FSX-MS AI Controller 1.4 (SID, Jet Route, STAR and Final Approach) (New) Beta

[Capt Speirs 52]

 

A new beta version of AIController v1.14B (full version including Hot Fix 7) is available at the following link:

 

http://www.mediafire.com/download/ciea8t8zcalor2h/AIController14BFullWithHF7.zip

 

Hot fix 7 by itself is available at the following link:

 

http://www.mediafire.com/download/gbe7cf31ffdwbyw/AIController14BOnlyHF7.zip

 

Please do not mix with any version of 1.4A or earlier.  Instead, install into a separate directory for testing.

 

IMPORTANT:  Hotfix 7 changes may default settings and data decompiled from scenery.  After installation, please select "Options\Reset Options to Default" otherwise the "old" default options may cause poor results.  Also, run a "Force Update Runway and Taxi Data".

 

 

Please see the Original Thread Post for Additional Details Regarding Ver. 1.4 Including Installation Video.

 

Thanks!

-Roland

 

Thanks so much for this great update, love this utility. 

[netshadoe 144]

 

 

NEW: AIController now checks for broken runway links. Some scenery designers follow the practice of purposely BREAKING runway waypoint links (e.g., Latin VFR KMIA). AIController now detects broken runway links at startup and warns the user. AIController will then use the "longest" unbroken link, which is most cases is satisfactory. NOTE 1: the root cause of this situation can be remedied by the user simply connecting up ALL of the runway waypoints in a utility like Airport Design Editor X. However, the scenery designer probably decided to break the runway links in the first place to avoid the AI making sharp turns when exiting the runway, but as discussed above, AIController HF7 does not suffer this drawback. NOTE 2: if there is any add-on airport where AIController failed to assign final approaches in the past or where the AI was acting strangely approaching or landing on the runway, this might have been the cause. Please run a "Force Update" after installing this hot fix and try it again.

NEW: AIController now warns the user if AIController is unable to create landing data for a particular runway. Typically this is due to a purposeful decision by the scenery designer when creating the runway (e.g., a "fake" runway to create multiple crosswind landing runways). Note: AIController does NOT need to rely upon "fake" runways to provide cross-wind landings -- use the Force Landing Runways option instead).

 

Hi Roland,

 

I have a suggestion.

 

The message indicating that the airport will not be monitored and with both of these messages:

 

 

BROKEN RUNWAY LINKS DETECTED for airport KECS at runway 17  and recip. runway 35 .
This is most likely caused by non-standard scenery design.
AIController will treat the endpoints of the longest link as the runway endpoints.
However, the AI may land past the normal target touchdown area and its rollout on landing may be
The ability to taxi the AI to the gate via efficient (or possibly any) routes may also be affecte
To correct, modify the scenery (e.g., using ADE X) and simply LINK UP ALL RUNWAY WAYPOINTS!!!



NOTE !!!!! NOTE !!!! NOTE !!!! NOTE !!!!
Failed to build enhanced approach data for airport KECS at runway 17  and recip. runway 35 .
NO enhanced approach modes will be available at the above runways.!
If no user-written custom final approaches are available for this runway, the AI will
be released to FSX control for approach and landing.
This warning may be due to either dummy runways (OK to ignore) being used for scenery design tech
or a due to a scenery design error in the scenery (e.g., all runway waypoints NOT connected up).

 

 

AIController  took almost an hour to go through all these messages (lots of airports) before AIController even started...and this was only for the United States.

 

Could this list be dumped instead into a txt file instead of being listed in the program. 

 

Maybe a quick line in AIController saying:

 

"There are airports with broken links (or whatever problem).  The complete list can be found in BrokenLink.txt"

 

It would show once and then the program would continue to load, minimizing startup time?  The problem with those messages above it it takes forever to get through them if there are many in the scenery files. 

 

Maybe, AIController can use these lists as an ignore list too...it checks the first time, but never checks these again if they are in the list?

 

The SIDSTAR converter correction with the SID and Star waypoints seems to be working fine from what I can see with the few examples I have looked over.

 

Thanks for the update!!

[pbar1469 0]

Hi Roland.

