MP aircraft are loaded by a separate OSG thread (introduced after FG2.4.0).
The OSG thread also calls the "modelLoaded" callback. However, we mustn't
allow the OSG thread to call FGNasalModelData::modelLoaded directly:
FGNasalModelData isn't thread-safe. There are obvious issues (_callCount++;),
tricky issues like calling the Nasal _parser_ or creating hashes and
modifying the global Nasal namespace. It doesn't use locks to protect
against another thread executing a Nasal context or running garbage
collection. It also executes Nasal code itself (the model's "load" hook),
which we also cannot allow in a separate thread...
This patch returns all Nasal parts of MP-aircraft loading (parsing,
module creation, execution) to the main thread, while keeping the
multi-threaded OSG part (loading of MP-aircraft model files itself).
The same issue exists with scenery models (see other commit).
To summarize with 2 words: It s*cks... ;-)
* Pregenerating taxiroutes could interfere with runway assignments by ATC, when conditions changed, resulting in a taxi to one runway and a takeoff from another
* A simpler solution for the "Error in Traffic record bug". This still needs some more testing, but I haven't seen any error message anymore, since changing to the current code.
* Initialize AI traffic at speed zero, this should prevent some weirdness observed under boundary conditions.
* Don't activate groundnetwork proximity detection for pushback traffic until the "ready for startup message is transmitted. this should allow sufficient time for them to reserve a route, but a little more testing still needs to be done.
Replace SG_GENERAL by more specific log classes in many places.
Allow "," to separate logging classes (using "|" is odd on the
command-line).
Also add new option to make logging more useful for developers.
You can use:
--log-level=debug --log-class=environment
to only get environment debug messages, or
--log-level=debug --log-class=sound,ai
to only get debug messages related to the sound or AI subsystem.
Untangle AI reinit and init methods. Some code in init hooks expects to be
called once only. Derived classes should not redirect their reinit to init,
even if this seems fine for the methods of the derived class itself. This
also triggers the init methods of all base classes, which may not expect
multiple calls to their init methods (or to "init" on "reinit").
FGFX objects must be dereferenced early enough, and sound manager must be
removed late enough - otherwise openal complains about resources being
still in use when tryin to remove buffers.
Also: do not create FGFX objects for AI/MP aircraft, when AI sound is
disabled.
* Improved groundnetwork routing algorithm. Don't uncesscarily block taxiways. Instead, use a "just-in-time" blocking system. The unblocking algorithm still needs some work, but the current version is already a major improvement over the previous version.
* Some tweaks to the handover from ground to tower controller. Aircraft could refuse to take-off of even refuse to taxi onto the runway. This now seems to be solved.
* Landing AIAircraft now land properly!!!
* Fixed problems with takeoff scheduling.
* Untangled several vertical speed calculation algorithms.
* No more bent-over-backwards and jump-in-the-air AI aircraft initializations.
* Fixed intermixed target speed and target altitude during climb phase.
* Implemented beginnings of a "line up and wait" procedure.
* Tried to use actual runway elevation for calculating the decent profile.
Traffic Manager:
* Just continue routing until we run out of flights. This change removes one of the major requirements for setting the "Home port" field.
* Add a time restriction requirement for the aircraft scheduler; this became necessary after removing the limited-to-home-port routing restriction.
* Added a new field to the heuristics calculation: take into account whether an aircraft has already been used in a previous session. Rotate aircraft assignments for greater variability across sessions.
* Added a revision number to the cache files, so that old cache results, which are no longer compatible with the new file format, are discarded.
Groundnetwork and traffic control:
* Added a revision number to the cache files, so that old and incompatible results are discarded.
* The caching algorithm probably didn't store the correct data for airports that were processed while the user was quite far away. This is now corrected by checking whether the cached elevation data are equal to the generic airport elevation.
