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Tower 2011 - EGLL (Heathrow) - advice


MJKERR

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Finally I have EGLL running, with all the appropriate add-ons 
Running with 27L and 27R 

However, I have noted some discrepancies I would like to correct, if possible 


Landing aircraft appear to randomly choose 27L or 27R 
Is there any way to edit these so that they are more realistic and what would be expected, ie 27L before 15:00 and 27R after 15:00 
Alternative, how do I instruct the aircraft to use 27L instead of 27R

2
The first two arrivals are BAW 744
However they go to Terminal 5A which is incorrect, and really should be either 5B or 5C

3
I cannot work out what gate each aircraft is going to, so advice on that one!

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1 hour ago, mjkerr said:

Finally I have EGLL running, with all the appropriate add-ons 
Running with 27L and 27R 

However, I have noted some discrepancies I would like to correct, if possible 


Landing aircraft appear to randomly choose 27L or 27R 
Is there any way to edit these so that they are more realistic and what would be expected, ie 27L before 15:00 and 27R after 15:00 
Alternative, how do I instruct the aircraft to use 27L instead of 27R

2
The first two arrivals are BAW 744
However they go to Terminal 5A which is incorrect, and really should be either 5B or 5C

3
I cannot work out what gate each aircraft is going to, so advice on that one!

1)  You can choose a single active arrival runway on the setup screen if you so desire. However, if you want both runways to be active you are at the whim of the game engine. While in game, you can use the ENTER FINAL RUNWAY or possibly the CHANGE TO RUNWAY commands to alter the assigned runway.

2) You can edit the terminal assignments yourself, but only at an airline level. I don't have EGLL, but the filename should be something like Heathrow_Airport_terminal.txt in your Airfields folder.

3) After landing, right clicking on the plane on the ADIRS screen should show you the gate. I believe when the plane is in the air, right clicking on the DBRITE screen may show you the terminal or gate - can't remember it's been a few years since I've played 2011.  

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I have always started with 
27L
27R
I will try just one, 27L, and see what happens and if this permits me to operate all departures as 27R 
The problem there would be swapping over at 15:00

I have started with the 
schedule.txt file 
I am removing everything except LHR flights, just to make it easier to see when editing 
However it appears to be quite old (file is dated 2011) 
Is a newer one available?
I am currently using Notepad++
Is there a program available to edit with ease?

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45 minutes ago, mjkerr said:


I have always started with 
27L
27R
I will try just one, 27L, and see what happens and if this permits me to operate all departures as 27R 

Yes, that works with just 27L selected 
Arrivals on 27L and I can submit departures to 27R

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8 hours ago, crbascott said:

2) You can edit the terminal assignments yourself, but only at an airline level. I don't have EGLL, but the filename should be something like Heathrow_Airport_terminal.txt in your Airfields folder.

London_Heathrow_Airport_terminal.txt 
Noticed one possible error 
Terminal 4 is a very long list of airlines, the last two are separated by a fullstop instead of comma 

Terminal 5 : CBA, BAW, IBE 
I have searched for CBA (including the airlines.txt file) but cannot find any such airline 

If I put all the airlines into alphabetical order (to make it easier to read and edit) would this cause an issue?

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2 hours ago, mjkerr said:

However it appears to be quite old (file is dated 2011) 
Is a newer one available?
I am currently using Notepad++
Is there a program available to edit with ease?

The game is old, so there’s really no new schedules for it. There is no schedule editing program per se. 

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On 9/12/2019 at 1:18 PM, crbascott said:

The game is old, so there’s really no new schedules for it. There is no schedule editing program per se. 

