Some GSX Questions/Complaints

[bones1977]

Virtuali,

Let me start by making a few things very clear. First of all, I have been using GSX for about 2 years, I use it for every flight, and I truly love the program. Next, I have read through most (if not all) of the threads in this forum, but some things I may refer to here were posted so long ago that it would take hours to find the original posts. Finally, I also understand that you are constantly faced with complaints about GSX, which turn out to be no fault of your program, thus I can see how you would become slightly defensive. I mean no disrespect in what I am about to say, and hope you do not take offense to any of my words.

That being said, there are certain things about GSX that SHOULD be fixed, and I've seen multiple forum threads regarding these issues, so I know I'm not the only person with these complaints. Without going into specifics, your responses to these issues tend to either deny the issues exist (or that they are a problem, at least), or that they would take time to change/fix, and may happen some time down the road. The three main issues I have are major issues, to me at least, and I've seen threads that tell me at least one of these issues could be easily fixed. I don't mean to be offensive, and I can't stress enough that I love GSX, but I would just love to see it become even better.

First of all (and most important to me), the sounds of passengers boarding/deboarding the plane are just flat out annoying, and repetitive, to be blunt. I've seen in other threads that other people agree, and have found rather simple ways of fixing the issue. For someone who uses GSX on a daily basis, such as myself, this is a major issue! I understand that no matter what sounds I use, they will become repetitive to me, but the sounds currently used in GSX take the cake! When I'm boarding/deboarding passengers, I actually have to change the view out of the cockpit, so that I don't have to listen to the sounds anymore, and when I do leave the view in the cockpit, my friends and family always have something to say about it, because they hate the sounds as well. I am going to make an attempt to do what others have done, and replace the sounds with better files, but I'd really rather not modify the GSX files. I just don't understand how you can't see what we mean, and how it hasn't been a priority to do something about it. I don't mean to go on and on about this, but again, this is a major fault of GSX, in my opinion, and it should be fixed if the fix is as easy as others have made it out to be.

My second major issue is that the parking marshall is just too dang picky. I have been using this product for years, have read the manual multiple times, and do everything exactly as I'm supposed to, yet I only get positive results 1 out of every 15-20 flights. This isn't as big of a deal as the boarding/deboarding sounds, but when I am stopping exactly when the marshaller tells me to, only to be told that I've parked too far, or when the marshaller steers me straight ahead, and I go straight ahead and then stop when told, and yet I get told that I've parked too far right...it just gets old knowing that my performance really doesn't seem to matter. In fact, some of my less than perfect parkings have been the ones that I received high rankings on. I don't know how this is modeled, or how difficult it would be to change, but I've talked to multiple GSX users, and they all share the same complaint, that it is just too dang difficult to get a good parking rating. Is it possible to make the marshaller a little less picky and more fair?

My third major issue is related to the one above, but slightly different. GSX almost always has me park too far forward. Sometimes it parks me so far forward that the FSX jetways can't even activate to reach the door. I don't know much about AFCAD files and such, but I know when I load up FSX at a certain gate, the plane is almost perfectly parked, so can't GSX just use the same position as FSX itself? This issue seems to be somewhat universal in GSX, and is not an airport specific issue, for the most part.

While nice, brand new loaders and similar items are quite nice, and welcomed additions to this program, I would personally like to see the types of issues I've mentioned above (which have existed from the very beginning) get addressed more than I'd like to see new loaders. Although, I'd really like to see those deicers come out sometime soon, as I've been waiting for them to be released soon ever since I bought the product.

To close, I respect your work, and love this program with or without these issues, but would really like to see these things addressed, as I know from conversations with others, that I'm not the only person with these complaints. If for some reason, none of these issues can be fixed, I will still happily use your product, so please understand that I mean no offense!

Steve T Midgley (bones1977)

[virtuali]

That being said, there are certain things about GSX that SHOULD be fixed, and I've seen multiple forum threads regarding these issues, so I know I'm not the only person with these complaints.

That's not true, everyone has his own idea what should be added first, top-most requests, BY FAR, are: visible passengers, then it's the replacing of the default jetways animation, and then additional vehicles like de-icers, and GPUs.

Without going into specifics, your responses to these issues tend to either deny the issues exist (or that they are a problem, at least), or that they would take time to change/fix, and may happen some time down the road.

That's not true either. I NEVER, EVER denied a problem exists, WHEN it exists.

First of all (and most important to me), the sounds of passengers boarding/deboarding the plane are just flat out annoying, and repetitive, to be blunt.

That's a perfect example of this. Even if the top-most requested features by the vast majority of users are those that I've listed above, YOUR top-most feature is an entirely different one. Which is not even a "bug", but something totally subjective.

I've seen in other threads that other people agree, and have found rather simple ways of fixing the issue.

So, it's seems that issue is not really a problem, if you can fix it in "simple" ways.

When I'm boarding/deboarding passengers, I actually have to change the view out of the cockpit, so that I don't have to listen to the sounds anymore, and when I do leave the view in the cockpit, my friends and family always have something to say about it, because they hate the sounds as well.

Couldn't you just remove the WAV files ?

I just don't understand how you can't see what we mean, and how it hasn't been a priority to do something about it.

Obviously because it's NOT a bug, rather something that might be improved and, as I've always said, real bug fixing is more important than cosmetics.

I don't mean to go on and on about this, but again, this is a major fault of GSX, in my opinion, and it should be fixed if the fix is as easy as others have made it out to be.

