While working on some new AI Traffic Flight Plans in FS9 I am noticing that a number of the stock airport ICAO codes have changed in the real world.
Does anyone have a best practice recommendation for updating / changing this information? Is it worth the time and effort or am I just better with a spreadsheet solution?
Any assistance is greatly appreciated.
Mat
Best Practice Question
Re: Best Practice Question
In truth, the answer lies on who you are making the plans for?
If they are purely for yourself then it is completely up to you. The reason is that if you were to change the plans to the new ICAO then you would need to amend your afcads accordingly or the plans don't work.
For example if you were to alter anything going to MCAS Yuma from the default KYUM to the actual KNYL then unless you have an afcad that the sim recognises as KNYL then nothing shows up. If you are creating plans for a wider audience then they need to have the new ICAO afcads as well.
In reality this means that either you leave them as they were or supply amended afcads with your plans.
I have made changes myself to afcads e.g. altering the cunningly named X3UL to EGUP for RAF Sculthorpe. The tip I would give you is that you had better have a proggy like 'SearchMyFiles' that can search text files for a given phrase to ensure that you trap all occurrences in all of your Flightplan and Airport txt files to enable you to make all changes.
If they are purely for yourself then it is completely up to you. The reason is that if you were to change the plans to the new ICAO then you would need to amend your afcads accordingly or the plans don't work.
For example if you were to alter anything going to MCAS Yuma from the default KYUM to the actual KNYL then unless you have an afcad that the sim recognises as KNYL then nothing shows up. If you are creating plans for a wider audience then they need to have the new ICAO afcads as well.
In reality this means that either you leave them as they were or supply amended afcads with your plans.
I have made changes myself to afcads e.g. altering the cunningly named X3UL to EGUP for RAF Sculthorpe. The tip I would give you is that you had better have a proggy like 'SearchMyFiles' that can search text files for a given phrase to ensure that you trap all occurrences in all of your Flightplan and Airport txt files to enable you to make all changes.
Steve
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TimC340
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Re: Best Practice Question
Airfield ICAO codes may have changed in the real world, but they haven't in all versions of our sims up to and including P3Dv4.5! Airfields such as Sculthorpe never appeared in FS9 and later as they'd already been closed for some time when the sim was released. Addon scenery makers came up with a naming convention that adopted the X codes (among others) for some of these airfields, whereas others did the research and used the original ICAO codes that were valid up till closure.
AIFP will allow you to change the ICAO codes on your flight plans if you wish - it's a straightforward text swap in the text version of the flight plans - or, if you're converting from FS9 or FSX flight plans to P3Dv5 (which did implement changed ICAO codes for active airfields) it will automatically change those codes to the current one.
If you try to change the ICAO code from an out of date one to a new one on an active airfield that has a stock entry in your sim, you will need to provide a file that 'deletes' the stock entry. Essentially, you have to overwrite the stock entry with an airfield with no runways, taxiways or buildings, and with its approaches and radio aids displaced to somewhere you'll never go. You can then add a 'new' airfield with the whatever ICAO code you want - look at my Finningley for an example (EGXI vs the various sims' EGCN).
Is it worth doing? As Steve says, it depends who it's for. If it's for you, and you want to do it because you want your sim to be as accurate as possible for the period you are representing, go ahead - could be a lot of work, though! If it's for traffic files for distribution, I wouldn't bother unless it's for a specific scenery where the author has used a different code from other authors of scenery for that airfield.
AIFP will allow you to change the ICAO codes on your flight plans if you wish - it's a straightforward text swap in the text version of the flight plans - or, if you're converting from FS9 or FSX flight plans to P3Dv5 (which did implement changed ICAO codes for active airfields) it will automatically change those codes to the current one.
If you try to change the ICAO code from an out of date one to a new one on an active airfield that has a stock entry in your sim, you will need to provide a file that 'deletes' the stock entry. Essentially, you have to overwrite the stock entry with an airfield with no runways, taxiways or buildings, and with its approaches and radio aids displaced to somewhere you'll never go. You can then add a 'new' airfield with the whatever ICAO code you want - look at my Finningley for an example (EGXI vs the various sims' EGCN).
Is it worth doing? As Steve says, it depends who it's for. If it's for you, and you want to do it because you want your sim to be as accurate as possible for the period you are representing, go ahead - could be a lot of work, though! If it's for traffic files for distribution, I wouldn't bother unless it's for a specific scenery where the author has used a different code from other authors of scenery for that airfield.
Re: Best Practice Question
Appreciate the input Steve and Tim...
It is strictly for myself and is related to some non-military AI that I have been integrating into my setup, hence the periodic encounters with ICAO changes at civilian airports. Not a huge issue at the moment other than having to go into the sim to cross check and identify what ICAO to use on those with the changes.
Mat
It is strictly for myself and is related to some non-military AI that I have been integrating into my setup, hence the periodic encounters with ICAO changes at civilian airports. Not a huge issue at the moment other than having to go into the sim to cross check and identify what ICAO to use on those with the changes.
Mat