FellowMe is crazy

[mroschk]

Hello,

today i pick the right Moment to record a Video of the Fellowme car which drives a bit crazy ( maybe the Driver is drunken :-) )

I upload the Video to Google and hope you have some tips what can be wrong.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzwrlDHodbwvQndTQUotYkNsMmc/view?usp=sharing

Hope it works..

It happens not only in EDDP as also at other Airports, but not all.
I also send you the log file ( no err file was saved by GSX ) and some files which are used by GSX ( i found them in the log file )

Maybe it helps to find that error.

I remeber that this did not happen a while ago, but sorry, i dont know how Long ago.
Also i use the latest Prepar3D v3.1.
Gsx is reinstalled today and after starting the sim there was a message that the Airport Cache is created.

thx

[virtuali]

There's no "error" whatsoever, and the message about the Follow Me aborted for safety reason is NOT a mistake and it's obviously intentional, and it has been discussed so many times on the forum, and you can even turn off that feature (as discussed on the forum AND on the Couatl release notes).

http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php/topic,12587.msg95760.html#msg95760

[mroschk]

and the message about the Follow Me aborted for safety reason is NOT a mistake

i dont understand that, sorry.
What did that mean?

Have you see the Video? Have you seen the Fellow Me turning around the Airplane ?
That is the question...why is the Fellow Me doing that?

Ps.: What is the Fellow Me flee ??

[mroschk]

in the ideo you see the both Problems.

The first starts at ~ 3:08
   Here the Fellow Me turns around the Airplane --- Why ?
The secon starts at ~ 3:45
   Here the Fellow Me drives away and did not wait for me --- Why ?

[virtuali]

Have you see the Video? Have you seen the Fellow Me turning around the Airplane ?  That is the question...why is the Fellow Me doing that?

My reply was an explanation to the Follow me "flee" function, because I took time to see your video carefully enough to check that your "problem", was just the correct execution of the Follow me "flee" FEATURE, which was confirmed by the "Follow me aborted for safety reasons" message, which shows in your video.

In the thread I linked, which I'll copy again here:

http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php/topic,12587.msg95760.html#msg95760

Is clearly explained this is not an error, it's a program feature, which simulates the car FLEEING from you, because it has estimated you might crash into it in the next seconds, based on your approach speed and acceleration.

And, you would have known how to DISABLE IT, if you don't like it, which (as I've said) was explained BOTH in the same thread I posted AND in the Couatl Live Update release notes.

But of course, users that took their time to learn about it, found the following ( same thread ):

Well what I have discovered, is that the follow me car, seems to frequently stop, usually where the taxi lines go in different directions. I then very slowly go closer while it is stopped, until it starts to move again. I think I am much too close to the car at this point, but if I creep up at a couple of miles per hour,  eventually it starts moving again and then eventually accelerates to normal speed. So far , in doing this, it has led me to the ramp each time.

And, from the same user:

Update on the follow me car issue. Since I have been using my new method, I have zero problems with the follow me car.

1. When the car pulls up to your aircraft, it may be very close, as it makes a you turn to lead you, and then it will stop. It is waiting for your aircraft to start moving toward it before it begins it's trip to the ramp. When you start your aircraft, go very , very slowly until the follow me car starts rolling. If it slows town at a turn or intersection, make sure you slow way down too, so you don't run too close to it. As long as you keep your distance, once the car is rolling, it will lead you to the ramp each and every time.

But again, if you don't want to deal with it, the feature can be disabled. Of course, this was linked too in my reply, but I'll repeat it again here:

The FollowMe "flee" function can be disabled by setting the followme_disable_flee = 1 line in the [GSX] section of the %APPDATA%\Virtuali\Couatladdons.ini

[mroschk]

Hello,

thanks a lot for explaining that.

But what about the second Problem?
The Fellow Me is driving away so far from me ?

[virtuali]

But what about the second Problem?
The Fellow Me is driving away so far from me ?

It's driving away *because* it's fleeing.

Or, might drive away simply because you were too close to it. Not enough to be "dangerous" ( so the "aborted for safety reasons" message didn't came out ), but enough to have the car trying to going around your plane.

Again, this is totally intentional, and it simply means you were too close to it. Just follow from a bit farther away.

[mroschk]

Hello,

thanks a lot.

I will first try to be not so Close and if that not works i will try to disable this Feature.

