Is FSX .pln export fully compliant?

[arrex 5]

Hi,

i noticed two inconsistencies between a flight plan generated by the internal FSX planner and the one from LNM.

The first one relates to how TERMINAL (not route) waypoints are saved, i.e. the waypoints appearing in blue and saved in airport records. That how FSX saves them:

<ATCWaypoint id="D186U">
            <ATCWaypointType>Intersection</ATCWaypointType>
            <WorldPosition>N55° 13' 54.01",E37° 59' 12.00",+000000.00</WorldPosition>
            <ICAO>
                <ICAORegion>UU</ICAORegion>
                <ICAOIdent>D186U</ICAOIdent>
                <ICAOAirport>UUDD</ICAOAirport>
            </ICAO>
        </ATCWaypoint>

LNM does not export the ICAOAirport tag. Results the waypoint on loading in FSX is not linked to the database entry and it's name is not shown on the map. I guess (but i didn't actually check) that this also applies to TERMINAL NDB.

 

Similarly in User waypoints. . That how FSX saves them:

<ATCWaypoint id="IF24">
            <ATCWaypointType>User</ATCWaypointType>
            <WorldPosition>N48° 49' 15.05",E2° 36' 22.34",+000000.00</WorldPosition>
            <ICAO>
                <ICAOIdent>IF24</ICAOIdent>
            </ICAO>
        </ATCWaypoint>

Again LNM does not same the "icao" part. I cannot really see a use for this case, but it's indeed inconsistent with FSX format.

 

 

[albar965 1,047]

Sorry, but except being different, do these flight plans cause issues when loading into FSX?

There are plenty of cases where LNM and the simulators do not create 100 percent matching plans but this does normally cause no problems.
Incomplete or ambiguous waypoints are resolved using the coordinates.

The terminal is normally quite unreliable. As far as I remember these are not filled at all per default in FSX and MSFS.

Alex

[arrex 5]

Hi Alex,

from what I could check, the second inconsistency (user waypoint)  does nothing. If I add the missing code, i cannot see any difference anywhere in the sim.

For the first case instead, there is a small problem: in the default GPS function (ie. what it is drawn with the function "fs9gps"), the flight plan line should show also the name of the waypoint (and it's symbol). But it does not. So the line "bends" at an empty position. Probably because it doe not find the waypoint in the database and hence does not know what to show in the map. Funny it's only in the drawing in the GPS; the list of waypoints, the flight plan log in the kneeboard etc are corretly filled.

I didn't try yet for terminal ndb, but I suppose the same as terminal waypoints apply. I would expect here in the kneeboard that the terminal NDB doesn't have the frequency shown. (again, untested)

 

Edited February 12 by arrex

[albar965 1,047]

Ok. Writing "<ICAOAirport>...</ICAOAirport>" now for FSX like:

<ATCWaypoint id="ML16Y">
  <ATCWaypointType>Intersection</ATCWaypointType>
  <WorldPosition>N63° 4' 2.52",E21° 45' 3.40",+000392.76</WorldPosition>
  <ICAO>
    <ICAORegion>EF</ICAORegion>
    <ICAOIdent>ML16Y</ICAOIdent>
    <ICAOAirport>EFVA</ICAOAirport>
  </ICAO>
</ATCWaypoint>

This was only enabled for MSFS.

The ICAOIdent and ICAORegion is now also written for user waypoints *if* the information is present in the waypoint like:

<ATCWaypoint id="WP1">
  <ATCWaypointType>User</ATCWaypointType>
  <WorldPosition>N62° 58' 8.26",E20° 46' 19.34",+010000.00</WorldPosition>
  <ICAO>
    <ICAORegion>EF</ICAORegion>
    <ICAOIdent>WP1</ICAOIdent>
  </ICAO>
</ATCWaypoint>

Hope it does not break P3D. I have no P3D here and have to rely on user reports, therefore.

Normally most simulators are very tolerant except MSFS which is touchy and chokes at the slightest changes.

Alex

[arrex 5]

1 hour ago, albar965 said:

Ok. Writing "<ICAOAirport>...</ICAOAirport>" now for FSX like:

That should be correct. I will test it as soon as ver. 3.0.3 arrives 😉 Note that ICAOAIRPORT is only present when the relative record is not empty (i.e. in terminal waypoint). It will work for FSX and P3D (which is basically FSX).

1 hour ago, albar965 said:

The ICAOIdent and ICAORegion is now also written for user waypoints *if* the information is present in the waypoint like:

ICAORegion should never be present in USER waypoint (i.e. the one you create), no? As these WP are not present in FS database, I am not sure what would happen to add that record is missing. Most likely nothing (FS will fall back on the coordinate). Will test it too.

 

Thanks for all this!

 

[arrex 5]

On 2/13/2024 at 1:23 PM, albar965 said:

Ok. Writing "<ICAOAirport>...</ICAOAirport>" now for FSX like:

Did some tests: is this present in the 3.0.3RC1?

Because to me it's not working... i.e. it's exporting without <ICAOAirport> intersections that are internally correctly recognized as belonging to an airport... (confirmed in the "information" tab)....

 

[albar965 1,047]

2 hours ago, arrex said:

Did some tests: is this present in the 3.0.3RC1?

Seems to got lost somehow. 😑

[arrex 5]

At least we know it's not a bug 😄

 

[albar965 1,047]

4 hours ago, arrex said:

At least we know it's not a bug

I don't know what happened. I tested this back and forth and it worked. Looking at the code now, I wonder why it ever worked.
Getting old here.🙃👴

[arrex 5]

19 hours ago, albar965 said:

I don't know what happened. I tested this back and forth and it worked. Looking at the code now, I wonder why it ever worked

maybe overwritten or forgot to "save"? Happens me a lot... aging is a bad beast for me too 😄

 

[albar965 1,047]

6 hours ago, arrex said:

maybe overwritten or forgot to "save"? Happens me a lot... aging is a bad beast for me too

try this 3.0.3.rc2: https://k00.fr/52wh20b7

Airport ident is now included in MSFS and FSX/P3D PLN export.

Alex

[arrex 5]

Excellent! Seems to work.

Correctly separates airports navaids (both intersections and NDB) from global navaids!

Thanks a lot!

 

Edited February 25 by arrex

[albar965 1,047]

2 hours ago, arrex said:

Excellent! Seems to work.

Correctly separates airports navaids (both intersections and NDB) from global navaids!

Thank you! Good to know.

I tested this here too but one never knows.🙃

Alex