AIAircraft:
* I've been searching for the infamous aircraft bend-over-backward bug, that can occur during initialization, but to no avail yet. The only variable potentially responsible (tgt_vs) wich can explain the irregular jumping behavior, as well as the weird pitch results is initialized in AIAircraft's only constructor (through AIBase), and I can't find any situation in the ground handling code where this variable could get bizarre values. But,
* a couple of tgt_vs. calculations appear to be completely redundant. This value was calculated twice inside the ProcessFlightplan function, and subsequently again in the updateSecondaryTargetValues function. I have removed the calculations in the process flightplan function, without any apparent side effect.
Add a LOD (range animation) to each AI model if the property
/sim/rendering/static-lod/ai is set to any number greater than
zero. AI models get loaded but only displayed when closer than
the number given in the property (in meters).
If the property is absent or it's value is less or equal 0.0
than no LOD is added to the AI model.
- Better transistion between taxi and takeoff phases.
- Skipping the pushback stages when a gate doesn't require push-back.
- Some test code always chooses the user aircraft as the one that has to hold position.
- Change AIFlightPlan::waypoint into an independent class FGAIWaypoint
- Don't update leg count until the aircraft has passed the last waypoint that was created by the corresponding leg
- Clear ground network rendering for controllers that are no longer active.
--ai-scenario=... can only add/enable another scenario.
Introduce --disable-ai-scenarios option to disable all scenarios (can be
used by external launchers, GUIs etc)
Also provide error instead of debug message when a scenario cannot be loaded.
Move the disable-HOT feature from the MP aircraft to the a/c base class,
disable HOT for all AIaircraft, since that's a fix/work-around for
#242: AI aircraft respect the user a/c only when HOT is _disabled_ for them
#221: AI aircraft don't stack at parking positions when HOT is disabled
Also generally disables HOT for ballistic and other models (suggested by vivian),
allowing it for ship/carrier models only.
* Update AI aircraft object based on user position.
* Process flightplan
* Don't try to update the radar information for AIAircraft that don't have a valid manager pointer
- Fixed a bug in AI aircraft ground steering code: When aircraft were not moving, the value of headingchangeRate kept increasing to insane levels. Although this was clamped to a maximum of 30 degrees per second, the initial rate could still push the aircraft in the wrong direction. In practice, this bug would be visible when an AI aicraft would be pushed back, when it tended to veer to the right.
- Make sure that the aircraft slows down well ahead of the pushback point. This change ensures that the AC will actually reach the pushback point. It also ensures a slightly tighter steering range.
- AI ground steering rate is tuned to 30 degrees per second at a nominal taxispeed of 15. I now modulate the heading adjustment rate by manipulating the adjustment using a non-linear function (the sqrt). This allows for a slightly tighter turn radius at speeds < 15 and slightly looser turns at speeds > 15.
- The AI Flightplan generation code can return false. This can be used to determine whether any additional AI aircraft may be created. Currently, the function returns false when no more parkings are available. This should limit the build-up of huge AIAircraft tower stacks.
- The ground network can now graphically display all aircraft actitivy on the ground network by using a virtual marker system.
* Added an AIAircraft that is shadowing the user aircraft's behavior, in terms of AI / ATC interactions
* Set up a shadow AI FlightPlan that is used for tracking the user's aircraft.
Almost all FGPropertyData elements received via MP were leaked.
Property data is now cleanly deallocated in the FGExternalMotionData destructor.
Thanks to Jester for reporting rising mem consumption in MP mode.
Priority scheme for tile loading/removing
Cleaner tile manager interface for AI/groundcache/...
Reduce start-up delay. Drop splash screen when inner scenery is available.
Be nice to osg loader: slow-down main loop while initial scenery is still loading.
* New features
- More realistic descent paths
- Separation during descent and approach
- ATC approach controller (still silent)
- inbound traffic flow will start immediately
* Bug fixes
- Properly handle vertical speed when on ground
- Departing aircraft now wait for taxiclerance before moving
- Traffic manager waits for proper weather initialization
- Fixed instabilities in the preferential runway usage code
- Fine tuning of waypoint following code.