Thanks for the help

[Bruce Hamilton]

I just watched the video, the follow me vehicle began to make a left turn and when the plane began to turn left, the follow me vehicle made a sweeping right turn, reversed direction, drove under the plane and split.  He never got anywhere near the follow me vehicle, it tripped it's own code to flee.

[mroschk]

Hello,

exatly what i had, but i dont want again a endless discussion.

Thanks for watching my Video carefully!!

For me the logic how the Fellow Me drives is wrong.
It has ( in my oppinion ) to hold a desired distance to the Plane.
If the plane goes faster the Car has to drive faster. If the Plane becomes slower, the car has to  drive
slower.
But that is only my oppinion.

[virtuali]

If the plane goes faster the Car has to drive faster. If the Plane becomes slower, the car has to  drive slower.

That's obviously what already does but, of course, it's even more complex than that: it also stops if you are TOO far away and waits for you (which is of course the correct course of action), and it flees away if it has calculated that, based on YOUR current speed and acceleration and ITS OWN acceleration, it wouldn't be able advert a collision "just" by "driving faster", because it simply cannot. So, it doesn't have any other choice than to escape.

AND, of course, there's ANOTHER check, which is not related to speed and acceleration, and it's just if you go to close to it, it will try to GO AROUND YOU, but without fleeing and aborting the service, and this is also CORRECT, because it's made to prevent situations where YOU are in between the only possible route to the destination (which depends on the airport), because there are no other taxiways to choose, and the only way is to GO AROUND your plane.

THIS last check cannot obviously "disabled", because it might result in you cornering the Follow Me car with no alternative route.

So, I'll repeat it again to make it more clear:

- If you see the "Follow me car aborted for safety reasons" message, it means it flee because it calculated a collision based on your distance, speed and acceleration. THIS CAN BE DISABLED

- If you don't see the message, but you have the Follow me car going around you 180 degrees, it's because you simply were too close to it, regardless of acceleration or speed, and this CANNOT and SHOULD NOT be disabled.

[mroschk]

it also stops if you are TOO far away and waits for you

If you look for my Video it is not doing that !
You see it drives away...so i dont know what you are writing here

The other ( if i am too Close ) i will disable next time.

But i can not understand your first Statement !!?? ( soo PLS LOOK FOR MY VIDEO ... i did that specially for you to better explain what the Fellow Me does !!    )

[virtuali]

If you look for my Video it is not doing that !

It doesn't do that, because you never were THAT far away to trigger a "wait for you" behavior.

[mroschk]

It doesn't do that, because you never were THAT far away to trigger a "wait for you" behavior.

What You did not really mean that.

At Position 3:40 the Fellow Me ( FM ) drives under the Aircraft und then away from me. At this time i increase
the Speed to follow the FM. But , you know, the B738 is not a Porsche. It takes a while until i can become faster.
But the FM is very very far a way shortly after passing the Aircraft.

What would you say to me,,,,i am sorry but that is not thru.

Pls look my Video more carefully !!

[virtuali]

What You did not really mean that.

Of course I mean it. It's you that really don't seem to understand. Let's try again, step by step:

I said:

it also stops if you are TOO far away and waits for you

To THIS, you replied with:

If you look for my Video it is not doing that !

OF COURSE it doesn't do that, you are TOO CLOSE in your video, NOT TO FAR!!! Which is why, it wouldn't make any sense for you to expect the "waits for you" behavior, which is what I was referring to, and that you said "is not doing that".

Do you understand NOW ?

At Position 3:40 the Fellow Me ( FM ) drives under the Aircraft und then away from me. At this time i increase
the Speed to follow the FM. But , you know, the B738 is not a Porsche. It takes a while until i can become faster.

You STILL don't understand, yet you keep saying "see my video"!!

As I've already explained, quite clearly, in YOUR video, the problem was you were following the car from TOO CLOSE. THIS triggered the "Follow me car aborted for safety reasons" message, which ABORTS the service!

Once you see THAT message, you cannot follow the car anymore.

The service is ( as the message says ) ABORTED, meaning TERMINATED.  When the service is terminated, the car will go FASTER than the "normal" follow me speed because, as the message says, you are not supposed to follow it anymore, since the service is terminated now. And is not going to the parking you selected, it will simply go away to a random parking at the fastest speed it can reach. It won't wait anymore for you, because there's NO SERVICE at that stage.

I'll repeat it again: once you see the "Follow me car aborted for safety reasons", which you HAVE seen in your video, you have no chance to catch it, and you are not supposed to, so what you saw it's entirely NORMAL and INTENDED.

But again, for the 3rd time, you CAN disable this feature.