"parking space too small so no services"

[crauds]

That is not the exact message but something similar after last update.  I use default AFCADs and did the update just before YPPH to YPAD in Lvl-D 767-300.  I have certain gates at each airport assigned to my different size aircraft.  I have "heavy" gates for B763 and B744, etc.  Was very surprised when I chose one of my designated "heavy" gates to park and it stated that it was too small for my wingspan.  I checked GSX set airport positions utility and it showed the new format with Max wing span of 70m. for that gate.  The wing span in the aircraft.cfg file is approximately 156 ft which is about 47.54m!  I edited the gsx gate data to max 100m and then restarted GSX and tried parking again at same gate but received the same text message.  I then set max wing span to 190m and still got the message!!!!

This is indeed troubling.  Is there a way, Umberto, that I can get back to the previous update since I can see no use for this new feature and it is proving troublesome?  I know I can perform a system restore to a point before the update but doing so has caused me major problems a couple of times before so I do not consider that a viable option on my VISTA 64 system. 


Craig

[virtuali]

You can't go to the previous version, if what it's happening here to you is true, we must fix it. Right now, I can't observe any of this: if you don't touch the scenery editor, it will work EXACTLY like the previous version so, you shouldn't have seen any difference.

If you touch the scenery editor instead, changing the number and restarting GSX is not the correct procedure (not that this will make any difference, and it's not the cause of what you are reporting), because you just have to confirm the new wingspan and apply: the changes are automatically saved and don't require a GSX restart, nowhere in the manual says that.

Please, confirm in this exact order all the following informations:

- The exact gate used

- The exact airplane used

- The exact scenery used, and if you used a 3rd party addon or have modified the AFCAD even slightly, provide with the new AFCAD

[virtuali]

In any case, I've made the following test:

- Loaded YPAD (Adelaide) default scenery with default AFCAD with the Level-D 767-300

- Sitting on the runway, opened GSX menu to check the available parkings: all reported "too small". This is CORRECT, since NO parking spot at default YPAD airport has a radius larger than 23 meters, which means it can't accept the Level-D 767, since its wingspan is 156.0833 ft, 47.57 meters, so it requires 23,78 meters spot.

- Opened the GSX scenery editor, selected Gate 6, which was reported at 46 meters minimum wingspan. Again, GSX is entirely correct here.

- Clicked the small "Airplane" icon, GSX correctly read the Level-D 47.57 wingspan, and automatically set the minium wingspan for Gate 7 to 48 meteres.

- Clicked the "Apply" button and went back to flight. No GSX restart needed.

- Selected again the list of available parking spots and, as expected, now Gate 7 is the only available parking, since has been tweaked to accept the Level-D

- Made another test, went back into the editor, selected the whole "Gate G", which results in GSX indicating that 14 parking positions will be affected, clicked the Airplane button, and ALL gates at Gate G group were correctly set to 48 meters. Pressed "Apply"

- Went back into flying mode, and now GSX correctly confirms that all of Gate G gates are available for the Level-D 767

So, according to this test, using the same airplane you used and one of the airports you mentioned, GSX is performing as expected.

[crauds]

Hi Umberto!

     I could not follow all the steps you took since I have not read any new documentation that came along with the update.  From what you said it all sounds fantastic.  What I failed to mention in my OP was that I had tweaked the default AFCAD.   I had edited several gates within the AFCAD to make them "heavy" designation (using ADE 9x) and adjusted their spacing  accordingly.  Since GSX I have assigned two of those "heavy" gates (3, G14) with parking codes to accept either my B744 or B763.  Using prior version of GSX always correctly offered those gates upon taxi in and never had an issue that they were too small. 

    I will read the new documentation to better uderstand what you have explained.  It seems that I will have to perform an extra adjustment now at each airport even though I have already properly tweaked those parking positions within the AFCAD using ADE 9x (almost 900 airports to date!)

Craig

[virtuali]

I will read the new documentation to better uderstand what you have explained.  It seems that I will have to perform an extra adjustment now at each airport even though I have already properly tweaked those parking positions within the AFCAD using ADE 9x (almost 900 airports to date!)

No, you don't need to do any extra adjustment.

If you already tweaked an AFCAD to enlarge parking spots sizes, GSX WILL read it and the "wingspan" value you'll see in the GSX Editor is always taken from your AFCAD (whichever AFCAD is active for that airport at the moment).

The whole point of the new "Wingspan" parameter in the GSX editor, is to allow you to override what's in the AFCAD, without having to touch the AFCAD itself, but that doesn't mean if you *do* adjust the AFCAD, GSX won't use that method too, just like in the previous version.

There's a difference, though: if you act only in the GSX scenery editor, the change will affect GSX only and thus your airplane. If you act on the AFCAD, instead, the changes will affect AI airplanes too so, whether this is the desired effect or not, depends on the airport.