 

I've completely cleaned the previous version from my PC.

Installed as per instructions, Ran SIDSTAR converted (new one) again over PMDG data for the 1406 cycle, all good, data generated as expected. Single folder structure.

 

Ran AiMonitor, added the correct paths, and did the Force Update.

Again, same results. Aircraft data is generated OK, progress windows for aircraft is fine, and ends correctly.

When it gets to scenery decompiling, this time is a bit different. It immediately goes to 100% CPU, and never seems to read any file whatsoever.

And yes, it is in P3D mode (sorry I didn't reply to that earlier).

 

Left it running for about 3 hours, no change. No Taxi_graph.txt file is ever generated.

Memory usage for AIMonitor stays at around 15Mb, sometimes 10Mb.

 

And I've run as user and as admin. Same. Even tried moving the scenery.cfg to a different folder and updated paths, but same result...

 

Any ideas? Is there a way to run AIMonitor so that a log file is generated when decompiling sceneries?

 

Thanks!!

[Clipper Ocean Spray 189]

 

 

AIController  took almost an hour to go through all these messages (lots of airports) before AIController even started...and this was only for the United States.

 

Yes, it looks like the warning is picking up runways with no taxi connections at default airports.  Should be easy to take care of.  I could make detailed warnings part of the verbose/debug option (which is logged to file).

 

 

Is there a way to run AIMonitor so that a log file is generated when decompiling sceneries?

 

No, but that's a good idea actually.

 

 

could you explain (in some detail) the variables you use to to control leaving runway and taxiing.

 

They should result in more understandable taxi behavior changes in HF7 due to a bug fix/revisions.

[pbar1469 0]

Hey Roland!

 

Found the problem!

 

Activated the Local Policy for file access for all the P3D folder, and watched as each file was accessed.

 

AIMonitor stops after accessing a specific bgl file, namely "coolconeslib.bgl".

It's from a freeware scenery pack for Coolangata airport in Australia (YBCG) from AVSIM. The scenery zip file is called goldcoastairport.zip and it's by John Ross.

 

As soon as I removed that file from the folder, AIMonitor finished fine and the Taxi_graph.txt file was finally generated and the AIControllerPath.txt was finally updated with the TAXI statements!!

 

Might be a good idea to download that scenery to investigate why that specific bgl is killing AIMonitor.

 

Cheers!!!!!! YAY! Finally!!

[fly_edds 26]

Hi Roland, thanks for your performance tips some time ago. I'm still experimenting to find the best combo between performance, AI density and active features.

 

I'm also struggling with the latest Hotfix 7 (using a fresh full version):

Path settings are the same as before, however no taxi_graph file is generated (Screenshot) and I get error messages for several installed FTX region files. (Screenshot)

 

Beside of that two generated STAR files for LFMQ are always faulty and I have to delete them manually. It's not a big problem as it can be solved by simply deleting these two files, but it would be nice when you can have a look into it :unsure: (Screenshot)

 

I'm currently not running a networked version.

Once again, thanks for providing us with so many great updates, that's outstanding!!

[data63 3]

Hey Roland!

 

Found the problem!

 

Activated the Local Policy for file access for all the P3D folder, and watched as each file was accessed.

 

AIMonitor stops after accessing a specific bgl file, namely "coolconeslib.bgl".

It's from a freeware scenery pack for Coolangata airport in Australia (YBCG) from AVSIM. The scenery zip file is called goldcoastairport.zip and it's by John Ross.

 

As soon as I removed that file from the folder, AIMonitor finished fine and the Taxi_graph.txt file was finally generated and the AIControllerPath.txt was finally updated with the TAXI statements!!

 

Might be a good idea to download that scenery to investigate why that specific bgl is killing AIMonitor.

 

Cheers!!!!!! YAY! Finally!!

good hint - I also found such a culprit far a freeware LJLJ avsim - File was ljlj2012f.zip, offending file is ljlj_afd.bgl which isn't recognised be ADE as an afcad - the decompile waited hours tryin' to read it

[liketofly1 11]

Hi Roland,

 

Thanks for the update - just did a quick check and AI are following the correct STAR - TRANSITION - FINAL procedure now at LOWW, thanks again - excellent job!....

