AES support?

[virtuali]

But without AES it is a showstopper for me too. And an improved GSX cannot be expected soon.

GSX is not very far away, and we believe what it has to offer, even in the initial release, which will be free to use at our airports, will far compensate the fact that it will still use the FSX default jetway animation system, which might be a target for improvement in its future releases.

And, although GSX works automatically at every airport, it HAS the ability to be specially optimized for a specific airport, and KLAX has already been made taking into account this. We'll need to have an important airport specifically tailored for GSX to showcase it as best as possible, and there's no better choice right now than KLAX.

[mwilk19]

Another rude prospective customer

 I wonder if real airline pilots even really watch them extend or retract, or if they can even see them from the cockpit? I doubt it.

Sean,
         On most aircraft the captain can see the jetway operator, but they only look if the gate agent is attractive!

[mikeyman]

I can only agree. Was same for me.
No AES......No KLAX.
Sorry for my bad English.

greeting

Michael

[virtuali]

I can only agree. Was same for me. No AES......No KLAX.Sorry for my bad English.

GSX will offer you similar functions, way better graphics, sounds and animations, and will free to use at KLAX.

[theshack440]

But without AES it is a showstopper for me too. And an improved GSX cannot be expected soon.

GSX is not very far away, and we believe what it has to offer, even in the initial release, which will be free to use at our airports, will far compensate the fact that it will still use the FSX default jetway animation system, which might be a target for improvement in its future releases.

And, although GSX works automatically at every airport, it HAS the ability to be specially optimized for a specific airport, and KLAX has already been made taking into account this. We'll need to have an important airport specifically tailored for GSX to showcase it as best as possible, and there's no better choice right now than KLAX.

Umberto, out of curiosity, are you able to tell us what kinds of special KLAX specific things you guys are putting in to GSX? I am very much looking forward to GSX and now that KLAX is out I'm wondering what you guys have in mind.

[virtuali]

Umberto, out of curiosity, are you able to tell us what kinds of special KLAX specific things you guys are putting in to GSX? I am very much looking forward to GSX and now that KLAX is out I'm wondering what you guys have in mind.

Although GSX is automatic, it's likely there will be specific issues depending on the airport configuration.

Take B50 at KLAX for example, the normal Pushback direction for all the parkings on the same row would be "Right", so you'll end up with aircraft nose pointed towards the exit, and this is how is configured in our AFCAD, just like the default AFCAD, so GSX would normally read that info, and act in consequence OR present the user a Left/Right choice, if the parking is labeled as "Both".

But B50 is special, because it's the first parking in that row, and it's too close to the wall so, a "Right" Pushback that would orient the airplane correctly towards the exit, would result in the airplane going being pushed inside the wall, and a "Left" Pushback would result in the wrong orientation for the exit, facing the wall.

For those special cases, GSX can have its specific "FSDT KLAX" configuration file, that will tell in this case not to use the standard algorithm to find the path, but go to a specific AFCAD node, for example the one at the exit.

Other airport-specific customizations includes the ability to specify parking size restrictions (overriding the AFCAD size) in order not to place service vehicles inside buildings, the availability of specific Visual docking aids at certain gates, etc.

And, we can also specify the handling operator for each airport (if we want), and having vehicles with different liveries at every airport, it's just a matter of providing the operator logos, without having to repaint the model entirely, so it's also easy to do, even for users.

All these customizations can be linked to a specific AFCAD so, we can configure GSX differently depending on which scenery for a specific airport is installed, and this is valid for both default airports and any 3rd party airport, without requiring any interaction or special support from the original developer. In fact, even the current version of ParkMe already comes with a customization made for FlyTampa's Hong Kong, which adds some Docking System there, and this was just ParkMe in its current status: the GSX customization features are far more advanced.

[theshack440]

Sounds very cool. I was thinking about the gates where there's a wall to one side and how one would be pushed back from them. Very clever. Can't wait.

[duckbilled]

I have to agree that I would like AES for KLAX but it isn't a showstopper - I already bought KLAX.

I think the main issue is with the jetways - that's one area where AES shines. I think a modification of the default animation would be a good idea for GSX but the double and triple jetways need to be animated as well. Even if KLAX was AES'd, we wouldn't get the double and triple jetways because it is my understanding that FSDT has never separated the 2nd and 3rd jetways from the terminal which means that they are not animated at the FSDT airports with AES (I have not checked every airport but I believe Oliver stated this at one time).

When AES v2 is released, I am sure it will be improved quite a bit. It is expected to have a lot of new features and I fully expect to use GSX and AES at the same time. I love AES but I don't like that it is not available everywhere (for obvious reasons). For the non AES airports, GSX will be great.

Umberto, since GSX is so close, is it possible to post an updated list of the features in the GSX backdoor forum? Right now, the features are buried in a 156 post thread and I am not really clear on what it will include. Is it in beta? Will it have left side cargo loaders? Will the pushback be fully automated? Will their be a utility for configuring the exits? Maybe if there was something more concrete, people may be more comfortable with waiting for GSX.

[virtuali]

I think the main issue is with the jetways - that's one area where AES shines

It's only area that GSX doesn't cover at the *moment*, but for everything else, you'll see when GSX is out...

it is my understanding that FSDT has never separated the 2nd and 3rd jetways from the terminal which means that they are not animated at the FSDT airports with AES (I have not checked every airport but I believe Oliver stated this at one time).

The only reason why we haven't prepared double and triple jetways for animation (except JFK, were we have the working A380 jetways), it's because FSX can't use them, but iss to be expected that, when we'll work on replacing the FSX jetway animation system, this will not be an issue anymore.

When AES v2 is released, I am sure it will be improved quite a bit. It is expected to have a lot of new features and I fully expect to use GSX and AES at the same time

It will surely be improved but, I seems to have read that will still be cross-platform on FS9 and FSX, which means it will never have the same animation quality, especially for humans.

I love AES but I don't like that it is not available everywhere (for obvious reasons). For the non AES airports, GSX will be great.

Our goal is to make GSX the preferred option everywhere, not just at non-AES airports, you'll want to use AES only for the jetways, until we remade them.

Umberto, since GSX is so close, is it possible to post an updated list of the features in the GSX backdoor forum?

There will be updates for it, of course. Right now, the features are buried in a 156 post thread and I am not really clear on what it will include.[/quote]

Is it in beta?

We are keep testing it every day, since many months, since it's a product that requires way more testing than a scenery.

Will it have left side cargo loaders?

Maybe not in the initial release, but we are planning a specific GSX Cargo expansion, which will include not just animated vehicles too see, but even actual *operations* to do, like assignments with efficiency evaluation, profit to be made, etc.

Will the pushback be fully automated?

Yes.

Will their be a utility for configuring the exits?

Not initially, but the program is compatible with the AES config files so, if your airplane already has them, it will just work, and if it doesn't have them, you can always use AES itself to edit doors that GSX will use. We might eventually do our own utility too.

[duckbilled]

"Not initially, but the program is compatible with the AES config files so, if your airplane already has them, it will just work, and if it doesn't have them, you can always use AES itself to edit doors that GSX will use. We might eventually do our own utility too."

That's huge IMHO. Animated jetways and service vehicles have been around since the Simflyers days. I never used them, however, because it was too difficult to remember all of the different key combos and frequencies implemented by different developers. That is was makes AES to appealing - it is standardized for every supported scenery and it sounds like GSX will build upon that.

[virtuali]

Animated jetways and service vehicles have been around since the Simflyers days. I never used them, however, because it was too difficult to remember all of the different key combos and frequencies implemented by different developers.

Yes, because in those days, using Com frequencies on the sceneries was the only easy way for a scenery to add some interaction.

BTW, as soon as we had our own scenery handler module, even in FS9, we got rid of the frequencies used as triggers, and had things that ease the usage, like automatic airplane type detection with different jetway animations based on it, or service vehicles that appear at gates dynamically depending if there was an AI (or user) airplane on that spot. We had things like this in Cloud9 EHAM which was released 6 years ago, but they were cumbersome to do in FS9 and weren't as flexible as we wanted. FSX is totally different, because we can blend the user interface much better with the default UI.

