Recurring SODE issues with GSX bridges (and FSDT scenery)

[chasensfo]

Ahoy guys,

For some reason, SODE works 100% of the time at every payware airport I have made by anyone but FSDT. But at default airports using GSX bridges and FSDT airports, only about 20% of the time does SODE work and 80% of the time I get "SODE is unavailable jetway will not animate". When checking SODE within the sim, the jetway connection is up and running (as evident by it working everywhere else). Further, when it does work, it almost never connects to AI planes unless I pick a flyable aircraft and dock to a jetway myself. So if I'm parked at a remote stand/ramp area or if I'm using the Super Traffic Board invisible aircraft (I develop AI so I'm often not using a real aircraft), the FSDT/GSX bridges will almost never meet AI planes even if they work on the user aircraft. Again, unless I switch to a jet, slew to a gate, and trigger a bridge.

I have the latest version of SODE (and have re-installed in several times), I have the latest version of GSX (I've had this issue for at least 1 year now), I have reinstalled GSX before and nothing changed..

Any idea why this is happening? It is a huge inconvience as I am trying to share GSX profiles with retro airport scenery I've made and the AI never has the bridges attached in any of the screenshots because it's so damn rare that I start P3D and GSX works with SODE...yet again, SODE bridges by any other developer work 100% of the time...

This image shows SODE working for me, but still not meeting AI:

https://i.postimg.cc/VNRBxJLQ/2021-8-25-18-27-41-75.jpg

This image shows SODE not working at all even after I tried to trigger with a user aircraft:

https://i.postimg.cc/KjKP3Q7x/2021-8-27-11-14-4-901.jpg

This image shows Flightbeam's KPHX SODE working, however, the 1990s (since closed) gates I added with default (so GSX) bridges are not meeting the planes at the same time! (ignore their placement it was just a rough draft).

https://i.postimg.cc/P5KQcLqG/2021-8-24-9-21-6-674.jpg

[virtuali]

For some reason, SODE works 100% of the time at every payware airport I have made by anyone but FSDT.  But at default airports using GSX bridges and FSDT airports, only about 20% of the time does SODE work and 80% of the time I get "SODE is unavailable jetway will not animate".

Nobody ever reported this. Most users said the opposite, that jetways works better in FSDT airports using GSX jetways.

When checking SODE within the sim, the jetway connection is up and running (as evident by it working everywhere else). Further, when it does work, it almost never connects to AI planes unless I pick a flyable aircraft and dock to a jetway myself.

If you are still referring to FSDT airports in this sentence, this is perfectly normal because, these airports comes with a proper GSX profile, which controls the USER airplane position much better than the default system used by AI, using the GSX custom Stop position to have both the jetways better lined up with the airplane preferred Exit ( another concept that exists in GSX only and only for the user airplane ) and to have a better positioning that matches the ground stop position.

All of this is not possible for AI, since AI will ignore everything and always use the parking center position and put the AI plain reference point on it, which is hardly realistic so, we choose to made our AFCADs and GSX profile by giving priority for the USER airplane considering all the additional GSX information (they are designed to work together), which makes it almost impossible to make it work as well with AI. Other airports might have decided to give an average experience that would work in an "acceptable" way for both the User and the AI but, since GSX requires the utmost precision to work with the User airplane, we decided to give the User airplane the most consideration, at the cost of AI.

Any idea why this is happening? It is a huge inconvience as I am trying to share GSX profiles with retro airport scenery I've made and the AI never has the bridges attached in any of the screenshots because it's so damn rare that I start P3D and GSX works with SODE...yet again, SODE bridges by any other developer work 100% of the time...

We are working on a new feature because of MSFS requirements to be compatible with encrypted airports sold on the Marketplace, and will be the usage of ALTERNATE AFCADs used by GSX only, to be placed in the %APPDATA%\Virtuali\GSX folder, just like the related GSX .INI profile. That .BGL will be seen only by GSX, but the sim will continue to use the .BGL in the normal scenery folder. This way, it will be possible to have separate AFCADs, one for GSX use only, and another one for AI usage, which can be optimized differently, usually moving the parking spots center to be sure they work well with AI.

This feature will appear in the MSFS 2020 version of GSX, but will be added to FSX and P3D too, for this precise reason, and also it might be useful to fix 3rd party AFCAD which are usually made without the slightest concern for ground services ( like missing or misplaced vehicle parking spots or paths ), which usually cause GSX to perform worse. These cases might be solved by making a separate AFCAD, which will be read only by GSX.

[chasensfo]

For some reason, SODE works 100% of the time at every payware airport I have made by anyone but FSDT.  But at default airports using GSX bridges and FSDT airports, only about 20% of the time does SODE work and 80% of the time I get "SODE is unavailable jetway will not animate".

Nobody ever reported this. Most users said the opposite, that jetways works better in FSDT airports using GSX jetways.

Well, I'm reporting it. Because it's the case for me. Lol, as evident by the fact you see in one of the screenshots that at the SAME airport the Flightbeam SODE bridges meet the AI/user aircraft but the GSX bridges do not meet AI and gave myself, the user, a "SODE unavailible" error when SODE is working at that very airport!

Now, despite what you said, 20% of the time or so when the GSX SODE does work, it WILL meet all my AI traffic at these very same airports with SODE bridges! Thus, the problem is not that the AI are too far from the bridges for parking but that the GSX SODE rarely works period! And nothing in your post even touched on the fact that even though SODE is working at EVERY other airport but those using GSX bridges, they frequnetly tell me, the user airplane, that SODE isn't working...

