20 minutes ago, Lenny777 said:

It is not at all as easy as you remark. The YouTube's are your manuals saving grace. The process entails opening the control panel, concurrently with P3D and the customization window.

You only need to open the GSX Control panel ONCE, the FIRST time you open that airport.
 

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 That's three windows opened concurrently.

It's two at best, only the first time, then it's just the one GSX window.

 

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You close P3D, you compile, exclude, reopen P3D again, open the customization window etc etc.

This is all not required, and by doing this, you are making unnecessarily harder than it really is. Just create the Exclude file ONCE, remove all jetways, so you can finish the whole airport without ever restarting.

 

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You can't simply click and move vehicles you have to have by your side all the stupid keys to move a simple object a few feet.

That's exactly what I meant when I said "the editor could be made more user friendly if we could DITCH FSX". Do you think we used the Slew keys because we are not aware that mouse drag/drop was invented many years ago ? Or MAYBE it's not really possible to do that and maintain FSX compatibility as well ?

Yes, we will ditch FSX at one time, and with P3D4 it's possible to do mouse clicks, draw more flexible helper objects in 3D like text, lines, boxes, etc. change the camera in ways that are more practical for the editor, etc. but we cannot just drop FSX dead immediately without making thousands of users angry. It must be a gradual process.

For example, the next update we are testing right now, will feature custom camera views in the editor to help placing objects (right now, the camera was always centered to the user airplane), which will of course work only with P3D 4.4, since we'll use 4.4-specific new API calls.

And, when we'll add the custom Pushback routes, we'll have a mouse drag/drop visual editor, which will be used to do other things as well, like passenger walking to custom points in the scenery, etc. It will all came together.

 

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But don't try to suggest that 3 minutes is all it takes. That's nonsense. 

I'm not "suggesting it". I posted a video showing how it's done:

 

 

Edited January 29, 20197 yr by virtuali

1 hour ago, virtuali said:

You only need to open the GSX Control panel ONCE, the FIRST time you open that airport.
 

It's two at best, only the first time, then it's just the one GSX window.

 

This is all not required, and by doing this, you are making unnecessarily harder than it really is. Just create the Exclude file ONCE, remove all jetways, so you can finish the whole airport without ever restarting.

 

That's exactly what I meant when I said "the editor could be made more user friendly if we could DITCH FSX". Do you think we used the Slew keys because we are not aware that mouse drag/drop was invented many years ago ? Or MAYBE it's not really possible to do that and maintain FSX compatibility as well ?

Yes, we will ditch FSX at one time, and with P3D4 it's possible to do mouse clicks, draw more flexible helper objects in 3D like text, lines, boxes, etc. change the camera in ways that are more practical for the editor, etc. but we cannot just drop FSX dead immediately without making thousands of users angry. It must be a gradual process.

For example, the next update we are testing right now, will feature custom camera views in the editor to help placing objects (right now, the camera was always centered to the user airplane), which will of course work only with P3D 4.4, since we'll use 4.4-specific new API calls.

And, when we'll add the custom Pushback routes, we'll have a mouse drag/drop visual editor, which will be used to do other things as well, like passenger walking to custom points in the scenery, etc. It will all came together.

 

I'm not "suggesting it". I posted a video showing how it's done:

 

 

You've obviously convinced yourself that this is at all functional! It's a convoluted mess. Opening, closing, then reopening P3D in and of itself takes several minutes. I've used that video and others and there is no going around it, it's a convoluted mess. You created it so obviously your are convinced of its facility. Let me challenge you to simplicity:

 

(1) I open P3D.

(2) I go to airport.

(3) I want to change all the jetways and your program states - Do you want to change all or some of the jetways? I say all and choose the kind ----> and run it. End of story. I don't want to have to highlight things and follow a process that is convoluted and easily forgettable the next time I want to change something and open, close and re-open P3D etc. Hey, if you can't do that at least admit it and we can stop pretending.

