AFLT gives me an "index out of range" error

[connomar]

Thanks Don, I will get right on it.

I have just seen a problem but didn't see at what point it happened, so I am trying to reproduce it. Every taxiway suddenly changed to green amber. I seem to be able to change them back without affecting that which I changed to green amber deliberately, so I will go through it a few more times.

 

[connomar]

Okay. Setting the taxiway to Green Amber works great, but something weird happens when the placement data is saved, the program shut down, and then started up again. Nearly all taxiways are currently showing up as Amber/Green even though I only set two that way. I tried changing a taxiway back to green only, but when reloading, it too was back to Amber/Green. Strangely, I have one small area which is still showing up all green, and if I select Edit Link Lighting, all three radio buttons are blank. However, changing one back to green generates a new line of lights, and the centerline lights cannot be turned off.

Hope this is helpful.

Martin

 

[gadgets]

Just noticed a small problem. If you Save Placement Data after creating alternating centerline lights and restart, the alternating lights don't appear. I've found and fixed the cause, but I'm not going to make another release at this time since you don't need to save the data to assess whether what the version I sent you meets the basic need.

Just so you know.

EDIT: Oops! Our posts crossed. I may have fixed that one too (but I doubt it). I'll been working with a single taxiway so wouldn'ty have seen the issue. I'll check

 

[gadgets]

Looks like the fix I made previously did fix both problems - at least for me.

 

[connomar]

Thanks Don, that seems to fix it. Is there a quick way to revert all the taxiways to green? I noticed a Revert to Stock button in the Edit Line of Lights dialogue, but it is in a strange position, so I assume that was for testing. Otherwise, could I search and replace Amber with Green on the placement xml file so I can start afresh?

Many thanks again for adding this feature.

Martin

 

[gadgets]

That "revert" button is permanent. It's just not connected to anything at the moment. Can I safely assume what you have so far is OK?

In addition to the "Revert" button, I'm also working on, among other things, a way for you to change centerline characteristics without destroying everything you've done with edge lines for the same taxiway.

But, it will be at least tomorrow before I'm done.

 

[connomar]

That "revert" button is permanent. It's just not connected to anything at the moment. Can I safely assume what you have so far is OK?

In addition to the "Revert" button, I'm also working on, among other things, a way for you to change centerline characteristics without destroying everything you've done with edge lines for the same taxiway.

But, it will be at least tomorrow before I'm done.

Yes, very happy with the changes. I will lay off it until you make those the adjustments to prevent edge lines being changed, as I have quite a time investment in fine tuning some of the edge lighting.

 

[connomar]

Hi Don,

I suspect this should be a new thread, but as I may be using a modified version of the current release, I hope you will understand me putting it here.

I have discovered that aprons, or at least one apron are/is disappearing when I purge the airport stock data.

Any ideas?

Martin

 

[gadgets]

Any ideas?

Not off the "top".

I should have a new version with alternating C/L lights in a few hours. Before using it you'll have to delete any tyest C/Ls you've done. (I'm using different flags now.)

I'll take a look at the new problem as soon as I post the next release. In the meantime, it may be helpful if I had your airport .bgl and a note telling me what to look for.

 

[connomar]

I hope a link will do so you can see the problem.

KORD-2020

Folder

1drv.ms

This contains the whole airport zipped + the .ad4 file, but not of course all the mdl files so not sure how much use that will be.

I have used aprons extensively to fill gaps where the taxiways need gussets (excuse me if that is the wrong term). I am concentrating on runway 10R-28L at the 10R end.

There are pre purge and post purge files in the scenery folder: KORD_MGC_2019.BGL and KORD_MGC_2019_Purged_FSX.BGL.

Understood regarding the deletion of experimental centerlines. As an aside, if I delete all the center lines from the current master ad4 file, then compile it and replace the reference copy with it, will that also remove the edge lighting I have already repositioned?

Martin

 

[gadgets]

All the new centerline functions have now been implemented. But, the amount of testing I have been able to do is minimal, so you may find the odd exception of other bug.

Along the way, I found a couple related minor issues (like being able to delete a taxiway edge line with no permanent record). But they shouldn't stop you from determining whether the attached is otherwise adequate. I'll fix them all prior to general release.

This took me a little longer than expected. Turns out, alternating the lights was the easy part. Doing so without affecting other existing lights was a little more difficult than I anticipated.

 

[connomar]

Many thanks Don. I'll try and document any further issues as I proceed.

