FSX - FS2004 Traffic Files Question

[RFields5421 1]

I've seen some posts on other forums.Need some folks with FSX running FS2004 traffic files to do some checking.The issue reported is that aircraft are flying on the wrong day.To check this you will need flight plans / schedules which are not every day. i.e. a flight which is only on Friday, or everyday except Sunday.Check the airport - see if the aircraft lands / takes off on time. Change the day one day forward and one day backward. Record the results.From previous work with the beta traffic file, one person has noted changes in the day of the week data storage structure.Let's hear your results.

[Guest Lee]

Hi Reggie,I discovered that the record structure that holds the day and time values have indeed changed for FSX. However, the new structures are only used in two new sets of databases within the traffic BGL file. In FS9, the flightplan and sector crossing databases are labeled with an id value of 3 and 4. However, the FSX traffic files do not use those id's but use id's 5 and 6 for its flightplan and sector crossing databases. The difference seems to be largely due to the difference in the repeat specifier and day/time data.Since FS9 traffic files use only databases 3 and 4 (since 5 and 6 didn't exist), the file structures have so significance. However, and this may be key, FSX may be interpreting them incorrectly. I believe they are deprecated structures when concerning FSX and if your findings are true, bugs may have been introduced, probably by accident. Since FSX doesn't use those database structures, the code may never have been tested and the bugs never detected. This is all speculation on my part assuming your concerns are valid about 168 hour time data being incorrectly interpreted.On a good note, I believe I've determined how the new time structures and consequently, the new database structures, are set up. I'm doing some testing now to verify my findings.Best Regards,Lee Steffensen

[Guest qurious]

The only change in the file format from FS9 to FSX turns out to be the time entries, which are 32 bits in FSX but were 16 bits in FS9. This change affects both the section with the flights (section 3 in FS9 and section 5 in FSX) and the section with the cell data (section 4 in FS9 and section 6 in FSX).The section ids had to change when the file format changed so that you can tell if you are dealing with an FS9 or an FSX traffic file.It took me a while to figure out what the extra 16 bits were for, but with the retail SDK and a working trafficdatabasebuilder I realized I was 'losing' a minute between the input and the output. From there it was an easy guess that the extra 16 bits were the bit of time I was missing.

[Guest qurious]

Using the FS9 TrafficDatabaseBuilder I created a traffic file with one flight that only flies on Fridays. I copied this file into the scenery folder in FSX and used Traffic Explorer to follow the AI Traffic.The flight was listed, but scheduled to fly on Saturday. I then changed the traffic file to only fly on Thursday, and that flight did fly on a Friday.So it looks like the day of the week is "delayed" by a day.

[Guest fs_mic1]

Hi all,I have written a program to convert trafficAircraft.bgl (FSX) to- TTools format- TrafficDataBaseBuilder format.The use of the TDBB format need the FS2006_SDK in from FSX Deluxe version.If you are interested to test this beta version, please e-mail me.Note : does not work with trafficBoats.bgl.Regards.Michel A MettlingLFST Strasbourg Francefs_mettling@noos.fr

[Guest qurious]

Have you tried building a traffic file after converting trafficAircraft.bgl to TrafficDataBaseBuilder format? If so did you get around 4200 "Unable to find available parking" error messages?

[Guest qurious]

Just tried the same thing with the FSX TrafficDatabaseBuilder and the FSX traffic file has the same problem as the FS9 file, the flights fly one day late.It looks the issue is inside the FSX code. Instead of reading the first day of the week (day 0) as Sunday it seems to interpret it as Monday.

[Guest fs_mic1]

>If so did you get around 4200 "Unable to find available parking" error messages?Yes, I got exactly 4222 "Unable to find available parking" error.