News! - WorldTraffic 2.0.5 Released! Updated

[Stephen]

News! - WorldTraffic 2.0 Released! Updated 24th August 2015

Since the release of WorldTraffic 2.0 last week there has been an update posted for v2.0.5

v2.0.5 now allows Mac users to use the plugin as well as Windows users and there is a bug fix included as well but still a few outstanding known issues.

Notes:

Fixes:

• (2.0.1) Fixes some weird taxiing behavior on takeoff and planes taking off in the wrong direction.
• (2.0.2) Old Braking Model is fixed.
• (2.0.2) Fixed logged error with invalid flight plan index filling up log file.
• (2.0.2) Log aircraft being loaded at startup - a couple of users are reporting that X-Plane is crashing at startup when loading a specific aircraft.  If this happens, please send me a copy of the WorldTraffic.txt log file in the X-Plane/resources/plugins folder which logs the aircraft being loaded, and a copy of the aircraft that was being loaded at the time so I can send it to Laminar.
• (2.0.3) Fixed crashing problem on startup and with large number of flight plans in a single region folder.
• (2.0.3) Don't read SIDs/STARs if they're already loaded to speed up resynch time.
• (2.0.3) Randomize found stars before picking one so same approach is not always picked.
• (2.0.4) Code optimizations that should give a 25% frame rate increase at busy airports.
• (2.0.4) Fixed problem where route files in only one region folder would get loaded
• (2.0.5) Updated the code to run on the Mac

Known Issues 

• Sometimes you must resynch after starting X-Plane to get aircraft to start moving in the air.
• Random flight plan generator does not look yet at apt.dat files for custom scenery areas
• Approaches have not yet been parsed for Navigraph data.  STARs work fine and approaches generally work except for airports where the approach path between the final STAR waypoint and the airport follows a complicated approach path like at Kai Tak.  This is next on my list to add.

This is the full details of the v2.0 release of WorldTraffic and it is a huge significant update of the this exceptional plugin for X-Plane.

Details:

• Support for STAR approaches and SID departures using data provided from Navigraph specific to WorldTraffic.
• Support for custom approaches and departures for aircraft not using STARs or SIDS.  This will work well for custom traffic patterns or define approaches and departures into airports in mountainous areas.
• ATC Radar window to watch aircraft come and go from an airport (see threads elsewhere in this forum for screenshots)
• Airport Operations file so you can easily define what runways are in use at an airport based on wind conditions and time of day.  Runways can be configured to allows specific aircraft types and also approach types can be specified (eg RNAV, ILS CAT I, II, IIIa, IIIb, etc.) which are matched against the aircraft's nav equipment and ceiling and visibility to determine if an aircraft can land.  X-Plane flows didn't work as they don't have enough information and the airport operations file is much easier to define so you don't have to define 1000 flows in WED.
• Numerous changes to flight plan, aircraft definition, and ground route file formats to support changes requested by users.
• Airport and runway information is now read from all the custom scenery folders too and not just the main X-Plane apt.dat file.
• Fuel burn is now calculated for AI aircraft.  If you set the arrival and departure airports far apart, the AI planes will be taking off at a high takeoff weight and will accelerate slower, need a higher takeoff speed and will require a lot more runway than when flying only a short distance.
• Aircraft Callsign now can be defined in the flight plan. if you want to have custom flight numbers for your aircraft.  These get displayed on the new radar display.  If no callsign is entered, one is generated using the operator IATA name associated with the aircraft and using a random flight number between the flight number range also associated with the aircraft.
• Alternate Airport can now be defined in the flight plan.  If an AI aircraft can't land at an airport because the ceiling or visibility are below minimums or because a runway is not available due to excessive crosswinds, the runway being to short, or the aircraft not being allowed at the airport as defined in the airport operations file, the aircraft will be sent to the alternate airport.  This is to get around the problem of aircraft circling forever above the arrival airport if it can't land.  Aircraft will land at the alternate airport regardless of conditions just to get them on the ground.  If an alternate airport is not defined, aircraft will return to the departure airport if they can't land.
• Required runway length at MTOW can now be defined for specific aircraft.  Most of the time a selected runway works ok but sometimes when an aircraft is at MTOW the selected departure runway might be too short.  
• ATC enhancements to work with STAR approaches and SID departures so you can be vectored along these routes if your aircraft has a FMS.  
• Aircraft ground model enhancements.  Aircraft brake much more realistically now and generally take a lot more runway to slow down.  Aircraft can also turn a bit faster now at low speeds.  There are preferences to turn these features off if they break existing ground routes.  I'll obsolete those preferences in a few months to give people enough time to fix the existing ground routes.
• A lot more little flight model changes including adding a little turbulence when aircraft are going slow on approach so they don't always look like they're flying on rails in calm weather.  X-Plane turbulence and winds are already used by the flight model so if you set turbulence to a high value, the AI aircraft bounce around quite a bit.  I also watched several videos of landing aircraft to adjust how fast the nose wheel drops during landing, and when the reversers and speedbrakes are deployed and retracted during landing so that looks nicer now.  Climb angles have also been adjusted to be more realistic, especially after takeoff and a plane with a higher thrust:weight ratio will climb at a steeper angle.  Fighters of course can still do vertical departures.
• Code optimizations to improve performance.
• Dataref additions (including durian's)

