Changing Parking Codes.

[wbunnell]

Fs9
I am trying to change parking codes in the aircraft.bgl, with no luck. Using the AI Helicopter, in the Fort Hood \Gray AAF package, they specify a parking Code of 21N, for there Helicopters.
That seems to work ok, if I change the parking code to 22n, in Afcad and in the Aircraft.cfg folder, the choppers labeled 22n don’t go to the 22n coded spots. They go to other spots, not labeled or for other aircraft.
I have Test flight plans I use for f
Fort Campbell, using the FT Hood, AH64Ds, for aircraft, the flight plans contains 14 AH64Ds to park in the Ramp Mil Combat 21n spots, I also have 14 AH64Ds to park in the Ramp Mil Combat 22n spots. Helicopters with the parking code of 21n, park in the spot for 21n. The helicopters marked for 22n Park in spot not marked.
I guess the question is how did the makers of the Fort Hood \Gray AAF package, get their Helicopters to park in spots mark for 21n?

[Garysb]

Is the aircraft too big for the spots you have recoded?

Gary

[wbunnell]

Is the aircraft too big for the spots you have recoded?

Gary

21N fits in one parking spot,22n which is the same chopper with a different parking code.
Thank for the reply.

[Garysb]

Send me on a PM and I will have a look if you wish see if I can spot anything
Need the cfg & AFCAD

Gary

[wbunnell]

I was using one of the AH64Ds Choppers from the Fort Hood\Gray package. Using one AH64Ds Chopper twice, changing the parking code, from 21n to 22n on the second entry.
By using two AH64Ds Chopper from the same package, changing the second choppers parking code, seems to have corrected the problem, at least I have two sets of choppers in there assigned parking spot.

[Victory103]

FSX allows you to have at least 4 sets of codes. You can have a catch all with "M004" or "AH64" along with your 21N parking.

Martin's AIEditor program will show you the minimum parking size needed for a given model. Which KHOP scenery are you using?

[pslinger]

I've been working with some parking codes in FS9 and I am getting civilian aircraft parking in areas designated for military. I have Cessna 172's parked next to F-15's even though the Parking Properties > Parking codes for the spot are 199F F15 M001. I have the same problem with a DC-3 parking in spots designated for B-1's, the parking spot parking codes are 9BS 28BS 34BS 37BS B1 M002. Not sure what I am doing wrong. Any pointers would be appreciated, thanks.

Paul

[swp53]

Hi Paul,
What about parking types? Are you using Ramp or Mil-Combat, Mil-Cargo?
Is it a miltary base or airport? If a miltary base what flightplans are sending GA aircraft there?
Steve

[clickclickdoh]

Parking assignment mechanics:

There are three considerations the sim has for assigning parking spots:

Radius/wingspan
Parking Code
Parking Type

Radius/wingspan: It's just what it sounds like. The sim looks at the AI aircrafts radius or wingspan depending on sim version, looks for a parking spot of equal or greater size, and if it finds one makes it available for that aircraft. Note: It makes it available. This is not the final consideration for where an aircraft ends up. However, it is the only variable that can make an aircraft not show up at all. If there are no parking spots equal or larger than the aircraft, it simply won't show up

Parking Code: Parking code is more of a suggestion than most people think it is. If a spot has the right size, and the right code, the aircraft will park there. However, if the spot has the right size and the wrong code, a plane may still park there if there are no other parking spots available with the aircraft code available. In general, if there are no spots available with the matching code, the aircraft will first try to park in a spot with no code. But, if there are no uncoded spots available parking can get... sporting.

Parking Type: The least concern to the sim, and the most ignored. The only time type comes into play is when size isn't a concern and code isn't a concern. Code will over ride type all the time. Example: If you code spots as Mil_cargo, but the AI is Mil_Combat, it will use the Mil_Cargo spots as long as the code is right.


TLDR version: If you have a problem with GA aircraft parking in coded mil spots, the first thing I would check is to make sure there are some appropriate sized uncoded spots sitting around for transient & GA types.

[pslinger]

Thanks for the tips and suggestions. In all cases the Parking Type is Ramp Mil Combat. I am working with a combined military - civilian airport. As pointed out by Click, I may not have enough general aviation parking in the civilian areas. That is the next step. If there are unused general aviation parking spots, if I understand correctly I need to be looking at the radius - wing span. Again, thanks for giving me a couple of things to play with and check out.

Paul

[Firebird]

The radius is definitely the first step.

Think of it this way, if you have no designations at all where will the aircraft park? it will be according to the radius. Smallest one that the aircraft will fit into. A lot of you segregation can be helped by the size of the spots alone.

[col1948]

Just to add to this, you can also change the size of a parking spot as well, not just have it as what AFCAD puts it down as.

Col.

[pslinger]

Found what was causing the issue. Went to the civilian side of the airport and started looking at general aviation parking and noticed that the author of the AFCAD had given the general aviation parking spots parking codes; G000, G003, G005, etc. I had never seen this before. I was unable to find a cheat sheet with the definitions of these codes. When I removed the G codes from the parking spots, the general aviation aircraft moved to the civilian side of the airport, which opened up spots on the military side. I had an F35 that wouldn't park in the correct spot and found a letter missing in the aircraft.cfg file. Still working the the DC-3 that thinks it is a B-1.

[col1948]

Funny this came up, I recently downloaded a Cargo CL-44, I had the atc_parking_types=CARGO but it still parks at a PAX gate.

Col.

[JohnTenn]

Col

Try changing the parking type to RAMP_CARGO in the aircraft .cfg

John

[Greg]

John, you have to choose from RAMP, CARGO, GATE, DOCK, MIL_CARGO and MIL_COMBAT. There is no RAMP_CARGO in the SDK.

https://www.prepar3d.com/SDKv4/sdk/simu ... tml#fltsim

[clickclickdoh]

I had the atc_parking_types=CARGO but it still parks at a PAX gate.

Yup, very common. As I said, the Type is most common of the three parking parameters ignored by the system as it is subservient to both size and code. Double check to make sure that the available Cargo parking spaces are both large enough for the aircraft, and aren't code locked to another airline. The system will only ignore the code if 1) the space is large enough and 2) there aren't other equally large spaces of the same Type with codes on them.

So:

-The system will never ignore size. If there isn't a spot big enough, the AI doesn't show up

-The system will ignore code only if all spaces are coded and none match the AIs code. If there are spaces without code, the mismatched AI code will go there first.

-The system will ignore type, if the code matches or if it's the only space of appropriate size.