A small patch to allow the user to ignore specific
MP aircraft on a per-MP instance basis by setting
"controls/invisible". This
property name was chosen for consistency with the existing property
for AIBallistic objects.
issue is numerical problems in _wgs84_inverse, triggered by the traffic-manager
testing enormous distances geodetically.
Changes
- refactor AISchedule::update, so the aircraft approximate position
calculation is simpler.
- refactor AIAircraft to no longer use exceptions as a return value mechanism
- change AISchedule::update to use cartesian math for in-visible-range check
Improvements to the cloudsystem:
- A new xml format
- Texture indexing based on the position of the sprite in the cloud
mass, allowing more control over the texture set.
- Improved fog and shading
- Better sprite distribution
- A more natural distribution of clouds, so no more obvious grids.
This is now included in the model xml file.
So, wires and catapults also work even if they are not loaded by an AICarrier.
Modified Files:
AICarrier.cxx AICarrier.hxx
The current code still has some rough edges, in particular memory still
needs to be deallocated where possible, and the actual use of the code
needs more testing. This code has been running without noticable problems,
so I think it's ready for some wider exposure. Detailed changes include:
- Finetuning of the SID/STAR data concept.
- Preloading of all SIDs, from one xml file.
- ATC determines which SID should be used and echoes this over the com1 or
com2 radio.
experimental: Only one SID per runway is supported, and the waypoints are
read from file at every request, which is not very efficient. The current
code is only executed when FlightGear is configured to use airport dynamics
data from the scenery repository, instead of the base package. Since the
latter is still the default, I believe that this will provide enough safe-
guarding to commit SID/STAR support in small, incremental steps.
Next step will be buffering and support for multiple departure routes per
runway.
* Changed the runway XX. ATC message to actually report the real
designated departure runway
* In case of multiple active runways, select the one with a heading that is
closest to the direction of the ultimate departure destination / lines up
with the arrival path.
* Some support for geometry information provided by the custom scenery
project. Current support is for AI groundnets and runway use files only
since this is a switch that involves a lot of data verification and
updating, during the transistion the actual path where the data can be
read from is user configurable. setting the property
/sim/traffic-manager/use-custom-scenery-data to true
will cause flightgear to read the ground networks from the scenery
directory (--{fg-scenery}/Airports/[I]/[C]/[A]/[ICAO].groundnet.xml to be
precise). Setting this property to false will retain the original
behvior.
* For departing aircraft, runway takeoff calculations will be done on the
basis of the performance database. For testing purposes, a performance
estimate for a heavy jet has been added.
notion of a 'displacedThreshold'. Now there's just a real threshold,
displaced or otherwise, and people who care about the paved area can use
'begin' and 'end'. Thanks to John Denker for pointing out the confusion this
leads to. Using 'end' also gets rid of the 'reverseThreshold' name, which was
clearly a bad choice of mine.
This patch changes terrasync so it links against the subversion
library if you have it installed. It supports people who build binary
releases for use by non-developers by removing the runtime external
dependency on having command line svn or rsync available. Since the
patch changes autoconf to detect libsvn, I'd appreciate it if people
who release binaries could verify that the detection scripting works
for their platform.
Developer warning: If you do have libsvn developer libraries
installed, terrasync changes its default option from "-R" to "-S" to
remove the command line dependency. However, Martin has not yet
uploaded world scenery into the subversion repository so it won't be
useful to fly against and you may want to specify "-R" on the command
line in the short term. Or run both.
Me: Update MSVC 7.1 project file. Need svn-win32-1.x.y_dev.zip and svn-win32-1.x.y.zip
located at http://subversion.tigris.org/servlets/ProjectDocumentList?folderID=8100
Convert FGRunway to be heap-based, and inherit FGPositioned. This is a large, ugly change, since FGRunway was essentially a plain struct, with no accessors or abstraction. This change adds various helpers and accessors to FGRunway, but doesn't change many places to use them - that will be a follow up series of patches. It's still a large patch, but outside of FGAirport and FGRunway, mostly mechanical search-and-replace.
