Ross Carlson Posted January 30, 2014 at 06:19 PM Posted January 30, 2014 at 06:19 PM Hello all, I'm looking for opinions on which flight plan file type to use when loading and saving flight plans in vPilot. I know that the various flight planning tools (PFPX, SimRoutes, FSBuild, etc.) all support different types of file formats for exporting their flight plans, and I'm wondering which format is most widely supported, since that would be the format I would want to use for vPilot. I've only used SimRoutes myself (and FSBuild a looooong time ago) so I'm not sure which formats the others support. I'm leaning towards using the Squawkbox 3 format, since I know that is supported by at least PFPX and SimRoutes. Any thoughts or recommendations? Developer: vPilot, VRC, vSTARS, vERAM, VAT-Spy Senior Controller, Boston Virtual ARTCC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bradley Grafelman Posted January 30, 2014 at 06:33 PM Posted January 30, 2014 at 06:33 PM Any thoughts or recommendations?Make it extensible (and future-proofed) by publishing an SDK/API with a set of "getters" vPilot will use to call into external DLLs which can then p[Mod - Happy Thoughts] flight plans in formats vPilot doesn't natively understand? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Kolin Posted January 30, 2014 at 06:35 PM Posted January 30, 2014 at 06:35 PM Any thoughts or recommendations?Make it extensible (and future-proofed) by publishing an SDK/API with a set of "getters" vPilot will use to call into external DLLs which can then p[Mod - Happy Thoughts] flight plans in formats vPilot doesn't natively understand? This. I'd love to write some C# plugins to let vPilot read/write out of our own flight plan format. Cheers! Luke ... I spawn hundreds of children a day. They are daemons because they are easier to kill. The first four remain stubbornly alive despite my (and their) best efforts. ... Normal in my household makes you a member of a visible minority. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Carlson Posted January 30, 2014 at 06:41 PM Author Posted January 30, 2014 at 06:41 PM I definitely like the idea of using plugins for this, and that may be in vPilot's future, but what I'm looking for here is feedback from users of the popular flight planning tools to see which format vPilot should support out of the box. Developer: vPilot, VRC, vSTARS, vERAM, VAT-Spy Senior Controller, Boston Virtual ARTCC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Blackburn Posted January 30, 2014 at 06:57 PM Posted January 30, 2014 at 06:57 PM Straight out of the box the SB4/FSInn format - they are already supported by PFPX and most other addons. Norman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Kirks 1252923 Posted January 30, 2014 at 07:08 PM Posted January 30, 2014 at 07:08 PM I'm looking for opinions on which flight plan file type to use when loading and saving flight plans in vPilot....Any thoughts or recommendations? Please consider the ability to import and save the native flight plan format for the simulators that will be used--FS9, FSX, Xplane. It seems like if those are the most often used clients, being able to accept their native data format might make sense. Also, what about saved flight plans from FMC's like the PMDG users have? To answer specifically: Please support SimRoutes as a minimum. Steve Kirks 1252923 ZME S2 Usually MEM_TWR ZLA I-3 rated pilot Usually on as: FDX4345 in a PMDG 777 N533ET in a Pilatus PC-12 N323VB in a Lancair Legacy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Carlson Posted January 30, 2014 at 07:21 PM Author Posted January 30, 2014 at 07:21 PM Please consider the ability to import and save the native flight plan format for the simulators that will be used--FS9, FSX, Xplane. Note that vPilot is for FSX only. (And P3D works but is not officially supported.) I've considered supporting the FSX flight plan format, but I'm told that it expands airways into individual waypoints along the airway, which is bad. Please support SimRoutes as a minimum. SimRoutes can export in several different formats ... I'm looking for recommendations on which of those formats to support loading in vPilot. Developer: vPilot, VRC, vSTARS, vERAM, VAT-Spy Senior Controller, Boston Virtual ARTCC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Kolin Posted January 30, 2014 at 08:02 PM Posted January 30, 2014 at 08:02 PM I've considered supporting the FSX flight plan format, but I'm told that it expands airways into individual waypoints along the airway, which is bad. It does, but the individual XML elements have the airway code so you should be able to stitch it back together. Cheers! Luke ... I spawn hundreds of children a day. They are daemons because they are easier to kill. The first four remain stubbornly alive despite my (and their) best efforts. ... Normal in my household makes you a member of a visible minority. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Carlson Posted January 30, 2014 at 08:15 PM Author Posted January 30, 2014 at 08:15 PM I've considered supporting the FSX flight plan format, but I'm told that it expands airways into individual waypoints along the airway, which is bad. It does, but the individual XML elements have the airway code so you should be able to stitch it back together. Ahh, okay ... I'll take a look at that option then ... I imagine all the popular tools support the FSX format. Developer: vPilot, VRC, vSTARS, vERAM, VAT-Spy Senior Controller, Boston Virtual ARTCC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darrol Larrok 1140797 Posted January 30, 2014 at 10:49 PM Posted January 30, 2014 at 10:49 PM I'd also support using the FSX .PLN format. It's the closest thing to a standard we have. Ideally, in the long run, the flightsim community will be able to standardize on a single format. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Carlson Posted January 31, 2014 at 01:08 AM Author Posted January 31, 2014 at 01:08 AM It does, but the individual XML elements have the airway code so you should be able to stitch it back together. Luke, you mentioned XML ... I see that FSX exports as XML, but I tried using SimRoutes to generate a flight plan and exported it in FSX format, and it wasn't XML. Looks like this: [flightplan] title=KBTV to KBOS description=KBTV, KBOS type = IFR routetype = 3 cruising_altitude=0 departure_id=KBTV, N44* 28.31', W73* 09.20', +000335.00 destination_id=KBOS, N42* 21.86', W71* 00.31', +000019.00 departure_name=Burlington_Intl destination_name=General_Edward_Lawrence_Logan waypoint.0=KBTV, A, N44* 28.31', W073* 09.20', +000000.00, waypoint.1=LEB, V, N43* 40.73', W072* 12.96', +000000.00, BTV5 waypoint.2=KELLI, I, N43* 33.74', W072* 03.12', +000000.00, V141 waypoint.3=KERSY, I, N43* 21.63', W071* 46.21', +000000.00, V141 waypoint.4=CON, V, N43* 13.19', W071* 34.53', +000000.00, V141 waypoint.5=TOMIE, I, N43* 10.18', W071* 27.42', +000000.00, waypoint.6=LWM, V, N42* 44.43', W071* 05.69', +000000.00, waypoint.7=BOS, V, N42* 21.45', W070* 59.37', +000000.00, waypoint.8=KBOS, A, N42* 21.86', W071* 00.31', +000000.00, So I guess FSX supports more than one format for .PLN files. I'm still leaning towards using the Squawkbox 3/4 format, since it leaves the route alone. Developer: vPilot, VRC, vSTARS, vERAM, VAT-Spy Senior Controller, Boston Virtual ARTCC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bradley Grafelman Posted January 31, 2014 at 01:12 AM Posted January 31, 2014 at 01:12 AM So I guess FSX supports more than one format for .PLN files.It does, for backwards compatibility. The .pln format you posted above is, I believe, the FS9 format. I don't think the XML version was introduced until FSX. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charan Kumar Posted January 31, 2014 at 05:25 AM Posted January 31, 2014 at 05:25 AM My guess is the same as Bradley's, it's for compatibility with FS9. The XML format is easily accepted by ASN, PFPX, and FSX, and so would be the best format I think. You mentioned somewhere that the new client is only compatible with FSX, so XML would be preferred, I think. One thing FSInn does is, if you had the flight plan loaded in FSX before you started FSInn, it would automatically show the flight plan in FSInn when you click on FP, with Origin and Destination filled in. It would even have the altitude selected, 13000, if you haven't been paying attention in FSX, but it would still do it . When is your next Flight||VATSIM HitSquad Member, ZOA/ZAK/GANDER/P1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Reynolds Posted May 4, 2014 at 01:27 AM Posted May 4, 2014 at 01:27 AM Hello all, I'm looking for opinions on which flight plan file type to use when loading and saving flight plans in vPilot. I know that the various flight planning tools (PFPX, SimRoutes, FSBuild, etc.) all support different types of file formats for exporting their flight plans, and I'm wondering which format is most widely supported, since that would be the format I would want to use for vPilot. I've only used SimRoutes myself (and FSBuild a looooong time ago) so I'm not sure which formats the others support. I'm leaning towards using the Squawkbox 3 format, since I know that is supported by at least PFPX and SimRoutes. Any thoughts or recommendations? Ross, great work on the new client! Could you please confirm if VPilot is able to accept exported flight plan directly from PFPX? and if so, how? I have tried exporting in SB format and FSINN format to no avail. many thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Carlson Posted May 4, 2014 at 01:30 AM Author Posted May 4, 2014 at 01:30 AM I don't have PFPX, so I can't say for sure, but I know others have used it with vPilot just fine, exporting in SB format. Developer: vPilot, VRC, vSTARS, vERAM, VAT-Spy Senior Controller, Boston Virtual ARTCC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Reynolds Posted May 4, 2014 at 01:46 AM Posted May 4, 2014 at 01:46 AM I don't have PFPX, so I can't say for sure, but I know others have used it with vPilot just fine, exporting in SB format. Thanks Ross, I worked it out...need to use the "VATSIM" export format in PFPX, it will export in the required format and VPILOT can use it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Carlson Posted May 4, 2014 at 02:21 AM Author Posted May 4, 2014 at 02:21 AM Great, thanks for letting me know. Developer: vPilot, VRC, vSTARS, vERAM, VAT-Spy Senior Controller, Boston Virtual ARTCC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts