Author Topic: QUICK QUESTION/COMMENT ON LATEST GSX UPDATE  (Read 2903 times)

crauds

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 259
QUICK QUESTION/COMMENT ON LATEST GSX UPDATE
« on: October 31, 2017, 07:37:30 pm »
Just installed everything including latest GSX on my new hardware.  I was using VISTA 64 and thus an older version of GSX.  I liked the timing of the fuel trucks and the length of time it took to board/unboard passengers.   Now I am using Win10 and have the latest upgrade of GSX and I was disappointed in the modifications on the above two items.   Seems the fuel trucks no longer spawn from nearby vehicle parking but from somewhere way distant from the airport.  It takes forever to load large aircraft for realistic turn-around time.  Also it seems very unrealistic that 420 passengers can board or unboard in less than a minute!   Umberto, why the changes?

Also the refueling is not fueling up to the correct amount.  I requested 230,000 lbs for the PMDG B744 and when GSX said it was completed I had about 20,000 pounds less.  I had to manually adjust it.  The same thing happened with the Level-D B763.  This is a new issue not experienced with the Dec 2016 build on my VISTA.  Could this be a conversion issue between KG and LBS?  I use pounds on my aircraft except for Concorde which uses kilograms.

Craig


« Last Edit: October 31, 2017, 07:52:04 pm by crauds »
Craig Williams
I7 7700K OC to 4.8Ghz 16GB DDR4 2666Mhz SD RAM GTX1060 6GB LIQ Cooled Win10 Home 64

virtuali

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 51235
    • VIRTUALI Sagl
Re: QUICK QUESTION/COMMENT ON LATEST GSX UPDATE
« Reply #1 on: October 31, 2017, 09:56:35 pm »
the latest upgrade of GSX and I was disappointed in the modifications on the above two items.   Seems the fuel trucks no longer spawn from nearby vehicle parking but from somewhere way distant from the airport.  It takes forever to load large aircraft for realistic turn-around time.

This change has been made many months ago and, like in all changes, it's always for a good reason. The previous version had a minimum and maximum search range to find a suitable place for the truck to spawn from. The minimum range was to prevent having the truck spawning in front of you, and the maximum range was to prevent excessive waiting.

If the airport AFCAD is well made, it shouldn't be a problem finding a suitable fuel or vehicle parking within these ranges, since in real life there are multiple vehicles parking spot, if the airport is large enough.

But following users reports (which we always do), we found out that many 3rd party AFCADs are either missing entirely such parking spots, or they have too few or even just one. So, in order to allow GSX to always find a suitable parking spot, we removed the maximum range, so we search in the whole airport, so we don't miss any fuel/vehicle parking, even if it's far away.

It's likely the airport you are using has been made this way: with a lone fuel/vehicle parking and you were parked far away from it. In previous versions, the truck might not have appeared at all so, this is clearly an improvement.

Quote
Also it seems very unrealistic that 420 passengers can board or unboard in less than a minute!   Umberto, why the changes?

I'm not sure what you are referring to now. The timing per passenger has always been user settable in GSX, since the first version. Nothing has changed here.

However, what might not add up, is the estimated number of passengers calculated by GSX which is the actual station load of the airplane divided by 220 lbs (average weight of a passenger + luggage ). The calculation is made when you select either Boarding or Deboarding.  This means, in order to allow GSX to calculate a reasonable number of passengers, you must load the airplane first, then call GSX.

Now, it's likely that, with an airplane that simulate a progressive load of the stations, the "final" weight won't be reached for a while so, if you call GSX when the process has just started, the estimated number of passengers will be much lower. This means, with these airplanes, either you wait until they completed THEIR own progressive loading simulation and then call GSX, or use whatever function they have (if available), to load "instantly", so you won't have to wait to call GSX.

Quote
Also the refueling is not fueling up to the correct amount.  I requested 230,000 lbs for the PMDG B744 and when GSX said it was completed I had about 20,000 pounds less. 

There's big misunderstanding here and, it's due because you haven't read the manual which explains with some example how the new refueling system works.

On an airplane that is configured to have its custom fuel simulation, and the PMDG 744 certainly is ( at least, this is how we configured it in the GSX default database ), GSX is not refueling the airplane. With these airplanes, the only thing that GSX does, is to continue sending fuel trucks and play its own animations, for as long the AIRPLANE is continuing to increase the fuel quantity with its own progressive fuel simulation. At NO point GSX will EVER touch the fuel quantity on such planes.

The ONLY case where GSX really changes the fuel quantities, is with default airplanes, or any other airplane that has the "Show the FSX Fuel and Cargo page" option enabled in the airplane configuration page.

I suggest reading the GSX manual starting from Page 15, there are several example and it's explained how the program behave differently, depending if the airplane uses a default fuel system or a custom one and, if it uses a custom one, it even changes depending if it has a progressive refueling simulation or not.

crauds

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 259
Re: QUICK QUESTION/COMMENT ON LATEST GSX UPDATE
« Reply #2 on: November 01, 2017, 01:56:38 am »
Thanks for the response, Umberto.

First of all, the airports I am using are custom designed to have many vehicle parking spots within 10 gates of each other so according to your explanation the fuel trucks shouldn't have to spawn miles from the airport as they have in my test flights with your latest update for FSX.

