A new feature in the VATSIM servers

[Guest rcritz]

Who among us has never had a dodgy connection to a server? Or an ISP thatwent down briefly? Or an someone pickup the phone your modem is on? Or apower surge that knocks you offline? Or (and I know this hasn't happened toanyone :-) ) FS hang and require you to reboot your system?And then, when you get your internet connection back, you find the dreaded"callsign in use" message when you try to reconnect to VATSIM? So yougrumble about and change your callsign, adding a 1 or a . or an _ orsomething else silly or you wait for it to timeout.Well, that's a thing of the past for VATSIM now. As long as you areconnecting to the same callsign and using your same CID (and you only have1, right?) you will be allowed to reconnect to the system immediately to anyserver. Assuming your new connection passes all of the necessary securitychecks, you will be allowed to reconnect immediately using your originalcallsign.AND, if you are a pilot and have been gone for less than 30 minutes, yourflight plan will automatically be reattached and propagated so you no longerhave to remember to refile and resend it. It will happen for you and thecontrollers will all think you have a wonderful memory and are the perfectpilot! :-)Now for some "old hands", I know the habits of changing the callsign arealmost automatic. But this is a new trick worth learning. Just come rightback with your old callsign. Controllers will thank you if you're a pilot.Pilots will thank you if you're a controller.Enjoy!cz

[Vulcan 14]

Richard, this is excellent news even though it is quite a while since I had the problem.A thought on the 30 minute flight plan retention.Would this permit a pilot to file a FP at say, 1900Z with a departure time of 1945Z, log off VATSIM, then log back on at say 1930Z ready for the flight?If so this one way a pilot can state his flying intentions before departure with the possibilty of ATC coming on-line at his departure airport.Rgds

[Guest rcritz]

:) Just wait and see the next trick I have up my sleeve! :)Yes, it will permit you to do precisely that. Unfortunately, current controller clients have no way of seeing that you've filed. That's coming in future work. This just lays the ground work for it.cz

[Vulcan 14]

Thanks for the clarification Richard.>Just wait and see the next trick I have up my sleeve!800+ connections? :-)A merger with IVAO (no don't be silly)(-: I'll wait and see

[Guest rcritz]

>Thanks for the clarification Richard. >>>Just wait and see the next trick I have up my sleeve!< >>Er..... >>Auto log off if you don't do what ATC asks you to? ;-) >Hmm, there's a thought .. ;-)>RW severs that don't cause problems? :-) >can't help with those>Servers that stay up even with 800+ connections? :-) >Already have this.>A merger with IVAO (no don't be silly)(-: >Can't do that with server code.>I'll wait and see Good idea. Hopefully, you'll like it! :-)cz

[B777ER 2,483]

Great work. Little improvements like this make for a much better time flying on VATSIM.

[Guest Tim W]

Richard,It would also be nice to encourage controllers to say in their Servinfo information box, along with the ATIS and their IP, a note stating to what time they will be online. There's nothing worse than seeing who is online and planning a route accordingly only to find that controllers dissapear along your route before you arrive. I fly VATSIM mainly in Europe and I have also noticed how coverage varies per country. There are some countries online on a very regular basis (UK, Holland, Germany, Spain to name a few) but others (mainly France and Italy) where coverage is only occasional. Leaves flights from the UK to Spain for instance with a rather large ATC black hole for most of the flight. RegardsTimEGLL based

[B777ER 2,483]

Tim, That is a good idea. BTW I have never seen CDG in France with ATC coverage which is ashame since that is a nice airport for us in the US to fly overseas to.