 

regards

[chumley 0]

Hi Roland

Hotfix 7 has brought some issues to my installation. 

 

I have tested this on both my network machine and on the main FSX machine.

 

Once the new executables are installed and I run the 'Force Update of Runway and Taxi Data' I get a number of messages (7) displayed that indicates a scenery path cannot be found. As nothing has changed other than the new executables I reverted to the older versions and ran the 'Force Update of Runway and Taxi Data' and it sailed through without a single error message.

 

The Tax_graph.txt file also increases from 2834 to 2875 with the changed .EXE files if that means anything.

 

Below is an excerpt from the Scenery.cfg file  for one of the paths. It resides in E:\FSX:

 

[Area.216]

Title=FTXAU15_SCENERY

Local=ORBX\FTX_AU\FTXAU15_SCENERY

Layer=213

Active=TRUE

Required=FALSE

[SKEWR 364]

Anyone else getting "file deleted" from Media Fire when trying to download full version?

[Clipper Ocean Spray 189]

This is a re-post of the prior Hot Fix 7, but with a couple of very minor tweaks based on user feedback.   It does not need to be re-downloaded if the user was not having having issues addressed by this revised Hot Fix 7,   The first tweak reduces broken runway link information at startup so that AIController doesn't take too long to load when monitoring numerous airports. The second tweak adds logging ability to AIMonitor (for troubleshooting). 

 

A new beta version of AIController v1.14B (full version including Hot Fix 7) is available at the following link:

 

http://www.mediafire.com/download/wxzn81ewnb36565/AIController14BFullWithHF7.zip

 

Hot fix 7 by itself is available at the following link:

 

http://www.mediafire.com/download/hstvbmf83uf4uab/AIController14BOnlyHF7.zip

 

Please do not mix with any version of 1.4A or earlier.  Instead, install into a separate directory for testing.

 

IMPORTANT:  Hotfix 7 changes may default settings and data decompiled from scenery.  After installation, please select "Options\Reset Options to Default" otherwise the "old" default options may cause poor results.  Also, run a "Force Update Runway and Taxi Data".

 

 

Hot Fix 7 New Features:

 

NEW:  No sharp turns (90 degree OR LESS) when landing AI exits runway (if feasible) in contrast to stock FSX ATC control.

 

NEW:  AIController now checks for broken runway links.  Some scenery designers follow the practice of purposely BREAKING runway waypoint links (e.g., Latin VFR KMIA). AIController now detects broken runway links at startup and warns the user.  Run AIController in verbose mode (verbose = 1) to get more detail regarding broken links.  Additionally, run AIController in debug mode (debug = 1) to log to file.  AIController will then use the "longest" unbroken link, which is most cases is satisfactory.  NOTE 1:  the root cause of this situation can be remedied by the user simply connecting up ALL of the runway waypoints in a utility like Airport Design Editor X.  However, the scenery designer probably decided to break the runway links in the first place to avoid the AI making sharp turns when exiting the runway, but as discussed above, AIController HF7 does not suffer this drawback.  NOTE 2: if there is any add-on airport where AIController failed to assign final approaches in the past or where the AI was acting strangely approaching or landing on the runway, this might have been the cause. Please run a "Force Update" after installing this hot fix and try it again.

 

NEW:  AIController now warns the user if AIController is unable to create landing data for a particular runway.  Typically this is due to a purposeful decision by the scenery designer when creating the runway (e.g., a "fake" runway to create multiple crosswind landing runways).  Note: AIController does NOT need to rely upon "fake" runways to provide cross-wind landings -- use the Force Landing Runways option instead).

 

NEW:  AIMonitor scenery decompile reads whether the primary and secondary (reciprocal) runways are closed to landings.  If so, no approaches/finals will be selected for that runway.  NOTE 1:  due to this new feature, AIMonitor now includes additional information in the taxi_graph.txt file, please perform a "Force Update of Runway and Taxi Data" in the options menu after installing this hotfix.  NOTE 2:  runway open/closed can be set by the user via the Airport Design Editor X.

