Paint Kit

[UAL1287]

The documentation mentions a paintkit but I can't find it.  Is it hidden somewhere or will it be released at a later date?

[virtuali]

Yes, we'll release it in the next days.

The Paint Kit is ready, but we need to write documentation for it because, although the graphic customization it's probably the easiest around, there are several things to explain in order to instruct GSX how to handle your new repaint, on which airports will appear, etc.

[niyoko]

Wow! If we can specify which texture is used at an airport... Is it possible to assign a specific texture to a carrier?

I'm imagining taxing up to the game as an All Nippon Airways 737 and luggage handler's truck with the ANA logo, but if I pulled up in a Japan Airlines 737 I would see the same vehicle with a JAL paint scheme.

[virtuali]

Wow! If we can specify which texture is used at an airport... Is it possible to assign a specific texture to a carrier?

Yes, but keep in mind the selection is made depending mainly on the airport ICAO, using a hierarchical system: have a look at the manual on Page 19, there's a quick explanation how it works.

The airline code of your own airplane is not used, we thought it was more correct to look at the airline code of the parking instead, but that will be a factor only when there are two vehicles "competing" for a job having the same ICAO, which would be otherwise chosen at random, but if the airline code of the parking matches one of them, it will be preferred.

[Scandinavian]

In the future it would nice to be able to create a custom list of handling companies. So if I for example at my local airport created repaints for all the handling companies, I could then my self add which airlines that would get which one, and if no config was detected it would give you a random one or something.

[grajay]

The documentation mentions a paintkit but I can't find it.  Is it hidden somewhere or will it be released at a later date?

You're lucky - I don't even have a document that mentions the paintkit 

[virtuali]

You're lucky - I don't even have a document that mentions the paintkit 

The Paint Kit is mentioned in the Web page description.

[grajay]

OK - thanks virtuali - explains why I missed it.

[niyoko]

Wow! If we can specify which texture is used at an airport... Is it possible to assign a specific texture to a carrier?

Yes, but keep in mind the selection is made depending mainly on the airport ICAO, using a hierarchical system: have a look at the manual on Page 19, there's a quick explanation how it works.

The airline code of your own airplane is not used, we thought it was more correct to look at the airline code of the parking instead, but that will be a factor only when there are two vehicles "competing" for a job having the same ICAO, which would be otherwise chosen at random, but if the airline code of the parking matches one of them, it will be preferred.

Thanks for answering my question.

I'm excited to hear that there is some granularity in being able to customize the paint schemes. I like how you guys have decided to read the airline code from the parking spot and not the plane. After thinking about how you guys have coded that function, I realized that it's the best way, but it's also the more realistic.

Airline carriers buy slots/gates at an airport. For example, I'm a Continental 737 that is puling up to a Southwest owned spot, I should expect to realistically be serviced by equipment with Southwest logos.

Brilliant guys! I'll download the paint kit and manual, then start painting. 

[johnny_7713]

Wow! If we can specify which texture is used at an airport... Is it possible to assign a specific texture to a carrier?

Yes, but keep in mind the selection is made depending mainly on the airport ICAO, using a hierarchical system: have a look at the manual on Page 19, there's a quick explanation how it works.

The airline code of your own airplane is not used, we thought it was more correct to look at the airline code of the parking instead, but that will be a factor only when there are two vehicles "competing" for a job having the same ICAO, which would be otherwise chosen at random, but if the airline code of the parking matches one of them, it will be preferred.

Thanks for answering my question.

I'm excited to hear that there is some granularity in being able to customize the paint schemes. I like how you guys have decided to read the airline code from the parking spot and not the plane. After thinking about how you guys have coded that function, I realized that it's the best way, but it's also the more realistic.

Airline carriers buy slots/gates at an airport. For example, I'm a Continental 737 that is puling up to a Southwest owned spot, I should expect to realistically be serviced by equipment with Southwest logos.

Brilliant guys! I'll download the paint kit and manual, then start painting. 

Actually realisticly you should expect to be assigned a Continental gate, rather than a Southwest gate. Airlines have contracts with certain handling companies (or do that stuff themselves). The handling companies don't just serve whoever happens to turn up at their gate, especially if it's one of their competitors.

As such, would it be possible in a future update to see which company is handling which gate? That would help choosing the right gate at an unfamiliar airport, so I don't have to explain to the chief pilot why he just got a huge bill from Southwest for servicing my Continental plane 

[virtuali]

As such, would it be possible in a future update to see which company is handling which gate? That would help choosing the right gate at an unfamiliar airport, so I don't have to explain to the chief pilot why he just got a huge bill from Southwest for servicing my Continental plane 

I'm afraid this could be a bit difficult because it's not the gate that have an handler assigned, it's the *vehicles* that have specifications to indicate to which airport they could be assigned, with the gate airline code being a factor *only* when two handlers had an identical chance of being selected, in that case the one that matches the airline code of the gate will be selected, and if there's a tie even in that case (eg. both vehicles matches the gate airline code), the selection will be random again.

The only possible change I see, is to allow the user to choose the handler after a gate is selected, in case there's a tie.