Thank you for confirming this, I thought I had seen one but must have been mistaken and confused it with something else 

So I have now imported the edited the existing schedule, removing everthing except LHR (which vastly reduces the file size)
I have then imported the TXT / CSV file into LibreOffice Calc

Next step is to highlight airlines that no longer exist
A good example is British Midland (BD), absorbed by British Airways (BA) 

I also need to remove the BAW 757 and 767 
Some BAW flights have swapped over to A388 (covered in another topic), but they keep swapping with B777 or B744 so not an issue 
I would prefer to have the LAX as A388, so I might just have to accept the (plain) default 
Equally, other airlines also use the A388 not included with this old schedule 

Finally will be B787 and A350

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Back to my original plan 

I need to separate the European and International British Airways (BA / BAW) flights that use Terminal 5 
In the files it is just Terminal 5, but there is no way B777, B744 or A380 would use Terminal 5A, they use Terminal 5B or 5C

My plan :
BAE - BAW European => Terminal 5A 
BAI - BAW International => Terminal 5B or 5C 
BA8 - BAW International (A388) => 5C 

I have already edited QANTAS to KWANTAS, so effectively creating two new aircraft is not an issue, as they will be read out as SPEEDBIRD (BAx) 

I have also looked at editing the Airport Map, but I cannot see any way of converting Terminal 5 into 5A, 5B and 5C

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I have also now edited the ADIRS file, adding the Taxiways (main taxiways to use)
I can direct aircraft to use Taxiway A and Taxiway B to the north (along Runway 09L / 27R) without any issue
However none of the other Taxiway A or B are recognised 

For example Taxiway A between HORKA and LOMAN or between LOMAN and PLUTO

I have also noted aircraft use Taxiway L, instead of Taxiway A or B 
I tried to instruct aircraft to use Taxiway A or B, but again these are not recognised 
This is not an issue, but does not look right 

Finally, there is another thread that landing aircraft expedite / leave runway to the right 
Aircraft for Terminal 4 should leave to the left 
I tried 
Cleared to Land 27L
Proceed to Ramp (which as I have now found out prevents aircraft crossing an active runway!) via S (which they ignore)
Proceed to Taxiway S (once Runway 27L is clear to cross) 
Sadly they still leave to the right, go round in a circle on Taxiway A, then wait to cross Runway 27L
How do I do this? 

On the plus side 
I managed to send a test aircraft, SIA A388, all around the airport and whilst there were about 30 other aircraft as well!
I have also noted arriving aircraft can pretty much navigate themselves to the Terminal (although I use Ramp now)
It is easier to instruct to the departing aircraft to avoid the arriving ones, although it does inhibit their departure times a little
I had an Air France that was delayed by about 15 minutes as I sent it a merry dance! 
However, I did not notice any penalty points for late departure

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I am making good progress getting used to and updating EGLL for Tower 2011, even though I have only been using this software for a few days (it does help to understand EGLL)

Confident editing the schedule now
Imported to spreadsheet, edited as required, saved as CVS then renamed as TXT 

Amended about 10% of the schedule; AA, BD, BA (replacing BFS with BHD, amending any destinations with B757 or B767), UA
Realigned some of the carriers to the correct Terminal as well
The only thing missing is trying to work out what aircraft have artwork rather than generic, there is no list and I cannot find one 
Also noticed there are no cargo aircraft, so something I need to investigate

Along with each test also tested some of the taxiway routings, they do actually work when you understand the setup and how they have been applied
Sadly some of them are incorrect, but it is not an issue 

The main issue has been aircraft arriving on 27L if they are routed to Terminal 4 (as mentioned above they go round in a circle then cross back over 27L which is just daft)
As there is no instruction "Vacate left to S", simple solution was to swap to use 27R instead and this avoids the issue

Final item today was to revise Terminal 5, which I have now started on 
My plan to split into BAE, BAI and BA8 does not really work
I will need to use the IATA code instead, create three that are not in use, which will then retain the BAW 
After using the Airport Editor I noticed two stands had not been configured (so that larger aircraft could use Terminal 5A), this has now been corrected
I then noticed four stands have not been included, but I cannot get the paths to generate to complete this 
Finally, the stands to the east of Terminal 5C, which are normally used for storage between duties were included so I also edited these as Terminal 5D (so no aircraft will use them) 

Editing the schedule can now be completed along with the revision to the Terminal 5 designations, and be a little more realistic

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3 hours ago, mjkerr said:

The only thing missing is trying to work out what aircraft have artwork rather than generic, there is no list and I cannot find one

By looking at the contents of the Airplanes folders, you should be able to figure out what airlines have liveries for what plane models.

