How to create flightplans in Plan-G and use them in GMap

[Guest]

This tutorial is a follow up on this one: http://forum.avsim.n...on-one-monitor/

 

Seeing where you are going in GMap really helps a lot, but obviously having a flightplan in GMap showing you the exact way is even better. The best free (VFR) flightplanner right now is Plan-G. You can download it from the Plan-G forum: http://www.tasoftwar...x.php?board=3.0 You probably have to register to download it but it's worth it!

 

Plan-G is created for FS9 and FSX and officially you need one of those to be installed on your PC in order to create the necessary database (you can uninstall FS9 or FSX again after you have created that database). However, crusaderuk posted a link to a complete FSX database on his Skydrive in a topic on the official Flight forum on Steam! Here is a direct link to that file (posted with permission of crusaderuk):

 

Skydrive Download Link to DB file 157MB

 

Download the database and put it in the Plan-G v1/Data folder, overwriting the existing file. When you start Plan-G after doing so, you will be able to plan flights right away!

 

So, let's presume you've got Plan-G installed and you have the database (in whatever way)... here is how you create a flightplan and how you can use it in GMap.

 

(Tip: if you have created the database, make a backup of the 4 files in the folder /Plan-G v2/Data: the next time you need to install everything all over again, simply install Plan-G and put those 4 files into the Data folder, overwriting the ones that are there and you should be good to go.)

 

How to create a flightplan in Plan-G

 

Start Plan-G and move around the map like you would in Google Maps until you figured out where you want to fly. You can also use the Find option in the upper left corner to find any airport you want! I decided to take off from Nikolai Creek (9AK3). Rightclick on the airport and click on Start flight plan at airport.

 

 

Next rightclick on the destination, in this tutorial that will be Port Alsworth (TPO) and click on Add airport to plan.

 

 

You will see a simply A to B flightplan being created. It will look like this. The little arrow in the middle of the line shows the direction of the flight.

 

 

Now click on Plan in the right blue column (which will show you the waypoints of the plan), click on Frame in the toolbar (next to Edit: it will zoom into your basic flightplan to make if fill the window) and then click on Edit (which will enable Edit mode). This will show you what you see below (it may look a bit different depending on the size of your window or screen).

 

When you clicked on Edit, a little square was added to the middle of the flightplan line. I made a red circle around it. You can drag this handle around to create waypoints! I want to follow the Lake Clark Pass so I will add waypoints to create a plan that closely follows that pass.

 

 

Here you see how it looks when you drag that handle around (I am still holding the mouse button here). It's a good habit, at least that's what I always do, to drag the handle to your first waypoint because the waypoints will be numbered in the order you create them.

 

 

And here is what you get when you let go of the mouse button. A waypoint is added, as you can see on the map and on the list at the right (which shows relevant data like heading and distance). You will also see both segments have a new little square at the exact middle. I always use the handle closest to the destination to create the second waypoint, again, as I said, because they are automatically numbered in the order they are made and I like a waypoint list in chronological order. So in this case I'd grab that left little square and drag it to where I want.

 

 

You can of course zoom in (or out) in order to place the points more precise, like I did on the screenshot below, where I am creating waypoint 8.

 

BTW You can drag an existing waypoint to a new location if you don't like it or you can also delete one (rightclick and choose delete). Moving a waypoint gives it a new number and removing one will remove that number from the list. So in fact the waypoint numbers aren't exactly waypoint numbers but show you which step it was when you created the plan... (Maybe the dev can change this behaviour and simply number the waypoints chronologically...? )

 

 

And this is the final flightplan! I clicked on Frame again to get a good overview.

 

 

When you are done, click on the Save icon (the little floppy in the top left) and save it, making sure you save it as an .pln file, so not a .plg file! The program always defaults to .plg so you have to change that everytime. Save your plan wherever you want to: I decided to save them in my GMap folder.

 

BTW This tutorial obviously only shows a few of the possibilities of Plan-G! Personally I hardly use the other possibilities though (not for Flight anyway). The only two things I sometimes use for Flight are the Reverse button, to reverse the entire flightplan with one click, and Show Airport Chart, which you see when you rightclick on an airport: you will get a very basic small picture of the runway layout in the right panel: always nice to know and you might even want to change your flightplan in such a way that the last segment puts you right in front of the runway (simply make sure the last heading of the flightplan is about the same as the desired runway heading)!

 

How to use the flightplan in GMap

 

Go to the folder where you have placed FSWidgetsGMap.exe. Create a new textfile in that same folder, open it with Notepad and type this into it:

 

[Plans]
plansfolder=complete path to folder where your plans are saved

 

I chose to save my flightplans in the same folder as where I have GMap and on so on my PC it looks like this:

 

[Plans]
plansfolder=F:\Programs\GMap

 

Save the file and rename it to FSWidgetsGMap.ini

Make really sure the extension is changed from .txt to .ini: if you get a message asking if you are sure you want to change the extension, click on Yes!

