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New AFCAD Update Details

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Thanks to ckfly (I remember you! :) ) for tipping us about the latest version of AFCAD out today. I've been testing it and it works great. Here are the details of the upgrade:Changes For This ReleaseRubber band selectionYou can now select multiple objects by pressing down the mouse button on the window and dragging out a rectangle. When yourelease the mouse button all object inside that rectangle will become selected. You can add to your current selection by holdingdown the Shift key while using the rubber band.Closing runways for landings or takeoffsYou could previously close a runway for takeoffs, but you can now close a runway for takeoffs or landings or both. This providesan easy method to make ATC assign separate runways for takeoffs and landings.Increase maximum airport sizeInstalled airports (in the bgl files) were previously limited to a maximum size of 50K bytes. This limited the number of nodes andtaxi links that could be created. That has been increased to 200K. That is about five times the size of a large stock airport.Total facility restore optionA Restore all Airports item has been added to the File menu. This allows you to completely restore the facility files to their original'out of the box' condition if you should encounter problems with facility airports. The program will copy the original files from theFS2002 CD.Reversed arrow key directionsThe arrow keys (up, down, left, right) now shift the airport on the window in the opposite directions to conform to the normalwindows scrolling directions.Movable Airport Reference PointThe Airport Reference Point (spiky pink dot) can now be moved using the mouse like other objects. This can be useful whencreating overlay airports to ensure AI contact the correct overlay's ATC after landing.Drive-through parkingYou can now connect more than one taxi link to a parking spot. This allows parking spots to have a taxi link entering one side andexiting the other. This was provided mainly to be compatible with the few stock airports that already had such drive-throughparking; however, because of limitations with the AI it rarely results in the kind of behaviour one would hope for, that is aircraftdriving in from one side and driving out the other. AI will take the shortest path to the active runway and even if they can exit aparking spot going forward they will turn 180 degrees and go out the rear taxi path, if that is the shortest route to the runway. Youshould also be careful to avoid serial or 'string of pearls' parking, which can block some parking spots when others are occupied. Zoom in / out keysThe + and - keys on the keypad can now be used to zoom in and out as well as the + and - keys on the main keyboard.Ramdomizing parkingA Randomize button has been provided on the Parking List window. This will mix-up the parking order automatically to prevent AIfrom bunching up at certain areas of the terminal or ramp. The parking can also be sorted by categories (area, type, size) byclicking on the list headings.N,S,E,W etc. runway designatorsThese are now allowed for runway designators. These are used for some water and non-paved runways instead of numbers.Problems opening airportsWhen you saved an airport then tried to open a new airport in AFCAD, you would sometimes see a blank screen. This should notbe a problem anymore. A similar problem, however, can still occur in FS2002 if an airport is saved while FS2002 is still running,FS may no longer display start locations for some airports or may even crash. This can be prevented by re-starting FS2002 aftersaving any airport changes. This will cause FS to update its scenery index. Alternatively, you can go to the Scenery Library windowand click OK to force a re-indexing without having to restart FS.Registration errorThere was a small registration error when placing facility features using FS2002 in slew mode. This error gets more significant thefarther out from the Airport Reference Point, and could be 10 to 30 feet at distances of 2 to 3 miles. The registration has beenimproved so that it is now typically within 1 foot over most of an airport's area, and within 3 feet at the extreme edges.Bgl files crossing 180 degree meridianFor .bgl files that cross over the 180 degree meridian (western Pacific), if any airport was modified in one of those file it wouldrender many of the airports in that file unusable. This only applied to three files: alaswafd.bgl (western Alaska and Aleutians),newzafd.bgl (New Zealand) and swpcafd.bgl (Fiji and surrounding islands). The program will no longer corrupt those files, and youcan undo any corruption that has already been caused by simply opening any airport from each of those files and saving it again. Ifin doubt, open the airports: PANV, NZCH and NFNL and save them again (no changes needed).Magnetic variation un-reversedWhen entering the magnetic variation for a runway on the Runway Properties window, negative variations would be changed topositive, and positive to negative. This has been fixed.Enjoy,-- Tom GibsonCalifornia Classic Propliners: http://members.aol.com/tgfltsim/index.htmlAlcoHauler Locomotive Page: http://members.aol.com/alcohauler/home/alcohaul.htmlFreeflight Design Shop: http://www.freeflightdesign.com/ San Diego Model RR Museum: http://www.sdmodelrailroadm.com/Drop by! ___x_x_(")_x_x___

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Thank you Lee for continuing his effort for the improvement of FS2002. I already enjoy his previous two great productions (TTools and AFCAD). I wish the list of improvement would never end, they are amazing! THank you Tom for his posting of the list. I am downloading the file at the time i speak!BryanCYVR

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Tom,I'm looking forward to your second level AI propliners. :)ckfly

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