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P3D v3 Creating persistent moving carriers

Messages
7
Country
australia
Hi all,

this may be a silly question and may even have been answered before, but I've not found a solution yet.

Here's what I want to achieve:
  • A carrier has a preset course, and the current position is continuously updated on a phpVMS server by using a chron script.
  • I fly to the carrier, land and park in a spot, then close down the sim.
  • The ACARS system I'm running reports the presence of my plane in that spot, and that fact is stored in the database.
So far, so good. This is the stumper.
  • When I start up the game next, I load my aircraft into the Sim. When I start my ACARS, my aircraft spawns on the carrier, wherever it may be in the world, with my plane in the right spot (at the right altitude.); and
  • The carrier has a number of 'spots' for aircraft parking - like a land base. I don't think that this is the case.
SkippyBing from flyingstations.com has a neat utility that lets you warp to the carrier in a spot you choose, but it's a bit fiddly to use, and doesn't always plop you in the right spot. I haven't tried it in multiplayer, either - not sure how it would go with getting the CV to alter course if lots of people were landing on.

I'm looking for something more automatic.

Any suggestions and pointers gratefully received.

Mike
 

=rk=

Resource contributor
Messages
4,450
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us-washington
You know what? I joined the website, I searched the forum and although SkippyBing is a frequent contributor, I could find nothing about any carrier warping software and with a link like the one you provided, it essentially does not exist. I would like to see what you saw and see how that relates to your questions, I'd like the software to exist, or at least explore the idea of it. Please provide a link if at all possible.

You would want to have a thorough working knowledge of the sim and how things like ATC and AI vehicles work. It is so far outside the structure of traditional flight simulator airports, that nearly all aspects of the session would have to be stored in an external software module and those aspects would have to be reestablished within the sim upon the next session. Also, all members of a multiplayer session would have to run the same software module to get the cv within their simulator to conform to the cv the host is using. As an example, a host does not run a multiplayer session within his computer. A host calls a session, which is then shared amongst participants, each running a version within his own computer.
Beyond that, I have seen software that is similar to what you describe, but I believe it is from a different source.
 
Messages
7
Country
australia
Try this: http://z13.invisionfree.com/Flying_Stations/index.php?showtopic=367

I recognise that I’m thinking outside the box. It turns out I live there most of the time. :(

Maybe a more relevant question is how or whether you establish AI traffic on a multiplayer server. Could you have a virtual player logged on and controlling the carrier as required/all the time? Would that server need to be running a simulator, or just providing data to the MP server?
 

=rk=

Resource contributor
Messages
4,450
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us-washington
Ok, 281 downloads since 2013, with no updates is not encouraging, but that is ok, because the software only does what you can already do in the sim - and his software can never position aircraft in parking spots, but you can. You'll want to understand that everything is "projected" into the sim. That is what they mean about the render catching up, on those occasions the cv scene has not been fully rendered. So, to run a multiplayer session, all members must project the same scenario, in order to share it. There can be a director, the host, but the directions have to be prompt and arrive before the player or simulator has to act instead.
I recommend you explore the creation and activation of AI boat traffic files to understand the concepts involved. You needn't become skilled at writing them, I think the software CCP by FSX@WAR will fulfill your placement needs, then simply develop a chart for every carrier you use. Simply slew around the deck and record the geographical coordinates for each parking spot. When you have all the data you can remove the world location offset and have an absolute map for the deck of the boat and it will be pretty easy to establish a relationship between this map and what is considered the center of the boat when it is moved. Now you can go into your simulator flight set up and instead of selecting an airport, select the geographic coordinate of where the ship is, adjusted for the parking spot you've selected, don't forget to set the appropriate elevation.
 
Messages
7
Country
australia
Thanks Rick, I’ll look at that some more. Skippy’s software does actually have some other useful functions - such as getting the fleet to move into flying stations when ordered, then turn back onto course when secured from flying stations. It’s nifty and I wish he had time to continue development.

I like your idea of mapping and storing the parking spots relative to the deck, and that’s a keeper, frankly.

What I’m aiming for is a multi player game world in which objects like Carriers persist, rather than being spawned for the mission. So I think that means having some sort of interface between the VMS server and the MP server, so that the position of the carrier group updates in realtime (or if anybody’s looking, rather than on demand. So effectively the director is always awake and online.

Once you have that sorted, then the concept of a ‘mission’ file becomes somewhat less relevant. For example, a slung load would appear on the deck if the server said there was one there, and could be moved to it’s destination using a chopper. At which point it would disappear.
 

=rk=

Resource contributor
Messages
4,450
Country
us-washington
You'll want to remember that the sim is essentially single player, a virtual man sitting in a seat that the whole world gets composed around. As long as placement data for the sling load is conveyed to all participants, they will be able to see and interact with it. In later versions of the sim, there is "SimDirector," which is designed to compose these sorts of situations for training purposes. FSX is conducive to outside modules that control every aspect of placement and presentation, so what you describe is possible, it is just that the simulator does not have the dedicated framework, your situation is too unique and specific, so'll you will have to adapt existing modules like CCP, or write your own. There are people who frequent this forum that do that sort of thing quite well, I'm sure they would be glad to give feedback on your developments.
 
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