21 minutes ago, Lenny777 said:

You've obviously convinced yourself that this is at all functional! It's a convoluted mess. Opening, closing, then reopening P3D in and of itself takes several minutes. I've used that video and others and there is no going around it, it's a convoluted mess. You created it so obviously your are convinced of its facility. Let me challenge you to simplicity:

 

(1) I open P3D.

(2) I go to airport.

(3) I want to change all the jetways and your program states - Do you want to change all or some of the jetways? I say all and choose the kind ----> and run it. End of story. I don't want to have to highlight things and follow a process that is convoluted and easily forgettable the next time I want to change something and open, close and re-open P3D etc. Hey, if you can't do that at least admit it and we can stop pretending.

People complain when there is no customization available, and then they complain when there is plenty.

 

1 hour ago, Lenny777 said:

You've obviously convinced yourself that this is at all functional! It's a convoluted mess.

It obviously isn't. But I'm not just saying it: I proved in my video that what you asked to do, naming changing all jetways in one go, it's extremely easy and fast.

 

 

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Opening, closing, then reopening P3D in and of itself takes several minutes.

As I've said, whatever time it takes, you do it only once. And of course, you saw how much it takes on that video. Are you really trying to fault GSX because on your system restarting the sim takes too long ? Again, you do it only once.

 

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(1) I open P3D.

(2) I go to airport.

(3) I want to change all the jetways and your program states - Do you want to change all or some of the jetways? I say all and choose the kind ----> and run it. End of story

That's EXACTLY what I did in my video.

I added some extra steps, like changing the logo, the colors of the numbers, and the color of the jetway, just to show it can be done for all jetways at once, but I stayed UNDER 4 minutes including the sim restart. If I did what you asked, just changing the type, it would taken even less than 3:53.

But you don't have to do that, if you only wanted to change the type, as you said, it's exactly one click to select all jetways, using the button that automatically selects all parkings with a jetway, choose the type and Apply. 3 clicks exactly.

 

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. I don't want to have to highlight things and follow a process that is convoluted and easily forgettable the next time I want to change something and open, close and re-open P3D etc. Hey, if you can't do that at least admit it and we can stop pretending.

You keep forgetting to say you must create the Exclude file only the FIRST time you ever touch that airport. Any subsequent change doesn't require to do that, unless you changed your mind, and wanted to KEEP SOME of the original jetways that came with the scenery and SOME from GSX, but that's not what you said you wanted.

You said you wanted to change only the type of all jetways in one go, and that's it's done with just 3 clicks.

Would be nice if we could get away with the simulator restart, even if it's only for the first time ?

OF COURSE it would be nice but, the issue is, you cannot just pretend the simulator would always work as you like and, unfortunately, it's not possible to write a .BGL while the sim is running, because once you load the simulator, it opens the file and prevent anybody from writing to it, or you really think we made the effort to create the external Control Panel JUST for fun, when it could have been so much easier to just write the Exclude .BGL while it was running ? Haven't occurred to you that, maybe, anything that touches/creates/rewrite a .BGL MUST do it with the simulator closed ?

Do you know of any other addon out there that is able to make changes to the Scenery Library on the fly, including creating new files, switching between different .BGLs without restarting the sim ?

Can you do that with, for example, the FlyTampa, Flightbeam, Aerosoft scenery configurators ? Have you complained about their control panels being "convoluted", because they force you to exit from the sim to reconfigure the scenery, for example to select a different runway/wind configuration ?

Edited January 30, 20197 yr by virtuali

3 minutes ago, virtuali said:

It obviously isn't. But I'm not just saying it: I proved in my video that what you asked to do, naming changing all jetways in one go, it's extremely easy and fast.

 

 

As I've said, whatever time it takes, you do it only once. And of course, you saw how much it takes on that video. Are you really trying to fault GSX because on your system restarting the sim takes too long ? Again, you do it only once.

 

That's EXACTLY what I did in my video.