There is a load of fixes and install information in WT 2.0 as well as noted :

Install the update as follows:

• Move the win.xpl file to here:  "X-Plane\resources\plugins\WorldTraffic\64" over the old file.
• Move the CustomAirportRoutingData folder to here:  "X-Plane\ClassicJetSimUtils"
• Move the LOWI.xml and CYVR.xml files to here:  "X-Plane\ClassicJetSimUtils\NavigraphData"
• Move LIVD_LOWI_Columbia.txt and LOWI_LIVD_Columbia.txt to here:  "XPlane\ClassicJetSimUtils\WorldTraffic\RouteFiles\LOWI"
• Move 747.txt and 747_400_BASE.txt to here:  "X-Plane\ClassicJetSimUtils\WorldTraffic\AircraftTypes".  This shows how you can create aircraft definition files, using a common base file so in this case, the 747.txt file only has a few lines related to the operator and the 747_400_BASE file has all of the aircraft definition parameters not related to operator.  You can download the updated 747 package from the World Traffic aircraft addons section here:  http://forums.x-plan...&showfile=19827

Fixes:

• (2.0.1) Fixes some weird taxiing behavior on takeoff and planes taking off in the wrong direction.
• (2.0.2) Old Braking Model is fixed.
• (2.0.2) Fixed logged error with invalid flight plan index filling up log file.
• (2.0.2) Log aircraft being loaded at startup - a couple of users are reporting that X-Plane is crashing at startup when loading a specific aircraft.  If this happens, please send me a copy of the WorldTraffic.txt log file in the X-Plane/resources/plugins folder which logs the aircraft being loaded, and a copy of the aircraft that was being loaded at the time so I can send it to Laminar.
• (2.0.3) Fixed crashing problem on startup and with large number of flight plans in a single region folder.
• (2.0.3) Don't read SIDs/STARs if they're already loaded to speed up resynch time.
• (2.0.3) Randomize found stars before picking one so same approach is not always picked.
• (2.0.4) Code optimizations that should give a 25% frame rate increase at busy airports.
• (2.0.4) Fixed problem where route files in only one region folder would get loaded

Features (2.0.1) (see updated manual online for more info):

• Custom approach and departure data should now go in the "CustomAirportRoutingData" folder.  This should be kept completely separate from the Navigraph data so it can be shared among users.
• Added a new field START_FLY_TO_COMPLETION to flight plans.  If this is set to 1, the route will be flown to  completion and a STAR will only be searched for during the last leg of the route instead of at any time.
• Set the taxiway name to 0 in ground route files if you don't want to display it and want comments after.

Route file changes:

• The LIVD to LOWI file was modified to use the Fly-to-Completion option so the aircraft doesn`t start looking for a custom arrival to LOWI until it has completed its route and is above the mountains.
• A custom departure was added for LOWI so that the plane will climb on the heading of the valley until reaching 10,000 feet before proceeding on course.

NOTE! You have to change all, yes all of Bluebell's aircraft to work with WT 2.0, and Jesus my god there is a lot to download...  As if you replace all the files listed you will have nearly 4200 aircraft of choice for WorldTraffic!

They can be found here: http://forums.x-plan...ads&showcat=157

You can purchase this excellent plugin here:

Yes! the updated WorldTraffic 2.0 plugin by Classic Jet Simulations is now available from the new X-Plane.Org Store here : WorldTraffic

- Price is US$24.95

 Stephen Dutton

 

22nd August 2015

 

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