FlightGear Forum
New release 10 was pushed last Sunday (followed by a quick and newer "r10b" update yesterday), with cool features added. The most important enhancement is ground support, including as always AI traffic for solo/teacher sessions.
== New ground features ==
In detail, here is what you now find regarding GND control at airports with a "ground network" (*):
- taxiway labelling on airport tarmac
- parking positions, added to navigator pane for quick look-up
- click&drag taxi instruction tool, generating the correct message to be sent through chat or read out to pilots (screen shot below)
- a new GND position available for solo games -- you can play GND on its own or combined with TWR and any choice of DEP/APP (see the updated solo game section in the user guide)
(*) One problem with ground networks is that the data is still scarce compared to the set of airports available. Many airports have no ground net, but you may find a newer ".dat" file for download from the X-plane portal. In this case, rename the apt.dat file after your 4-letter ICAO code and place it in the "resources/apt" ATC-pie directory to override the packed default.
NB: An apt.dat file contains a ground net if it has text lines beginning with codes 1200, 1202...
== Additional features ==
Of course, more stuff made its way in the program too!
1. Data files
- X-plane data update with latest default world package (April 2016)
- custom airport spec vs. X-plane extract distinction
- reload radar colour configuration file
2. In teacher mode:
- individual aircraft freeze by teacher
- keep strips on handovers
3. In solo mode:
- randomised wind
- wind affects AI aircraft
4. GUI:
- sequence numbers on racks
- rack colours on tabs
- controllable strip auto-fill options
== Technical note: known issues on ground nets ==
As far as I could see while trying to come up with a general system (esp. for AI aircraft), the data is very inconsistent. The hope is that it grows and stabilises in a near future, to an extent that will allow me to fit all airports with one set of rules.
Meanwhile, the two major discrepency types found were:
- some "taxiway" edges lie fully on runway but labelled otherwise, e.g. at EGSS runway 04 threshold. Implemeted assumption is that runway turn-off edges are recognisable as <N1,N2> with N1 connected to "runway" edges and N2 connected to None, N2 then being off all runways.
- apron edges are often absent, or labelled with stupid dummy labels like "*", e.g. at KSEA. Implemented assumption is that ramp edges are unlabelled "taxiway" edges.
Generally speaking, feel free to report on new problems so I can get a general picture, but please distinguish model inconsistencies from simply bogus data (e.g. missing taxiway edge).
