Getting Started Guide & Model Matching Update

[Evan Reiter]

For several months, I have been meaning to overhaul the Model Matching instructions in our Getting Started Guide. Historically, we had instructions for people to use the WOAI Downloader/Installer to get the World of AI static aircraft library. Trouble is, the WOAI Installer, though quite smart in its execution, was made several years ago and doesn't play well with FSX:SE or P3D.

 

We have now included all of our model matching aircraft and liveries in a single installer. Configuring BVA Model Matching is now as easy as running the installer, downloading our .vmr file, and adding it to vPilot. In addition, I've updated the instructions to reflect the layout in vPilot 2.0.

 

From what I can tell, there's no longer an option to run a model matching test in vPilot, so I can't check the model matching rules for sure. However, I did test extensively at places like EGLL and KJFK and wasn't able to find any errors.

 

What would be very helpful is if someone who has P3D could download the new model matching aircraft for P3D (either the .exe or the .zip) and install it for testing. I did this with FSX:SE but don't have the capability to test it in P3D right now. If you have the old World of AI packages installed, please delete them before running the installer. What I'd like to see is whether there are any SimObjects errors when running P3D, or if the model matching does anything unexpected. There's a good chance that we'll have a duplicate or missing model in there somewhere, but I can't check that myself. For the .exe, click here.

 

Note: our .vmr file currently has rules that set any "unknown" aircraft to a U.S. model. For example, an Air France B772 will show up as a United B772 because the .vmr file was written when we only had U.S. liveries. If someone wanted to volunteer to add some rules, we can resolve the issue. Otherwise, I'll have it on my list for a future update. It's not a large amount of work and it's an easy re-upload so when the next one is ready, I'll let everyone know.

 

Anyone else who has some spare time to look through the new Getting Started Guide for something that seems to be missing: www.bvartcc.com/gettingstarted. Please let me know if you see anything that needs to be updated!

[Lantz Wagner]

As a P3D user, I'll get this loaded up straight away. Just to be sure I delete any old WOAI packages, would they be installed anywhere except the P3D/Sim Objects/Airplanes folder?

 

I'd volunteer to create "some rules" but I have no experience in doing so. If anyone can direct me to a source of learning, I'll give it a shot.

 

 

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[Evan Reiter]

As a P3D user, I'll get this loaded up straight away. Just to be sure I delete any old WOAI packages, would they be installed anywhere except the P3D/Sim Objects/Airplanes folder?

That should be where you'll find them. They all have a prefix like WOA_ or WOAI_ (something like that).

 

I'd volunteer to create "some rules" but I have no experience in doing so. If anyone can direct me to a source of learning, I'll give it a shot.

Awesome! Let me know how the install goes and once you have it, I could get together with you for a few minutes. It's a very easy process and 30-45 minutes of copying and pasting would get us a long way.

[Don Desfosse]

Can't you just use vmrgenerator to create a custom ruleset?

[Ross Carlson]

Evan, vPilot should recognize most (if not all) of the WoAI models automatically. If there are some that it is not recognizing, please let me know and I'll add them to vPilot's model database. After that, there should be no need for a custom vmr file for the WoAI models. (Obviously there may still be a need for a BVA vmr file if we make use of models and/or rules that are BVA-specific and not of any value to the general vPilot user base.)

[Lantz Wagner]

Ross, the problem some of us are having is in using the WOAI installer in P3D. In my case, it installs one or two airlines, then throws an error. I'm hoping Evans plan removes the necessity of installing WOAI aircraft. We will probably always need BVARTCC's list of aircraft so that it includes the Cape Air models plus P3D doesn't have the base list that FSX does.

 

 

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[Guest Danny Rice]

Are the new files FS9 based?  The old WoAI FS9 based AI conflicts with some addons. 

 

Thanks

 

Danny

[Evan Reiter]

Are the new files FS9 based?  The old WoAI FS9 based AI conflicts with some addons. 

The WOAI files are for FSX.

 

Can't you just use vmrgenerator to create a custom ruleset?

We looked at the originally but for whatever reason never had success with it. I haven't reviewed it recently because we haven't had the need to. We've already created the file, and (if we decide to expand it) would just need someone to add a few more rules for airlines like AFR, BAW, etc.

 

Evan, vPilot should recognize most (if not all) of the WoAI models automatically. If there are some that it is not recognizing, please let me know and I'll add them to vPilot's model database. After that, there should be no need for a custom vmr file for the WoAI models. (Obviously there may still be a need for a BVA vmr file if we make use of models and/or rules that are BVA-specific and not of any value to the general vPilot user base.)

I did some testing in FSX:SE with and without the vPilot model database (i.e., running our custom file vs. the vPilot files); admittedly, it wasn't particularly extensive. However, I found a few examples of places where BVA's VMR file helped. One was an aircraft (AFR7) filed an incorrect B772 type code. We have rules in place for this scenario. With our VMR file, he showed up as a UAL B77L, which is the livery we have used as the default aircraft. Without the VMR file, he showed up as a default, white A320. The same thing is in place for people who incorrectly use E175, E75S, etc.

 

We've also developed model matching for helicopters (not sure if the new vPilot model matching works for that) and an extensive list for general aviation aircraft that takes things like a BE60 and turns them into a BE58, if the pilot doesn't have a BE60 in its library. Similar story for military aircraft. How does vPilot's automated model matching deal with "similar" aircraft substitutions?