I obviously added some extra steps, like changing the logo, the colors of the numbers, and the color of the jetway, just to show it can be done for all jetway at once, yet I stayed UNDER 4 minutes including the sim restart.

But you don't have to do that, if you only wanted to change the type, as you said, it's exactly one click to select all jetways, using the button that automatically selects all parkings with a jetway, choose the type and Apply. 3 clicks exactly.

 

You keep forgetting to say you must create the Exclude file only the FIRST time you ever touch that airport. Any subsequent change doesn't require to do that, unless you changed your mind, and wanted to KEEP SOME of the original jetways that came with the scenery and SOME from GSX, but that's not what you said you wanted.

You said you wanted to change only the type of all jetways in one go, and that's it's done with just 3 clicks.

Would be nice if we could get away with the simulator restart, even if it's only for the first time ?

OF COURSE it would be nice but, the issue is, you cannot just pretend the simulator would always work as you like and, unfortunately, it's not possible to write a .BGL while the sim is running, because once you load the simulator, it opens the file and prevent anybody from writing to it, or you really think we made the effort to create the external Control Panel JUST for fun, when it could have been so much easier to just write the Exclude .BGL while it was running ? Haven't occurred to you that, maybe, anything that touches/creates/rewrite a .BGL MUST do it with the simulator closed ?

Do you know of any other addon out there that is able to make changes to the Scenery Library on the fly, including creating new files, switching between different .BGLs without restarting the sim ?

Can you do that with, for example, the FlyTampa, Flightbeam, Aerosoft scenery configurators ? Have you complained about their control panels being "convoluted", because they force you to exit from the sim to reconfigure the scenery, for example to select a different runway/wind configuration ?

This is nonsense. One airport to change jetways requires several steps as noted in the video including opening and closing P3D. Indeed, the filtering business has caused me no end to issues even when I have followed closely the instructions. This process is repeated at every airport you need or want to change or then change to another jetway. The highlighting business itself on the various categories is not symmetrical at all. In fact, I have given up the proces. It is so non-intuitional that if I wanted to go back I'd have to watch again that video.

 

As I stated. Don't pass off your product as being easy peasy. It's not. And if you want to pass it off as limitations in the existing software re P3D and FSX then fine except don't try to sell the idea it is easy as cake. It is a piece of software which is not user friendly as that parlance has come to be known.

And here I am just asking for more realistic cargo handling...

To be honest I see it as a pain in the a** to customise everything, but then...isn't that what us simmers do more than we fly? Tweaking and configuring this and that and never being satisfied ever because something is "off". It's a necessary evil. 

 

Edited January 30, 20197 yr by Robert3512

4 hours ago, vc10man said:

Reason issues are posted here and not in the so-called correct Forum is because they never get answered there or it's many days later when they do get an answer!

huh    least if  you post  it  in the  correct  forum  you will get  the  fix  straight  away,  guess  you expect  the  dev  to work  24/7

51 minutes ago, Lenny777 said:

This is nonsense. One airport to change jetways requires several steps as noted in the video including opening and closing P3D. Indeed, the filtering business has caused me no end to issues even when I have followed closely the instructions. This process is repeated at every airport you need or want to change or then change to another jetway. The highlighting business itself on the various categories is not symmetrical at all. In fact, I have given up the proces. It is so non-intuitional that if I wanted to go back I'd have to watch again that video.

 

As I stated. Don't pass off your product as being easy peasy. It's not. And if you want to pass it off as limitations in the existing software re P3D and FSX then fine except don't try to sell the idea it is easy as cake. It is a piece of software which is not user friendly as that parlance has come to be known.

I find that GSX/GSX2 makes an almost impossibly complex process of putting in animation on a variety of third-party sceneries where it didn't exist before far more simple.  Of course it's not as trivial as just clicking some magical "easy-button" and it just reads my mind and does what I'm thinking...nothing in real life rises to that unrealistic level of expectation.  This tool has given a quickly-implemented new lease on life to a whole host of otherwise bleak, inert sceneries in P3D.