 

NEW:  AIMonitor now also reads the left-pattern/right-pattern flags from scenery.  Thus, a new enhanced approach mode "2" has been added.  Mode 2 is the same as the old mode 1, except the configurable left-hand pattern *OR* right-hand pattern is chosen for each landing runway based on the scenery pattern flags (in contrast, the default mode 1 makes both the left-hand *AND* right-hand pattern available for each runway).  As always though, approaches converted from nav data (using the SIDSTAR converter) and user-written custom final approaches always take precedence over the generic (but configurable) left-hand/right-hand approaches regardless of mode.  NOTE 1:  due to this new feature, AIMonitor now includes additional information in the taxi_graph.txt file, please perform a "Force Update of Runway and Taxi Data" in the options menu after installing this hotfix.  NOTE 2:  pattern flags can be set by the user via the Airport Design Editor X.

 

NEW:  More gradual speed transitions on climb-out (especially when AIController takes over from FSX after takeoff) and descent.

 

NEW:  STAR/SID path statements in AIControllerList.txt are no longer required to contain "X" or "O" designators.  Instead, they can contain straight STAR= or SID= statements (interpreted as "X" or selected).  This will better facilitate bulk pasting of path statements, such as those generated by the SIDSTARConverter utility.

 

NEW:  User aircraft-AI anti-incursion feature highlighted to better remind user this option will help prevent incursions (e.g., preventing AI from landing on runway user is taking off from) BUT will also FREEZE AI and cause landing AI to GO-AROUND if necessary.

 

NEW:  No longer possible to run dual instances of AIController (prevents accidentially running more than one program at the same time).

 

NEW:  Additional absolute-paths (e.g., containing drive letter) to UNC network-path translation boxes added to Advanced Path Options menu (useful for networked AIMonitor installations).

 

NEW:  AIMonitor now has logging (for trouble-shooting only).  Enable verbose mode (verbose = 1) in the AIMonitor basic options screen.

 

Hot Fix 7 Fixes:

 

FIXED:  AI "turns" during taxi-in now much smoother.  Now the AI will roll through most turns (including rolling through a much faster runway exit).  AI will also slow down approach gate/parking.  IMPORTANT NOTE:  due to this fix, the default taxi-in options have been substantially changed.  After installation, please select "Options\Reset Options to Default" otherwise the "old" default options may cause poor results.

 

FIXED:  MT6 Scenery Issue - AI getting deleted at end of rollout.   AIMonitor decompiling older scenery incorrectly due to different parking codes being used in that scenery.  This affected some of the MT6 included .bgl files for various airports.  IMPORTANT NOTE: if affected by this bug, run a "Force Update" in AIMonitor after installing this hot fix to decompile the scenery with the correct parking codes.

 

FIXED:  Sometimes STAR-transition-approaches not working (i.e., preference was not given to selecting an approach having the same entry transition waypoint as the STAR exit waypoint the AI was assigned to) .

 

FIXED:  Sometimes AI was parking AI at gates already occupied by AI that previously taxi-in and parked.  Note: there is still a chance that FSX will inject a departure AI into the gate while the landed AI  is taxiing in.  In such a case, the taxi-in AI will now perform one last occupancy check when getting close to the assigned gate.  If AIController detects an AI has been injected into the gate, AIController will re-assign the gate for the taxi-in AI.  Finally, if for some reason the taxi-in AI ends up parked at the same gate as an injected "sleeping" AI, the taxi-in AI will be  deleted after parking at the gate for 60 seconds to clear the way for the injected AI to depart.

 

FIXED:  AI turns toward airport after being released from STAR.  After fix, AI will head directly to the assigned approach (enhanced mode only).

 

FIXED:  Speed additives due to wind were subtracted instead of added.

 

FIXED:  Some scenery designers insert inconsistent statements into the scenery.cfg file causing AIController to misinterpret scenery configuration (i.e., approaches not available).  

 

FIXED:  Some AI "freezing" after jetroute exit.

 

FIXED:  Fixed repetitive "Arriving AI is jet, but all STARs are for prop" message in non-enhanced mode.