[crauds]

I just read the new documentation.  I understand that this provides a way to park in a space that the AFCAD had designated as, for example, "medium" using a much larger or heavy aircraft such as B744 or B763.  In my case, however, my edited version of the YPAD AFCAD ( and I confirmed that GSX was using it ) had HEAVY designations for the space I was attempting to use and the GSX editor already showed that it allowed a maximum wingspan of 70m !!!!  GSX allowed me to select the gate but then displayed a text message in green at the top of my screen that the space was too small for aircraft and no services would be offered.  I asked for a "follow-me" car and parked there anyway and SERVICES WERE AVAILABLE.  I, therefore, propose that the green warning I received after accepting the parking spot is an error(?) and should not have presented itself.

Craig

[virtuali]

Ok, we'll surely think about this, but it's not really a bug: the warning message is exactly what the "warning" word means: it's meant to warn you that parking wasn't supposed to be used, however GSX (because you tweaked it) WILL work there.

The whole point of the warning is to alert you that, should you encounter problems because you tried to do something funny, like allowing a 747 in a GA parking, resulting in bad operations and vehicles not being able to work correctly, was caused because the parking was intentionally tweaked, rather than a GSX bug.

Maybe we could change the wording a bit in this situation, and say something more clear in that message.

[crauds]

But Umberto, the parking space WAS supposed to be used.  It was a "HEAVY" gate in the AFCAD because  I had edited that AFCAD weeks ago to have several "heavy" gates available.  My new "edited" AFCAD was the one that GSX was using and before I changed anything within GSX I went to the editor and observed that GSX already showed that the DEFAULT maximum wingspan for that gate was 70 meters and my aircraft was LESS than 48 meters wingspan!!!!  Because 48 is less than 70, GSX should not have had an issue.  It was not accessing the ORIGINAL AFCAD but only my EDITED AFCAD!  This was confirmed in the GSX editor.

Now, again this warning text did not appear within the menu that was presented when I requested a gate and, since I am using parking codes based on aircraft size, only those appropriate gates were presented and they were not listed as TOO SMALL in the presented selection menu.  It was only after I selected the gate and requested "follow-me" that both the "marshaller dispatched" and the "too small" texts appeared at the top.

It was at this point that I went to the GSX editor to find the status.  I can understand if these were SMALL gates within the AFCAD but they were HEAVY and already showed ample wingspan maximum within GSX.   Had GSX showed a maximum wingspan of LESS than 47+ meters then I would understand your answer but it already was showing as acceptable!



Craig

[virtuali]

But Umberto, the parking space WAS supposed to be used.

I don't understand what you mean here. You said yourself the problem was just the message. If the AFCAD was edited to allow the airplane, there will be no warning message, period.

before I changed anything within GSX I went to the editor and observed that GSX already showed that the DEFAULT maximum wingspan for that gate was 70 meters and my aircraft was LESS than 48 meters wingspan!!!!  Because 48 is less than 70, GSX should not have had an issue.

This means GSX will accept that airplane with no warning message.

It was not accessing the ORIGINAL AFCAD but only my EDITED AFCAD!  This was confirmed in the GSX editor.

I don't know which scenery you are referring to anymore. Since there are no 48 meters gate in the DEFAULT YPAD, either you were accessing your modified AFCAD, or you are now referring to a different scenery, which you haven't mentioned yet.

Please, make a clear replicable example because, I've said already, and I tested your airplane at the airport you mentioned, and nothing of what you are describing is happening, GSX is working normally as expected.

[crauds]

Hi Umberto!
    Obviously some confusion going on here.  Let's start again.  This time with the next flight, YPAD to YMML.  This one I used the Super80pro MD80 by Flight 1.  It has a wingspan of 32,87 m.  

I use an edited version of YMML and I have 4 gates assigned to the MD80:  C3,D4,D5, and D9.  The ADE 9x program I use to edit AFCADS has 3 different gate sizes for airliners (in addition to GA).  The MD80 due to its length actually fits the footprint of a Medium size for best lineup with Jetway and room for marshaller.  So I have set up my parking codes to conform to that.  The 4 gates I mentioned all show up in GSX editor as having a maximum wingspan of 46 m.  But upon exiting rwy 5 I requested parking thru ATC ground and was assigned to gate C3.  When I then activated GSX and selected gate C3 I immediately received green text message stating that "gate you have chosen is too small for aircraft...  No ground services are available at that location.."   And then it proceded to inform me that a marshaller had been dispatched after I had selected to have "follow-me" vehicle.