"Easy peasy" is a relative thing.  To anyone who's ever spent entire days trying to wrangle scenery edits using one of the older scenery placer programs or hand-jamming jetways and other enhancement into a favorite airport, GSX makes it stunningly easy in comparison.  For me it is indeed intuitive and user-friendly, so I'm OK with it being marketed as such. 

 

Try running live update. The version I have does not have any complex or convoluted processes. Moving vehicles is very easy. Adding jetways is very easy. Customizing the rest of the options is easy. It just works. 

Minor points like unrealistic baggage/vehicles driving erratically aside, GSX2 has worked great and is a fantastic addition to the gate processes. I've never had a problem with the pushback feature, maybe I'm just lucky.

The only irritation I have is with how the shared community jetway files for 3rd party sceneries need to be installed. I'm going to be adding an exclusion file and a replacement file for new jetways anyway. Why can't the process be automated to download and place these files in the correct location in a similar user friendly way like how it is done in ChasePlane?

The jetway amendments in this instance aren't being made by FSDT, but by hobbyists trying to improve the sim experience. If it's such a grey area, then these files shouldn't be advertised on the FSDT forums.

Fix that and it really will be 'easy peasy'.

Back on topic, having the ability to choose the number of ULD containers and total number of bulk loaded bags would be a nice to have feature, but not a high priority one.

6 hours ago, pete_auau said:

guess  you expect  the  dev  to work  24/7

Such a crass comment is not even worth spittin' on!!!

19 hours ago, Chapstick said:

And here I am just wanting the baggage belts to stop driving under the airplane. GSX is a hot mess. 

Hmm, or the back wheels steering into the wrong direction when making a turn. With backwheelsteering the wheels need to go left if one wants to go to the right. Told Umberto several times in the forum, but alas......

1 hour ago, phmcr said:

Hmm, or the back wheels steering into the wrong direction when making a turn. With backwheelsteering the wheels need to go left if one wants to go to the right. Told Umberto several times in the forum, but alas......

Pushback trucks can work in different modes: standard 2 wheels steering like a car, 4 wheels steering like a car AND opposite back wheel steering, depending on the task (pushing, pulling, just driving around the airport) so no, it's not as if we don't "know" how they work, it's just that the time we have is finite, and there are only 24 hours/day. But everything WILL come, eventually.

9 hours ago, Lenny777 said:

One airport to change jetways requires several steps as noted in the video including opening and closing P3D

You keep repeating "including opening and closing P3D", yet you keep to continue to ignore the fact you should do it only the first time you go to an airport. Once the Exclude file is created, you can do a whole airport customization with no need to close/open the simulator anymore.

If your simulator is slow in closing and reopening, just do that:

1) Go to an airport you want to customize

2) Open the GSX editor, click the button to select all gates with Jetways, click the button to Exclude the jetway, Click Apply. 3 CLICKS in total.

3) DO NOT quit the simulator, move to the next airport you want to customize now, and repeat the previous step for as many airports you need.

5) Finally, quit the simulator, open the GSX Control Panel, which will compile ALL your newly created Exclude files in one go.

6) Reopen the simulator, and now go customizing the airports in any order you like.

This way, you closed/opened the simulator not just once for each airport, but only once for many of them...

I use the same approach to customize the individual parking spots: DO NOT complete a parking before moving to the next one. Instead, choose something to customize, like the jetway or the pushback position, or the marshaller, and fix JUST that, scrolling between all parking spots with the 7/9 keys on the Numeric Pad, you'll going MUCH faster this way!

 

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Indeed, the filtering business has caused me no end to issues even when I have followed closely the instructions.

Then you should report those "issues" on the proper support channels, clearly explaining what you did, so we could check if there was really a problem of the program, something that might be improved, or just something you did wrong/didn't understand about the editor. Just saying "I have issues" without clearly explaining what they are, is not helping anyone.