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7 hours ago, crbascott said:

By looking at the contents of the Airplanes folders, you should be able to figure out what airlines have liveries for what plane models.

That was my first thought, but when using the editor I found that the ICAO code in the file name did not always match the livery presented 
Instead I have now worked through all the files and created a spreadsheet 
These in turn can now be used to update the schedule (as some aircraft were appearing default from the earlier one) 
Some aircraft may not be correct, but they will be close enough

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Whilst trying to resolve the loading issue, looking at the game.log file a lot recently 
Useful for finding three airports that do not exist in the airports.txt file, that serve EGLL

Noted that flights only seem to load for about 8 / 9 hours 
Start the game at 04:00 (as flights start at 04:55) and the last flight is 12:35 
Is this correct?

Some flights are also ignored, which I have found is due to some gates not being included in the game (so I need to come back to this one)
Airport dropped, no declared terminal - flight number 
I was wondering why there were gaps when there should be flights, thought the game was in "easy mode"!

What does the following mean :
RUNWAY CROSS ERROR 
9L - 27R
RUNWAY CROSS ERROR
27R - 9L
RUNWAY CROSS ERROR
9R - 27L
RUNWAY CROSS ERROR
27L - 9R

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Two steps forward, one step back 

I am not having problem amending existing airlines 
BA - BAW 
Changed to BA - BAE

However when I add a second, so that I can split the aircraft between Terminals, they are ignored 
Firstly, I have deleted the existing duplicate airline from the airlines.txt file 
I have tried to create : 
SZ, SIC, SINGAPORE CARGO 

Another example was : 
BA, BAE, SPEEDBIRD (all aircraft now use Terminal 5A, which is correct) 
BB, BAI, SPEEDBIRD (so that aircraft use Terminal 5B and 5C) 
I have amended one flight from BA to BB, but this is also ignored 

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3 hours ago, mjkerr said:

Two steps forward, one step back 

I am not having problem amending existing airlines 
BA - BAW 
Changed to BA - BAE

However when I add a second, so that I can split the aircraft between Terminals, they are ignored 
Firstly, I have deleted the existing duplicate airline from the airlines.txt file 
I have tried to create : 
SZ, SIC, SINGAPORE CARGO 

Another example was : 
BA, BAE, SPEEDBIRD (all aircraft now use Terminal 5A, which is correct) 
BB, BAI, SPEEDBIRD (so that aircraft use Terminal 5B and 5C) 
I have amended one flight from BA to BB, but this is also ignored 

I have never played Tower 2011, but i would assume it's the same as Tower 3D, in that you need to specify the airline ICAO in the terminal file

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1 hour ago, hexzed said:

I have never played Tower 2011, but i would assume it's the same as Tower 3D, in that you need to specify the airline ICAO in the terminal file

London_Heathrow_Airport_terminal.txt file - 

Terminal_5A: BAE, BAW, IBE
Terminal_5B: ABB,BAI,BAW
Terminal_5C: ABB,BAI,BAW
Terminal_5D:
Terminal_6: SIC 

The file is longer than that, but this is just Terminals 5 and 6 
I have added other airlines to Terminal 2S, 2L and 4, no issues there

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22 minutes ago, mjkerr said:

What is Craig username?

I'm Craig.

Keep in mind you are playing an 8 year old game that no one really plays much anymore (including me). And sadly, you're seeing issues that still exist today in T!3D.

You've posted so much that I really don't know where to start or what your current issue is. I'd be willing to help, but let's tap the brakes a bit and tackle things one by one.