Martin

 

[gadgets]

Martin. I am unable to find the area from the screenshots in the .AD4 file. Further, to my eye, the two screenshots you sent are identical.

Back to the ,ad4 file. You have made very sparing use of aprons aside from in the terminal area. By "aprons" in your earlier post do you mean the GP Lines. If so, the empty space has nothing to do with AFLT. Those a GPs and AFLT doesn't process GPs. And the purge process only purges lights.

Be aware that the ADE image - which is what I assume you used as a reference - can deviate quite significantly from the Flightsim presentation in corners.

 

[connomar]

So sorry Don, I mixed them up somehow. Hopefully this shows the problem. Position = 41.958815938 -87.927622593

There are 225 aprons, and although you will see some GP objects used as fillers, the texture doesn't really work as well as Aprons. If you list the aprons, there are only 3 with 22 vertices, and one of those was used in the illustration. I used to use lots of small ones, but I hit a 255 limit. Now I am trying to use them with a lot more vertices to minimize the count. Somehow, the purge process seems to be knocking them out. If you are able to execute the airport with the two bgl files I mentioned in the previous post, you should see what is happening at this location.

 

[connomar]

Hi Don,

Working through the task of removing centerlines, I am finding an average of three overlayed lines of lights in most cases. i.e. I click on the line to make it red, delete it, and have to repeat this another twice.

Martin

 

[gadgets]

Don't know how long you've been at this, but perhaps what happened is when you adjusted edge-lines, a new centerline was drawn in each case. That shouldn't happen any more.

An alternative to working on the screen one line at a time is for you to edit the Placements.xml file. Delete each entry including the string "type="Twy CtrLine"". When you restart AFLT, a single centerline should appear. You may have to delete the file LinkLights.xml in your project folder to make this happen.

Be sure to back up Placements.xml before you change anything in case neither approach produces acceptable results.

Back to the previous topic. I can now see that you have made more extensive use of aprons than I previously thought. I hadn't appreciated that I was looking at aprons on top of taxiways. Nonetheless, I still can't find the location of those screenshots on the .ad4 file you sent. In those screenshots, there's an east to west hold short to 10R but I see no such configuration in the .ad4 file.

 

[connomar]

Three years lol! But I only discovered your software around 6 months ago, which changed everything. Before that I was making shoulders semi transparent so the edge lights could be seen at all.


Here is a screen shot with annotation. The hold short you refer to was incorrect. It is meant to be set to Hold_short_no_draw. The FSX hold short line is not wide enough to reflect reality, so I used a GP line instead.

The apron that the screen shots relate to is highlighted in this shot. Purge cannot be removing all the aprons, or the main terminal area would be bare.

As I mentioned earlier, I think I have effectively worked around the problem by changing the reference file, so that has no edge or centerline lighting, negating the need to purge it.

If there is no obvious solution, please don't spend a lot of time on it. My strange ways of doing things may not be replicated by others.

Many thanks
Martin

 

[gadgets]

No wonder I couldn't find the location. The screenshots were rotated 90 deg.

It does appear that the purged file does not include all the aprons from the original .bgl.

Gee! And I was worried about sitting home idle this weekend.

 

[connomar]

No wonder I couldn't find the location. The screenshots were rotated 90 deg.

It does appear that the purged file does not include all the aprons from the original .bgl.

Gee! And I was worried about sitting home idle this weekend.

Sorry .....

 

[gadgets]

Martin, I've spent much of the afternoon working the purge issue. Surprisingly, I don't see any issue.

Starting with your KORD_MGC_2020.ad4., I deleted all the background images (because I don't have them), all the GPs (while I have your textures, I can't compile without Lines_Def.txt and Textures_Def.txt from your ADE folder - please send them along) and then compiled. I then used that .bgl as the airport reference file for AFLT. All the aprons were displayed in AFLT.

I then purged that file, placed it in a scenery folder together with the CVX file from the first compile and started FSX. All the aprons in the south-west corner were displayed. I then removed the CVX file to make sure it wasn't complicit. The aprons were still displayed.

I think I have confirmed to a reasonable degree that the current process when performed in the sequence and manner intended works. As for why the aprons were missing with the purged file for _2019, I would point out that AFLT is not displaying the aprons in the unpurged _2019 .bgl either.

From "here on in" you and I should be working with a known and fixed set of files. Since you have sent me the _2020 .ad4 file, I suggest we stick with it. Please send me the Textures_Def.txt and Lines_Def.txt noted above so that I may compile the _2020 .ad4 without any deletions.