[B777ER]

I hope GSX is better than Park Me. I pulled into gate 52B last night and it said no parking was available. Really?? You say we can use the animated gates and this Park Me function yet first gate I pull into, nothing is available. So why is this and with GSX will it be at EVERY gate?

Secondly, if you all ever hope of surpassing AES, you all hopefully will put the jetway animation rewrite at the top of your priority list once thee initial release of GSX is out.

[virtuali]

I hope GSX is better than Park Me. I pulled into gate 52B last night and it said no parking was available. Really??

I've already explained it in this thread:

http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php?topic=4719.0

There's no ParkMe at all at KLAX because, the *current* version of ParkMe that is distributed with our sceneries now, works only with some kind of Docking system and, since the real KLAX airport doesn't have any Docking systems right now, there's no ParkMe at KLAX. If you want to check ParkMe, have a look at KJFK or KDFW, there's plenty of gates that supports it.

GSX's ParkMe, which will replace entirely the current ParkMe, supports Marshallers too, so it will work at ANY gate of ANY airport.

If that specific airport has a customization file that specifies some parking stands having Docking systems, that airport will have Docking system at those parkings, and Marshallers everywhere else. Without a customization file, all parking stands will use Marshallers.

You say we can use the animated gates and this Park Me function

I've said you can use animated gates at KLAX, which is of course true, but said nothing about ParkMe at KLAX, if you mean the *current* ParkMe.

You WILL be able to use GSX ParkMe at KLAX, for free, as soon as it's released, because it will enable Marshallers (maybe we'll add Docking systems to TBIT, even if we don't know if they'll be there, I'd say it's likely).  

If there's an animated jetway or not doesn't have any relationship with ParkMe, they are entirely unrelated, but in GSX, the presence/absence of a jetway will affect whether a Passenger Bus and Stairs will appear when embarking/disembarking

[Thralni]

I had been hoping that AES would come to KLAX, but with GSX on the horizon, I don't really need it. I do echo the concerns concerning the default jetway animations, which usually looks simply weird. However, hearing Umberto say that they might make their own animation for it, I'm confident that this will end up great. I for one will use a mix of AES and GSX. AES will be used at those airports with static jetways, ergo, the airports where GSX will not be able to move jetways. GSX will be used at airports that either have no jetways or where the jetways are not static - FSDT's airports being the primary example of those of course.

I'm very curious to how you are going to implement a new jetway animation system. Is this something that will be controlled by GSX (so default and new system will co-exist), or will it be something that will utterly replace the default animation system? I mean, it's not exactly like replacing textures...

Concerning ParkMe, I never realized it could be used outside of FSDT sceneries. I thought it was tied to FSDT sceneries. That's the reason I also never used it, because I have AES for all my airports and as such ParkMe was never very useful. Now that I know this, I'll be seeing where and when I can use it.

On a seperate note, due to all the talk about ParkMe and all, I started digging into the KLAX manual. To be honest, with sceneries I hardly ever look at manuals except when I review them, but I'm glad I've looked into KLAX's. It's amazing, all the stuff you have done. The FAROS system especially! When I took off at KLAX today, I thought it was some kind fo glitch... I'm glad to stand corrected and I'm pleasantly surprised by all of this. Plus, performance is actually good, too (that is completely contrary to what I thought). Kudos!

[virtuali]

Concerning ParkMe, I never realized it could be used outside of FSDT sceneries. I thought it was tied to FSDT sceneries. That's the reason I also never used it, because I have AES for all my airports and as such ParkMe was never very useful. Now that I know this, I'll be seeing where and when I can use it.

I think you missed something in my explanation: you CAN'T use ParkMe at non FSDT airports right now. The current version of it, that comes with all our airports now, works ONLY at our airports and ONLY at parking stands with a Docking system, because the current version doesn't support Marshallers.

With GSX you'll be able to use ParkMe at every airport, because it will replace the *current* ParkMe entirely which means, at FSDT airport it will offer all its features INCLUDING those that were part of the actual ParkMe for free, and by purchasing it, you'll be able to use it at every other airport INCLUDING all the rest of the GSX features.

AES will be used at those airports with static jetways, ergo, the airports where GSX will not be able to move jetways. GSX will be used at airports that either have no jetways or where the jetways are not static

Or you might use AES just for the jetways...