Difference between AFCAD and RAFCAD?

[Joseph29 225]

What is the difference between RAFCADs and AFCADs? On Project AI's web site they have RAFCADs available to download. Now so far I have only used AFCADs, so I would like to know what the difference is.

[scott967 62]

RAFCAD attempts to solve the problem of getting specific AI aircraft (primarily airlines) to specific gates by exploiting the logic FS uses to assign AI to parking spots based on parking spot size. By matching the size of the parking spot to the aircraft radius in the GMax .mdl file, it is possible to get the AI aircraft to use the "right" gates. A spreadsheet matrix is available with suggested radii for various airlines. By editing the radius in the .mdl to the matrix value and installing the RAFCAD file, the method is available.scott s..

[Joseph29 225]

Thanks Scott. Maybe I will start to download RAFCADs.Are RAFCADs installed the same way as AFCADs are?

[1mikel151 71]

yes they are! If you look at the properties of a parking spot in AFCAD it gives you the radius and you can change this to whatever you like. If you use an AI utility like AITM by Thomas Molitor it has an aircraft editior in it that lets you reassign the radius to the aircraft, thus matching the gate. I use it for my helicopter AI to make sure they park where they are supposed to and not in the plane parking spots. RAFCAD eliminates the need for overlays for the most part.Regards, Michaelhttp://mysite.verizon.net/res052cd/mybannercva1.jpgCalVirAir International VAwww.calvirair.comCougar Mountain Helicopters & Aviationwww.cgrmtnhelos.com

[Joseph29 225]

Ok one more question, if I download the RAFCADs for cargo planes to park in the cargo area will I still need AFCADs for regular airlines to park at the gates and to increase the number of gates?

[1mikel151 71]

It depends on what you are d/l, theoretically, you only need one AFCAD file for all traffic at an airport. I believe they have a set raduis for all aircraft over at PAI that would be good for reference sake when setting parking spot and aircraft radiuses. I still have overlays at most of my AI airports that I have configured (LAX< LAS< ATL< SEA> DFW, etc), up to 5 and 6, so I am not going to look into d/l the new RAFCADs, but I have used the method and it worked good for smaller amounts of aircraft without using any overlays. The guys at PAI are the pioneers on this method and can probably answer all your questions on their forum.Regards, Michaelhttp://mysite.verizon.net/res052cd/mybannercva1.jpgCalVirAir International VAwww.calvirair.comCougar Mountain Helicopters & Aviationwww.cgrmtnhelos.com