    I then went to GSX editor and verified that indeed C3 does accomodate my Super80pro since it allows a maximum wingspan of 46 m.  Following your instructions, however, I pressed the little airplane and it changed the maximum wingspan to 33 m!!!!   I applied the change and then went back to FSX.  I restarted Coati and again selected the gate.  It still gave me the "too small" message as before.  I went back to GSX editor and reset wingspan back to original 46 m to conform to what I had setup in the AFCAD.  I again restarted coati and selected the gate...got the same "too small" message and requested "follow-me".  As soon as I closed the dialogue box, however, I got a green text message to "cut your engines".  Thinking I might have selected something wrong in error, I restarted coati, reselected the ATC assigned gate (C3) but got the same series of messages:  first was "too small...." then was "marshaller dispatched..." and then before I could begin taxiing the message to "cut my engines".  I waited for "follow-me" and went to gate anyway but "cut engines" message kept flashing on every 2 seconds during the entire taxi.  All services, however, were available as usual at the gate.

I am going to attach the AFCAD for YMML and I assume you have a copy of Super80pro to use as test.

FYI, my system recently became completely corrupted and I had to reinstall everything beginning with my Windows Vista 64 SP1 and then systematically all of my programs and support files.  When I got to your program I downloaded the latest available full program from your website and installed it and activated it.  I then ran FSX and checked Coati for upgrades and updates and I think one update was available which I activated and everything seemed to be working.  I had a bit of a problem for a couple of days with not hearing any GSX sounds but after rolling back a couple of updated drivers, everything worked perfectly and my system is back to where it was before the catastrophe.  I don't think any of that is a factor but I am trying to give you all the information that I can so that you can help me.  I had no problems with GSX over the last week with all my test flights until yesterday with the new update.

[virtuali]

But upon exiting rwy 5 I requested parking thru ATC ground and was assigned to gate C3.  When I then activated GSX and selected gate C3 I immediately received green text message stating that "gate you have chosen is too small for aircraft...  No ground services are available at that location.."   And then it proceded to inform me that a marshaller had been dispatched after I had selected to have "follow-me" vehicle.

Tried your AFCAD, and this is happening too. As I've said in my previous message, you shouldn't be worried about the message, we might change it in this situation, but the important thing is that the parking spot was activate with GSX services.

I then went to GSX editor and verified that indeed C3 does accomodate my Super80pro since it allows a maximum wingspan of 46 m.  Following your instructions, however, I pressed the little airplane and it changed the maximum wingspan to 33 m!!!!

And why, exactly, is this supposedly a problem ? As the manual says, that button is meant to adapt the parking size to your airplane wingspan, and it works in both directions, if the parking spot is too small for your airplane, it will enlarge it, but if larger, it will reduce it to the best possible size for your airplane.

Nowhere the documentation says that button means "ensure my airplane will fit, but not touch the size if it's already larger", because there might be cases were you WANT to reduce it because is wrongly set too large.

I restarted Coati and again selected the gate.It still gave me the "too small" message as before.

As I've said, don't worry about the message, the important thing is the parking is accepted, and this is confirmed by the fact you don't have a (too small) indication in the GSX parking selection window when you land.

I again restarted coati and selected the gate...got the same "too small" message and requested "follow-me".  As soon as I closed the dialogue box, however, I got a green text message to "cut your engines".

Tried that, and doesn't happen. It only says a marshaller has been assigned.

I restarted coati, reselected the ATC assigned gate (C3) but got the same series of messages:  first was "too small...." then was "marshaller dispatched..." and then before I could begin taxiing the message to "cut my engines".

Doesn't happen here. What was your position on the airport when you selected the parking in GSX ? If you were too close to the parking, it's NORMAL GSX would ask you to cut your engines, because it thought you were already inside the parking! That's an example of why the parking spot size should be set the correct size, not too high.

I waited for "follow-me" and went to gate anyway but "cut engines" message kept flashing on every 2 seconds during the entire taxi.  All services, however, were available as usual at the gate.

Tried twice, with and without the follow me, and it doesn't do that. Everything works normally, the only thing that needs to be fixed, is the green "too small" message, which should be changed.

[cj_duke]

I want to bring up this post again, together with a link to this one: http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php?topic=6829.0

Since the last update. Gates are recognised correctly by GSX, but message occurs "no service available". I have read the discussion above, so no further comment on this one.

I add recently 3-third party scenery (UK2000 EGLL & Aerosoft LSZH) and freeware scenery (LIRQ, simple AFCAD), but on most airports pushback is not available, although gate was suffient in size and taxi was possible afterwards. Changing the settings solves the problem, but to change every gate is in my intension.

How can I solve this?

[virtuali]

Since the last update. Gates are recognised correctly by GSX, but message occurs "no service available". I have read the discussion above, so no further comment on this one.

I can only confirm that, if you are seeing this, your are not running the very latest update. Just run the GSX installer again, or the Stand-Alone Addon Manager for FSX installer (with GSX installed).