toby23

This looks amazing! The dev tools can really test your patience, so this is admirable work.

Good catch, thank you! I have fixed 'Add Custom Airport' to accept 3–5 character ICAO codes. Please re-open VECTOR, it should automatically refresh with the latest version v.2.4.7 You can also press CTRL+SHIFT+R to force a reload of VECTOR's webpage. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

Update v2.4 - VECTOR now shows a route map and live METARs on the flight briefing once you accept a contract. Departure and arrival weather pull in automatically, with a flight category badge (VFR/MVFR/IFR) and the full raw METAR underneath to help you decide if you want to fly in the current live weather conditions. Fly safe(r) 🫡

I have experimented with long haul previously but VECTOR is designed for sort hauls only, so no.

Thanks Steve, and congrats yourself for catching all this in one read. Winds aloft: no, not currently. VECTOR doesn't pull live or forecast wind data, so route feasibility and fuel numbers are based on a flat block-fuel-per-nm figure for each airframe, still-air basically. SimBrief is where the actual wind-aware plan gets built, VECTOR's job is handing you a route and payload that are realistic to begin with, not the final flight plan. Fuel burn-off en route: you guessed right. It's a flat average burn rate per nm rather than a curve that eases off as the aircraft gets lighter over the flight. So yes, it's a simplification, and yes, it leans conservative rather than optimistic, since a flat rate calculated against a fully loaded aircraft will always overestimate burn on the back half of a sector compared to reality. That does cost some range and pairing options at the margins, but I'd rather it undersell range than oversell it. Fuel tank capacity: yes, that is factored in for jets specifically, it's one of the real limiting factors alongside distance-based range, not just an afterthought. The checkbox idea for ignoring a type ban is a good one, and honestly there isn't one right now, those restrictions (like the EGLC/EGNS steep approach limits that catch aircraft like the FSS 727) are hardcoded rather than optional. I've added it to the list for when I next have time to work on this. Thanks again for the kind words on the new job, and for actually reading the README closely enough to ask questions like these. Toby

VECTOR v2.3 is online! For anyone who followed along back in June: thank you, genuinely. This started as a "why doesn't this exist yet" idea and turned into a lot of long days and late nights getting the numbers right. Since then I've found a new job, so I won't be pushing updates at the pace I was over the summer. VECTOR isn't going anywhere though, I'll keep it maintained and I've still got a couple of features I want to add when time allows. What's new in v.3: Only use Navigraph airports as an optional toggle. Job tickets show what approaches are actually available at the destination, so you know before you fly. You can now select VFR or IFR to set correct altitudes and there's a "prefer lower altitude" option for anyone who'd rather stay under class A airspace. The biggest layout change: you get three job tickets to choose from now instead of one, so there's actually choice involved instead of just accepting whatever the dispatcher selects for you. Underneath all of that, most of the actual work this cycle went into the dispatch logic itself, not the interface. Runway suitability, MLW on arrival after fuel burn, payload versus what the airframe can lift, cruise altitude versus terrain and aircraft ceiling. None of that is visible in a screenshot but it's the part that decides whether the flight VECTOR hands you is one you could genuinely fly, not just a route with numbers attached. More details can be found in the updated README. And if someone had told me at the beginning how much information needs to be analysed and calculated to dispatch a flight accurately, I'm not sure I would have started this project. It's been an unforgettable, incredible journey and a definite highlight in the 18 years or so that I have been simming. Same as always: runs in your browser, nothing to install, no account, no telemetry, and yes, it's still free. Toby

Thank you, love your airport collection and really appreciate a toggle for static aircraft.

New in VECTOR - Airport map for the full database. All airports in VECTOR’s database are now on a shared Google Map you can open straight from the app. Airports are separated by Third Party, Hand-Crafted, Gliderports and Small Detailed Airports to make it easy to find what you are looking for. In VECTOR, click 🧭 Map of Airports in Database. You can also view the maps in Google Earth if you prefer. Use it to see which airports VECTOR includes in each region, plan routes, or check coverage before you dispatch. Screenshots below. As always, feedback welcome!

Hi Rob, yes, that can happen as SimBrief does not include all airports that are included in MSFS 2024, or in VECTOR's database. SimBrief relies on commercial databases (like Jeppesen) meant for commercial aviation, whereas MSFS 2024 generates its scenery from a much broader geographical dataset. This is also why I provide a link to download an MSFS .pln file that can be imported into MSFS directly and used together with the EFB Charts and Maps.

VECTOR update - long-haul mode removed A quick heads-up for anyone using VECTOR for long-haul sectors. Long-haul mode has been removed from the latest build, updating later today. The “Enable long-haul flights” option is gone; VECTOR now focuses on short-haul dispatch (40–120 minutes). Why: VECTOR was built to generate flights to and from the MSFS 2024 payware airports that I own in one click, something I couldn’t find elsewhere. It grew into a broader tool (curated Asobo + third-party airport DB, 100+ aircraft, 250 missions, military missions/airports, gliding missions and gliderports, custom airports/aircraft, editable logbook, and a lot of community-driven ideas). I’m grateful for all of your feedback. VECTOR was always meant to complement SimBrief, not replace it. Long-haul planning needs depth and accuracy that dedicated tools handle better, e.g. APLv2 for long sectors. VECTOR fits short-haul flying without time compression; for oceanic and ultra-long work, those alternatives are the better path. Thanks for flying with VECTOR and for your support. Toby

I looked at a user-adjustable long-haul block time, but couldn’t get it to behave reliably with routing, fuel, payload, and SimBrief, so I'm not adding that for now. I invested a lot of time at the weekend into finding a good approach for long-haul, and am experimenting with some options, which I will add it if I can get it working reliably. Hope that helps.

Personally, I find Opentrack better because I do not have to wear headphones with a Track-IR attached/ or a cap and there are no issues with sunlight shining on the sensor and making Track-IR freak out. Tobii hurts my eyes. Like I said, it's just my personal experience, YMMV.

You can download a pdf of the settings that I use from THIS LINK. It's important that you set your webcam to 720p as that activates 60fps mode in most webcams.

Not a direct response to your question but having used Track-IR and Tobii, I now use the free software 'opentrack' instead with my webcam and it's improved my sim quality of life tenfold, it's better than Track-IR, better than Tobii and you can assign a button on your keyboard or peripheral to pause tracking. I can fly without wearing headphones with a Track-IR bolted to the side and my eyes don't hurt from the Tobii IR beams, YMMV. Happy to answer any questions if you go down this route and haven't already repurchased the Tobii.

Worth clarifying: the fix isn’t the message itself, it’s the new runway/weight logic behind it. Previously, VECTOR treated the aircraft’s MTOW takeoff distance as a hard limit at every airfield, so some realistic departures (like EGFF in a 737) were blocked. Now it works more like a real-world dispatcher: route fuel is reserved first (trip, taxi, and a planning reserve), then payload is reduced until takeoff weight fits the available runway, only then is the flight dispatched. The popup is just a NOTAM telling you that happened. SimBrief remains where you file proper fuel and takeoff performance.