This will be our thread on how we think we should post the additional user generated aerocaches.

 

Please post your ideas in this thread.

 

Thanks.

Some ideas:

-Guidelines for content

-Standardized format for submittal

-Verification process, check for duplicates, prior to publication.

-What would Kitty Chix do? ^_^

Just as an example. This is the basic information what was required by Microsoft for a submission. How they got it into the game from there I have no idea. It will be very interesting to see how this turns out.

 

 

Where to place the floating marker

 

 

Screen shot from the game map

 

 

You can aquire the gps info from the portable radio in the Stearman

Looks very familiar Steve.

Stone: how do we translate this data into a format that you can easily import?  You need the images too right?

Here is the xml format that is used by my tool.  PreviewImagePath and ThumbnailImagePath is a relative path on disk.  The aerocache submission would require this xml, and the two images.  The images would probably have to be a certain resolution each, but I don't know what that is off the top of my head.  My tool would validate the aerocache and submit it to the server (still need to write this part).  I may be able to do this via a web form of some sort so anyone can do it, but I am pretty unfamiliar with that sort of thing and would have to relearn it.  Ideally I'd like to have some vetting process so when you upload an aerocache it goes into an "unapproved list" and a certain number of people would have to say it is ok before others can get it, but that may be too complicated.

 

<Aerocache>

 

<Name>Jack Wade Gold Dredge</Name>

 

<Id>{664DF4C4-67D1-4687-82BD-ED2957A60533}</Id>

 

<Hint>Jack Wade gold dredge Chicken</Hint>

 

<PreviewImagePath>LocalAppData\UI\Aerocaches\664df4c4-67d1-4687-82bd-ed2957a60533_preview.jpg</PreviewImagePath>

 

<ThumbnailImagePath>LocalAppData\UI\Aerocaches\664df4c4-67d1-4687-82bd-ed2957a60533_thumb.jpg</ThumbnailImagePath>

 

<Difficulty>2</Difficulty>

 

<HiddenTime>2012-07-23T17:23:04</HiddenTime>

 

<ExpireTime>9999-04-07T19:00:00</ExpireTime>

 

<NearbyAirport>CKX</NearbyAirport>

 

<SearchWords>Jack Wade gold dredge</SearchWords>

 

<POIDistance>3000.000000</POIDistance>

 

<AcquireDistance>100.000000</AcquireDistance>

 

<AssociatedDLC>a956054769629e09f0159d73dbf23b351f59b859</AssociatedDLC>

 

<XPGranted>2000</XPGranted>

 

<Latitude>64.068588</Latitude>

 

<Longitude>-141.911468</Longitude>

 

<Altitude>8.083298</Altitude>

 

<Pitch>0.000000</Pitch>

 

<Bank>0.000000</Bank>

 

<Heading>9.598111</Heading>

 

<AltIsAGL>1</AltIsAGL>

 

</Aerocache>

Definitely doable.

<Id> Is that system generated?  Can they be pre-assigned?

<Altitude> what is that measured in?  From sea-level?

<Pitch> ?

<Bank> ?

<Heading> how is heading used?

<AltlsAGL> ?

The ID can probably be generated by my tool and left out of the xml.  Altitude is probably in meters, but I have no idea.  AltIsAGL means "Altitude is above ground level" if true, otherwise it is from sea level.  Pitch, Bank and Heading are rotations for the aerocache symbol.  Normally pitch and bank are probably 0, and heading is the angle in degrees from north or east, can't remember.  The heading should match the same headings as FSX.

Actually I missed one thing in the xml format, the containing element.  Here is a better example.  The file can have multiple <Aerocache> elements , so you don't need a separate file per aerocache.

 

<AerocacheData>
  <Aerocache>
    <Name>McGrath</Name>
    <Id>{C2BDCB61-EDAF-47A6-8BB5-20AEEC7A1BD4}</Id>
    <Hint>On the McGrath Airport.</Hint>
    <PreviewImagePath>LocalAppData\UI\Aerocaches\c2bdcb61-edaf-47a6-8bb5-20aeec7a1bd4_preview.jpg</PreviewImagePath>
    <ThumbnailImagePath>LocalAppData\UI\Aerocaches\c2bdcb61-edaf-47a6-8bb5-20aeec7a1bd4_thumb.jpg</ThumbnailImagePath>
    <Difficulty>2</Difficulty>
    <HiddenTime>2012-06-25T17:19:59</HiddenTime>
    <ExpireTime>2014-04-14T19:00:00</ExpireTime>
    <NearbyAirport>PAMC</NearbyAirport>
    <SearchWords>McGrath, AK</SearchWords>
    <POIDistance>1500.000000</POIDistance>
    <AcquireDistance>10.000000</AcquireDistance>
    <AssociatedDLC>a956054769629e09f0159d73dbf23b351f59b859</AssociatedDLC>
    <XPGranted>2000</XPGranted>
    <Latitude>62.952115</Latitude>
    <Longitude>-155.600212</Longitude>
    <Altitude>0.000000</Altitude>
    <Pitch>0.000000</Pitch>
    <Bank>0.000000</Bank>
    <Heading>3.257854</Heading>
    <AltIsAGL>1</AltIsAGL>
  </Aerocache>
</AerocacheData>

Preview images need to be 256x192, and thumbnails are 128x96

I like the <POIDistance> and the AcquireDistance>.  This will enable us to make them very hard to find and acquire if we want to. :Big Grin:

Definitely doable.