 

Start Flight and move your plane to the departure airport on the ingame map. Start GMap, click on the blue GMap button and when GMap has connected with Flight, click on FLT PLN. If all is well, you should see a list of all the plans you have saved into the folder you have chosen. Load the one you want and click on Close. That's it! You know will see a an magenta line showing the flightplan and all its waypoints.

 

Have fun!

 

P.S. That FSWidgetsGMap.ini is also used for additional World Nav Data or Sectional Charts which you can buy on the FSWIdgsets site. If you bought something there, then add the following to that ini (which still can be edited with Notepad like a .txt file):

 

[Registration]
email=your email address
gmapkey=xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx

[Gripweed62 0]

[LuisFelizTirado 33]

Thanks, Jeroen, I had been using GMap also and it is very a easy and simple program.

 

Best regards.

Luis

[DreadMetis 5]

Very good tutorial, I hope it will be pinned !

 

Another thing you could do to get the database is to install & try the demo of FSX (preferably with SP1 & 2), then run Plan-G for getting the database. You then can uninstall FSX, Plan-G will have kept the DB for its purpose.

 

I don't really know about the juridic part of this process... Any clue ?

[Guest]

Very good tutorial, I hope it will be pinned !

 

Another thing you could do to get the database is to install & try the demo of FSX (preferably with SP1 & 2), then run Plan-G for getting the database. You then can uninstall FSX, Plan-G will have kept the DB for its purpose.

 

I don't really know about the juridic part of this process... Any clue ?

 

I doubt if the demo has all the data needed to create a complete database... or did you test this already? If it DOES have all the data, this would be the best and cheapest legal solution. I have still the FSX discs so for me there is no problem. And I also already made a backup of my database so even when I lose those FSX discs I am fine. (I added a tip about backing up the database to the tutorial.)

[samtx 1]

These are great guides (this and the other GMap tutorial). Thanks very much!

[Kengi 0]

Cool. The forum topic is still live, so maybe the mods there have no problem with it. Grabbing the file while I can, regardless.

 

Thanks for the tip!

[Guest]

The forum topic is still live, so maybe the mods there have no problem with it.

 

The important mods there are MS employees and afaik they don't work during the weekend and hence don't follow the forum during the weekend...

[Bobsk8 12,723]

Just a tip, once you get the data file, you have to place it in the "data" folder in Plan-G or nothing happens.

[RoboRay 126]

The important mods there are MS employees and afaik they don't work during the weekend and hence don't follow the forum during the weekend...

They are also in the US Pacific time-zone, which is another delay for those to the east, and especially in Europe or beyond.

 

If the Steam thread is still there on Tuesday, we will know their position.

 

[Mirtma 0]

Thanks J van E. Great contribution. +1

[DreadMetis 5]

I doubt if the demo has all the data needed to create a complete database... or did you test this already? If it DOES have all the data, this would be the best and cheapest legal solution. I have still the FSX discs so for me there is no problem. And I also already made a backup of my database so even when I lose those FSX discs I am fine. (I added a tip about backing up the database to the tutorial.)

 

I borrowed the FSX 2 DVDs from a friend, installed it, started the sim, it then asked me if I wanted the game to act as a demo or if I had a serial. Selecting Demo mode will allow you to fully test the whole game for a limited time I think, I haven't even tested . I just started Plan-G, and it get all what it needed for the all world.

Worked like a charm for me, but I had the ability to install from the DVDs. Though I guess any DVD images should work the same way (starting as a demo with no serial or/ and registration).

[Kengi 0]

I borrowed the FSX 2 DVDs from a friend, installed it, started the sim, it then asked me if I wanted the game to act as a demo or if I had a serial. Selecting Demo mode will allow you to fully test the whole game for a limited time...

 

I suspect that's very different from the "trial version" you can download from Microsoft which only contains two airports. I don't have time to check now (just about to go out for Sunday brunch!), but can check when I get back.

 

Of course, the easiest is to just grab that database file from the Steam post for now, at least. It worked great! I have two flight plans already I'll be flying this afternoon.

[matt_gold 1]

FANTASTIC. Yet ANOTHER level to enjoy Flight.

 

One query... the airport info, VOR station frequencies, etc...is this all up consistent with Flight's numbers? I ask cause I figure it might be part of the database which is from FSX. Does it synch this information in any way?

[Guest]

FANTASTIC. Yet ANOTHER level to enjoy Flight.

 

One query... the airport info, VOR station frequencies, etc...is this all up consistent with Flight's numbers? I ask cause I figure it might be part of the database which is from FSX. Does it synch this information in any way?

 

Up to now it seems Flight uses the same data as FSX.