Hi Greg, First of all, in case you haven't found it yet: Please check out the
http://wiki.flightgear.org/flightgear_wiki/index.php?title=Interactive_Traffic wiki page, as it may give you some additional pointers. Some additional answers below: > In the <trafficlist> XML file (is there a naming convention to > distinguish the various files that control the AI subsystem?), I have > specified the following: [SNIP] The file looks correct to me. I've never written one where all the data fields are specified on the same line, so that could be revealing a bug, but I suspect that that is not the case. > > Are the departure/arrival times specified as local time, or should they > be UTC? They should be UTC. As Innis suggested, That would be the first thing to check. > > I noticed (thanks to Melchior's strace idea) that Flightgear looks for > the file /usr/share/games/FlightGear/AI/FlightPlans/YMML-YSSY.xml. I > have not created this file. Is a flightplan file required for an AI > aircraft to fly? No, those are not actually needed. This is still a bit of a leftover from my initial testing. If the YMML-YSSY.xml file is not found, flight gear falls back to auto generating a flightplan. The idea was that users can create their own custom AI flightplans, which would take priority over the autogenerated ones. However, as I'm currently restructuring the flightplan autogeneration part, this idea is becoming largely obsolete, and should be replaced by something more sophisticated. However, the original code is still there. > > It also looks for the file > /usr/share/games/FlightGear/Airports/AI//YMML/rwyuse.xml. I have not > created this file. Is this file required for an AI aircraft to fly? > Where can I find documentation for this file? This file is not necessary. If present, it determines which runways should be used for takeoff / landing, and will allow you to set up a preferential runway use scheme. This will take into account factors such as per traffic type (ga, commercial, military) runway assignment, parallel landings / takeoff, separate runway use for inbound and outbound traffic, and crosswind and tailwind tolerances. Unfortunately, there is as of yet no official documentation available for this file. > > Does one of the node need to correspond to the takeoff point on the > runway, so that the AI aircraft knows how to travel from the gate to the > runway? If so, where do I find that takeoff point? I checked the > parking file for KSFO, and none of the nodes there corresponds to the > start of a runway. No that is currently not yet necessary. FlightGear determines which node is closest to the runway and generates a route from the gate to that node. This will very likely change soon in the current development version though... > > I tried removing the parking.xml file, but the AI aircraft is simply > drawn at the airport's origin and still doesn't move. That sounds correct. When the parking file is removed, a default parking position is created at the airport's center points. Admittedly, this can be a rather rediculous place, but the system is designed to continue running in such cases, not to look pretty. :-) > > I tried invoking FlightGear with and without the --enable-ai-models > flag; no difference. My guess is that --enable-ai-models is on by default. You do need AI models, otherwise you wouldn't even see the model sitting at the tarmac. > > What do I need to do to get the AI aircraft to fly? > My first guess would be the fact that you need to use UTC instead of local time. If that doesn't work, please let me know, and I'll try to give your sample file a closer inspection. Cheers, Durk ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by the 2008 JavaOne(SM) Conference Don't miss this year's exciting event. There's still time to save $100. Use priority code J8TL2D2. http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;198757673;13503038;p?http://java.sun.com/javaone _______________________________________________ Flightgear-users mailing list Flightgear-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/flightgear-users