An interesting part of this change is that reciprocal runways now exist as independent objects, rather than being created on the fly by the search methods. This simplifies some pieces of code that search for and iterate runways. For users who only want one 'end' of a runway, the new 'isReciprocal' predicate allows them to ignore the 'other' end. Current the only user of this is the 'ground-radar' ATC feature. If we had data on which runways are truly 'single-ended', it would now be trivial to use this in the airport loader to *not* create the reciprocal.
- removes various members from FGRunway which no-one was using
- any of these can be trivially re-instated if and when someone
actually wants to use them - but right now they're simply bloating up
FGRunway, which we have lots of, because it currently includes all the
taxiways in Robin's data.
- that's it.
- Runways are now part of an airport, instead of a separate list
- Runways are no longer represented as a boring struct, but as a class
of their own.
-Improved runway access to unify various runway access methods.
- this exposed a bizarre issue on Mac where dragging in <AGL/agl.h> in
extensions.hxx was pulling in all of Carbon to the global namespace
- very scary. As a result, I now need to explicitly include CoreFoundation
in fg_init.cxx.
- change SG_USING_STD(x) to using std::x
SimGear change. It changes all the SG_xxxx to be the 'real' includes, and gets
rid of many #ifdef SG_HAVE_STD_INCLUDES. As an added bonus, rather than
replacing 'SG_USING_NAMESPACE(std)' with 'using namespace std', I just fixed
the small number of places to use std:: explicitly. So we're no longer polluting
the global namespace with the entire contents of std, in many cases.
There is one more 'mechanical' change to come - getting rid of SG_USING_STD(X),
but I want to keep that separate from everything else. (There's another
mechnical change, replacing <math.h> with <cmath> and so on *everywhere*, but
one step at a time)
PLETE_FUNCTIONAL from SimGear and FlightGear.
As a result, SG_HAVE_STD_INCLUDES is now *always* set, so I will get the boring
fixes for that done, but separately. I'm still auditing the other things in comp
ilers.h - there's a lot that can die now BORLAND is gone.
Various other patches that have been lingering around for a while:
* Moved trafficcontrol.[ch]xx from the Airports directory to ATC, where
it really belongs.
* AI aircraft will request startup clearance, and ground control will
approve.
* Starting AI Aircraft will be pushed back to a predefined holding point
on the ground network, and wait a while before taxiing out to the runway
and the pushback code:
- Traffic manager starts modelload requests immediately upon program
loading
- Only create legs 1 (push back) or five (cruise) of AI traffic.
- AIAircraft's rather obsessive behavior to circle around a waypoint is
largely resolved
- More realistic ground steering for AI aircraft.
From Till:
i started the project at the end of february with a simple idea: move all
3d-model loading to the DatabasePager-thread. my first attempts looked
promising, though they were a little too optimistic (or naive?). the patch
has evolved a lot since.
currently it does the following things:
1. revive SGModelLib, move functions for xml-model-loading there
2. replace all calls to sgLoad3dModel with calls to either
SGModelLib::loadModel() or SGModelLib::loadPagedModel()
almost all models will be loaded by the DatabasePager. the few exceptions are:
your own plane, shared models in scenery, random objects, AIBallistic models.
3. simplify mode-loading functions (avoid passing around fg_root)
4. avoid supurious MatrixTransform nodes in loaded models
5. fix some memory leaks
and "isOnRunway".
- Added initial support for AI controlled pushback operations, making use of the
current editing capabilities of TaxiDraw CVS / New_GUI_CODE. The current
implementation is slightly more computationally intensive than strictly
required, due to the currently inability of taxidraw to link one specific
pushBack point to to a particular startup location. FlightGear now determines
this dynamically, and once we have that functionality in TaxiDraw, the
initialization part of createPushBack() can be further simplified.
- Smoother transition from pushback to taxi. No more skipping of waypoints, and
aircraft wait for two minutes at pushback point.
- The classes FGTaxiNode, FGTaxiSegment, and FGParking, now have copy
constructors, and assignment operators.
- Removed declaration of undefined constructor FGTaxiNode(double, double, int)
- Array boundry checks and cleanup.
