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SimDisplay

O

ollyau

Resource contributor
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Short for SimConnect Object Display -- a free, open source tool to display SimObjects as scenery.

Turns this:

Code: 
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<SimDisplay xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
  <SimObject Title="veh_carrier01_high_detail_sm" Latitude="37.793322" Longitude="-122.335726" Altitude="0" Pitch="0" Bank="0" Heading="0" OnGround="true" Airspeed="0" />
  <SimObject Title="VEH_water_yacht_280ft_sm" Latitude="37.787659" Longitude="-122.333902" Altitude="0" Pitch="0" Bank="0" Heading="0" OnGround="true" Airspeed="0" />
  <SimObject Title="VEH_Air_PickupUS_Grey_sm" Latitude="37.790607" Longitude="-122.330697" Altitude="0" Pitch="0" Bank="0" Heading="0" OnGround="true" Airspeed="0" />
  <SimObject Title="Discovery Spaceshuttle" Latitude="37.790486" Longitude="-122.328211" Altitude="0" Pitch="0" Bank="0" Heading="0" OnGround="true" Airspeed="0" />
  <SimObject Title="Robinson R22" Latitude="37.790314" Longitude="-122.330437" Altitude="0" Pitch="0" Bank="0" Heading="0" OnGround="true" Airspeed="0" />
  <SimObject Title="ANI_GiraffeWalk_Mature_sm" Latitude="37.790338" Longitude="-122.329498" Altitude="0" Pitch="0" Bank="0" Heading="0" OnGround="true" Airspeed="0" />
  <SimObject Title="Cessna Skyhawk 172SP Paint1" Latitude="37.790615" Longitude="-122.330056" Altitude="0" Pitch="0" Bank="0" Heading="0" OnGround="true" Airspeed="0" />
</SimDisplay>

Into this:

5QbK6r7.jpg


Currently it's not a whole lot more useful than placing objects as actual scenery, but I hope to expand on the functionality in the future. I'm open to ideas or suggestions for potential features or improvements.

I realize there are a couple others who've mentioned building tools with similar goals (hope I'm not stepping on anyone's feet), but I wanted to challenge myself to build something, and figured I could share with the community at the same time. :)
 
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Great, I'll check it out.

Would be cool to add conditions and that kind of features as well.
 
Been doing a bit more work on it today. Waypoints and SimDisabled are now working. Currently the only LoadType that does anything is "Immediate", but I'm planning on having a conditional one as well.

Here's an example of XML with waypoints for the carrier:

Code: 
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<SimDisplay xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
  <SimObject Title="veh_carrier01_high_detail_sm" Latitude="37.793322" Longitude="-122.335726" Altitude="0" Pitch="0" Bank="0" Heading="0" OnGround="true" Airspeed="0" SimDisabled="false" LoadType="Immediate">
    <WaypointList>
      <Waypoint Altitude="0" Flags="SPEED_REQUESTED ALTITUDE_IS_AGL ON_GROUND" Latitude="37.805422" Longitude="-122.353511" SpeedOrThrottle="30" />
      <Waypoint Altitude="0" Flags="SPEED_REQUESTED ALTITUDE_IS_AGL ON_GROUND" Latitude="37.847885" Longitude="-122.35481" SpeedOrThrottle="30" />
      <Waypoint Altitude="0" Flags="SPEED_REQUESTED ALTITUDE_IS_AGL ON_GROUND" Latitude="37.832973" Longitude="-122.401158" SpeedOrThrottle="30" />
      <Waypoint Altitude="0" Flags="SPEED_REQUESTED ALTITUDE_IS_AGL ON_GROUND" Latitude="37.781164" Longitude="-122.365796" SpeedOrThrottle="30" />
    </WaypointList>
  </SimObject>
  <SimObject Title="VEH_water_yacht_280ft_sm" Latitude="37.787659" Longitude="-122.333902" Altitude="0" Pitch="0" Bank="0" Heading="0" OnGround="true" Airspeed="0" SimDisabled="false" LoadType="Immediate" />
  <SimObject Title="VEH_Air_PickupUS_Grey_sm" Latitude="37.790607" Longitude="-122.330697" Altitude="0" Pitch="0" Bank="0" Heading="0" OnGround="true" Airspeed="0" SimDisabled="false" LoadType="Immediate" />
  <SimObject Title="Discovery Spaceshuttle" Latitude="37.790486" Longitude="-122.328211" Altitude="0" Pitch="0" Bank="0" Heading="0" OnGround="true" Airspeed="0" SimDisabled="false" LoadType="Immediate" />
  <SimObject Title="Robinson R22" Latitude="37.790314" Longitude="-122.330437" Altitude="0" Pitch="0" Bank="0" Heading="0" OnGround="true" Airspeed="0" SimDisabled="false" LoadType="Immediate" />
  <SimObject Title="ANI_GiraffeWalk_Mature_sm" Latitude="37.790338" Longitude="-122.329498" Altitude="0" Pitch="0" Bank="0" Heading="0" OnGround="true" Airspeed="0" SimDisabled="false" LoadType="Immediate" />
  <SimObject Title="Cessna Skyhawk 172SP Paint1" Latitude="37.790615" Longitude="-122.330056" Altitude="0" Pitch="0" Bank="0" Heading="0" OnGround="true" Airspeed="0" SimDisabled="false" LoadType="Immediate" />
</SimDisplay>

