Stop Position/Preferred Exit Woes

[QFA1213]

Hi Umberto,

I recently completed an OS reinstall and while setting up the sim again, I decided to update some parking positions to take advantage of the new stop position system added in 2.2.0.0 based on preferred exits (Page 33/34 of manual).

While trying to do this, I’ve noticed inconsistent results and wanted to check whether I was doing anything wrong on my end or if there are extra conditions that were affecting this.

While I tested this at various airports, the focus in the following is on YMML B23 (Max Boeing 747) for the rest of the post.
Sim: Prepar3d V4.2
GSX: 2.3.0.0 without any customisation of settings.
Scenery: Orbx YMML V3.2 at Bay Bravo 23
Aircraft: Various

 To test the stopping position, the GSX “Just warp me there” was used.

As Prepar3d lacks default commercial aircraft, I copied the A321 and Boeing 747 simobjects across from FSX.
The default A321 behaved as expected however other aircraft did not.
Below are my findings:

Aircraft: Default A321
---- use preferred exit ----
Preferred Exit: 1L
Expected: Yes
http://prntscr.com/j21yez

Preferred Exit: 2L
Expected: Yes
https://prnt.sc/j21x02


---- Ignore preferred exit ----
Preferred Exit: Either
Expected: Yes
http://prntscr.com/j220hj

Aircraft: Default B747
---- use preferred exit ----
Preferred Exit: 1L
Expected: Yes
http://prntscr.com/j222b8

Preferred Exit: 2L
Expected: No
http://prntscr.com/j221qn

Same position for both doors.

---- Ignore preferred exit ----
Preferred Exit: Either
Expected: Yes
http://prntscr.com/j22142


Blackbox A330-200
When changing preferred exit and restarting couatl, the preferred exit resets in the UI but stays in gsx.cfg.
e.g.
initially
Preferred exit = 1L
preferredexit = 0

After changing in UI
Preferred exit = 2L
preferredexit = 1

After restarting couatl
Preferred exit = 1L
preferredexit = 1

All use preferred exit will be shown for here on as this part is where the issue is.

Aircraft: Blackbox A330-200

Preferred Exit: 1L
Expected: Yes
https://prnt.sc/j22dhi

Preferred Exit: 2L
Expected: Yes but only before restarting.
http://prntscr.com/j22ixl

Same position for both doors (After restarting).

Aircraft: Blackbox A330-300

Preferred Exit: 1L
Expected: Yes
https://prnt.sc/j22nl2

Preferred Exit: 2L
Expected: No
https://prnt.sc/j22opx

Same issue as A330-200 also occurs but 2L isn’t recognised even before restarting.
https://prnt.sc/j22pkg
I also tried through team viewer on a friends computer with the PMDG 777 and 747 and similar issues occurred.

Same position for both doors.

Through Team Viewer:
PMDG 747
Preferred Exit: 2L
Expected: Yes
http://prntscr.com/j22t0w

Preferred Exit: 1L
Expected: No
http://prntscr.com/j22txl

Saves correctly when restarting.
Same position for both doors.

PMDG 777-300ER
Preferred Exit: 2L
Expected: Yes
http://prntscr.com/j22umr

Preferred Exit: 1L
Expected: No
http://prntscr.com/j22v0h

Same position for both doors.

PMDG 777-200LR
Preferred Exit: 2L
Expected: Yes
http://prntscr.com/j22vhl

Preferred Exit: 1L
Expected: No
http://prntscr.com/j22vqc

Same position for both doors.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any nonPMDG and Blackbox aircraft to test the system. However, from this data, the Blackbox A330-200 and A330-300 preferred exit parameter doesn’t save. The A330-300, PMDG 747 and 777 seems to ignore the preferred exit. Not included in these pictures and results, the PMDG 737, when the rear exit is set as the preferred exit, no difference is in stopping position occurs. Thus it appears there is almost a maximum distance from wheel criteria and also an issue with saving of Blackbox aircraft preferred exit and possibly others.

Thanks for the work you do
Brendan









 

[virtuali]

I'm sorry for the late reply: I only noticed this post now.

- About the preferred exist preference not being saved:

It's *possible* there's an airplane editor bug (which we'll check) that might not save the Preferred exit if you changed ONLY that. Try to change any other parameter, like a door position of a tiny amount ( like 0.01 mt. ) and see if the preferred exit is saved too.

- About the stopping positions in the scenery:

If you customized those sceneries when it *was* possible to change the stopping position, but *before* we introduced the preferred exit, you now have a saved stopping position, but it's not compatible with the current positioning algorithm so, you will have to reset such parking spots. Use an airplane appropriate for the parking type, with the preferred exit correctly set, and just move the stopping position a bit forward/backward, in order to trigger a save from the editor.