- Modified Dijkstra path search algoritm to solve partial problems. Currently
limited to include pushback points and routes only, but can probably be
extended to a more general approach.
- Added initial support for giving certain routes in the network a penalty, in
order to discourage the use of certain routes over others.
- Airports Directory
Thomas Foerster: Pulls out the FGTaxiNode implementation into gnnode.cxx.
Melchior / Durk: Copy Constructor and assignment operator for FGTaxiRoute
- AIModels Directory
Durk / Melchior / Czaba Halasz: Ensure that all derived classes use AIBase
member 'callsign'. Adapted, moved and deleted getter/setter functions where
necessary
Czaba Halasz: Fix AIBase model path vs. submodel path consistency.
- Traffic Directory and AIModels CreateFlightPlanCruise
DT: Temporary revert parts of the position estimation code.
(reported by Csaba Halaszi /helijah)
2) Decrease AI aircraft Heading error tolerance to 1% of its
original value. This is necessary to mitigate spinning and
makes for actual "on-runway" landings.
src/AIModel/AIFlightPlan.hxx
src/AIModel/AIFlightPlanCreateCruise.cxx
src/AIModel/AITanker.cxx src/Traffic/Schedule.cxx:
Move member variables that should better be in function local
scope into the functions. Make more use of SGMath functions.
data for AI traffic. Default performance classes are still available as a
backup. This database will allow the calculation of aircraft-specific
take-off speed and estimate runway lenght requirements. Further added
rudimentary support for take-off and landing rotation of AIAircraft.
- re-enable od_gauge ("owner drawn" render-to-texture instruments)
- implement radar in c++ (unlimited number of clouds/ai/mp/... objects,
better performance)
- if no <impact-reports> node is defined for a particular submodel, then
write the path to /ai/models/model-impact instead
- don't tie() properties that are only ever set a single time, if at all!
- better variable names
a report node in the submodels config:
<impact-reports>/sim/model/cow/impact</impact-reports>
When an impact happens, then the path of the submodel will be written to
this node. An attached listener function can evaluate the impact properties.
- fix breakage due to former commit (AIManager.cxx, r1.72)
- make AI properties available in AIBase
- add <valid> property for animations/nasal scripts
- support more MP and AI targets
- add target select and altitude display
their XML wrapper/animation file. They can access their /ai/models node
via cmdarg() function. Example:
<nasal>
<load>
print("Hi, I'm the Nimitz. My data are under ",
cmdarg().getPath());
</load>
<unload>
...
</unload>
</nasal>
Note, however, that the <unload> block is only called on exit at the moment,
not when the tile is unloaded.
"""
"Flight plans" which can start at a given time (gmt)
WAITUNTIL tokens which pause the flight plans until a given time (gmt)
Submodels can now be attached to any AI objects (except submodels - it can
be done, but in my experimental code it's too expensive in frame rate atm)
"No-roll" attribute added to Ballistic objects - useful for wakes and the
like
"Random" attribute added to Ballistic objects (adds =- 5% to the Cd) -
useful for smoke, exhausts
If the <trigger> tag is not specified the Ballistic object/s will be
released at start-up (cannot be stopped)
Submodels are not released from AI Objects if the AI Object is more than 15
miles away.
"""
mf: minor code and formatting fixes; submodels.?xx were FUBAR and are thus
astyle formatted;
NOTE that <name> tags END, EOF, WAIT, WAITUNTIL are *depreciated*.
Don't get too used to them. This will have to be moved from the "name"
to regular engries.
"Implement 'flightplans' for AIShips. This patch also introduces the concept
of a 'WAIT' token for AIShips: when the flightplan reaches a 'WAIT', the
AIShip stops and pauses for the specified time (secs)."
Here is a patch for two bugs in the AI/multiplayer part:
1. Cannot find model file *.ac error message (was only a false message,
anything worked correctly, the model was loaded from the correct path
afterwards).
