runway position in runways.xml (makerwys.exe)

[Maarten]

Hi Pete,

I am the author of the SimLauncher program: a program that is mainly used by Prepar3D users to set up a flight (select aircraft, start location, weather, time of day) and then launch Prepar3D with this flight.. Start locations are based upon the information I extract from the runways.xml file that is produced by makerwys.exe.

The runway positions, as recorded in runways.xml, correspond to the start of the runway in the AFCAD file. This means that when I create a flight, the aircraft is positioned at the very edge of the runway. I noticed that the runways.txt file does contain a start position for the runway that would be more useful for me (indicated by 'Start [runway number] : [latitude] [longitude] ...'; the position in runways.xml corresponds to 'Computed start [runway number] : lat [latitude] long [longitude]'). This runways.txt file is a huge file however and difficult to parse for me.

Would it be possible to somehow include the 'Start ... etc.' runway position in runways.xml (or in r5.csv, runways.csv or some other file)?

thanks, Maarten

[Pete Dowson]

Would it be possible to somehow include the 'Start ... etc.' runway position in runways.xml (or in r5.csv, runways.csv or some other file)?

I think that could be worse in many cases. The reason "computed starts" were made was because many "Start" positions included in the BGLs / AFD files themselves were not on the runway at all, but often at hold positions off to the side. This made a mess of programs trying to compute accurate approaches and so on. However, I could possibly add the original AFD starts in as well ("FSstartLat" and "FSstartLon" or similar). However, it isn't straight forward as this data is not currently retained, only logged (the TXT file you found them in is just a log of the complete analysis). I'll have a look. It means extending all the structures used in the sorted results to include the extra data.

Pete

[Pete Dowson]

I'll have a look. It means extending all the structures used in the sorted results to include the extra data.

Okay. It was easier than I thought. Go get version 4.614.

Regards

Pete

[Delphi]

Hi Pete,

do you see a chance also to get the heading of the FSstart position?

 

Best regards and many thanks for your excellent work,

 

Ruediger

[Pete Dowson]

Hi Pete,

do you see a chance also to get the heading of the FSstart position?

 

Best regards and many thanks for your excellent work,

 

Ruediger

 

Er, the thread you attached this to is 26 months old. Could you be more specific? What file, what section, what structure? I'm a bit lost. Sorry.

 

Pete

[Thomas Richter]

Hi,

do you see a chance also to get the heading of the FSstart position?

Heading of Start position is simple the RWY heading, take care of Variation. RWY heading and Variation is included in the XML file.

[Delphi]

Sorry, for beeing imprecise.

 

I was thinking about the Runways.xml file. Tags <FSStartLat> and <FSStartLon>. I assume that those are the positions from the bgl file which characterize the position the aircraft to start from a certain runway. If so, then the aircraft heading would be nice to have, which might be different to the runway heading, if the related position is e.g. on the short hold of a taxiway.

 

Best regards,

 

Ruediger

[Pete Dowson]

I can add it if MakeRunways already extracts it.  Do you mean the highlighted value in these entries in the log file 9Runways.txt)?

 

Start 1 : N68:20:38.1833  W166:48:17.1941  12ft Hdg: 22.3T, Length 3985ft 

 

If, a new tag, like <FSStartHdgT> ?

 

Pete

[Delphi]

Hi Pete,

thanks for you fast response and your proposual to add the required information to the Runways.xml (new tag <FSStartHdgT>).

 

Let give me an example to make sure that we are on the same page:

 

Environment: FS9 + AS Add on EDDK (I could make the example also on an other installation with P3D V2.4 if you wish)

 

Airport selection: EDDK, RWY 32R

 

Result: The FS places the Aircraft to the short holding of rwy 32R with a heading of 040

 

If I place the aircraft with the FSStart coordinates for for RWY32R the aircraft is placed correct to the short hold coordinates, but with the rwy heading, not hdg 040 as required at this point.

 

I checked the runways.txt. Could not find the required information.

 

Best regards,

 

Ruediger

[Pete Dowson]

Let give me an example to make sure that we are on the same page:

 

Environment: FS9 + AS Add on EDDK (I could make the example also on an other installation with P3D V2.4 if you wish)

 

Airport selection: EDDK, RWY 32R

 

If I place the aircraft with the FSStart coordinates for for RWY32R the aircraft is placed correct to the short hold coordinates, but with the rwy heading, not hdg 040 as required at this point.

