Bryn

I have two huge wishes for FSUIPC in 2010. 1. Hooks into the FS9 AI sub-system to control runway selection. I would like FSUIPC to intercept the call to allocate an AI a departure or arrival runway and then send it to me so that I can change it to whatever runway I decide before it is adopted by the AI aircraft. I could then create a program that distributes traffic across any or all runways at an airport. If this feature were implemented in FSUIPC, my plan would be to write a program that checks a simple text file for runway allocation rules for any airport an end-user wants to affect and then allocate AI when they internally choose their runway. AFCADs with the star method can open up crossing runways, and different length runways can affect the size of aircraft allocated to takeoff, but that's it. Only a pure intercept of the function to allocate the AI a runway can distribute traffic according to whatever criteria a user might want to set. (for example, spreading some arrivals to inner runways (eg, ZBBB, KATL, KLAX, LFPG), or sending arrivals to the furthest runway from the direction the aircraft are arriving from, or sending departures to distant runways (eg, EHAM, YSSY)) Thinking about the possibilities this would open up for the simulator keeps me awake at night! 2. Writeable offset for the callsign of a user aircraft. I would like to be able to change the callsign of my aircraft without entering the Aircraft menu because entering the aircraft menu and changing the callsign resets the panel of the aircraft. If I am doing a simulated multi-stage flight (like regional airline hops), I would love to be able to change my callsign while leaving the aircraft untouched. Cheers, Bryn.

I think the Leonardo Maddog also does it. I get the same symptom flying that aircraft - that is, on FSCommander, I get one seconds of my range being shown followed by a few seconds of the other addon's range. Easy answer: I'm the user and it would be my preferred choice. But seriously, it is a higher count of aircraft I'm after. I want to work out which runways will be busiest at each airport as I fly to them and display the aircraft flying to my runway on Google Earth. If I'm right, they change it very frequently - ie, each second. Understood, but 96 >= aircraft count within 40nm. Cheers, Bryn.

Hi Pete, Is there a way to lock the TCAS options at offset E068 and F068? The reason I ask is because many addons modify the range bytes, which is a pain because two programs can be inconsistently setting ranges. For instance, my little proggy likes to find and display all (range unlimited) of the aircraft flying around the user, while I think AISmooth limits the range to around 40nm. Maybe a fsuipc.ini parameter would be useful in this instance? Thanks, Bryn.

Thanks Pete - that's a great idea! It all becomes so simple! Cheers, Bryn.

Pete, Thank you for your support previously on the TCAS table issue I had. It provided me with one of those moments of clarity that makes everything fall into place. I am now working on a small program to use your new macro feature to control the fuel tanks on the PMDG 744. I would like to be able to control the macro from outside FS. That is, I would like to be able to send a command to FS that triggers the macro (for instance, I can check when fuel is equalised in two tanks in my program and then send the control to FS to switch off the ovrd pumps, which I've made accessible using mouse macros). My question is whether it is possible to instigate a macro control through offset 3110? If so, what would the control look like and could you give an example? Thank you, Bryn.

Hi Peter, I'm grabbing the TCAS data tables and am stumbling across a bunch of AI that have id set to zero (even though idATC is valid and the plane exists in the sim). I should add that I'm setting range to unlimited at E068 and F068 prior to grabbing the table. Have you seen this before - that is, aircraft in the table with ids set to zero? It's a pain, because I can't do anything with them (for instance, the program I have deletes AI with the same callsign and flight number as me). eg, _ALL_AI thisScan (_ALL_AI is a collection of the 4 tcas tables) FSUIPC_Read(0xF080, 3840, &thisScan.tcas1Air, &dwResult) process loop through 96 slots, cout << thisScan.tcas1Air.id; For me, some of these have idATCs for planes that are active and ids set to 0. Cheers, Bryn.

Hi, I know I can read the ATC flight number of a user aircraft (Offset 3130) but does anyone know if there is a way to change the flight number? This would be useful for when you those pilots who land and then want to depart again as a different flight (without having to reload the aircraft) Cheers, Bryn

Thanks Pete - I know you've said before that you've looked into it and haven't had much luck. It's a bummer really - it'd be great to have just that little bit extra control over the AI. I always hoped the traffictoolbox SDK would be helpful, but it never has been. I did note, though, that the FS9.cfg file includes a c++ like function call when you create an aircraft through the toolbox. Something like traffictoolbox::createAircraft. Probably nothing in that, though. Cheers, Bryn.

Hi, just wondering if anyone has had any luck finding a writeable offset for AI runway assignment? I think this is something of a holy grail in the AI scheme of things. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions on finding such an offset, please tell! Bryn.

Thanks Pete. I'll see how I go. Bryn.

Pete, Could you provide any more information on these AI offsets? Bryn Battersby bryn@icreate.net

I personally see this as a bit of a holy grail. If this sort of data can be read, and more importantly, written to, we might have the opportunity to provide a more useful atc and smarter ai for fs.