2. Often many multiplayer aircrafts are missing in the property-tree.
(but I need them for aerotowing). There is still another bug: The
property in some circumstances seems not to be cleaned up after logout
of a multiplayer. I have added a workaround for this, but I don't now,
if it 100% works (should have no side effects, just aerotow would not
work sometimes). For testing I need more traffic on the mp-server.
- Ground network slow-down finally works as expected
(although occasionally causing a traffic jam)
- Hold position instruction now really sets speed to zero, in addition
it actually works now for crossing and two-way traffic
- Attempt to limit execution time of ground network trace algorithm
to make performance acceptable at high-density networks
- Removed remaining terminal messages
- Various minor tweaks and clean-ups
- Moved AIModels/Traffic Manager related AI functions to a new file
- Rewrote the traffic manager so that the containers use pointers to
objects instead of the objects themselves, which will allow for a
more flexible memory management.
- Rewrote parts of the airport groundnetwork code, also because the
stl containers now contain object pointers instead of the objects
themselves.
- Fixed an uninitialized iterator in the AI distance tracking code
- Fixed flawed logic in some of the traffic controller's while loops
- Added a tower controller, which paces take-off behavior of AITraffic
in a more realistic way.
- Various other minor fixes and fine tuning.
maintain a resonable distance from each other while taxiing on the same
route. The current code does not yet take crossing routes or aircraft
taxiing into opposite directions into account.
work for ground based distance separation of AIAircraft.
Traffic manager initialization related changes:
- Schedules initialize "on the fly", instead of during initialization
- Invalid routes are no longer deleted, but marked as BOGUS and ignored
- Changed loading order from a distance based prioritization to a point-
score based prioritization, resulting in a much faster establisment of
AIAircraft near the user's plane.
Preparatory work for ground-based separation of Aircraft.
- The groundnetwork findShrortestRoute function not only returns a list
of waypoints, but also a list of taxi "segments" (a.k.a. taxiways).
- The taxiway list is stored in the Flightplan, and updated everytime
a new taxi leg is created.
using Curt's new speed adjustment code. 2) Separated the function
FlightPlanCreateCruise() into a new source file in preparation of a more
elaborate airway following scheme.
and tgt_altitude -> tgt_altitude_ft. Also fix a comment in AIBase.hxx
indicating that the altitude is in meters, even though the usage throughout the
code was most definitely feet.
- In AIMultiplayer.cxx, update the altitude_ft variable so that the altitude
is reported correctly in the entity's property subtree.
- In AIMultiplayer.cxx, compute a velocity value in kts to fill in the speed
entry in the entity's property subtree. Note, this is not an earth centered
reference speed, not an indicated speed and not a speed relative to the local
airmass (that would be much harder to do.)
AI aircraft are out of range or the piloted aircraft has no radar system.
These computation include range, bearing, and angular offset relative to the
piloted aircraft. This gives some external script the control the behavior
of the AI aircraft relative to the piloted aircraft without requiring a radar
system, and without requiring the AI aircraft to be within radar range.
flightplan. Such aircraft are given some initial conditions that they
fly with. They proceed on in "freeflight" mode indefinitely. For example,
there is a refueling demo where the tanker starts at 3000', 280 kts, and
in a 15 degree bank, and then continues to orbit indefinitely.
For these aircraft with no flightplan, I have added several control nodes in
controls/flight that allow a script or menu or external application to set
heading, altitude, bank angle, and speed. This permits some level of interactive
or scripted control over AI aircraft.
src/AIModel/AIAircraft.cxx src/ATC/AILocalTraffic.cxx
src/FDM/flight.cxx src/FDM/flight.hxx src/FDM/groundcache.cxx
src/FDM/groundcache.hxx src/Main/fg_init.cxx src/Main/main.cxx
src/Scenery/hitlist.cxx src/Scenery/hitlist.hxx
src/Scenery/scenery.cxx src/Scenery/scenery.hxx
Make use of the attached SGMaterial reference userdata on scenegraph
leafs. Make the SGMaterial pointer available to the ground query
routines.
SGPropertyNode to guarded ones. This is also done for JSBSim/JSBSim.hxx,
for which JSB had given explicit permission a while ago. I postponed that
back then, but now is the time.
