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PAPI SeparationPlane Limits

6maynew

6maynew

Messages
139
Country
unitedkingdom
Hi Jeffrey

Is there a limit to how far out the separation plane is calculated? I'm well within the 12km radius and my PAPIs have decided to go completely red (when slewing away from them) even though they were completely white moments prior. This is further tested by going vertically upward once they are all red and observing that they remain red (when they should be white). The limit I am seeing seems to be between 3-4nm as during a test flight I was well on the glide path before they suddenly changed from all red to 2x red and 2x white as expected.
 
6maynew

6maynew

Messages
139
Country
unitedkingdom
Hi Jeffrey

Understand you're probably busy, but is there is any feedback on the above?

Thanks
 
6maynew

6maynew

Messages
139
Country
unitedkingdom
Hi Gareth

Thanks for responding but I'm not sure what the links are for? As a pilot I'm aware of how PAPI units work if you posted the links to help me understand them better. The issue is more that the PAPIs used with SODE's separation plane are all red, no matter your height above the glidepath, at 5nm out which is not correct.
 
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G

gfxpilot

Resource contributor
Messages
370
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unitedkingdom
OK didn't see references in the post to your using SODA but noted it in the forum name .
 
12bPilot

12bPilot

Messages
611
Country
switzerland
Hi!

Are we talking about FSX? In that sim, the update of the object's (visual) state is depending on the bounding box/model radius. This limitation doesn't seem to exist in P3D.
Also animations are affected if you are too far away from the object, they just stop visually, while the internal variables are still being updated in the background.

To fix this, you can enlarge the model radius to a large value in ModelConverterX's "MDLTweaker", that's the easiest way.
 
6maynew

6maynew

Messages
139
Country
unitedkingdom
Hi Jeffrey

Thanks for your reply. I'll give the model radius a go as I suspect that's likely the cause.
 
6maynew

6maynew

Messages
139
Country
unitedkingdom
Hi Jeffrey

I tried making the bounding box bigger by adding a plane to the model of 50000x50000. This did nothing to help.

I then altered the white light with MDL Tweaker and this caused the white light to never show, even right up close.

There are LODs associated with the lights themselves but I've removed them to rule it out and the issue persists.

EDIT: I exported the red light with the HIDE flag enabled (instead of the display flag) and found that within the 5nm "limit" the light turns white/red as expected. However, outside of the limit where I've been getting the issue, the light simply disappears. It's almost like the hide/display flags fail to work outside of this limit, as I would expect that a light with the hide flag would still show regardless of distance away until the hide/display flag change is requested. Also when you are outside of the limit and zoom in, the flags start working again.

EDIT 2: Ok it looks like LODs are the issue. The bounding box solves the issue only when there are no LODs; once they are introduced the model is always stuck at the smallest size and the flags no longer work once the LOD changes. This is even with the model exported with the dummy anim. I've had to remove the LODs completely from the PAPIs and they now work fine except they are quite large when right up close. Compromise I suppose. MIPMAPs are still working so that helps.
 
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