[QFA1213]

Regarding your first point, I was thinking about it and realised that out of all aircraft tested, the Blackbox aircraft were the only ones that were not included in the internal GSX database but instead had developer and other user provided profiles. While I had tried disabled parts of these, I never did a clean test. When starting from just the aircraft.cfg the issue is no longer present.

Regarding the gate, while I have tested this with a clean profile and also after again customising the gate, the fact that the preferred exit only changes the stopping position of certain aircraft suggests the issue isn't so much with the parking but some distance between door criteria or similar.

Just to clarify from before, changing the preferred exit changes the stopping position of the Default A321, Blackbox A332, however, does not change the Default B744, Blackbox A333 and PMDG 777 and 747.

As an extreme test, I set the rear boarding door of both the Default A321 and PMDG 737 to be the preferred exit. The stopping position was consistent with door 1. In the case of the A321 which as discussed above, had different stopping positions for door 1 and 2 set as preferred, suggests that if the value is outside a certain range it defaults to the first door.

Thanks
Brendan

[virtuali]

As an extreme test, I set the rear boarding door of both the Default A321 and PMDG 737 to be the preferred exit. The stopping position was consistent with door 1. In the case of the A321 which as discussed above, had different stopping positions for door 1 and 2 set as preferred, suggests that if the value is outside a certain range it defaults to the first door.

Yes, it's exactly like that: GSX detects this, in order to prevent you to do mistakes, like setting a preferred exit in the rear (which might cause the airplane nose going into a building) so, if the distance exceed a certain range, it will default back to the first exit.

[QFA1213]

How big is that range? It seems to me that it must be what is stopping the door 2L of the 747/A333/777 from functioning as expected when set.

[virtuali]

I think it's 10 meters so, it's surely more than the distance between exit 1 and 2 on the default and PMDG 747 (at least, with the default configs we provided in GSX) and the CS777.

I see for the PMDG777 the distance between exit 1 and 2 is *exactly* 10 meters so, it's possible it might not be enough, since the test is made using the "less than" sign.

[QFA1213]

Yeah, that must be it. As I'm sure you are aware the manual uses the 747 to explain the system which got me confused.

Thanks for your help 

[virtuali]

Yeah, that must be it. As I'm sure you are aware the manual uses the 747 to explain the system which got me confused.

As I've said in my previous message, the 747 (both default and PMDG), works just fine with either door as a preferred exit, since the distance between their two front passenger exits is less than 10 meters. It might be a problem *only* with the PMDG 777, which is precisely 10.0 meters.

[QFA1213]

I read your message the other way. That doesn't make any sense then if I'm still having the issue with the default 747.

[virtuali]

I read your message the other way. That doesn't make any sense then if I'm still having the issue with the default 747.

Please clarify precisely what issues you have with the default 747.

And read again my previous explanation:

if you customized those sceneries when it *was* possible to change the stopping position, but *before* we introduced the preferred exit, you now have a saved stopping position, but it's not compatible with the current positioning algorithm so, you will have to reset such parking spots. Use an airplane appropriate for the parking type, with the preferred exit correctly set, and just move the stopping position a bit forward/backward, in order to trigger a save from the editor.

[QFA1213]

[virtuali]

Ok, I undertand the issue now. You configured only the stop position, not the parking system position too (a marshaller or a docking system) and, in fact, there was a small bug that, if you configure one without the other, the customized parking position won't be used.

It's now fixed by running the FSDT Live Update, so you should be able to customized the stop position without having to customize the parking system position too (although it's usually best to set them both, so you can control the marshaller position precisely in order to fit the scenery)

[QFA1213]

In all my previous tests I had customised the parking position system prior to setting stop positions and the issue was still present. In the interest of keeping the video short, this was the first time that I had tried without.

Anyway, the good news is the patch fixed the issue. So time to go set up positions  .

Once again I appreciate your speedy support.

[virtuali]

In all my previous tests I had customised the parking position system prior to setting stop positions and the issue was still present. In the interest of keeping the video short, this was the first time that I had tried without.

I can only confirm the problem happened only when only the stop position was customized, without the parking system position being customized too, and this is the only fix the update fixes. Maybe in those previous tests, the parking system position was customized with an earlier version of GSX or, it wasn't different then default, so it wasn't registered as being customized.

Note that, everything about the preferred exit is only meaningful if the parking has a jetway (either default or SODE). If the parking is in the open (or the scenery has fixed/fake jetways that cannot be automatically detected by GSX), the preferred exit is ignored, and the main door is used in all cases.

[QFA1213]

Just one more thing, the issue with the blackbox preferred exit not saving which I touched on in my first post is still occurring but I'm still trying to narrow it down to a particular condition, it seems completely random. I don't have time to keep playing with it now but I'll upload another video with this issue in around 18hours.