AI Aircraft SID and STAR Controller

[NGXfanatic 85]

I'm following this development with great interest.  I am a fanatic when it comes to AI, and I had thought that due to FSX limitations this kind of addon would be impossible, but this news has taught me that I should never underestimate the talents of the programmers out there to enhance FSX, no matter how bungled up M$ left the code.

 

I wish you the best of luck!

[19dcavscout 39]

Thank you for the great work!

[ZKOKQ 984]

Found a issue with this addon, flying the Airbus extended, departing EGLL, with EGLL ini placed in the root folder as per instructions, and on take off, my plane was put into slew mode, I had to close AI controller to regain control.

[Clipper Ocean Spray 189]

Found a issue with this addon, flying the Airbus extended, departing EGLL, with EGLL ini placed in the root folder as per instructions, and on take off, my plane was put into slew mode, I had to close AI controller to regain control.

 

Weird, my program should only see FSX controlled AI objects.  Specifically, the program requests data on sim object types (SimConnect_RequestDataOnSimObjectType) that it will control using the SIMCONNECT_SIMOBJECT_TYPE_ALL enumerator, which according to the SDK "Specifies all AI controlled objects."  .

 

Does this happen at all airports monitored by AISIDSTAR?  I hope some system in the Airbus isn't passing itself off as AI, that wouldn't be standard.

 

I can add a check ensure none of the received aircraft object ID(s) corresponds to the user's object ID(s), but that's extra processing overhead for something I shouldn't need to do anyway.  Can you reply to my support email address?  I might send you a special debug version with this extra processing to see if it fixes the problem (it will also be version 1.2).

[ZKOKQ 984]

Thanks Roland. Will send you an e-mail shortly. My previous flight using AI controller was with the NGX CYVR to KLAX, and no issues.

This was the first time I used the AXE at Heathrow.

 

E Mail Sent.

[Pete Dowson 558]

Weird, my program should only see FSX controlled AI objects.  Specifically, the program requests data on sim object types (SimConnect_RequestDataOnSimObjectType) that it will control using the SIMCONNECT_SIMOBJECT_TYPE_ALL enumerator, which according to the SDK "Specifies all AI controlled objects."

In FSUIPC4 I found i had to include, amongst the data set I am reading for each AI object, the "IS USER SIM" BOOLEAN variable and use that to eliminate the user's aircraft from the FSUIPC traffic tables.

 

I can add a check ensure none of the received aircraft object ID(s) corresponds to the user's object ID(s), but that's extra processing overhead for something I shouldn't need to do anyway.

If you add the IS USER SIM variable to the data you have SimConnect posting to you, then this shouldn't be any noticeable overhead.

 

Regards

Pete

[Clipper Ocean Spray 189]

Excellent, thanks for drawing upon your experience and passing along this tip!  Yes, I can use that variable to simply avoid processing any user loaded aircraft that sneaks into the data posted to my program. 

 

In FSUIPC4 I found i had to include, amongst the data set I am reading for each AI object, the "IS USER SIM" BOOLEAN variable and use that to eliminate the user's aircraft from the FSUIPC traffic tables.
 

If you add the IS USER SIM variable to the data you have SimConnect posting to you, then this shouldn't be any noticeable overhead.

Regards
Pete

[russianspd 10]

How's the progress? I'm waiting to use this program because there's only 4 airports to choose from. Waiting for the scan all aiports features.

[Clipper Ocean Spray 189]

It is going well, I just added automatic selection of any STARs that specify the same runways as the landing runways currently in use.  I'm debugging this new feature, so I'm not sure how well it will work yet.  I was hesitant to add the feature because it would delay the new version, but I received several emails asking for it.  There are so many more potential STARs to deal with in the new version that a better way to select them could be very helpful too.

 

How's the progress? I'm waiting to use this program because there's only 4 airports to choose from. Waiting for the scan all aiports features.

[Clipper Ocean Spray 189]

Ver 1.2 is just about ready to go, thanks to the guys for alpha testing it.

 

I'm making the beta version available to everyone because I'm unavailable next week and I don't want to hold up the release of what may be a servicable version.

 

The file can be found out at:  http://www.mediafire.com/download/gswskmjzg2m9pn0/AISIDSTAR12.zip

 

As discussed, the new version simultaneously monitors multiple airports (e.g., can monitor regions or countries) and includes a conversion utility to support standard SID/STAR formats.  Also new for ver 1.2, automatic selection of STAR corresponding to the runway currently in use by the AI aircraft at the monitored airport.

 

Make sure to completely delete your old version.  Please remember this is a (advanced) beta version, so you may very well meet with frustration.  Please send me an email regarding any bugs, crashes, etc at the contact address in the readme.  Be sure to describe what phase of the flight you were in and include the AISIDSTAR.ini file.

Hopefully in a week or so I can upload the final version to the AVSIM library.

[Pete Dowson 558]

Deleted

 

Regards

Pete

[Bobbidude 0]

Does this work with the default ATC? I've been beating myself up trying to get this going but it crashes each time i start it. I'm running a single PC (no network) and have the simconnect as required. If I'm missing something i'd sure like to know. This is sounds like a great add on! 

[Clipper Ocean Spray 189]

Yes, it should work with default ATC.  Does it crash when you start the program?  If so, does the OS say anything about a "side by side" error?  If it is crashing later, do you see the "Connected to Flight Simulator" message in the AISIDSTAR output console window before the crash?

 

-Roland

 

Does this work with the default ATC? I've been beating myself up trying to get this going but it crashes each time i start it. I'm running a single PC (no network) and have the simconnect as required. If I'm missing something i'd sure like to know. This is sounds like a great add on! 

[russianspd 10]

<p>Figured it out!</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

[Clipper Ocean Spray 189]

Yes, but it will run a long time and create a lot of files.

 

(1) copy aiconv.exe into a temp directory (c:\temp)

(2) copy your SIDSTARS subdirectory to a temp directory (c:\temp\sidstars).

(3) make another new subdirectory under temp called converted (c:\temp\converted).

(4) start a command line and change to the temp directory.

(5) enter the command:  aiconv   .\sidstars\*.*   .\converted

(6) answer the series of questions aiconv.exe asks you.

(7) you will probably need to get some coffee while waiting for the program to finish.

(8) pick out the files from the converted directory you want to use (they begin with the icao).

(9) put them into an AISIDSTAR working subdirectory (e.g., c:\aisidstar12\all us airports).    

(10) create an AIDISTAR.ini file to point to the new working subdirectory (e.g., STAR=.\all us airports\*.* SID=.\all us airports\*.*).

 

Regards,

-Roland

 

 

 

I can't understand AT ALL how to use the aiconv.exe. Reading through the documentation just shows the format that needs to be present for aiconv.exe to find the files and convert. When I open it up it just tells me what is listed in the documentation and then tells me to press any key to continue where it disappears and nothing happens.

 

I want to convert all of the SIDS and STARS listed in C:\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\PMDG\SIDSTARS so I can have it utilize all airports in US. How would I do that?