 

FIXED:  Jetroutes sometimes not getting assigned between monitored airports.  STARs sometimes not getting assigned after jetroute exit when AI approaces a monitored airport.  NOTE:  Reduce the "No STAR if arriving AI further than this distance" in the basic options screen down from the default 200 nm to 75 nm (or so) if you wish arriving AI to fly the last portion of a jetroute before being assigned a STAR.

 

FIXED:  Minimum runway landing lengths (default) set too high.  This caused AIController to deem too many runways "too short" for the AI type (e.g., jet, tubroprop) making final approach unavailable.  Minimums (default) have been drastically reduced.  Perform "Reset Options to Default" to activate the new defaults.  The minimums are now probably unrealistically short, however it is easier to the user to increase them than wonder why final approaches aren't being selected (e.g., KMDW !!).

 

FIXED:  Sometimes the go-around pattern was not rectangular.

 

FIXED:  AIConv.exe utility sometimes not converting SIDs correctly.  A new AIConv.exe is included.  The full install version with hot fix 7 includes corrected SIDs (using the new version of AIConv.exe).  However, the hot-fix only version doesn't.  If you install the hot-fix only version, you may want to re-convert from nav data using the correct AIConv.exe (unless you're satisfied with the SIDs as is).  If you're using the SIDSTAR conveter utility, make sure to link it to the new AIConv.exe version.

 

FIXED:  Non-enhanced mode only:  Fixed several significant bugs, such as AI not lining up on final properly and making erratic movements after touchdown.  Also, short final release back to FSX (for normal animation) not working.

 

FIXED:  Verbose and Debug modes could not be set via AIMonitor or the .ini file.

 

New for Version 1.4B (Prior Revisions)

 

NEW:  Each AI's individual cruising speed during jetroute portion of flight determined from AI's aircraft.cfg data.

 

NEW:  Progress bar added for aircraft.cfg scan during update process.  Over a network connection, the AI aircraft.cfg scan may take longer than the actual scenery decompile process.  This discrepancy may lead the user to believe the "update" process has completed, when actually the aircraft.cfg data is still being written.  Thus, the new progress bar will help keep the user appraised.  Note:  If you had any problems with AI not getting assigned the correct gates in earlier versions, an incomplete aircraft.cfg scan might have been one of the causes.  Please install this hot fix and retry. 

 

NEW:  Specific support for My Traffic 6, including the non-ascii characters used in the ATC-IDs.

 

NEW:  Support for coordinated STAR-transition-approaches added (i.e., preference is given to selecting an approach having the same transition waypoint as the STAR exit waypoint the AI was assigned to). 

 

NEW:  Short-final go-around mode changed to standard left-base go-around pattern to make go-around patterns more coherent, reduce holding, and aid AI spacing. 

 

NEW:  Manually delete AI (or a group of AI(s)) by highlighting them in AIMonitor.  Highlight the AI(s) in the AIMonitor window, right-click, then choose delete.  This is similar to the old AI Traffic Explorer utility.  Good for deleting pesky AI that you can't get to with the FSUIPC zapper, but you can identify on the AIMonitor. 

 

NEW:  Persistent highlighting of selected AIMonitor rows.  This feature was added to support the delete option above, but has actually been requested several times by itself!  I presume the persistent highlighting will allow the user to better track particular aircraft. 

 

NEW:  Specify AI install directories outside of the FSX/P3D path.  In the config menu, advanced options.  Useful if an AI package has been installed to location outside the SimObject path.

 

NEW:  Absolute path to UNC path translator for Scenery.cfg.  In the config menu, advanced options.  Useful for when AIController is running on a networked client.  You can tell AIController the corresponding UNC path for any absolute path (e.g., a path containing a drive letter) appearing in the scenery.cfg.  As always, relative scenery paths (relative to the main FSX/P3D installation directory) are not a problem for AIController, so I recommend using relative paths if possible.  However, absolute paths are very useful for sharing scenery between different simulators (e.g., FSX and P3D).