So, again, why is SODE only working with my GSX bridges for both user and AI aircraft like 20% of the time when I've re-installed both GSX and SODE and have no SODE issues with AI aircraft or user aircraft at the other payware airports?

[virtuali]

Well, I'm reporting it. Because it's the case for me. Lol, as evident by the fact you see in one of the screenshots that at the SAME airport the Flightbeam SODE bridges meet the AI/user aircraft but the GSX bridges do not meet AI and gave myself, the user, a "SODE unavailible" error when SODE is working at that very airport!

Do you mean you replaced all XML SODE jetways at that airport with GSX SODE jetways, and you also removed the XML file that comes with it ? Assuming you did both, you still can't say that's the "same" airport because, at the very least, you should have verified each and every parking position to choose the best GSX jetway model to replace the ones that came with the scenery and optimize their position and model for AI use, if AI is what interest you more.

Now, despite what you said, 20% of the time or so when the GSX SODE does work, it WILL meet all my AI traffic at these very same airports with SODE bridges! Thus, the problem is not that the AI are too far from the bridges for parking but that the GSX SODE rarely works period!  And nothing in your post even touched on the fact that even though SODE is working at EVERY other airport but those using GSX bridges, they frequnetly tell me, the user airplane, that SODE isn't working...

These are two very different issues:

- the fact GSX reports SODE to become unavailable at every airport

- the fact GSX works differently in FSDT airports compared to everywhere else. I replied to THIS one only, because I cannot reproduce or easily test the "SODE unavailable" problem without having better data.

So, again, why is SODE only working with my GSX bridges for both user and AI aircraft like 20% of the time when I've re-installed both GSX and SODE and have no SODE issues with AI aircraft or user aircraft at the other payware airports?

This is still not very clear because, in your first sentence you said ( or, at least, it seemed to me you said that ), you replaced Flightbeam SODE jetways with GSX jetways so, it's not very clear if your problem is with FSDT airports ( which I already explained in my post about how we optimized them for the User plane ) or it's happening with GSX/SODE jetways, regardless of the airport.

[chasensfo]

No, I didn't replace Flightbeam jetways with GSX ones, I simply ADDED a few GSX bridges to the existing Flightbeam scenery, and in that scenery, the Flightbeam bridges work always, but the added GSX bridges trigger the SODE error and don't connect most of the time.

I'll try to make this more clear:

-I chose the option to replace all default bridges with GSX ones.
-When SODE IS WORKING (about 20% of the time), it WILL connect the GSX bridges at default airports and GSX bridges at FSDT airports to BOTH AI traffic AND user aircraft. So there is not a radius/placement problem!
-About 80% of the time when I load up an airport with default (so GSX) bridges or an FSDT scenery, trying to trigger the bridges gets a "SODE is unavailable jetway will not animate" error and SODE will not work
-When SODE won't work at FSDT scenery or with GSX bridges, SODE WILL WORK at all other scenery/with all non-GSX bridges despite the errors from GSX. So it is NOT a problem with SODE itself it would appear
-At flightbeam KPHX I added a few default bridges to the scenery and I'm getting the "SODE is unavailable jetway will not animate" error (and they aren't meeting AI as they aren't working), while the Flightbeam SODE bridges WORK on both user and AI aircraft at the same time

So again, you keep insisting there is an issue with my AI parking, I am telling you that when SODE works, it works for BOTH user AND AI aircraft with the SAME ADE parking files. The parking is NOT the problem. The problem is despite the SODE test saying it is up and running and the bridges that are NOT made by GSX/FSDT working 100% of the time, only about 20% of the time will the bridges animate when I load P3Dv4 with GSX or FSDT jetways! I want to know WHY does it only work 20% of the time and give me errors when SODE is working with all other scenery/bridges? I am talking to you as a customer who bought the product and it is only functioning 20% of the time that I run P3D, when it DOES work, I have done NOTHING different.

I hope that is all clear, because so far I feel like none of this has been answered at all and you seem to be ignoring the fact that the bridges DO meet the AI when SODE works with GSX and the problem is it WON'T WORK during most sim sessions not parking or AI!

[virtuali]

No, I didn't replace Flightbeam jetways with GSX ones, I simply ADDED a few GSX bridges to the existing Flightbeam scenery, and in that scenery, the Flightbeam bridges work always, but the added GSX bridges trigger the SODE error and don't connect most of the time.

I don't think you can do that or, at least, we never tested an hybrid GSX/SODE + SODE at the same airport. Try to replace them entirely, which can only be done by removing the SODE XML file for that airport.

[Captain Kevin]

No, I didn't replace Flightbeam jetways with GSX ones, I simply ADDED a few GSX bridges to the existing Flightbeam scenery, and in that scenery, the Flightbeam bridges work always, but the added GSX bridges trigger the SODE error and don't connect most of the time.

I have to say, I think you're the first person I've ever heard of to attempt such a thing, and I guess this is why everybody was confused.

[chasensfo]

For PHX, sure. But that is the only airport where I have a GSX+SODE bridge combo. All other airports still have the same problem, where they are 100% GSX bridge but only SOMETIMES meet the user/AI aircraft instead of always. It's just like roulette when I start the sim, maybe the bridges will animate, maybe they won't. Obviously, I'd like it to work always, not sometimes.