It's not a major fault. It's a very minor thing that needs to be improved.

My second major issue is that the parking marshall is just too dang picky. I have been using this product for years, have read the manual multiple times, and do everything exactly as I'm supposed to, yet I only get positive results 1 out of every 15-20 flights.

I'm sorry, but there are many other users that don't have any problems with this. There are *videos* on YouTube showing the dancing marshaller, which comes out ONLY 1 out of 5 PERFECT parkings so, it's quite clear that users can park correctly.

it just gets old knowing that my performance really doesn't seem to matter. In fact, some of my less than perfect parkings have been the ones that I received high rankings on.

That's not the case. You are probably confusing what your "performance" is. The Marshaller doesn't care, at all, how bad you are *while* approaching. You can zig-zag, many times, brake, accelerate and do all sort of mistakes but, the ONLY thing that counts, is your FINAL position when you stop.

This means, what you believe was a "bad" performance, which mistakenly got a better evaluation compared to what looked like a better one, might just be that you somehow managed to end up in a correct place at the very last time, and that's enough for the GSX Marshaller to give you better rankings compared to a seemingly flawless performance during the approach, but with more tolerance in the final stop position.

I don't know how this is modeled, or how difficult it would be to change, but I've talked to multiple GSX users, and they all share the same complaint, that it is just too dang difficult to get a good parking rating. Is it possible to make the marshaller a little less picky and more fair?

This probably the easier fix in all GSX. The issue is, it has been there for YEARS, even BEFORE GSX was released, when it was a scenery feature named ParkMe and, even back then, nobody ever found it too difficult. We obviously based it on real-world specific and, in fact, the Marshaller is already more tolerant than the electronic docking system, which is realistic too.

Yes, this could be fixed, even if I believe it's just ok as it is now.

How's your frame rate on a typical airport ? It's possible your reactions are impeded by a too low fps. The Marshaller animation runs at 30 fps which means, if your frame rate is much slower than that, you might lose some visual feedback that, on a subconscious level, will hamper your performance.

My third major issue is related to the one above, but slightly different. GSX almost always has me park too far forward

This has been explained several times: GSX will park you in EXACTLY the same position as if you would have chosen that parking from the standard "Go To Airport" FSX menu. Which means, the airplane reference center will end up in the Parking spot center.

I know when I load up FSX at a certain gate, the plane is almost perfectly parked, so can't GSX just use the same position as FSX itself? This issue seems to be somewhat universal in GSX, and is not an airport specific issue, for the most part.

This is EXACTLY where GSX expect you to park, by default.

EXCEPT for some of our customized airports, where GSX can park at proper parking distances depending on the airplane type, to match the custom parking distance tee which is textured on the scenery.

If it doesn't seem to work for you, please provide a reproduction case, indicating the airplane used, the airport used and the gate used.

While nice, brand new loaders and similar items are quite nice, and welcomed additions to this program, I would personally like to see the types of issues I've mentioned above (which have existed from the very beginning) get addressed more than I'd like to see new loaders

Good that you reminded me that, in addition of the features I've listed above, support for Cargo loading from the Left side and support for hi-loaders for the larger airplane, where one of the most requested features, especially after the release of the PMDG 777.

Different users have different priorities, and it took more effort to add new loaders than it would take replacing the boarding sounds or increase the ParkMe tolerance factors to dumb down the Marshaller.

To close, I respect your work, and love this program with or without these issues, but would really like to see these things addressed, as I know from conversations with others, that I'm not the only person with these complaints

I'm not saying you are the only one that asked for this, but I confirm the top-most requested features are those I've listed before, these are all second-tier requests.

And, I've said many times, we always put real BUG fixing on top of everything. And with "real" bugs, I mean something that prevents the product to be used, like crashes and, it took quite some effort to have GSX ready for P3D2 basically on DAY ONE, how many other (similar or not) products offer that ?

So yes, I'll try to have a look at your request, and put them on an higher priority.

[Ray Proudfoot]

Hi Umberto,

I was going to post about the fussy Controller too until I read this thread. I follow the Controller's hand signals until he crosses his arms. Both arms were waving equally indicating I was on the desired line before I applied the brake.

On switching to Spot View the aircraft's wheels were right over the parking marker which suggests parking was fine. But still he comments I parked too far forward.

It's impossible to learn pro-actively how to park so the controller is happy. All we can do is follow his instructions. How about a displayed readout showing our position left-right of the desired centre line and distance from the desired parking position so we can see how close we are? I guess you are probably using a measuring system to judge how well we park. Making that visible would be a great asset.

[Ray Proudfoot]

Hi Umberto,

I was hoping you might have a view on what I suggested. 

[virtuali]

I was hoping you might have a view on what I suggested. 

I don't think the Marshaller is too difficult to follow. In fact, you can see several videos on Youtube that shows the marshaller dancing, and to get it, you have a 20% chance and only if you parking was "Very Good" so, I can only assume it can be done.

About indicating the actual distance on screen, I'm sure that, as with everything else we put on screen that *we* find useful, people will complain that is not "real" and will ask how to turn it off.

[Ray Proudfoot]

Hi Umberto,

Thanks for your reply. I'll seek out those videos on YouTube. I'm curious about dancing controllers. If I continue to be chastised for poor parking I may have to return.  Point taken about a readout not being realistic - some will like it, some won't.