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Aircraft Visual Models in Tower View

ATC-pie is a radar air traffic control simulation program for the FlightGear multi-player network.

Aircraft Visual Models in Tower View

Postby msmithjr » Thu Jul 20, 2017 8:46 pm

What is the proper syntax for entering aircraft types for solo sessions in the setup window? If I list:

B772
B773

Then I get plain black B777's with no livery. If I enter anything else as shown in icao2fgfs then I receive an error saying not enough aircraft types.
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Re: Aircraft Visual Models in Tower View

Postby mickybadia » Fri Jul 21, 2017 12:29 pm

Only enter ICAO type designators in the settings, one per line as the dialog says.
A type will then spawn if it is specified enough (e.g. known cruise speed, see acft-db), and compatible with the selected game (can land/park at airport, according to AD spec and set RWY capabilities).

Company choice for commercial airliners is made from resources/speech/airline-callsigns, and if any are listed under the ACFT type in icao2fgfs, you can restrict the choice to those. You can edit that file to use your own models and liveries.
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Re: Aircraft Visual Models in Tower View

Postby msmithjr » Sun Jul 23, 2017 4:07 pm

Thanks Michael - I've installed the custom OMDB scenery and made sure to follow your instructions. I was able to populate the airport with several B777 and now would like to know:

1. Can aircraft be configured to follow a curve while taxiing? Is this done in ATC-pie or do I need to edit the ground routes? I'm guessing the same root cause is what makes the aircraft not following the visual taxiway but appear left or right of taxiway centerline.

2. All aircraft are appearing with landing gear while on ground... is this normal for ATC-pie?

Many thanks!!
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Re: Aircraft Visual Models in Tower View

Postby mickybadia » Mon Jul 24, 2017 10:25 am

msmithjr wrote in Sun Jul 23, 2017 4:07 pm:1. Can aircraft be configured to follow a curve while taxiing? Is this done in ATC-pie or do I need to edit the ground routes? I'm guessing the same root cause is what makes the aircraft not following the visual taxiway but appear left or right of taxiway centerline.

"root cause" of what?
If you have a ground route network (lines 1200~1202 in .dat), then aircraft will follow them. If they look off your scenery, my guess is an optical illusion and they are actually higher than ground level --> create an elev map and/or adjust alt. offset with the local settings. Though of course, it may be off for real and you should correct it --> use WED editor.
If you don't have a ground route, all bets are off. Minimal RWY turn-offs (likely off TWYs) are implemented to enable TWR work, GND is disabled, etc.
Another way to interpret your message is: you have a ground net, but ACFT cut through curved TWYs. That means you should refine the routes adding more nodes between those present. Route edges are straight lines so must be broken down.

msmithjr wrote in Sun Jul 23, 2017 4:07 pm:2. All aircraft are appearing with landing gear while on ground... is this normal for ATC-pie?

I would say so. The only aircraft I can think of that tried to taxi without a gear down all wished they had one.
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Re: Aircraft Visual Models in Tower View

Postby msmithjr » Mon Jul 24, 2017 3:17 pm

Sorry - that's what I get for posting early early morning...

1. Aircraft do not follow curves while turning. They just pivot on a point then continue forward.

2. That should have read "aircraft appear with landing gear UP while taxiing"
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Re: Aircraft Visual Models in Tower View

Postby msmithjr » Mon Jul 24, 2017 3:39 pm

Ok so I can fix the ground routes in WED - perfect! Thanks!
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Re: Aircraft Visual Models in Tower View

Postby mickybadia » Mon Jul 24, 2017 7:57 pm

msmithjr wrote in Mon Jul 24, 2017 3:17 pm:1. Aircraft do not follow curves while turning. They just pivot on a point then continue forward.

Before that, aircraft could flip around instantly without even a U-turn, so it made things too easy on ground. But I agree this was only partially better, and have found a solution to strike the best ground with both advantages. Will be merged eventually, it does look like aircraft are "following curves".

msmithjr wrote in Mon Jul 24, 2017 3:17 pm:2. That should have read "aircraft appear with landing gear UP while taxiing"

Then my humorous comment applies to ALL of MY aircraft! Yes the new protocol has somehow broken stuff I had not noticed. In earlier versions the came came down on ground and on final. *sigh* I'll look into this as well then
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Re: Aircraft Visual Models in Tower View

Postby mickybadia » Mon Jul 24, 2017 8:06 pm

@mrsmithjr: BTW, can you say FG version?
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Re: Aircraft Visual Models in Tower View

Postby mickybadia » Sat Jul 29, 2017 8:02 am

FYI, I asked about the version because if you have a pre-2017.2 client as a tower viewer, it is normal that you see no gear down and no spinning props or engines with AI traffic. It is the same as in MP when rendering the players who have not ticked the backward compat option.

And BTW, the next version will have a smoother taxi.
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Re: Aircraft Visual Models in Tower View

Postby msmithjr » Sat Jul 29, 2017 8:59 pm

mickybadia wrote in Sat Jul 29, 2017 8:02 am:FYI, I asked about the version because if you have a pre-2017.2 client as a tower viewer, it is normal that you see no gear down and no spinning props or engines with AI traffic. It is the same as in MP when rendering the players who have not ticked the backward compat option.

And BTW, the next version will have a smoother taxi.


FG 2017.2.1
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Re: Aircraft Visual Models in Tower View

Postby mickybadia » Sun Jul 30, 2017 2:10 pm

I confirm:
- ATC-pie 1.3.3 does send AI aircraft gear information through
- FG version 2017.2.1 as TWR view does show me correct gear positions

So the only possible difference left is in the ACFT model set you are using. I did my test with the FGAddon available from the FG project page.

However, potentially related:
- I heard (tbc?) that some of the gear stuff had recently been modified, but I do not know to what extent, nor if it will make its way in all model repos. I sincerely hope the suitably named "gear-position" props will not all of a sudden be neglected by over-creative ACFT developers. ATC-pie cannot be expected to guess which else to use.
- I may be wrong, but I somehow think that a few airbuses might still be missing landing gears
- my 744 seemed to show the gear a little later than other models, but this too needs confirmation, and it did show eventually anyway (an issue that also seems to happen a lot with liveries)
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