AI Manager and Traffic Controller Development Update
Hey guys, over the last couple of weeks it has been quite from the AIGTech -Team regarding the upcoming updates – now it is time to change that! Today you will get an overview of the upcoming changes to AIM as well as an update on TC.
AI Manager
Based on the user-feedback we got since the initial public beta release for MSFS we have started a bigger redesign of the application and the included features.
One Click Installer
In the past the app was mainly used as a management software for the installed AI traffic, OCI was just a module inside of it. For MSFS it seems that the management part is not that much used, and AIM is often only used in combination with OCI. With the upcoming update we will move OCI more into foreground, make it easier to setup and maintain for the users.
Usability and Presets
With the new update you will get a dedicated page inside of AIM where you can quickly manage all OCI related options as well as keep your system up to date. One of the biggest new features included in OCI are the so called “presets”. Via the AIM Database we will provide different presets for different kind of user-experience. For example, you will now have the option to simply install the preset “Global – PAX” which consist of around 80 Airlines around the world. There will be no longer the requirement to select the different airlines from the drop-down list. We will try to provide presets for all continents for a quick and easy setup. If you want to install more airlines, you can still use the online list to install them as well.
Install process
Compared to P3D we have currently a longer installation process for some airliners (mostly the repaints for FAIB models), this is due to the needed repaint conversion on the local system to make sure the released paints will work correctly on the (still) FSX-Model for those airliners. For each of these conversions the process takes around 4-7 seconds (depending on the system).
To avoid this conversion process on installation we have provided the painters with a tool that will do this conversion on their system, and they can upload the converted textures directly to the servers.
User Interface
We have redesigned the whole User-Interface to have a more modern look.
StartUp-Times
Compared to P3D users, MSFS users face quite some long loading times of AIM, because of the big amount of default installed files and repaints. To reduce this loading time, we added an option to avoid all other packages on startup besides OCI. With a full OCI setup we have now loading times of around 2-3 minutes compared to 7-8 minutes before. We advise to use this option only if you do not have other Traffic Addons installed, to avoid conflicts with them. To help with long loading times we restructured some files in OCI to reduce the number of installed SimObjects as well.
Traffic Controller
In the last dev-update we showed you the new NavData implementation we planned to add to the 0.6 release. I am sorry to report that this feature will not make it to 0.6 since we faced some issues with the handling of the flightplans within the Sim and there are new changes in SU11 we want to checkout first, before rewriting all the stuff again.
Airport Services
The biggest feature in TC 0.6 will now be the included airport services for AI traffic. We decided to include this feature now because of some MSFS bugs that result in an overload of Objects. In combination with a setting in AIM we have been able to reduce the amount of service vehicles by around 50% at the airports without losing only one major service (baggage loading). We hope to find a solution to add it in TC as well.
Important: There is no collision avoidance added so far, to keep performance on a low level!
Included Services
Following services are included so far:
Follow Me
Car will wait for the arriving airplane at the ramp and “drive it in”. If they are on “stand-by” the cars will drive around the airport.
Stairs
Airplanes will be served by stairs, if they are high enough and do not come with their own stairs. At spots with a jetway only a “back-stair” will be dispatched and docked, while for the ramp positions TC will dispatch two stairs (front and back) that will dock to the airplane while it is at the position. If they are on “stand-by” the stairs will return to the next vehicle spot.
Busses
TC will automatically dispatch busses to arriving airplanes if the spot as no jetway connected. Same goes for departing airplanes (AIGFP only).
Catering
TC will automatically dispatch catering trucks (up to 2) to an airplane on the ground if the turnaround time is long enough.
Cleaning
TC will automatically dispatch a cleaning van to an airplane on the ground if the turnaround time is long enough.
Technical Service
In case of a departure delay (AIGFP only) caused by technical issues, TC will dispatch a service vehicle to the spot to “simulate” the ongoing repairs.
Stability
The biggest issue with TC at the moment is the stability of the SimConnect-Library. We are working with ASOBO on identifying the issue, while trying to find workarounds on our end at the same time. It seems we might have found a workaround on our end, that will come with no big feature deficits yet. Internal tests at least are indicating a huge improvement of the stability.
Sounds like a promising update if it fixed the simobject overload bug that prevents AI planes from showing up in the sim 😉 Any ideas when this update will be released?