I've also uploaded a very early alpha preview build to GitHub for the very adventurous to try.
 
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Thanks for posting that, it's great to see some working code which could have a lot of uses. One of the issues which brought about some discussion on this sort of feature was the broken windsocks in P3D, so it would be very handy to be able to choose a model based on wind strength, and rotate it to the wind, which is the kind of thing which the old FS2004-tweaked windsock did.
I'm tempted to see if I could do it myself based on your code, but I'd need an extra month in the year...
 
toprob said:
Thanks for posting that, it's great to see some working code which could have a lot of uses. One of the issues which brought about some discussion on this sort of feature was the broken windsocks in P3D, so it would be very handy to be able to choose a model based on wind strength, and rotate it to the wind, which is the kind of thing which the old FS2004-tweaked windsock did.
I'm tempted to see if I could do it myself based on your code, but I'd need an extra month in the year...
Click to expand...

One of these days I'll go and see if BGL placed models honour L:Vars
 
I don't expect so. If they are simconnect placed I could use wind rotation visibility conditions, but when placed with bgl that doesn't work. I think the L:vars will be the same.
 
Yes, that works. It is, however, still subject to the same caveats listed in the post describing the method (i.e. things like animated models still won't work) -- for that, you'll need to use a MDL file instead of referencing a library object using visual_model_guid.
 
Hi,

I just did a quick test with the tool. I placed a SimObject test object that I made a while ago to rotate an object to the wind. In the attached screenshots the green cone is rotating with the wind. Worked like a charm, just had to enter the name and the location. Of course this object should later become a proper windsock or so, but that way we can have FSX native objects rotating with the wind.
 

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Is that a referenced library object? I still have to test that. I only tested BGL placed object.
 
No, this is not a library object. The mdl is in the simobjects folder. I don't think this will work with a library object.
 
Oh, yes - that, obviously, works :) I though you wanted to test with library object. That would have some non-small implications.
 
I think for a few things like a windsock it's fine to use a simobject.

For objects that only swap based on season or need to move along a path, using a library object Is probably easier.
 
Would it not be simpler to keep everything as MDL based SimObjects, rather than a combination of MDL files and library BGLs with visual_model_guid?
 
personally - yeah, I think so. Though possibility of animating library objects would mean that you can use all library. Which would be rather nice.
 
arno said:
Hi,

I just did a quick test with the tool. I placed a SimObject test object that I made a while ago to rotate an object to the wind. In the attached screenshots the green cone is rotating with the wind. Worked like a charm, just had to enter the name and the location. Of course this object should later become a proper windsock or so, but that way we can have FSX native objects rotating with the wind.
Click to expand...
Hi Arno,
thanks again for the help. Here is my first test to find a solution for the windsock, that also works in P3D. Click on the picture to see the video. I am still at the beginning but hope to use our windsock, we designed for FSX as a basis for the new windsock also for the P3D-version.
Hi ollyau,
did the test now with your pre alpha release, it works perfect. Would be great to get a condition for the windspeed, so that one can switch between different versions.
Great Job
Jörg
 
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Hi ollyau,
its a long time that there was no new message concerning your tool. Do you still work on your tool?
Jörg
 
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