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BINGO, went back to basics and created three test files which had just the issues I was suffering 
Changed them all to just departure, with the time for them all to 06:00
Was worried as initially only one appeared, but eventually they all appeared; correct terminal, correct livery

The Singapore Cargo was actually being generated, it was just so late in the day it was not appearing (or delayed) 

Outstanding issues in BOLD ITALICS

1
ALG airport is still returning an error 
ALG 36.41 N 3.12 E DAAG
Returns
ALG(IATA) ICAO not found


2
Terminal 5A, 5B and 5C now populate correctly, solely with British Airways and Iberia aircraft, as follows :
Terminal 5A - A319, A320 and A321, Europe only 
Terminal 5B - Europe (Heavy) and International 
Terminal 5C - International
Sadly there is a small amount of duplication which I cannot correct in the Aircraft Editor, so some British Airways A320 and A321 are default livery 
I cannot find a method so that BAE and BAW use the same BAW file


3
Noticed some aircraft are appearing in the wrong liveries 
Scrutinised the Aircraft Editor and thought I had corrected some of them when completing the above, but I think it has made it worse 
Equally, I cannot determine if the livery is correct until the aircraft becomes active (flight ready to depart) 

Example A319 (which appears to be correct)
BAE ==>> A319_generic_baw.apt (correct)
All other examples appear to be correct 

Example A320 
DEFAULT ==>> A320_generic.apt
BAE ==> A320_generic_ein.apt : livery is EIN, but British Airways appears 
BMA ==>> A320_generic_tap.apt : livery is TAP, unknown
DAT ==>> A320_generic_baw.apt : livery is British Airways, unknown
TAP ==>> A320_generic_bma.apt : livery is British Midland, unknown 
SAS ==>> A320_generic_oal.apt : livery is Olympic, unknown
a few others
DEFAULT ==>> A320_generic_cyp.apt : livery is Cyprus (why does DEFAULT appear twice?)
EIN ==>> A320_generic_tar.apt : livery is Turkish (by the looks of it)

Example A321
It is similar
BAE ==>> A321_generic_baw.apt (correct)
BMA ==>> A321_generic_dlh.apt : livery is Lufthansa 
a few others

Example B744
This one I do not understand 
British Airways B744 correctly show, using BAW
BAE ==>> b474400_generic_baw.apt

Does this actually mean : 
If the code is BAW then BAW livery is used
If the codes is BAE then BAW livery is used as well?
 

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On 9/17/2019 at 7:31 PM, mjkerr said:

3
Noticed some aircraft are appearing in the wrong liveries 
Scrutinised the Aircraft Editor and thought I had corrected some of them when completing the above, but I think it has made it worse 
Equally, I cannot determine if the livery is correct until the aircraft becomes active (flight ready to depart) 

Example A319 (which appears to be correct)
BAE ==>> A319_generic_baw.apt (correct)
All other examples appear to be correct 

Example A320 
DEFAULT ==>> A320_generic.apt
BAE ==> A320_generic_ein.apt : livery is EIN, but British Airways appears 
BMA ==>> A320_generic_tap.apt : livery is TAP, unknown
DAT ==>> A320_generic_baw.apt : livery is British Airways, unknown
TAP ==>> A320_generic_bma.apt : livery is British Midland, unknown 
SAS ==>> A320_generic_oal.apt : livery is Olympic, unknown
a few others
DEFAULT ==>> A320_generic_cyp.apt : livery is Cyprus (why does DEFAULT appear twice?)
EIN ==>> A320_generic_tar.apt : livery is Turkish (by the looks of it)

Example A321
It is similar
BAE ==>> A321_generic_baw.apt (correct)
BMA ==>> A321_generic_dlh.apt : livery is Lufthansa 
a few others

Example B744
This one I do not understand 
British Airways B744 correctly show, using BAW
BAE ==>> b474400_generic_baw.apt

Does this actually mean : 
If the code is BAW then BAW livery is used
If the codes is BAE then BAW livery is used as well?
 

I have no idea how this had occured, decided to realign the ICAO box to the livery for each apt file, for every aircraft in the schedule 
Initially it looked to be correct, but after closing and restarting the Aircrafr Editor the setups are still mixed up and incorrect

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