On the second point.  I have run GSX loading and unloading processes on NGX, PMDG 744, and the Level-D 763 as test.  In all cases the passenger and cargo load were set before GSX boarding or unboarding was called  (in the FMC for the PMDG planes and directly in the FSX payload menu for the B763.)   The previous (Dec 2016) upgrade that I have been using until I was able to upgrade my OS seemed to time the processes much more realistically without any input from me.  In fact, I seem to recall a year or so ago when I read a post by you that implied that it was no longer necessary to adjust the timings/passenger because GSX was now set to do it automatically.  That no longer seems to be the case.  Am I to assume, then, that I must go back into GSX and manually set minimum time and time per passenger as had always been the case years ago?  I have no problem with that.

 But now the fuel loading situation seems to still be troubling.  I have read the manual and understand the different load scenarios.  In each of my test cases I input the total fuel load into the FMC as soon as the prompt came requesting me to do so (for the PMDG planes) and for the B763 I selected "custom" at the prompt and manually entered the proper amounts into the tanks.  In the latter case the perf page in the FMC showed the progressive filling of the fuel as the manual explained.  After prompt announced that fueling had completed, I noticed in my perf page that the fuel amount appearing was less than what I had requested.  Checking the fuel page,  I found that it reflected that same lower amount instead of the original amount I had requested (input).  For the Level-D, the FSX fuel page also showed lower in each tank than I had requested.  If this had only been a few pounds, I would have attributed it to round-off error but in each case it was significant enough that I needed to manually correct.  Again, I apologize, but I was unable to use any of your updates since Dec 2016 because I was still on VISTA.  However, I have been a user of GSX since you first introduced it, Umberto, and this is the first time I have ever had an issue with fuel filling!  My new OS is Win10 and I use FSX.  I am aware that Win10 has caused other issues for FSX users.  Could it be causing this irregularity?

Craig
Craig Williams
I7 7700K OC to 4.8Ghz 16GB DDR4 2666Mhz SD RAM GTX1060 6GB LIQ Cooled Win10 Home 64

crauds

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 259
Re: QUICK QUESTION/COMMENT ON LATEST GSX UPDATE
« Reply #3 on: November 01, 2017, 10:54:54 am »
This morning I had Level-D 763 parked at RJCC for trip to RKSI (FSX Win10).  Fuel truck spawned reasonably close so that was not an issue this time.  But since this is progressive fueling, I took the "custom" option and input 55.4% (22531lbs) in each wing tank to insure that I had at least 45000 lbs.  It filled progressively as observed in the FMC, but, when it was completed, it indicated that it had only filled to 44437 lbs!  I checked in FSX fuel page and sure enough instead of what I had requested, GSX had changed the numbers to 54.6% (22205 lbs) in each tank!   That is the problem, Umberto, and it wasn't happening this way when I was using your old (DEC 2016) update.  This is consistent regardless of airport or airplane.  As I mentioned earlier, I have observed this problem also in PMDG aircraft.  In that case I input the fuel request directly into the FMC and when it finishes, it changes the total fuel indication in the FMC to a lower number!
Craig Williams
I7 7700K OC to 4.8Ghz 16GB DDR4 2666Mhz SD RAM GTX1060 6GB LIQ Cooled Win10 Home 64

crauds

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 259
Re: QUICK QUESTION/COMMENT ON LATEST GSX UPDATE
« Reply #4 on: November 01, 2017, 03:06:14 pm »
Installing everything on WIN 10 has been a real learning experience for me.  I discovered that the new upgrade for Level-D (FSX) designed for Win 10 also required a special version of FSUIPC to operate properly.  Once I installed it and started a new flight from RJCC with same loads and weather GSX worked perfectly:  fuel load was spot on and timing to board passengers seemed reasonable.

I compliment FSDT for the improvement to the vehicle paths.  They no longer turn inside out or run into each other.  Of particular curious note, however, was that not only were two Cargo trains sent upon boarding request but also a normal baggage train.  The Cargo trains correctly positioned themselves by the Cargo doors and the baggage train appeared to wander aimlessly for a minute or so and then turned around in disgust (LOL) and left! 

I don't know what roll the FSUIPC plays with the PMDG products but I intend to test the B744 later today.  Since I was having the same GSX issue with that aircraft, it will hopefully also be resolved.  Thanks again to FSDT for an incredible addon! 

Craig
Craig Williams
I7 7700K OC to 4.8Ghz 16GB DDR4 2666Mhz SD RAM GTX1060 6GB LIQ Cooled Win10 Home 64

virtuali

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 51235
    • VIRTUALI Sagl
Re: QUICK QUESTION/COMMENT ON LATEST GSX UPDATE
« Reply #5 on: November 02, 2017, 12:39:29 pm »
As I mentioned earlier, I have observed this problem also in PMDG aircraft.  In that case I input the fuel request directly into the FMC and when it finishes, it changes the total fuel indication in the FMC to a lower number!

And as I've said, whatever happens to the fuel in a PMDG airplane, is NOT controlled by GSX.

Quote
I discovered that the new upgrade for Level-D (FSX) designed for Win 10 also required a special version of FSUIPC to operate properly.  Once I installed it and started a new flight from RJCC with same loads and weather GSX worked perfectly:  fuel load was spot on and timing to board passengers seemed reasonable.

Of course it is...it's likely the Level-D also has a custom refueling system, operating through FSUIPC.
« Last Edit: November 02, 2017, 12:41:38 pm by virtuali »