<Id> Is that system generated?  Can they be pre-assigned?

<Altitude> what is that measured in?  From sea-level?

<Pitch> ?

<Bank> ?

<Heading> how is heading used?

<AltlsAGL> ?

 

Plenty of Questions here! I'll have a shot at answering some...

 

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ID: 

      This is where the GUID goes, a Global Unique Identifier... so it has to be unique.

Don't worry though this can be generated easily and there is about a 99% chance of it existing in Microsoft Flight. I use this simple GUID generator. The number is then replaced simply in the Hyphens; "{" "}" on the above XML code.

 

So for example:

I get this GUID generated:  {FB59B7CE-CB13-425B-A24E-75810CB0B0BD}

I then replace it in the XML tags, like this:  <Id>{FB59B7CE-CB13-425B-A24E-75810CB0B0BD}</Id>

 

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Getting World Position Data:  

                Not sure about Altitude, but I think it is measured from sea - level and probably in meters, not feet.  :blink: However, that is too complicated... you can just get the geographical data that is required by following the instructions below:

 

1)   Launch SimDataEditor.exe from your Flight Toolkit install folder.

      For most of you it should be: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Flight Tools\Flight Toolkit\SimDataEditor.exe"

 

2)   Launch Flight and navigate to where you desired aerocache is located. Wait for the Sim Debugger to calculate your relative position.

      Then click on the small Blue Arrow next to the "WorldState" Header and this will show all the information which you require to pinpoint your aerocaches location.

 

The Information that is required from the Sim Debugger is highlighted in RED below:

 

 

This data needs to be copied into the XML tags as mentioned before.  B)

 

---

 

The resolution of the aerocache image must be 256 pixels by 192 pixels as mentioned by Steve on the previous post, otherwise the Aerocache image will not be displayed. There has to be 2 replications of the image at 2 different sizes. The below shows the instructions to set them:

 

1)    You have the ID of the Aerocache which goes in the XML file which you would have generated...

       For Example (same example as before):

       <Id>{FB59B7CE-CB13-425B-A24E-75810CB0B0BD}</Id>

 

2)    Take this ID and remove the capitals letters:  fb59b7ce-cb13-425b-a24e-75810cb0b0bd

3)    Save the image which is 256 x 192 px. as: fb59b7ce-cb13-425b-a24e-75810cb0b0bd_preview.jpg

4)    Then save the image which is  128 x 96 px. as: fb59b7ce-cb13-425b-a24e-75810cb0b0bd_thumb.jpg

 

This means that Flight will have two Images to display in the Aerocache menu screen; a thumbnail and a preview image.  

 

I hope this has helped, if you are confused about anything, please do not hesitate to ask!

 

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- - - - - - - - - EDIT - - - - - - - - -

Sorry! Was working on my post before the three replies!

The instructions above are for the position of the aircraft but can also be used for the aerocache! 

 

It seems logical that 0 should be used for Bank and Pitch but I have no idea about Heading!

In general I would set AltIsAGL to 1, and make the <Altitude> above ground level.  Avoid using sea level unless you are putting it in the air far from the ground as the ground altitude can change as different terrain detail levels load in.

 

As for the names of the pictures, it doesn't matter.  I will rename them in my tool when I upload them.  Make sure the path is relative to the directory the xml file is in.

 

I changed my tool to generate a unique ID if one doesn't exist for the aerocache, but I might change that back.  Not sure yet.  For now you can specify one but make sure to use a GUID generator.  DO NOT MANUALLY MAKE ONE UP.

I like the and the AcquireDistance>. This will enable us to make them very hard to find and acquire if we want to. :Big Grin:

 

I always tried to make so it would be as hard as possible to get it from just flying over. I did have a couple that required  landing, exiting the aircraft and walking to the aerocache to trigger it. That made it much more interesting. It would be nice to be able to set that value.

 

Steve

I changed my tool to generate a unique ID if one doesn't exist for the aerocache, but I might change that back.  Not sure yet.  For now you can specify one but make sure to use a GUID generator.  DO NOT MANUALLY MAKE ONE UP.

 

That is a sound idea Steve.. I'm not sure why you would want to remove it. Most users are new to this so its better to keep that feature to avoid confusion. :unsure:

 

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As for everyone...

                               The SimDebugger has not been officially been marked final. Steve has released an experimental version of the tools which can be found at the FSDeveloper forums. Alternatively you can use this direct link to download the "beta" tools. You will not find the SimDebugger in the 1.0.0 release!

 

     Apologies to everyone for not mentioning this earlier!

This topic is a little behind, so just to bring it up to date:

Stonelance has just released version 1.0.29 of the Flight Toolkit. 

It contains the Aerocache Editor which enables users to submit their own caches by filling in the blanks.

There are some examples there that will give you an assist as well.

Go for it!

Are these submitted to Steve?  If not, where do they go. 

 

We need to update this thread now to explain to everyone how this whole process is going to work.

 

How bout it ?