FSX-MS How do AFCADs overlay?

[airernie 263]

I understand about prioirty and that if you have multiple AFCADs for the same airport then the the one with highest priority wins.

 

What I'm curious about is the "degree".  I have the FSX default airport (KDPA) and KDPA as supplied by MyTraffic.  The MyTraffic AFCAD provides parking only.  No buildings, etc.  The FSX default provides both buildings and parking. 

 

So, I'm thinking that the MyTraffic AFCAD simply "overlays" the default airport and adds the additional parking, etc.

 

My question then becomes; If there were a third KDPA AFCAD, with a highter priorty than MyTraffic, which added cars, or static aircarft in positions that neither MyTraffic or FSX used, then would all three play together?

 

I'm guessing that if the third KDPA AFCAD had conflicting items, say larger aircraft parking radius, buildings, etc. then this might, or might not correctly overlay the other objects and could create conflcts.

 

Frequently the word "replace" is used here, but after installing MyTraffic, looking at it's AFCAD and seeing no buildings, but having buildings when I launch FSX I'm thinking that the word should be "overlay" instead.

 

Is this correct?

 

Thanks,

Ernie

 

 

[F70 4]

Ernie,

 

If you have ADEX and the project file like ad3 or ad4 you can do a Separete Airport and Object BGL file,it in the "Settings" > Options > Project.

You can use the My Traffic for the airport parkings and the "new" OBJ.bgl after the compile of the airport for the buildings.

Don't use the two AFCAD files,it's a mess,al traffic going his own way.

 

Hope this help,Jan

[Kuragiman 227]

If one AFCAD is devoid of Apron/Taxi point and the other has only Taxi/Apron points then the two could work together but if both the one add-on AFCAD and the MyTraffic AFCAD have taxi/apron points it is going to cause a train wreck of AI traffic problems.   It is generally undesirable to have more than one AFCAD file in place.  It's just to much of a pain to manage.   MyTraffic should have supplied a fully replacing AFCAD instead just a partial 'overlay' AFCAD.

 

But technically, as F70 states, you could have multiple AFCADS that only have specific parts compiled in it then combine all the BGL AFCAD files into one AFCAD folder and the would work together but if any of them share the same data, the higher priority wins and the lower priority is just causing a headache now.

[airernie 263]

F70 & Kuragiman,

Thanks for the explanation.  I hadn't thought about the AI issues.

 

I did a scan with Simple Airport Scanner and in some cases I've got four bgl files for the same airport; default, MyTraffic, UTX and add-on.

 

They may/may not all do different things, but it looks like I've got some cleaning to do.

 

Ernie

[fs4fun 366]

The OP is correct that AFCAD's can act as overlays to add to or replace certain elements, using exclusions or Delete flags (eg https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc526978.aspx#DeleteAirport) and then supplying the additional scenery elements. Or the addon can delete all the default elements and replace everything.

 

It's really only practical to code the exclusions etc for a default airport, since otherwise a developer cannot really know what addons you might be using and code exclusions for all possible combinations. Therefore it's always best to have only one addon active otherwise they will probably conflict and cause a mess.

 

Simple Airport Scanner (http://www.scruffyduck.org/simple-airport-scanner/4584282795) is a good tool to find duplicate addons, and you also have to watch for added object BGLs or altitude adjustment files that might be placed in a Global or World scenery folder.