone is that OpenCPN/WR users miss them a lot. Thanks -- Pierre

[quinton-hoole]

Hi Quinton, Any update on the missing arrows? The problem with features that used to be there and are now gone is that OpenCPN/WR users miss them a lot. Thanks -- Pierre

Sorry, no news yet, but it's at the top of my OpenCPN priority list.

[rgleason]

I am concerned about these kinds of issues, as I have tried this new version and noticed the same problem. Earlier versions were much better. I will hopefully be able to find some time this summer or fall to look at this in depth.

[PierrePureur]

I am too, Rick but other issues that I stumbled upon recently seemed to have existed for a while. For example, obtaining the total duration of a WR route is a challenge. The WR table seems to be missing the last leg of the route and the duration/total time is sometime missing from the WR report. So far, the only place that provides an accurate duration for a voyage is the main WR panel. I'm currently finalizing a Offshore Navigation course for the US Power Squadrons that is based on the OpenCPN WR plugin and dealing with these glitches makes this interesting.

[rgleason]

For the course I would go back to a previous version I think.

[PierrePureur]

Thanks @rgleason I may need to do this if we can't get the arrows back by the end of September when we plan to publish the new course. The problem is that the "View>Route Position" would revert back to displaying incorrect position information. Where can I find the previous versions of the WR plugin?

[PierrePureur]

@rgleason - I was able to revert back to version 1.15.45.7 of the WR plugin and got the wind arrows back. However, this created another issue: with version 1.15.45.7, the calculated length of the route is 2434.5 NM (see 1st attachment), while with version 1.15.45.9 it is 2447.0 NM (2nd attachment), for exactly the same WR route - and the durations are the same in both cases (8d 03:12). Which one is the correct one, and which version of the WR plugin should I tell the students to use for the course?

Thanks -- Pierre

[rgleason]

Pierre, what a pain. Very sorry. Right now I am up to my eyeballs with Climatology. Don't want to change focus.

[PierrePureur]

I totally understand, Rick. Since version 1.15.45.9 won't be fixed for a while, could it be removed from the Master Plugin Catalog until it's fixed? Right now, WR users have a choice of downloading either version 1.15.45.9 or version 1.15.45.7 which is confusing. Removing version 1.15.45.9 would temporarily solve this problem. Thanks -- Pierre

[quinton-hoole]

As far as I recall, 1.15.45.7 has more serious problems, in that it's , for example, not possible to create weather routing points. That's why I created 1.15.45.9.

My apologies for not yet having fixed the wind arrow problem in 1.15.45.9. I've had a look at the code but it's not obvious where the problem lies. Also, I've been completely consumed getting my boat prepared to cross the Pacific, departing tomorrow.