Hi Tom,

There are a bunch of issues here. A few things:

– Our goal with the file format is to include information we need for the long term functioning of the ATC and AI system. We are specifically _not_ including work-arounds for bugs in the sim or missing functionality. If we _did_ include such work-arounds then we’d have extra data and a weird file format later once the bugs were fixed.

– Aircraft placement is definitely buggy – see also airplanes on top of other airplanes. To have the system function correctly we need to fix this, honor all meta-data already defined in the format and support push back.

– The current ramp starts support _two_ kinds of meta-data:

1. The start type is designed to provide meta-data to control who shows up where, e.g. AI should not be spawned at ‘misc’ points, but rather at gates, etc.
2. The ramp start equipment flags hopefully filter between different classes of aircraft.

In the long term we can extend this meta-data to include more complex things like livery, airline, and even specific aircraft size restrictions but for now our first priority must be to get the -basic- system working.

The AI engine totally ignores the gate name – it does not attempt to comprehend the human-readable text.

Now…there are really two authoring standards:
– Airports shared with the global data base will be subject to global airport database authoring standards.
– Custom airports distributed directly to users in a third party scenery pack only need to honor the apt.dat file format.

So…
– In the global airport database, please do NOT include extra data in the gate names…A32 (for terminal A, gate 32) is good.
– For custom scenery, you can do pretty much anything you want.

Ramp starts do need a name – it can’t be blank – but the AI engine does not and will not parse it. We will add additional flags and meta-data fields to the apt.dat struct to add more complex behavior (like airline-gate assignment). Given that there are no rules for names now, there’s pretty much no way we could enforce such things later.

Hopefully that answered everything.

I’d like to reiterate that scenery authors need a way to control what aircraft show up at specific start points. Having a B2 Bomber parked at Gate 32 in the middle of the United Airlines concourse at KBEN Supnik International Airport would not be something I’d like to see.

But I have a more general question and request.

First, is there any way you can tell the ATC engine NOT to use this spot to spawn AI aircraft? I know this is probably just due to my “anal nature” but it really bothers me to see an aircraft spawn at a gate and, since it has now way to “power back, it just taxis right through the terminal to get to the nearest taxi segment. As an author, I’d much rather have AI aircraft spawn at designated ramp holding points. All major airports have these and they are usually situated at the edge of the airline ramp as it approaches a major ATC controlled taxiway.

And my question is…… How do ramp start names affect the ATC engine. I’ve been including information about the ramp start point in its name. i.e……. Gate 32 – Narrow, or Gate 32 – WIDE as a way to tell a pilot what type aircraft he should use if he chooses to start at this gate. Sometimes I’ll name a gate “Gate 32 – United” so a pilot knows that is a United Airlines gate and he should expect to see other United liveries in the vicinity.

Will adding this into in the gate name confuse the ATC engine at some future date?

Thanks. Tom

It models a ramp for which we don’t know what it was for — since there is no meta-data in the old 850 format, we have to treat them as “misc’. The new format is a strict super-set of the old one.

Well, even though there might be no ultimate, one fits all, description, but just plain searching Google for “x-plane scenery tutorial” bring you up a lot of resources:
http://xsimreviews.com/2012/12/08/x-plane-scenery-design-tutorials-1-3/
http://scenery.x-plane.com/tutorials.php
http://marginal.org.uk/x-planescenery/tutorials.html
http://wiki.x-plane.com/Category:Scenery_Tutorials
http://www.x-plane.com/support/manuals/wed/

etc.

Please give us exsamples.

I’m looking forwards to the day when X-Plane can use the equipment type fields as well so we get props starting at a GA tie-down and not at the International Terminal gates. Or A380s starting at the small commuter parking spots.
One extension that I have thought would be useful is to have a “business-type” on the starting point as well. By that I mean: Passenger, Cargo, Military etc etc. Of course, this would also mean being able to set this in your flight-plan. In this way your FedEx flight could be routed by the ATC, via your carefully prepared taxi network, to the Cargo terminal. Just a thought.

Not easily – but > 20 is nice if a user maxes out ATC. If the real airport has less than 20 I’d say just do what’s there – the goal should be realism where possible.

Smart suggestion – second that. Local aircraft really add something.