AFCAD Issues + Crash - Parking List

[Guest flightsimmernick]

Hello all, I have a couple of AFCAD parking issues;I have been doing a bit of AI housekeeping in the last week or so and have updated alot of my plans for the summer, however when I started to update some airlines I noticed that it effected the parking arranngements at EGLL, for example I have updated my Virgin Atlantic plans and aircraft are now parking in some spaces which they would never before. The VIR parking code is in the space but for some reason FS seems to be choosing different spaces as preference for VIR aircraft over others. Same aircraft, same radius, same parking code etc etc. I have compared the flightplans and the new plans have 1 more aircrat than the previous plans. I could maybe understand if the plans have alot more aircraft but the new plans just have one more aircraft so am a bit puzzeled as to why the whole fleets parking habits should change? Maybe it has to do with the fact that I have updated the plans?Anyway I have been editing a few parking spots and now I cant seem to be able to select the parking list for EGLL in AFCAD it just says AFCAD has developed a problem and closes/crashes. Have tried to open other airports parking list with no problem, just my EGLL which is the problem? Anyone got any ideas?Thanks as always!

[RFields5421 1]

Have you change the names of any of the traffic .BGL files or the order of the flight plans in a flightplans.txt file?This will cause airlines and aircraft to load in a different order and may change the parking assignments as aircraft overflow to secondary and tertiary parking assignments.Your AFCAD file has apparently become corrupted. This could be due to the compiler / decompiler AFCAD uses, or you could have tried to have more than 255 parking spots on the airport.Do you have a backup of your good AFCAD?

[Guest flightsimmernick]

Ahh yes, that would explain it then - well the new bgl's have have been created they a re different names, hense the difference - will bare that in mind thanks. As far as the corrupt AFCAD goes yes I do have it backed up so I will just replace - think I have made a few changes to the AFCAD since I last backed it up but nothing too drastic. I have not added any parking spaces and am just using the aerosoft LHR afcad to go with the scenery. Would there be any other reason or just a compile/AFCAD error?Thanks

[Guest magnum_force]

Mr.Reggie Fields,How does an AFCAD become corrupted?.The owner-operator is about the only one who can corrupt it other than a virus issue.The reason I ask is now I am paranoid I might have corrupted AFCADS.If they exist, I have them. Probably.I do run across errors on occasion, too be sure.

[RFields5421 1]

Lee's AFCAD program does not follow the rules in the FS2004 BGLComp SDK for writing scenery code in FS2004.Now to be fair to Lee, Microsoft did not release that SDK until late Feb or March 2004 - seven to eight months after the release of FS2004.Lee updated, no that's a bad word choice, Lee completely rewrote AFCAD to work with FS2004, add it's new capabilities and give us a fantastic tool in about six weeks. We started testing AFCAD2 in early September and the first version was released in late October 2003.But since the release of the SDK we've learned many things which I'm sure Lee would have done differently had he known what we learned.FS2004 uses 13 to 15 decimal places. AFCAD uses between 2 and 6 depending upon the element. This causes rounding errors when an airport is opened and resaved due to the decompile/compile process. Things move - and not consistently.One reason to always work from a source AFCAD file, never from an active one on your airport when making changes.AFCAD's Fault Finder works from a list of possible issues which Lee developed. It misses some critical things, and flags some non-important things as errors. Again, a timing issue - Lee was far ahead of MS.Lee's program allows some things to be done which the FS BGLComp does not allow - and these can cause strange behavior in FS, or a complete failure of FS to read the .BGL properly.You can also have the case of AFCAD compiling a file with an error, and yet being unable to read/decomple that same file - which I think is what happened to the OP.This can occur when working with more than 255 parking spots. It can also occur when extraneous characters are entered in the parking codes field, or too many parking codes are used on the airport.When the AFCAD2 program fails to work correctly with an airport file - the first trouble shooting step is to delete the AirportIndex, the FileList and the AFCAD2.ini files. Restart AFCAD and see it the program can now work with the file.Beyond that - going to a backup is about the only solution.The best practice for working with airports with AFCAD is to save the airport with a name like AF2_KATL_v1.bglThen make changes and save as _v2, etc.That way you have a backup you can work with if you changes do not work out. This is much better and safer than trying to remember exactly what you changed and undo those changes.

[RFields5421 1]

Something I stumbled on to a while back - can't believe I was so stupid to not think of it earlier - is to test parking one airline at a time for complex airports like Heathrow.Change the flightplans.txt file to put the aircraft which need the largest parking spots at the top of the file, then the next smaller, then next, etc. This avoids the small aircraft overflowing up into large aircraft parking. Lets you find issues much, much faster.Start with loading only the main airline - BAW at LHR.Make sure the main airline is parking correctly at peak times.Then test the next busiest airline, and so on.Test the busiest three or four or five together - they will cause 90% of your parking problems. Get them working right. Then add the rest.That can help you pin down problem airlines much quicker.

[Guest flightsimmernick]

Thanks Reggie,Sound and Interesting points as usual!>This can occur when working with more than 255 parking spots.>It can also occur when extraneous characters are entered in>the parking codes field, or too many parking codes are used on>the airport.This is a likely reason why my AFCAD is now coprrupt not the fact that I have added any parking spaces however parking codes. In the last couple of weeks I have added some cargo flightplans which have tended to have 4 letter characters as apposed to three characters (e.g EVAC - Evai Air Cargo & ICEC Iceair Cargo)? Also on some airlines I have edited some aircraft parking codes to manipulate where certain aircraft park on the airfiled. For example:SIA (Singapore Airlines) - for all aircraft apart fromSIA1 A380 - edited for 3 parking spaces on Pier 6 at EGLL where the 380 parksBAW - (British Airways) - for all aircraft apart fromBAW1 - BA's 757's as only aircraft to park at T1 as opposed to T5Not had any issues and aircraft seem to do as I have tried to achieve until I recently updated the last one:CPA - Cathay Pacific - for all aircraft apart fromCPA1 - Cathay Pacific cargo aircraft (to park in cargo area)

[RFields5421 1]

You well know we push the designed capacity of AI in FS far beyond anything MS ever considered.We also push AFCAD very far.And at some point - which we will never fully understand - the program chokes.Just part of life.

[Guest flightsimmernick]

Thanks for your Input!