 

NEW:  Manual Landing Runway(s) Selection:  If the user for whatever reason dislikes the current landing runway, which is based on prevailing winds, the user can instead enter up to three runways in AIMonitor to override all wind-based landing runway selections.  The AI will immediately switch to the new patterns, there will be no gradual transition.  When two runways are entered (e.g., 32L,32R), the load-balancing will be approx. 50-50.  When three runways are entered (e.g., 17C,18R, 18L), the load-balancing will be approx. 33-33-33.

 

NEW:  Max. Time Departing AI Remains Stopped on Taxiway Before Deletion.  Maximum time that AI taxiing OUT to the departure runway will be allowed to remained stopped on the taxiway before deletion (default 60 seconds).  Occasionally (even when not using AIController), departing AI becomes "stuck" just before runway entry holding up that AI and all the AI line-up behind it waiting.  This parameter will delete the AI that has become "stuck", allowing the AI behind it enter the runway and take off at a consistent rate.  The parameter cannot be used to increase waiting time higher than the FSX default value.  

 

NEW: AI Rollout Performance and Parking Based on AI's Aircraft.cfg File and ADE:  The AI rollout performance (e.g., braking distance) and parking preference (e.g., parking codes) are based on performance data in each AI's config file.  The parking algorithm has been revised to conform to typical FSX/P3D - ADE design methods (e.g., first AIController looks to gate radius, second AIControler looks to airline parking codes in the gate order as listed in the ADE parking list).  Version 1.4B automatically reads AI aircraft.cfg data to get each AI's braking, radius, airline code, etc. data, no user action is required.  Thus, the old GrabAIParkingCode utility is being retired.  An interesting note:  AIController will scan more than 5 airline codes per gate, thus eliminating the old FSX restraint.

 

NEW: Improved Landing Animations.  Consistent touchdown smoke, wheels (including nose-wheel) make firm contact with runway at correct angle, no more smoke effects when AI exits the runway and enters taxiway.  Touchdown smoke may be less prevalent at airports near sea level.

 

NEW: Special WinXP versions of AIController.exe and AIConv.exe are included in the distribution:  If you're running AIController in a networked configuration on an older laptop running WinXP, please use the AIController_WinXP.exe and AIConv_WinXP.exe files in the WinXP folder (see the readme in that folder for further instructions).

 

NEW: Latest version of SIDSTARConverter included, which allows you to select your preferred version of AIConv.exe.  The latest AIConv.exe is included in the AIController installation directory.

 

Prior Fixes for Version 1.4B:

 

HOTFIX 6:  (1) Incorrect parking assignments and double-parking based on duplicate gate numbers at different areas (terminals) of airports.  The fix also modifies AIController and AIMonitor to provide more detailed parking assignment information; (2) Gate radius data sometimes not processed correctly (AI-gate size mismatch); (3) Only one aircraft.cfg parking code being read (note: scenery gates typically have mulitple parkings codes, which was read by AIController, however the aircraft.cfg itself can also contain multiple parking codes, which is now being read and processed); (4) Parking alignment bug sometimes prevented AI from being designated "Parked at Gate" causing double-parking and preventing departure of same AI after waiting period (if auto-inject option enabled); (5) Sometimes AI obtaining high/low altitudes after being released from jetroute; (5) Turbojet Default Lower and Upper Jetroute Altitudes Bad.  Choose "Reset Options to Default" to activate corrected default values - OR - if you do NOT want to reset your customized options to default, go to "Options" - "Jetroutes" and change the "Turbojet Altitude Lower Range" to 18000 (or your own preferred value) and change the "Turbojet Altitude Upper Range" to 22000 (or your own preferred value), then press the "Apply" button.  Note: the bad default altitudes may have also caused-in-part the "AI obtaining high/low altitudes" bug above; (6) Scenery.cfg absolute-path TO UNC-network-path translator in Prepar3d mode isn't working.  Important for users running AIMonitor on a networked client machine because MyTraffic 6 places an absolute path (pointing to a folder shared by different FS programs) in the scenery.cfg; (7) Deletion routine for stalled taxi-out AI (i.e., AI not moving) fixed.  The routine was sometimes not deleting the longest waiting stalled AI (e.g., the stalled AI at the head of the line); (8) Sometimes AI not getting assigned jetroute after SID exit.