 

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This process is repeated at every airport you need or want to change or then change to another jetway.

You forget to say: ONLY at those 3rd party airports that don't come with SODE jetways on their own.

Because, of course, we replaced ALL default jetways automatically, with no user intervention required, in thousands of default airports.

Are you trying to suggest that it might have been smart, or *safe*, trying to do something like that on 3rd party airports ? Automatically patching hundreds of AFCADs made using different standards and with different SDKs, without possibly causing a big mess, and potentially pissing all 3rd party scenery developers that we were messing with THEIR files, potentially exposing to legal repercussions, just because you are annoyed it takes some too long to restart the simulator ?

THAT would have been a real nonsense but, of course, our system, while requires that thing that annoys you so much (restarting the simulator), is the safest possible because:

- It doesn't change ANY of the files of the original scenery. We are not risking anything this way, neither legally, because we haven't modified any file belonging to other developers, or technically, because we keep all our Exclude files in our own folder,.

- You can very easily go back to the scenery as it were before, by removing the GSX customization and the Exclude file.

 

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As I stated. Don't pass off your product as being easy peasy. It's not. And if you want to pass it off as limitations in the existing software re P3D and FSX then fine except don't try to sell the idea it is easy as cake. It is a piece of software which is not user friendly as that parlance has come to be known.

You keep repeating this, but repeating something wrong doesn't make it any more true. The video speaks for itself:

3:53 to replace ALL jetways on UK2000 EGKK, including some changes to their appearance AND the time to close and restart the simulator. 

But that's not really the point. Ok, I get it, you find it difficult, but as long as there are users that don't, who actually LIKE the extensive customization options, and are willing to share them, the product hasn't lost any of its value, even if you don't like to edit yourself.

And yes, we already confirmed we are also working on a better sharing system, with an easier way to find user contributions, install them automatically, and reward contributors as well. 

Edited January 30, 20197 yr by virtuali

23 hours ago, Robert3512 said:

*me wondering aloud*

It's a small thing, but I wonder if GSX could include repeated trips/longer trailers for the cargo/baggage handlers like they already do with the pax and fuel, seems a bit unrealistic to load up 8 ULDs on a 747 when it can hold 30, or about 20 bags on a 737 when clearly there's more than 120 passengers. Also maybe more variation in the ULDs and bags (whoops, read FSDT's posts, apparently this is harder, so...more colours instead of different models?), I'm sure they can do this when they already have pretty varied passengers, it'd add so much more to the immersion. 

What actually would be more realistic, is if the loads were linked to the time of year, where the schedules change to suit the types of flights people want to make. For example, at the moment at Manchester Airport, we're seeing quite low numbers of bags and cargo what with it being the winter schedule; 777s often only having 8 ULDs on board. The exception to these lower numbers is flights which go ski-resorts, where these flights are quite full despite it being the winter schedule, for obvious reasons, and skis and all the other stuff for such holidays don't fit very well on the trailers, so it takes a lot of trailers to carry these loads. But most flights are fairly lightly loaded at this time of year, for example, I was working on a S.A.S. A319 yesterday (flight number SK541) which flew in from Copenhagen with just 39 suitcases aboard (all in the rear hold) and a similarly small number of pax. 25 mins later, it departed with just 18 pax and on 12 bags loaded on board (again all in the rear hold), so needless to say, we only had one trailer for the onloaded bags and one trailer for the offload and we also only needed one conveyor belt.

If you're curious about what number of trailers suits what payload, a typical 'curtain trailer' can hold about 40-50 suitcases, an AKE ULD 'can' of the kind which a 777 or A330 invariably uses, will hold up to 80 suitcases (at a push), although to some extent it depends on if the ground crew know what they are doing and can stack bags properly! If you reckon on each passenger having about 18kgs of luggage, you won't be far off what is relatively typical weight-wise for an average flight, so you'll have some idea of whether what GSX portrays is anywhere near the mark.