Default Airstairs

[hombrexp]

I fly the heavy jets, and 98% of the time I use airports with jetways.  GSX by default enables airstair trucks at all airports, and as a result, I have both jetways and airstairs connected to my aircraft.
I know that I can edit the airport gate(s) to turn off the airstairs, but this is a very tedious process, both for the tens to hundreds of gates depending on the airport and the hundreds of airports a user flies to.  Is there some way that a future update can make it so that the user can opt in to have airstair service, instead of editing each gate individually?  I'm sure most users would agree that they seldom use airstairs.

[virtuali]

GSX by default enables airstair trucks at all airports

No, it doesn't.

GSX correctly checks for a jetway to be present or not in the airport AFCAD, and if there's a jetway, it will NOT activate front stairs. The only stairs that are active on an parking with a jetway, are the rear one, which can be enabled/disabled separately.

Perhaps you are referring to those 3rd airports with fake/static jetways: they can't obviously be detected automatically (since they don't "exist", they are just part of the terminal polygonal mesh), so you will have to tell GSX about them.

I know that I can edit the airport gate(s) to turn off the airstairs, but this is a very tedious process, both for the tens to hundreds of gates depending on the airport and the hundreds of airports a user flies to.

Not really. There's no reason to edit each single parking: if you select a whole Terminal, the editor will tell you have selected many parkings at once, so your change will affect all of them.

And if you click on the root node of the airport ICAO, you'll select the whole airport, so you can fix an entire airport with A SINGLE CLICK.

[adamrob69]

To be fair to hombrexp I have had a similar thing, but with stairs not being there at all.

Dublin airport (the default fsx version) the gates that by default ATC send you to do not have jetways, yet GSX thinks they do have jetways which result in no stairs or jetway!

Obviously this can be fixed using the configuration screen; but there does seem to be issues with the way gsx detects default gateways.

[virtuali]

Obviously this can be fixed using the configuration screen; but there does seem to be issues with the way gsx detects default gateways.

This was already discussed on the forum a while ago here:

http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php?topic=8704.msg70668#msg70668

There's nothing wrong in the way GSX detects jetways. But you might not SEE IT, because you have the Scenery Complexity slider not high enough for that jetway (they don't all have the same complexity threshold over the same airport)

[hombrexp]

I apologize that I was not aware of the inner workings of the GSX module.  I just saw the jetways and airstairs enabled at a few airports, but they must have been the ones with static jetways.
I appreciate the clarification regarding the ability to batch disable the airstairs via GSX settings, and will use that capability for my benefit.

[mark767]

I think the way it works is backwards.  the default should be set to assume there is a jetway and you have to edit if you want the stairs.   This makes the most sense as most of us are linking up with a Jetway.

[adamrob69]

I think the way it works is backwards.  the default should be set to assume there is a jetway and you have to edit if you want the stairs.   This makes the most sense as most of us are linking up with a Jetway.

I disagree.
if virtuali is correct and jetways depend on graphic settings, and over half the airports dont have jetways at all, and most dont have jetways at all the gates, then you would end up with nothing.

I hardly ever have jetways on the routes I have flown.

Although there could be an over-riding option that sets this either at install or options menu.

[virtuali]

if virtuali is correct and jetways depend on graphic settings

Yes, of course they do, have you seen my previous post here ?

http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php?topic=8704.msg70668#msg70668

Although there could be an over-riding option that sets this either at install or options menu.

No need for an option, if it could be made automatically. We could, for example, check the *actual* Scenery Complexity setting and, if it's not the one the jetway is programmed for, consider the parking not having a jetway.

For 3rd party airports with fake jetways, the most correct way is to customize the scenery to tell which parkings have a fake jetway, because a global override to have them always on, would then remove front stairs everywhere.