 

HOTFIX 5:  Not released (rolled into Hot Fix 6).

 

HOTFIX 4:  (1) Incomplete aircraft_cfg_data.txt file causing long rollouts and parking misassignments; (2)  AIController reading crosswind runways (Jim Vile-ADE technique) causing problems with final approach assignments after STAR exit.  Note: use force runway option in AIController to support crosswind and parallel operations; (3) High final approaches (AI was incorrectly and quickly transitioning from Jetroute to STAR to final leaving AI high on final close to airport); (4) AI parking alignment; (5) Not all AI parking codes being read causing parking misassignments; (6) AIController crashing reading some STAR/SIDS/Approaches converted from the latest navdata; (7) (Evaluating) AI start successively going-around for no apparent reason.

 

HOTFIX 3: (1) AI being deleted after rollout at some airports.  Problem was due to conversion error (parking radius stored in scenery files as meters, AI wingspan stored in aircraf.cfg files as feet); (2) AIController sometimes crashing because of bad taxi-graph read; (3) Multiple fixes for non-enhanced mode, including custom final approach/autogen files not being selected and AI disappearing/re-appearing in AIMonitor; (4) Waypoint updates can be made while FSX/P3D running.

 

HOT FIX 2:  (1) Expanded search for *.cfg files in all of the SimObjects subdirectories.  I don't have all AI add-on packages, so I suppose it is possible some package will have the AI reside outside Simobjects.  If so, let me know and I'll patch it up again; (2) Fixed continuing issue with repetitive "Scenery Change Detected" message and then AIMonitor attempting update waypoints at the same time it starts AIController; (3) Fixed bug where sometimes AIControllerPath.txt doesn't sometimes contain the "taxi=" paths even though the user just ran an update; (4) Revised code to support "My Document" paths to better support auto-injection of departing AI at monitored airport (to maintain departure rates if user remains at airport for long periods of time); (5) Extended "Force Landing Runway" to support 3 runways; and (6) Removed ability to keep the "Force Landing Runway" option to remain active across different AIMonitor sessions (to reduce the chance of accidentally keeping option enabled when switching airports). 

 

HOT FIX 1:  (1) Repetitive repetitive "VARIABLE WINDS or TIMEOUT waiting for wind direction data" message in AIController; (2) Fixed repetitive "Scenery Change Detected" when AIMonitor started for first time; (3) Jet, prop, and VFR ONLY STARs/SIDs not recognized.  This has been fixed, but jet, prop and VFR only patterns are now specified by "pattern type" instead of "pattern name" to maintain consistency with final approach pattern types.  Any custom user files that user the "pattern name" to specificy jet-only, prop-only, or VFR-only files will have to be modified so that "pattern type" is used instead (this should be an easy modification, see the readme.pdf for further details); (4) Duplicate line added to AIControllerPath.txt file; (5) Excessive error messages when attempting scenery scan, such as when program paths incorrect.  AIController will now limit the error messages to five when an unsuccessful scenery scan occurs; (6) Sometime AI didn't park at gate at correct heading.  This has been fixed; (7) Generic left and right base pattern names reversed.  This has been fixed; (8) Pattern entry points (enhanced generic left-right patterns) sometimes not the closest to AI's present position; (9) Some approach files converted from nav data contained missed approach data causing AI to perform missed approach procedure (go-around) when landing.  This has been fixed.  (10) Addon/scenery folder not being scanned when active in FSX/P3D (this is where use-generated ADE files typically reside!); (11) AI's landing runway displayed more consistently on AIMonitor; (12) Departing AI not being auto-injected at some airports; (13) Locale issue continuing to cause errors when comma-deliminated error.  For those users who switched affected by this error, please give this fix a try; (14) Quicker assignment of wind-based runway selection, less incorrect STARs that have to be re-assigned later

 

Important Revision:  A registered version (4.9x or later) of Peter Dowson's FSUIPC utility is recommended to use the full functionality of AIController.  For example, AIController will not be able to delete problematic AI targeted for removal (e.g., parked at gate after arrival for the specificed parking time).  For networked configuration users, Peter's WideFS (ver. 6.9) is also recommended.

 

Various other fixes/revisions were also made.

