pilotgod
Trainee
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Posts: 47
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Post by pilotgod on Sept 21, 2009 12:31:20 GMT -5
After having adjusted airline and aircraft settings to make the aircraft as airliner as I can, I haven't had a "scheduled" flight appear in about three days. I get quite a few charters, but no scheduled. What I am wondering is what criteria I need to meet? I've adjusted the time constraints and the percentage and max number of charters available and all that did was cut it down to where ferrying was my only option. I've tried different aircraft and airports, even LAX and ORD are only giving me charters. I've read through the docs twice with no clear cut answer, so now I post here. I doubt this is a bug, but instead a user error, but it still has me flummoxed.
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Post by Dutch Owen on Sept 21, 2009 14:12:58 GMT -5
The key is to show up at the gate at the right time with the right size airplane, and have a time constraint wide enough to be sure the flight you're after appears.
You asking and me searching for the details of the answer reveals there are three factors that control this that I left off the airline definition page! From acme.cfg, they are:
ARRIVALMIN=10 ARRIVALMAX=45 GATEREADY=10
This means you as the pilot need to arrive at the airplane not earlier than 45 minutes before the scheduled departure time, and not later than 10 minutes before the scheduled departure. The gate will be ready for boarding 10 minutes before the scheduled time. You also need to be flying an airplane that matches the volume class for that flight.
So, find the flight you want to fly. Pick an airplane that matches the volume class. Set the sim time at the departure airport to, say,15 mins before that flight is scheduled to depart (times in the schedule are local time). Set your time constraint high to be sure you'll see the flight in case it's scheduled longer than the default of 2 hours.
The schedules are in the Airlines folder, for example acme_schedule.
The format is :
Flight=10,KSEA,KSFO,3,0600,0
Acme flight 10 departs KSEA at 0600 local time in a volume class 3 aircraft.
Volume classes match the aircraft characteristics tab and are:
0 = Tiny 1 = Small 2 = Medium 3 = Large 4 = Heavy
(I really need to allow access to the schedules from the Administrator.)
Setting your sim time to 0546 local at KSEA with a large airplane (a Connie is large I believe), and adjusting your time constraint to at least 3:00 (or enough to cover the flight in the speed plane you select) and you'll see flight 10 appear as available.
Hope this helps, Dutch
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pilotgod
Trainee
Chicks dig us, and guys think we're cool.
Posts: 47
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Post by pilotgod on Sept 22, 2009 1:40:34 GMT -5
Thanks, Dutch. I figured out everything except the aircraft size class. Trying to pick up flights in a Caravan or DC-3 wasn't hacking it. Now that I know the code, think I'll expand Acme's reach a little and open a hub in DFW.
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Post by thomas on Sept 28, 2009 15:20:32 GMT -5
I fly regularly as a realtime passenger, and after every flight I like to emulate it on FS9, down to the correct aircraft and schedule. How do I get FSC to give me the correct flight?
I'm aware that as a presently non-registered user I can only fly from the selected 'open' airports, but how will it work when I have registered and I want to fly a real-life scheduled flight, from say FADN to FAJS, with the correct aircraft? I'll be presented with a number of flights based on distance/flight time - where is FSC going to get all the applicable schedules?
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Post by Dutch Owen on Sept 28, 2009 18:12:33 GMT -5
FSC doesn't "get" any schedules at the moment -- they must be provided by the user. I've included some simple "sample" schedules with the six default airlines. I have a plan to read the AI flight plans from FS9 and FSX and generate schedule files from those for the fake default airlines.
The schedules FSC uses are simple text files in the FSCaptain 'Airlines' folder, with the name of the airline and the word "_schedule.txt" appended. For example, the "Pacifica airlines" schedule would be Pacifica_schedule.txt. Each line is a flight, in the format:
flight=XXXX,YYYY,Z,HHMM,0
Where XXXX is the departure airport, YYYY is the destination, Z is the airplane volume class (see a reply to pilotgod above for the numeric code, and HHMM is the scheduled departure time (local time). The zero will be used for expansion later.
If for example you wanted to fly a Delta flight 1143 from KSFO to KCLT leaving at 7:10 AM flying a 737-800, you'd create an airline named Delta in the Administrator with whatever parameters you want you Delta to use. Then create a text file in the FSCaptain\Airlines folder called "Delta_schedule.txt". In that have one line reading:
Flight=1143,KSFO,KCLT,3,0710,0
Then if you show up at KSFO at about 0655 in the morning in a 737-800 you should see this flight presented as available, assuming you expand your time constraint to about 5 hours to allow such a long flight to be presented to you.
In order for you to replicate your real-life flights you'd need to add lines to your schedule file then show up at the right time in the right airplane to fly them. It doesn't have to be the specific airline real-world of course. If you'd like to fly the route in the airplane but for Pacifica, or World, or Landmark or one of the other defaults, just add the appropriate line to the schedule file for that airline for each flight you want to make.
Hope this helps, Dutch
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pilotgod
Trainee
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Posts: 47
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Post by pilotgod on Sept 28, 2009 19:41:14 GMT -5
Dutch, I've only been able to get a few scheduled flights to appear, only charters. An example of this was trying to fly flight 138 from SEA to DAL in the Connie (a class 3 aircraft). The data line is Flight=138,KSEA,KDAL,3,1915,0. I started at KSEA at 6:45 and moved the time constraint from 7 hours (a nice tailwind) to 11 hours (headwinds kicking my a**) and only got a couple of charters listed. I think I've done everything correctly, but who knows, then it also might be my install is corrupt. Any suggestions are appreciated.
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Post by Dutch Owen on Sept 28, 2009 20:59:15 GMT -5
You are correct! ;D You found a bug. I've fixed the problem and am uploading a revised Fixpack right now.
I also, after considerable thought, revised the rules and now the 'time constraint' no longer applies to scheduled flights. If one is available to you in your current airplane you'll see it. Scheduled flights need to be easier to 'find' having to be there at the right time in the right airplane is enough!
Dutch
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pilotgod
Trainee
Chicks dig us, and guys think we're cool.
Posts: 47
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Post by pilotgod on Sept 29, 2009 10:44:00 GMT -5
LOL, thanks, Dutch.
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Post by thomas on Sept 30, 2009 14:18:56 GMT -5
OK, I get it. It seems quite easy to create one's own schedules to match the real-life schedules.
I'll give it a whirl (of the turbine rotor...)
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