 

Having done 0 flying with vPilot 2.0, I don't really know how the model matching works outside of the very minimal testing I've done. Has it got those model matching rules in it too? If so, perhaps we need to think about shortening our VMR library or merging it with what vPilot already has. For example, I would think that the B772 logic I described above would be beneficial to the general vPilot public too. As always, I'm more than willing to share, Ross.

 

[Lantz Wagner]

I've installed both downloads and connected vPilot without getting any errors. There were a few airliner overflights nearby at the time but the better test will be during one of our events.

 

I thought I'd post a picture of the contents of my P3D/Sim Objects folder. The only payware aircraft I've added are the Alabeo C404, the Flight1 B200, and the Carenado Phenom 300. P3D doesn't have as many aircraft to draw on as FSX. Conspicuously missing is a C-172!

 

 

 

 

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[Lantz Wagner]

Here is the folder content.

 

 

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[Ross Carlson]

I did some testing in FSX:SE with and without the vPilot model database (i.e., running our custom file vs. the vPilot files); admittedly, it wasn't particularly extensive. However, I found a few examples of places where BVA's VMR file helped. One was an aircraft (AFR7) filed an incorrect B772 type code. We have rules in place for this scenario. With our VMR file, he showed up as a UAL B77L, which is the livery we have used as the default aircraft. Without the VMR file, he showed up as a default, white A320. The same thing is in place for people who incorrectly use E175, E75S, etc.

 

Gotcha ... so you're using model matching rules to create type-specific default models. Makes sense. I personally hate to see the wrong airline livery shown on an aircraft, so I prefer to just see a plain white model, so that it's obvious that it's a mismatch. One reason for this is because if ground control tells me to follow the Air France triple 7, and I see a United triple 7, I'm going to keep looking for the Air France.

 

Ideally we'd have a plain white model for each aircraft type, but that just isn't the case, so I default to the A320 or the CRJ.

 

We've also developed model matching for helicopters (not sure if the new vPilot model matching works for that)

 

It works the same for helis as it does for fixed wing.

 

and an extensive list for general aviation aircraft that takes things like a BE60 and turns them into a BE58, if the pilot doesn't have a BE60 in its library. Similar story for military aircraft. How does vPilot's automated model matching deal with "similar" aircraft substitutions?

 

The model matching database that vPilot downloads from the server contains a list of similar aircraft types. (This was in a text file in V1.) vPilot makes use of the similar types as described in this section of the docs:

 

http://vpilot.metacraft.com/Documentation2.aspx#model-matching-rules

 

The last few paragraphs there describe the multiple passes vPilot makes through the rules, first starting with the actual filed type code, then if no matches are found, it makes another pass checking for matches using similar type codes.

 

I will add BE60 as a similar code to the BE58.

 

Having done 0 flying with vPilot 2.0, I don't really know how the model matching works outside of the very minimal testing I've done. Has it got those model matching rules in it too? If so, perhaps we need to think about shortening our VMR library or merging it with what vPilot already has. For example, I would think that the B772 logic I described above would be beneficial to the general vPilot public too. As always, I'm more than willing to share, Ross.

 

For the reason I mentioned above, I don't want to add automatic matching rules that would result in a UAL B772 being used for an AFR B772. That's really something the individual user should decide on, so a custom vmr file is certainly appropriate there.

 

I was mainly wondering if you had identified some WoAI models that vPilot didn't know about and was thus not making use of via automatic matching. Doesn't sound like that's the case.

[Ross Carlson]

Evan, I found that BE60 is already in the similar type code list for BE58. Did you run into a situation where vPilot would not use a BE58 model when a BE60 was encountered?

[Evan Reiter]

I've installed both downloads and connected vPilot without getting any errors. There were a few airliner overflights nearby at the time but the better test will be during one of our events.

 

Great! Thanks for the update. Glad to see both the P3D and FSX files seem to be working well.

[Evan Reiter]

Gotcha ... so you're using model matching rules to create type-specific default models. Makes sense. I personally hate to see the wrong airline livery shown on an aircraft, so I prefer to just see a plain white model, so that it's obvious that it's a mismatch. One reason for this is because if ground control tells me to follow the Air France triple 7, and I see a United triple 7, I'm going to keep looking for the Air France.

 

Ideally we'd have a plain white model for each aircraft type, but that just isn't the case, so I default to the A320 or the CRJ.

Yeah, there's some user preference there. From my side, I'd rather at least see a Triple 7, which is correct for wake turbulence and type, than a white A321. That being said, one of the reasons I'd like to see the extra rules added to our VMR file is so that we reduce the number of those instances.

 

I was mainly wondering if you had identified some WoAI models that vPilot didn't know about and was thus not making use of via automatic matching. Doesn't sound like that's the case.

That I wouldn't know about at this stage, as I haven't done that kind of testing.

 

Evan, I found that BE60 is already in the similar type code list for BE58. Did you run into a situation where vPilot would not use a BE58 model when a BE60 was encountered?

I was just using that as an example. I didn't run into that situation specifically.

 

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Perhaps the best way to proceed will be for BVA to rely on vPilot's model matching for the majority of our stuff, but then to add in the custom lines that type code an "unknown" B772 to a default livery, as we've done in the past. It seems to me that matching a DAL B737 to a DAL B737 is covered well in vPilot 2.0 already, so there may no longer be a need to have those rules in place.

[Ross Carlson]

Yeah, sounds good.

[Evan Reiter]

Ross, does vPilot 2.0 have a testing capability for model matching rules?

[Ross Carlson]

Ross, does vPilot 2.0 have a testing capability for model matching rules?

 

No, it does not. I plan to bring that feature back at some point to allow testing of custom rule sets and to help people find corrupt models that cause the sim to crash.