 

I checked the runways.txt. Could not find the required information.

 

Really? What does the Start entry for that runway show then? All the Start data appears to be listed here for all runways. If it doesn't appear at all in Runways.txt then MakeRunways cannot even provide the Start Lat/Lon information.

 

Pete

[Delphi]

Snippet from runways.txt:

 

Runway 14L/32R centre: N50:52:04.1813  E007:08:50.5801  302ft
              Start 14L: N50:52:48.3995  E007:07:46.4148  302ft Hdg: 137.5T, Length 12495ft
              Computed start 14L: Lat 50.880466 Long 7.129046
              Start 32R: N50:51:19.9630  E007:09:54.7454  302ft Hdg: 317.5T, Length 12495ft
              Computed start 32R: Lat 50.855190 Long 7.165721
              Hdg: 137.520 true (MagVar 0.800), Asphalt, 12495 x 197 ft
              Primary ILS ID = IKES
              Primary ILS: IKES  110.90 Hdg: 137.5 , Flags: GS BC "CAT II ILS 14L"
              Secondary ILS ID = IKEN
              Secondary ILS: IKEN  109.70 Hdg: 317.5 , Flags: GS BC "CAT III ILS 32R"
              *** Runway *** EDDK0141 Lat 50.880466 Long 7.129045 Alt 302 Hdg 137 Len 12495 Wid 197 ILS 110.90, Flags: GS BC
              *** Runway *** EDDK0322 Lat 50.855190 Long 7.165721 Alt 302 Hdg 317 Len 12495 Wid 197 ILS 109.70, Flags: GS BC

 

 

Snippet from runways.xml:

 

<ILSHdg>318.5</ILSHdg>
<ILSid>IKEN</ILSid>
<ILSslope>3.00</ILSslope>

<Lat>50.855190</Lat>
<Lon>7.165720</Lon>
<FSStartLat>50.853893</FSStartLat>
<FSStartLon>7.164522</FSStartLon>

 

************************************************

With <FSStartLat> / <FSStartLon> some add-on sceneries place the aircraft on the hold line, which needs an other heading than the runway heading. If you wish put the <FSStartLat> / <FSStartLon> into Google Earth. This will show the problem.

 

Mea culpa, if I read the data in a wrong way.

 

Best Regards,

 

Ruediger

[Pete Dowson]

Snippet from runways.txt:

 

Runway 14L/32R centre: N50:52:04.1813  E007:08:50.5801  302ft

              Start 14L: N50:52:48.3995  E007:07:46.4148  302ft Hdg: 137.5T, Length 12495ft

              Computed start 14L: Lat 50.880466 Long 7.129046

              Start 32R: N50:51:19.9630  E007:09:54.7454  302ft Hdg: 317.5T, Length 12495ft

              Computed start 32R: Lat 50.855190 Long 7.165721

              Hdg: 137.520 true (MagVar 0.800), Asphalt, 12495 x 197 ft

              Primary ILS ID = IKES

              Primary ILS: IKES  110.90 Hdg: 137.5 , Flags: GS BC "CAT II ILS 14L"

              Secondary ILS ID = IKEN

              Secondary ILS: IKEN  109.70 Hdg: 317.5 , Flags: GS BC "CAT III ILS 32R"

              *** Runway *** EDDK0141 Lat 50.880466 Long 7.129045 Alt 302 Hdg 137 Len 12495 Wid 197 ILS 110.90, Flags: GS BC

              *** Runway *** EDDK0322 Lat 50.855190 Long 7.165721 Alt 302 Hdg 317 Len 12495 Wid 197 ILS 109.70, Flags: GS BC

 

Do you not see the lines (I've emboldened them) clearly marked "Start .."?

 

In this example, at least, the headings for the starts seem to be the same as the runway headings.  If you cannot find one where they are different then it might not be possible for me to add it, at least not without a lot of investigation (ie BGL hacking) which I'm really not wanting to undertake. If I have the correct data already it should be easy.

 

Pete

[Delphi]

I really did not want you to put a lot of work in it. Was just a question if it would be possible. I'm fine with your answer.

 

Best regards,

 

Ruediger