"Bug Fix - amend the code so that JSBSIm can have more than one tanker in
the environment at the same time. A nasal script has to be added to each
aar-capable JSBSim model to complete this fix."
"Add Air to Air TACAN and User-User refuelling over the Multiplayer Network.
With this change, your TACAN instrument can be tuned to the channel of a
Multiplayer ac. It also activates fuel flow between User and User aircraft
when they are less than 50 ft apart. To participate in multiplayer as a
tanker, all you require to do is to use the callsign MOBIL* (where * is some
number) on the net. Only MOBIL1, MOBIL2 and MOBIL3 have been assigned TACAN
channels, but any MOBIL callsign will be able to give fuel."
"Preparations for an upgrade to Air-to-Air Refuelling to allow more than one
tanker in the environment at a time. This will only work with YASim models.
JSBSim models are unaffected by this change."
I've got some updates for the soaring scenario that will make for a more
realistic (and fun) experience. They are:
1) A cap cloud, which will sit atop each thermal
2) A thermal scenario with wide coverage around KSFO, and using cap clouds
3) A one-line change to AIThermal.cxx to position cap cloud properly
4) Schweizer 2-33 set file change to match cloud coverage with thermal
heights.
files:
1) data/Models/Geometry/thermalcap.ac
2) data/Models/Geometry/thermalcap.xml
3) data/Models/Geometry/thermal_cap.rgb
4) data/AI/thermal_demo.xml
5) data/Aircraft/sgs233/sgs233-set.xml
6) source/src/AIModel/AIThermal.cxx
*** or, if you prefer diffs ***
7) aimodel.diff
"Add Air to Air TACAN. With this facility TACAN equipped aircraft can
measure the range and bearing of TACAN equipped AI Aircraft. ATM there is
only one assigned - callsign ESSO1 on TACAN channel 039X, but this can be
easily expanded to include other c/s channel # pairs - just ask me if you
want more."
When AIFlightPlanCreateTaxi() function is called with the firstFlight
argument set to true, this is supposed to handle situations where the
the aircraft's timetable indicates it should have left between about 5 to
20 minutes earlier. In the previous version, all these aircraft started
taxiing from the first parking location available in the network, due
to the fact that the variable gateId was not assigned a value. In this
patch, route tracing starts from an assigned gate and the network node
following code is fast forwarded to a random location along the taxiways
to give a more realistic and natural distribution of taxiing aircraft
after startup.
This patch further addresses some weird ballet-dancing behavior that
aircraft were showing just prior to/right after parking and which was
related to a number of more or less duplicate waypoints in the transition
from createTaxi() to createParking() to createPushBack() to createTaxi().
Finally, a blatant typing error in the getParking() function was fixed.
at (lon, lat) coordinates -1000,0. This patch fixes the AIModels/Traffic
Manager side of things. The AIModels subsystems allowed the creation of
AIAircraft with non-existent 3D models. If such a model didn't exist, the
aip class didn't get initialized, resulting in the above-mentioned bogus
position information. Here I circumvent this problem by a) only interacting
with the tile loader if the model is visible (and hence has succesfully been
initialized) and b) by disallowing the traffic manager to create AIAircraft
objects if the path to the 3D model doesn't exist.
aircraft models this is only called if they are loaded as AI, not if they
are the model flown by the human pilot. This has technical reasons (too
soon for Nasal/fg), but is useful to distinguish AI and non-AI use, for
example to set a different livery for AI models, or to set different
animation properties.
This patch makes use of the vectors now available in simgear with that past
patch. And using that it simplyfies the carrier code somehow.
- Small additional factory's to the quaternion code are done in the simgear
part. Also more explicit unit names in the factory functions.
- The flightgear part makes use of them and simplyfies some computations
especially in the carrier code.
- The data part fixes the coordinate frames I used for the park positions in
the carrier to match the usual ones. I believed that I had done so, but it
was definitly different. Also there are more parking positions avaliable now.
