Hello,
Those of you following the project must have noticed: v1.3.0 is out. The most significant work was on implementing the new FGMS protocol v1.1.2, featured in FG 2017.2 clients. In short, this protocol is more network-efficient, but old clients cannot read the full contents of new packets. In FG, the new "compatibility" MP option allows to revert to the old data encoding scheme, but sooner or later the new one will be adopted.
Also, new properties are being phased in, only available with the new scheme. They account for a full and proper transponder simulation (thanks Sanhozay). So that was certainly a reason for the Pie to upgrade, and it should now be able to read all of it: old packets by old FG clients, old-style packets by new ones, and new packets. It also features a "legacy protocol" encoding option (default is set for now) to make its own sent data backward-compatible and visible to all connected clients. Without it, pre-2017.2 clients will not be able to read your text messages for instance.
Of course, more stuff was included...
1. Speech synthesis for AI pilot readback in solo games
Self explanatory. The voice is robotic, but the sound&feel of an actual readback can make for a much better exprience, especially if using voice commands. By the way, surprisingly very little feedback for such a cool feature in my opinion. Are people having trouble to install it?
2. Approach spacing hints
This is a novel proposal to assist APP radar vectoring for optimal spacing between incoming traffic (toggle from the options menu, or Alt+A). Here is how it works.
For every strip S2 racked immediately behind another S1, if all the following are true:
- both are linked to radar contacts (A2 and A1 respectively);
- both have the same destination airport;
- neither is on the ground;
- both speeds are known;
then the second line of text on strip S2 is prefixed with a spacing hint. That is, the "min:sec" touch down time difference between A2 and its preceeding traffic A1, assuming:
- A1 and A2 are maintaining their current speed;
- A2 is following A1 on approach to the airport (flies via its position).
Also, an arrow will point upwards on S2 if A2 is flying faster than A1 (getting closer), or downwards if slower. This should help analysing the relative speeds in the sequence, and better choose which traffic to accelerate or delay.
Further notes:
- repeat: the time diff is NOT a time-to-fly to the traffic ahead (use mouse-over as usual for that), but an expected time difference on touchdown;
- if this theoretical difference is negative, the "!!overtake" warning is appended, suggesting you to switch the two aircraft in the sequence, or significantly delay A2.
3. ATC collecting racks
This is useful for those coordinating with ATC neighbours. A collecting rack for an ATC callsign enables to automatically place all strips received from that ATC at the bottom of the chosen rack. E.g. assuming TWR, you can set all strips received from GND to be placed on a rack for "ready departures". If none is given, the default rack will be used, as was the case before.
Collecting racks can be saved with their current order and colours.
And some more GUI changes, saved options, etc. (see ChangeLog).
EDITS: missing words