 

Important New NOTAMS!

 

ENTERING FINAL APPROACH COORDINATES.  Do not use FSX when entering final approach coordinates for runway positions (e.g., touchdown, rollout) as the FSX in-game coordinate display (shift-Z) lacks the necessary precision (significant digits).  Use the freeware Airport Design Editor X (or similar) instead.

 

ENTERING RUNWAY DATA.   Ensure the runway number corresponds to the FSX runway description (for whatever airport scenery you are using).  Often, the latest FMS data will reference changed runway numbers that do not correspond to stock FSX runway descriptions.  For STAR files, if the runways do not match (STAR versus FSX), AIController will choose the STAR based on the waypoint having the closest entry point to the AI’s current position (i.e., not based on runway data), which often is satisfactory, but not always.  For Final Approach files, if the runways do not match, AIController might choose the final approach file having the incorrect runway data.

 

Please see the Original Thread Post for Additional Details Regarding Ver. 1.4 Including Installation Video.

 

Thanks!

-Roland

[data63 3]

is there any difference in AI Controller handling different types of taxiways (eg. PATH, TAXI, CLOSED...) ?

[RancidViper 37]

 

Hi Roland

 

Hotfix 7 has brought some issues to my installation. 

 

I have tested this on both my network machine and on the main FSX machine.

 

Once the new executables are installed and I run the 'Force Update of Runway and Taxi Data' I get a number of messages (7) displayed that indicates a scenery path cannot be found. As nothing has changed other than the new executables I reverted to the older versions and ran the 'Force Update of Runway and Taxi Data' and it sailed through without a single error message.

 

The Tax_graph.txt file also increases from 2834 to 2875 with the changed .EXE files if that means anything.

 

Below is an excerpt from the Scenery.cfg file  for one of the paths. It resides in E:\FSX:

 

[Area.216]

Title=FTXAU15_SCENERY

Local=ORBX\FTX_AU\FTXAU15_SCENERY

Layer=213

Active=TRUE

Required=FALSE

 

 

I'm having the exact same issue, and the entries are all there in the scenery file so I'm not sure what's going on.

 

Also Roland, in a seperate issue, is it not possible to add airport data via a NavDataPro cycle? I select that folder as the input and output to the Aicontroller installation folder, and it converts, but after it's done there are no new folders in there. Am I missing a step somewhere?

[Clipper Ocean Spray 189]

I'm also struggling with the latest Hotfix 7 (using a fresh full version):

Path settings are the same as before, however no taxi_graph file is generated (Screenshot) and I get error messages for several installed FTX region files. (Screenshot)

 

 

Below is an excerpt from the Scenery.cfg file  for one of the paths. It resides in E:\FSX:

 

[Area.216]

Title=FTXAU15_SCENERY

Local=ORBX\FTX_AU\FTXAU15_SCENERY

Layer=213

Active=TRUE

Required=FALSE

 

I don't have this Orbx scenery, so I'm hesitant to upload this fix without someone testing it.  Could you please give it a try?  Thanks!

 

http://www.mediafire.com/download/bou45s96ubf5mzz/AIMonitor_HF7Test.zip

I'm having the exact same issue, and the entries are all there in the scenery file so I'm not sure what's going on.

[kc135r.fox 1]

 

 

I don't have this Orbx scenery, so I'm hesitant to upload this fix without someone testing it.  Could you please give it a try?  Thanks!

 

http://www.mediafire.com/download/bou45s96ubf5mzz/AIMonitor_HF7Test.zip

 

I had the same issue as Chumley and Viper. I used SCE to add "\scenery" to the ORBX (aka FTX) scenery that AIM was having an issue with. I had an issue with: "FTX_NA_CRM05_SCENERY". Prior to the test version, to get AIM to read the scenery, I had to change the entry to: ORBX\FTX_NA\FTX_NA_CRM05_SCENERY\scenery.

 

I reset my "issue" ORBX sceneries by removing the \scenery entries. I ran Force Update Runway and Taxi Data. No problems found with the test version at least as far as ORBX goes. No idea about fly_edds issue as I didn't look at the taxi_graph file.